For the paint and some of the mod work maybe take it to a technical college or high school vo-tech class... they would love to have a project and they usually do a surprisingly good job

4/7/2008 3:54:48 PM

Garage?

i foresee the death of this thread

4/7/2008 6:45:12 PM

lets see jeep pics bbr

4/7/2008 7:06:17 PM

dont waste money on the inside, when you are tailgating you are going to be spending your time outside of it and use it as a base

4/7/2008 7:49:06 PM

i disagree completely. i think the outside looks badass, and i don't think i'd change much.

the inside is kinda shitty--i'd go through the inside and make it a lot nicer. i'd also add AC and a killer stereo. also a TV or projector screen.

4/7/2008 7:56:53 PM

oh damn, that thing looks familiar.

a few of my oberservations/answers to the posts in here:

1. it's perfect for tailgating. i can't begin to explain what a ridiculous attraction it is at such events, to the point of being annoying sometimes.

2. sitting still in the summer, it gets pretty damn hot inside. it's hot as hell outside too though. riding around it's not terrible if you keep the door and window open, it circulates a decent breeze especially in the front half.

3. it's already got a rooftop a/c unit. get that generator running right or have access to 120v power otherwise and it'll bring the inside temp down to about 75 on a 90+ day. if the ambient air is cooler, the cooler it'll get inside. some insulation and better sealing of the door, etc. would be ideal if you were really going to drive it long distances in the summer frequently or planned on sleeping in it a lot. for the occasional tailgate or single night crashing in it here and there it's fine. there's also a big fan under one of the bunks somewhere i think.

4. adding rv style windows is actually pretty simple. you just trace the insert, and cut it out. they've got a trim piece that will cover/seal any minor imperfections in the cut.

5. in it's previous life, it has been a party bus/tow vehicle for trucks and cars/weekend camper over the past few years for various events. i bought it from stone, and he bought it from a guy in pennsylvania that used it as a mobile showroom/sales office for his tool company. it's definitely seen a lot of places and a lot of wild times. i hope the tradition continues, i'm happy to see it stay in the "family".

6. no special license or endorsement is required. the title has been converted to "housecar", which is nc's term for rv, camper, or whatever. this exempts it from any special insurance, tags, etc. also. open containers are also legal outside of the driver's area.

7. i would reccomend using roll on equipment paint for it if you're doing it yourself. no overspray, it's cheap, covers well, and looks decent enough.

a few of my pics of it from the past year as my farewell to the PIR8 BUS...























probably a lot more from other people floating around out there.

4/7/2008 8:15:07 PM

whatever that thing is on the front looks like it could easily be converted into a facemask

4/7/2008 9:00:24 PM

dude, we had a blast in that thing. the broken bunk on the bottom is from me getting a little to "rowdy" with BigBlueRam's woman one night

4/7/2008 9:20:56 PM

is that the famed 80+ scooter in the last pic

4/7/2008 9:26:44 PM

Put one more AC unit on the top.
I wouldn't paint it. get some decals or magnets(wolfpack) for the side. That thing is totally gangster.

I would start to pimp the inside on it. Small bar no doubt!

4/7/2008 9:28:30 PM

^^yes it is. i think he's completely redone/rebuilt it now though, or close to it.

^^^lol, that or you getting a little too excited deep throating bottles.

forgot to mention http://www.skoolie.net is a mecca for stuff like this. tons of useful information, ideas, etc. for tailgating oriented conversions and/or dedicated rv's. there's even people on there that fulltime (live) on their converted bus (in relative comfort too i might add from the looks of most of them). i recommend spending a lot of time over there.


[Edited on April 7, 2008 at 10:16 PM. Reason : .]

4/7/2008 10:14:37 PM

dude, whoever fucking glues the god damn framework for the tv and the stereo to the side of the inside of the bus needs to freaking die. That shit was glued together with a motherfucking hot glue gun or some pain in the ass sticky shit.

Ripped apart the bunk bed and all wood from the inside out of there. All we got is the couch hanging in there. Gonna rewire everything. Gotta figure out how to open one of the side hatches.

He will use it for tailgating, but he isnt going to go with ncsu theme or anything. trying not to dump to much money into it.

oh yea, btw, once everything is out of there, the possibilities are endless.

you are an excellent gluer

AND YOU TOOK THE LISCENSE PLATE?!?!!?

why the hell cant we have "PIR8 BUS"?????

[Edited on April 7, 2008 at 10:18 PM. Reason : da]

btw we still have 1 two by four glued to the wall and cannot get it off.

[Edited on April 7, 2008 at 10:19 PM. Reason : dsd]

4/7/2008 10:17:06 PM

yeah, you can thank stone or one of his buddies at low country 4wd in charleston for that and anything else in there (like the awesome wiring, lol). i didn't do anything to it but put fuel in and use it.

which side hatch are you talking about? the one where the main electrical panel is under the driver window? if so, there's a little lever inside about halfway down the left side of the switch panel. it's kinda hidden, but you pull it towards the rear of the bus and it'll let you open the door on the outside to get at everything.

yeah, i gotta keep my PIR8 BUS tag to hang in my garage as a souvenir. besides, you can't transfer or reissue personalized tags (or any tags for that matter i don't think) to another person in nc as far as i know.

[Edited on April 7, 2008 at 10:27 PM. Reason : they just did the "conversion" as quick/cheap as possible to satisfy the sc dmv inspector]

4/7/2008 10:24:31 PM

I think whoever screwed that all together used 14000 screws. At least they were all the same drive size. And there is a leak in the airbreaks somewhere. Need new mirrors.

I am going to model the inside of the bus for Dan so he can get the layout he wants from it.

4/7/2008 10:26:57 PM

almost anything with an air system, especially that old, leaks down some after sitting for a few hours or more. it shouldn't be completely draining though, unless it's been sitting for weeks. when i started it last week for the first time in maybe 3-4 weeks, it still had about 50lbs. in the tanks. my new rig will leak down over a period of time too.

imo, it's not worth worrying about as long as it's holding good pressure when it's running/driving and recovers quickly after you pump the pedal a few times in a row. even if the tanks run empty or something blows out, a loss of pressure just makes them lock up. safety feature of any air operated system. most people think the air pressure is what provides the braking force, but it's actually vacuum.

dan's got the website/email/name/number of a lady that can get parts fairly cheap. you can also find some used stuff on that skoolie site or ebay. a lot of medium/heavy duty parts like that are universal also. for example, what might fit an international dumptruck or a thomas bus might work on a blue bird also.

[Edited on April 7, 2008 at 10:41 PM. Reason : http://www.directbus.com/ i think...]

4/7/2008 10:39:41 PM

That bus is BEGGING for this paintjob. BEGGING.

4/10/2008 10:41:36 AM

Quote :

"Gotta figure out how to open one of the side hatches."

Quote :

"which side hatch are you talking about? the one where the main electrical panel is under the driver window? if so, there's a little lever inside about halfway down the left side of the switch panel."

bingo, took me half an hour to find that when we were wiring the trailer brakes

4/10/2008 11:41:48 AM

^^ I've actually thought about doing something along those lines

Besides fixing some bad rust spots I plan on leaving the exterior as is. On the inside I'm gonna make it more lounge/party friendly and plan on removing some of the beds and making it into seating and storage for tailgating supplies. I'm also planning on redoing the electrical and plumbing on the water tank
I've been trying to figure out a way for the batteries to charge when I've got the bus hooked up on shore power or on generator power. Ideas?

4/10/2008 1:36:07 PM

automatic 120v battery charger hooked into the ac system, you need to make sure its wired with a relay or something so shore power cant backfeed into the generator

4/10/2008 2:37:50 PM

Install turrets to return fire at tailgate shooters

4/10/2008 2:38:59 PM

Will you put an external tap on it so I can just walk up and get beer when I want?

4/10/2008 2:46:04 PM

that generator has a built in 12v battery charger. i just found the leads in my suburban yesterday while i was reorganizing all the junk in the back. hit me up the next time you're in raleigh and you can get them. you could also hardwire it to the batteries. a lot of guys use solar power also.

you might want to consider either switching the starting batteries out or making a seperate dedicated battery bank for the house system. check out 6v golf cart batteries, they're a lot cheaper than the dedicated deep cycle stuff and perform almost as well. the batteries that are in there are good for maybe 1-2 hours of running the stereo, fridge, and overhead lights before they get too low to start the engine.

4/10/2008 3:11:09 PM

man we've had some crazy times on that bus. definately gets some looks....

[Edited on April 10, 2008 at 6:04 PM. Reason : ..]

4/10/2008 6:03:16 PM

BIgBlueBird FTMFW!

what kinda of jeep did you end up gettin for it, Ivan?
I suess you still got the trailer and tow it with the Burb?

4/10/2008 11:04:41 PM

More importantly, is that Jeep solar yellow or what?

4/10/2008 11:05:26 PM

^^grand cherokee. yeah, i've still got the trailer, suburban, and the new (to me) rig i bought a few months ago. you not see it yet? 1998 international toterhome.

^only in my dreams.

4/10/2008 11:30:05 PM

ZJ or WJ?

4/10/2008 11:34:10 PM

zj limited in your basic mall crawler attire.

4/11/2008 12:33:22 AM

TTT i hear this thing is startin to look fresh. PICS

5/30/2008 4:38:51 AM

Can't get any of the interior as it is completely slammed right now. Didn't get all the way finished before I had to start packing it but it now sleeps four has seating for something like twelve. Working on some air brake repairs at the moment. Also, anyone experienced in air brake repair as I've been stuck in tracking down why I can't build up pressure?

5/30/2008 4:07:36 PM

ttt

6/3/2008 10:49:37 AM

bttt

8/10/2008 2:18:48 PM

nothing new to report got the airbrakes back up and holding pressure doing some adjusting on the fronts in the upcoming weeks. hopefully should be ready for the first home game.

8/10/2008 5:42:22 PM

That skoolie.net site is crazy. There are some pics of a 60' articulated accordion bus, would love to see what someone does with that.

8/10/2008 10:35:32 PM

haha yea that site is crazy. the guy with the jacuzzi bus is insane

8/10/2008 10:39:03 PM

if you read into the jacuzzi bus he apparently sold it to some strip club up north

8/11/2008 9:45:10 AM

8/11/2008 9:46:44 AM

^^yeah, he's built a couple of them and sold them on ebay.

8/11/2008 5:36:54 PM

hot chicks, lots of hot chicks

8/13/2008 11:36:08 AM