gesto

Good to see.

65drag

Checking back in. No news to update on the car as we have been busy with life in general and did not have a chance to get the Shop Rag back out this season.

On another note, we found out that we had the BADDEST golf cart at LS Fest thanks to the 420cc engine Joe swapped out at last years LS Fest. My Grandson Weslee (we call him "Buddy") and I were out on a cruise to cool down a little because it was so hot. We stopped to look at something at the manufacturers midway and two guys who obviously had been enjoying some adult libations rolled up on us in their golf cart and asked if we wanted to race. They said they had been following us around and wondered what we had in the cart because it sounds so mean. They wanted to drag race for 100 feet and wanted a couple of cart lengths head start for a dollar. I asked Buddy if we should and he agreed. We lined them up and had a by stander flag us off. I nailed it and within one cart length of them moving, Buddy and I had already caught them and were pulling away when I slowed down for some pedestrians that had know idea what they were walking into. The guys paid up the dollar bet and I figured we were done.

The next day they came by our pits and admitted they had raced 18 other carts and won them all which made us the king of the hill with one pass, LOL. Then they said they were coming back next year with a Polaris powered golf cart and they would come looking for us. Guess we may have to step up our game just in case.

65drag

Well, if it's not one thing, it's a MOTHER, LOL!

Some low life waste of human skin left the road in front of our shop and blasted into the Short Bus after she drove across the neighbor's yard for about 75 feet. She has state minimum insurance and has probably totaled the bus because we think the frame is bent. It has been too cold to crawl under it for inspection, but the top of the driver's side front wheel is laid in a little bit which leads us to believe she got the frame by hitting the bus in the corner and shoving it sideways about a foot from the marks in the rocks. We are probably going have to go to small claims court if her insurance company backs away from her.



She got the bumper, inner fender, outer fender, hood, hood latch, core support, radiator, trans cooler, oil cooler, lower valance, grill, headlight, turn signal, master cylinder to start and who knows what else?



She had already been in an accident before and lost the lower section of her front bumper, so her passenger side frame rail did this.



Then to add insult to injury, the bus was parked in front of the race car trailer but not hooked to it so the bus got shoved into the trailer hitch from the impact.



So we get to replace the trailer hitch as well.



More updates when they become available. It wasn't pretty, but it was reliable and now we have to start over.

65drag

GOOD NEWS, HER INSURANCE COMPANY PAID OFF.... after a lot of phone calls and a few threats from us to charge storage fees on top of the damage.

Slowly but surely we're coming back. What you see here is the all new and improved Short Bus TOO ! It took us 4 months chasing this sucker down but well worth the wait. It is 4 years newer, 4 feet longer cabin, and 18" longer wheel base than the original Short Bus. The best part of all is it's the same motor/trans combo as the old bus but only has 57,000 original miles on it. Shouldn't take too much to go thru it and make sure it is road worthy for a long life.



This sweet ride is nearly rust free for it's age too. Now we need to outfit it with some nice bucket seats, bunk beds, trailer hitch, and wiring for the trailer lights and brakes.



We got the trailer frame straightened out while we were waiting on getting the bus and made a few upgrades at the same time.
New heavier duty hitch and an electric tongue jack.



While we were at it we added a slide out for the generator. Still have to put a turn down on the exhaust.

65drag

OK, so more is coming together on the new tow rig. We needed to get rid of the rubber puke mat that came in the bus so we put down new 1/2 inch plywood to have a smooth surface to lay new vinyl flooring.





Got this remnant for $50 at Home Depot because it was the end of a roll. 8" x 12" was perfect for what we needed. I ran across it totally by accident but the checkered flag pattern fits our use.





Got it laid down and cut around all the obstacles so it can "relax" after being rolled up for a while.





After a few days I will lay half of it back and start gluing it down and rolling it out smooth and then glue the other half down for the final product.
We'll have 3 individual bucket seats down the passenger side, and end to end bunk beds down the driver's side so we can sleep 4 people comfortably.
There will be no vinyl across the back because it will be closed off for storage, and the short section by the drivers seat will have some 12" x 36" vinyl tiles I have left over from doing my basement bathroom.

65drag

OK, so here is something I am doing on the side. There is a young girl here in town who was a former high school student of my wife that wanted to get into screen printing so as her first customer I commissioned these shop rags as giveaways at the track (if we ever get back there, LOL) kind of like what the Pros do for hand outs.
Thinking about having t-shirts made with the same logo on back and a smaller one on the left front chest to sell at the track to help offset expenses.
Anyone interested in being the first ones to get them? $25 with free shipping.

If you order a shirt, I'll send you a free Shop Rag shop rag with it.

65drag

Allrightythen, Joe and I labored all day on Labor Day so we can get closer to being able to use the Short Bus Too. Got the vinyl flooring glued down. I filled in the front with left over 12” X 36” loose lay tiles I used in my basement bathroom and glued it down too. It has a sticky overlay strip that holds it together once it is layed down so it was a perfect transition onto the rolled vinyl.



While Joe was working on trailer wiring and final mockup of the trailer hitch, I mounted the rear most passenger seat with a mounting frame I made from left over bus seat hardware and made a sheet metal shroud to direct the rear heater out into the isle.





Next came framework for the bunk beds. We are building two sets end to end so we can comfortably sleep four people.





We had to move the racecar trailer out of the way after fixing the frame so I had to take a shot of the combo rig for the first time they were mated.





We removed the stop sign and still have to paint over the school bus logo because in Illinois it is illegal to drive one of these that still says school bus on it if it is not an actual school bus.

And of course, since this is a new build, we have to have the obligatory A New Start (ANUSTART) license plate, LOL.