Cat in the Hat

vanell · Post by **vanell** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:14 pm

Morts came around before Xmas and said he wants to do round 2 of the rebuild, I already put a new front nose and repaired the front chassis rail, when it came to me the pass side front was not attached to the rail, did that and it went on last years Ratex, OK so round 2 , the whole cargo door side is now not attached at all, sill is gone and both outriggers non existant, I feel so sorry for this poor bus, Its a imported 67 camper, made from a deluxe bus, all the good gear, Did you ever see the Sienfield episode when Jerry's mechanic steals his car coz he hasn't been looking after it! Well im out there cutting up shit and putting in new bits and thought this must be like when Evel Kinevil says to his painter that he would like a new paint job on his bike, how good do you make it coz you know its going to come back fucked. Ian

splitthis · Post by **splitthis** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 12:56 pm

Haha I’m in the tea room pissing myself and everyone is looking at me. That’s a classic episode too, look out Morts.

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:41 pm

I'll get to Ian in a minute, but to finish this trip first..

Day 5 - Mt Freeling Station to Beltana Station

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:43 pm

Day 6 - Beltana Station to Alpana Station

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:45 pm

Day 7 - Alpana Sation to Argadells Station

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:46 pm

Day 8 - Argadells Station to Melrose

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:01 pm

One of the guys who comes along on these adventures, Tom, owns a Toyota dealership and has a couple of bay window kombis. He has a spot in the weekly paper where he writes car stuff under the by line 'Tom's Torque' and he did a write up of the trip and chose a photo of Cat in the Hat doing 'air time' to go with the article.

Okay, I can't get the article to load even though it is under the limit?? Anyway here is the pic.

PS: If anyone can tell me how to put up a short video that is not on YouTube I will post it of the car 'flying' over this section! (that will give you kittens Ian!)

vanell · Post by **vanell** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:07 pm

With that last picture " I rest my case your honour "

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:27 pm

vanell wrote:With that last picture " I rest my case your honour "

Guilty as charged - I hope I can post the video as I'm sure I will get a longer sentence...

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:35 pm

Since finding this bus in 2009 I have tried to do something to it most years to 'improve' it and make it more capable of tackling these types of trips.

On first getting it was given a mechanical/electrical/brake/suspension check over to see how it went and mainly did small local trips until the bigger stuff started.

2012 - Kangaroo Island and ReVolks running its 'as found' 1300tp, did okay
2013 - Dalhousie Springs about 80kms south of the NT border. A rough trip and it started leaking oil like a sieve after Day 1 at Burra. Built a balanced 1641 for it after this trip and still going nicely.
2014 - Grampians/Ottway Ranges/Great Ocean Road, tame trip and no problems other than a fuel pump shitting itself and oil gasket leaks which were fixed with rubber impregnated gaskets
2015 - Birdsville a two week epic, hard trip where it would occasionally jump out of fourth until the last day when it jumped out of gear about 50 times. Re-built gearbox and reduction hubs after this trip
2016 - Maralinga, another rough hard trip however no issues apart from points
2017 - Flinders Ranges, it was after this trip that we decided to look at the body and Ian remodelled the front up to the mid cab area
2018 - Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas. Wifey said it seemed a bit quieter and a bit less dusty! (must be due to Ian's handiwork) Now with Ian for 'stage 2' body works
2019 - Hopefully it will be ready for a trek to the Alpine country in April

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:37 pm

vanell wrote: I already put a new front nose and repaired the front chassis rail, when it came to me the pass side front was not attached to the rail, did that and it went on last years Ratex,

Ian might be sweet enough to put up some pics of stage 1 body works as I think most of them are still on his phone or pc. It did look a bit skeletal in some...

splitthis · Post by **splitthis** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:39 pm

I must admit that I’m jealous you have a bus that you can give a good flogging to. Too many people treat their busses like Ferrari’s since the prices went mad. I’ve always wanted to buy a shitter in the states, head over and weld it up, cobble together a cheap engine and do the shasta snow trip....one day. Ian maybe you me and Colin can do it. Get the whole thing sponsored by kombi cruise??

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:48 pm

vanell wrote:Morts came around before Xmas and said he wants to do round 2 of the rebuild, OK so round 2 , the whole cargo door side is now not attached at all, sill is gone and both outriggers non existant, I feel so sorry for this poor bus, Its a imported 67 camper, made from a deluxe bus, all the good gear, Did you ever see the Sienfield episode when Jerry's mechanic steals his car coz he hasn't been looking after it! Well im out there cutting up shit and putting in new bits and thought this must be like when Evel Kinevil says to his painter that he would like a new paint job on his bike, how good do you make it coz you know its going to come back fucked. Ian

I don't know why you feel so sorry for it as I do look after it - that's why it's with you now! It's just that I would rather go 'exploring' in it rather than looking at it from the footpath while sipping skinny lattes

And you're going to make it rock solid and rust proof so it will last another 50 years as my daughter will take it over when my time has passed, so stick up some pics so we can all see what you have been doing in these 40+ degree days...

morts · Post by **morts** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:53 pm

splitthis wrote:I must admit that I’m jealous you have a bus that you can give a good flogging to. Too many people treat their busses like Ferrari’s since the prices went mad. I’ve always wanted to buy a shitter in the states, head over and weld it up, cobble together a cheap engine and do the shasta snow trip....one day. Ian maybe you me and Colin can do it. Get the whole thing sponsored by kombi cruise??

I think you have to follow through on your Valla plans though Matt before you can make any international committments... (ouch, low blow I know, blame Steve

)

On a serious note I liken our trips to the Shasta snow trip, its just that we generally do it in the searing heat while they do it the freezing cold.

braddick · Post by **braddick** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:14 pm

Very entertaining reading fellows, thanks for the updates morts
Love seeing the pics of where u go out in the outback, it's not for me in my bus although the 63 did plenty of that when it was a variety club bash car, I'll stick to passing Commodores on the freeway instead
Any chance the cat in the hat going to revolks 2019 ?

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