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Old 04-13-2005, 09:04 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Firearm
There is a great alternative to masking tape and paper when masking for paint. I found it through making vinyl graphics and painting vehicles. Use vinyl graphics application tape to mask the area. You can write on it with pencil or marker and cut it with a razor to make any design you want. Plus, it's very cheap.

Find it here...

http://www.signcatalog.com/Merchant2...gory_Code=A-RS
NOW you tell me! That stuff is cheaper than masking tape at Wal-Mart, that's for sure. Maybe I can use it in the future when I paint the "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" sign on the side.

I was examining the bus floor last night and discovered something odd. There is no plywood in the floor. None. The floor is sheet metal only, nearly 1/8" inch thick. I don't know what gauge it would be. It rests not on angle iron, but on metal planks that have a C cross section. I'm kind of glad. I have decided to go ahead with a plywood over foam floor, and I'm going to try to recycle the seat bolt holes, where possible, to fasten down firring strips for the flooring, which I had planned to run transversely at one foot intervals. Now I will run them at the intervals at which the seat legs were spaced, and save some drilling effort.

I was thinking about the seat frames, and how to haul them to the dump as I disassemble the seats. Then I realized that they are a great source of metal for constructing under carriage structures! The legs might even work well as for making posts for holding on a roof deck! Hmmm.... The pipe of which they are constructed can be cut to length and hammered flat at the ends to allow for bolting to the frame, or it could be welded to the frame. It could also be joined into different supporting shapes the same ways. I need to look into some kind of bending mandrel. Wonder how hard it is to cut with a hacksaw...

It's definitely cheaper than buying angle iron or tubing.

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Old 04-13-2005, 04:42 PM   #22
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Speed limited

Okay, I found the factory line sheet for my bus located inside the hood behind the right headlight. The rear end is a 6.5:1. Boooo! I did the following calculations, assuming a 1:1 final drive ratio on the Allison AT540 (not 545).

2800 RPM engine speed (set)
35" tires (9"x200mm") with a 110" diameter
6.5:1 rear end ratio

2800/6.5 = 430.77 wheel RPM

430.77 RPM * 110"/Revolution = 47,384.7 inches/minute

There are 63,360 inches per mile (5,280 * 12).

(47,384.7 inches / minute) / (63,360 inches / mile) = .7479 miles per minute

or.....44.874 miles per hour. And that's about as fast as it would go on level ground coming home, so I must be in the ball park.

Cheapest fix would be a rear end clip or differential with a 4.33:1 ratio. That would give me a top speed of 67 MPH, which is way faster than I would want to go, but would give me crusing speed of 60 MPH at a relatively easy on the engine 2,500 RPM. THAT I could live with, especially since it would probably increase the fuel mileage substatially.
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Old 04-13-2005, 09:05 PM   #23
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That stuff comes off really easy without peeling up the paint. It has a lower adhesive than tape since it is made to release before the graphics do. A lot of pro painters use it as mask.

Go to the link below and click on "how-To" on the menu, slide down to "2004 motorcycle paintjob" and scroll through the pictures to see how they use this paper to mask their work. They used fine-line tape but you don't need to, it just gives a super sharp line.

http://www.autoaircolors.com/
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Old 04-19-2005, 08:33 PM   #24
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Whew. Slipping behind schedule



Well, I'm running about 2 days behind schedule.

I started installing the floor -- firring and foam insulation over a vapor barrier.

At the last minute I decided to add a radiant heat system below the floor. It is composed of 120' of CPVC tubing under the floor. What a huge PITA!!! I hope it pays off in comfort in the future. It's going to be solar, and possibly tied in to the engine coolant system. It has slowed me down by 50%, at least. There are pictures at http://www.skoolie.net/gallery2/album13?page=1 . I still have to fir out about 1/2 the front and install insulation there and cover with plywood. WHEW!

And I have an important essay to write for English tonight, which means no sleep for me.

I did get a really cool wooden maple syrup sugaring bucket off of e-Bay for a bathroom sink. I'm going to set it into a corner washstand (with a liner in it), and put the p-trap inside the bucket so that the only drainpipe shows coming out the bottom of it. We'll see!

Ciao!
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Old 04-20-2005, 09:30 AM   #25
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WoW I never thought of doing that to a skoolie floor. Awesome idea! Hope it all works out for you. My GF's parents just put that in their new house, its gonna be sweet, so I know you will love it.
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Old 04-20-2005, 11:49 AM   #26
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Just had a chance to look over yer gallery photo's. LOOKING GREAT! Got a kick out of going to "Bolivia" for yer bus, I'm the envy of my friends because I'm the only one with an "International" address!
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Old 04-21-2005, 11:28 PM   #27
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Progress report 04/22/05

Thanks for the encouragement. It helps a lot! I'm stressing heavily over getting this done by next week. My wife's landlord wants the bus gone by this weekend because "outside parties" don't like it there. Got news for him: outside parties don't pay the lease payment on the house for the right to the exclusive use of the property. Fortunately, he put in an e-mail that he's being influenced, and acting on behalf of, outside parties, which was not a smart thing to do from a contract law standpoint. If they pi$$ me off, I'll paint a bunch of pink and lime green polka-dots on it and park it there for another month...just to prove a point. GRRR!!! As if I didn't have enough to deal with.

Well, I got the very front of the bus firred. Whew! It has taken forever to put the flooring in. I will install the plywood tomorrow. Then I can start on the cabinetry. I'm definitely going to keep it simple. Essentially it will be modular, just plywood boxes of various sizes.

The base will be from the floor up to the seat rail (9" high after installation of 1 1/2" thick floor structure), and it will be recessed 4" closer to the walls from the upper section to allow for toe space. It will be just wide enough and tall enough to cover the wheel wells (that I need to fir, insulate, and cover with some 3/8" ply). Oh no, more firring! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! The base area not taken up by the wheel wells will have a simple pull out drawer for storage.

The upper section will be composed of three plywood boxes, side by side, each 1/3 the length of the counter, which is to be 84 3/4" long. All joinery will be simple butt joints, with cleats for added strength. Each 28 1/4" box will have two doors that are 11" wide. I may use 1" x 12" lumber for the doors for simplicity's sake.

The outside ends of the plywood boxes do not need to look good because they will be terminated with partition walls of 3/4" plywood. From the inside of the boxes, I will simply screw through the box into the 3/4" partition wall to mount the cabinet.

The front of the cabinet will be a sheet of 3/4" plywood with door holes cut in it. It will but joint to the boxes and be reinforced with cleats. The counter will be 3/4" plywood with 1/4" cementitious backer board on it for tile. I'm going to tile it in plain white wall tile. The cabinets will be painted white, too.

There will be a 3/4" plywood back on the cabinet extending up to the level of the middle of the window frame. The counter is going to be at 36" high, which is right in the middle of the lower window, and that would look funny, so essentially, there will be a backsplash above the counter to get up to the middle of the window frame. That way I can still open the windows.

I was going to put panels over some of the outside windows on both sides, but instead, I'm just going to do it on the side opposite the counter, where there will be some hanging lockers (i.e. closets). Or maybe I will just paint the windows black. I'm going to put dark window tinting film on the inside of the bus to keep out sunlight (they claim a 70% reduction in heat coming through the window.) The black painted windows would look like film, and would save me constructing an exterior panel (that would need maintenance, eventually).

The bus is white, and it REALLY helps keep the heat down. Even after sitting all day in the sun with the windows closed, the bus is not hot in the afternoon. Warmish, but not hot enough to make you start sweating. The window tinting should help reduce the heat even more.

Well, I spent 13 hours on the flooring today, and I'm still not done. Gotta pick up speed.
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Old 04-24-2005, 09:01 PM   #28
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Progress report 04/24/05

Putting up walls!

Floor's all done! Woo hoo! (Well, there's a section over the transmission access panel that I still need to do something with, but I'm not counting that.)

I got a later start at working than I wanted to today, and only got back from Home Depot with my lumber at about 3PM, but I manged to get 3 wall panels cut and fitted. It took about 3 hours to make a decent set of templates for the wall panels, a time expenditure I had not thought would be so great. After that it took about 3 hours to cut and fit each wall panel. Only 3 left to do, so I should be able to get those done tomorrow after school. Then I can fasten them down and start on the cabinetry that will be attached to them. I have altered my plans slightly: no modular cabinet under the kitchen counter, just a built in one. The stuff (water tank, pump, water heater) that I have to get under there just made the modular design unworkable. This should use less wood, as well (and funds are becoming a greater consideration).

I have the bathroom laid out, more or less. I need to cut away the flooring beneath the tub so that I can recess the tub by 1.5" lower than the floor height. The bottom inside of the tub will still be at floor height, but it won't be at floor height + 1.5" as it would be if I just installed it on top of the floor. I can just stand straight where the tub will be, as it is, so I can't reduce the headroom there by any fraction of an inch. The tub does look pretty cool sitting there in the back of the bus.

I can still see out the rear door, both top and bottom windows, from the driver's seat, so I'm pleased with that aspect of my layout.

Hmmm...that's about it for tonight. I'm going to go back out and paint the grille and reattach the hood gasket and hood rubber hold down straps that I took off for painting. And put the headlight trim rings back on.
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Old 05-06-2005, 08:48 PM   #29
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The cord is cut

What a week. Whew, boy, what a week!

Paradigm Shift is now at Parris Mountain State Park, at least for the weekend. My wife couldn't take her landlord harrassing her any more about the bus being in the yard, and finally ran the bus off. It's 85% complete inside, but not quite.

I got arrested and charged with Breach of Peace on Monday, and was in the freaking county jail until Tuesday morning. What a nightmare. Big fight (argument, not fisticuffs) in the front yard on Monday afternoon, and they rolled 7 police cars. Geeze! I had a cop pointing a freaking gun at me, got handcuffed, got locked up, and had to pay $140 bail. All over the bus being parked in the driveway. ARRRRRGGGHHHH. Now I'm going to have a freaking criminal record. What a damned nightmare.

I'll post pics (not mugshots) soon. I have a bunch in the camera. The bus drove well over to the park, not getting above 45mph at any time (since it is incapable of going any faster, that's no surprise.) The ranger was really polite: "You must be my buddy with the 'Internationale'." (I told my wife to call it an "Internationale" when she made the reservations. I was kidding, but apparently that's what she did.

Gotta get some grub and a shower and some clothes and a sleeping bag and airmattress and go back to the park. I didn't manage to get a bed installed yet...

Waiting for some other shoe to drop,

Your's, truly.
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Old 05-06-2005, 09:15 PM   #30
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That sure sucks, people can be such asses. You might be able to get some help from the Property Rights Foundation. I don't know all the details but you can check out their website. Good luck with everything. http://www.prfamerica.org/
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Old 05-07-2005, 10:02 AM   #31
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That would suck. I hope your luck changes. Was it the landlord or a neighbor?
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Old 05-08-2005, 01:58 PM   #32
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Camping Out

Boy, it was great to fall asleep to Whippoorwills Friday night at the park. I've had to move the bus twice within the campground due to site availability, but now I'm settled for a week at one site. I really can't do much work on the bus at the site, but I can do some quiet things like plumbing and finishing up the gas piping, which I completed all the way up to about two connections from the stove. I can also get the vinyl siding F-channel installed for the sliding doors on the hanging lockers and cabinets. I'm going to cut some other cabinetry trim pieces (facing boards) here at the house, pre-drill them, and install them very quietly with screws at the campground. I REALLY don't want to have any trouble at the campground, so I'm definitely not going to be making a bunch of construction noise. Fortunately I have a little hand-held brace that will allow me to do some minor drilling for the screws without making any noise at all.

We got all the wiring run late last week. There are only 3 12V circuits, and they are all 8 gauge stranded wire. Two are on the same side of the bus that will carry the house batteries, one runs under the bus through my 1 1/2" gray PVC wire conduit to the water pump. I ran both positive and negative cables, and I did not ground the negative to the frame. I want to maintain complete separation between my house batteries and the engine electrical system. That way I don't have to worry about isolaters or disconnect switches or anything like that. Eventually, I plan on being entirely solar powered for 12V, and until then, I plan on being attached to shore power. Eventually I will probably run a circuit that would allow me to connect the two systems, but I'm just not ready for that yet. When I do, however, it will probably have to be 4 gauge wire, given the distance between the house and engine batteries (about 25 feet, all told).

The 120V circuits are run, and all sockets hooked up. I just have to tighten the wires down and then connect them in the electrical box. I'm using a multimeter to double check everything that I'm doing, and plan to test the system by turning all the circuits off at their breakers, and then turning each one on individually to test the wiring. I don't anticipate any trouble, as it is pretty simple wiring, and there are only 6 circuits: forward lighting and forward receptacles (separate circuits) on each side, and one combination lighting and receptacle circuit on each side in the rear.

I did get 3 cheap ($ single tube 20 watt (or was it 25?) flourescent fixtures hard wired into the bus. One is centered on the left side of the living area (forward part of bus), one is centered over the dinette on the right side of the bus, and one is located under the kitchen shelf, just above and directly between the sink and stove. I got two 8 watt units that have an auxiliary socket on them for the bathrooms, but those haven't been installed yet. They are not going to be hardwired into the system, but instead are going to be plugged into the rear sockets on each side. One will be in the head area, and one will be over the washstand.

I'm having trouble finding a weatherproof cover to fit the weatherproof box that I installed for the external outlet box at the rear of the bus. All of the circuits are GFCI protected. I installed a 50 amp plug on my 25 foot 6 gauge umbilical cord, so of course the park has 30 amp service. Now I need to make a 30 amp to 50 amp adapter to use. It will be a short board with a 30 amp plug that is wired to a 50 amp socket. Another $20 I need to spend....

One of the last things that I did on Friday was to create a propane tank carrier underneath the bus. It's a plywood box about 24" by 19" that is hung from the frame members with 3/8" allthread and perforated flat steel straps about 3/32" thick. I may just be able to squeeze two 20# propane tanks in it. One fits with no problem. It is painted flat black, and you hardly notice it when looking at the bus, unless you are examining the bus fairly closely. It is located a few feet back from the differential and just in front of a cross frame member. I chose what I thought would be the most protected place under the bus for carrying a propane tank. Nothing is going to come through the differential and hit it, that's for sure! The tires could throw something up to hit it, but they're more likely to throw things in a different direction. The box is 1" thick plywood on the bottom, and 3/4" thick plywood on the sides, so it should be able withstand any road trash enough to protect the tanks inside. I still have 15" clearance beneath it, and I'd have to bottom out the rear bumper on an incline before I bottomed out the box.

I have a 45 day temporary plate on the vehicle. The clock started ticking on that on the day of vehicle purchase (not day of plate issue), so I have about 6 days left to get a permanent plate. In order to get the title changed, I have to submit pictures of the work, receipts, etc., so I have to at least have it looking complete in a couple of days, even if not everything is hooked up completely. As long as the pictures document that it is, in fact, a motorhome, and not a school bus any more, the DMV will be satisfied enough to issue a motorhome title.

One thing that I love about this bus: the engine cranks easily on the first try. I left the engine kill switch pulled once when I tried to crank it, and it wouldn't start. I was scared to death. I tried cranking it about 3 times before I realized that the kill switch was pulled. When I pushed that in, it fired right up. Boy, did I get a feeling of relief!

Well, I'll see if I can get the pictures posted. Then off to the Home Depot!
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:03 AM   #33
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General Post

I'm not sure who called the police. It wasn't the landlord, because he was in Toledo, OH. The argument (full blown shouting match) was with my wife. Soon to be ex-wife (that was already in the works, not a result of the argument). It was my fault I got arrested. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut better. Oh, well. Soon I'll be a convicted miscreant, so watch out, because "I have a death sentence in seven systems".

If anyone out there has a cellphone with a daytimer, camera, messaging, etc., I recommend the BitPim ( http://www.bitpim.org ) program. You have to get a $20 USB cable from Radio Shack to hook up the phone to the computer. The cable is sold "for use with XYZ (can't remember name)" commercial program that costs about $20.00, and is also for sale at Radio Shack, but you don't have to buy that program. BitPim is FREEWARE, and it does all the data management and downloading stuff that the $20.00 program does. Just get the USB cable that fits your phone, and it will work fine. I'm taking all my pictures with my cellphone. (They ain't great quality, but they work adequately for my purposes).

I am posting some pictures today from the last few days.
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:09 PM   #34
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See if your attorney can get a deferred prosecution agreement.
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Old 05-10-2005, 07:38 AM   #35
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Options

Thanks, I'm looking into something like that. "Noll prosse", I think is the term they use here. I am my own attorney, so we'll see...
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Old 05-10-2005, 01:00 PM   #36
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Dude, that f-ing blows. I almost had the same thing happen when my GF lived in a double and the bitch downstairs was talking **** about how we where loud when really they where the loud ones who smoked up every damn night. I was yelling and she tried to slam her door and call the cops, and i stepped in so she couldnt shut it and kept yelling at her. hahaha, I just got a warning by the cops. and we moved out the next week. God damn potheads.

Anyway, that really sucks and i feel for ya. As for the bus, looking and sounding good. Keep up the good work and dedication.

Oh ya, and if you want your LL to "get a flat tire" next time hes in Toledo... Let me know;)
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Old 05-10-2005, 08:57 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dammitAndy
Anyway, that really sucks and i feel for ya. As for the bus, looking and sounding good. Keep up the good work and dedication.
DITTO!

Quote:
Originally Posted by dammitAndy
Oh ya, and if you want your LL to "get a flat tire" next time hes in Toledo... Let me know;)
Again, I say DITTO (if in Greenville, NC area), but remember. . . slashing can get ya time in the penalty box, but 4 valve stem cores on the driver side window ledge above the door handle can be the difference between malicious mischief and a practical joke played on a jerk.
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Old 05-12-2005, 09:41 AM   #38
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Squeaking by...

Well, I just got out of court. The judge let me sign up for the Pre-Trial Intervention program, which is a relief. That beats a conviction and a record. Jeez, what a mess. I just can't wait to get it all over with. Anyway...

It's difficult working on the bus from a remote location. I can't do noisy work at the park. I've been shuttling bits of cabinetry back and forth between my wife's house and the park to get them sanded, stained, painted, etc., and that's marginally do-able. I found out last night that the stove's gas fitting was blocked by part of the counter subsurface, so I had to pull that board and bring it home to cut an access hole in it. The gas is almost completely installed, though, and once that board is cut I can plumb the final connection between the LP tank and the stove. Yipee! Then I will be able to make coffee!

Be careful when you buy plywood. I have discovered that not all of the 3/4" sheets of sheathing I bought are 3/4" thick. Some of them are 5/8" thick. They say 3/4" on the mill stamp, and they were in the 3/4" stack of lumber, but they are exactly 5/8" thick. This has left me with a 1/8" difference in height between some of the flooring sheets. I am in the process of applying wood filler to the joints in an effort to make them even enough to lay vinyl tile. I reckon it'll come out okay, but even if no one else notices, I'll know the deficiency is there.

Major projects left:

measure and run plumbing for bath (still haven't figured out a holding tank -- 6" PVC pipe and necessary fittings may be the final choice, but it's not extremely cost effective: I'm hoping to get a 30 gallon industrial barrel for free);

line bucket and barrel with fiberglass for sink and shower purposes;

install (design and create, really) composting toilet system;

lay vinyl tile;

tile kitchen countertop;

build some kind of panels with 3/4" insulation board behind them to cover wall sections above wiring chase (alternative to in-wall insulation);

build a kitchen table convertable into a bed;

install some additional shelving in one hanging locker;

partition kitchen shelf (which turns out to be of limited utility -- useful, but height limited);

install some kind of wall treatment on bathroom walls -- still planning on using weathered pallet boards for the outhouse look;

build a combination bookshelf and desk.

I think that's about it for the immediate future.

Well, I have to go check in with my bail bondsman and enroll in the PTI program...


...but that beats sitting in a cell at the detention center!
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Old 05-12-2005, 02:11 PM   #39
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Re: Squeaking by...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric von Kleist
It's difficult working on the bus from a remote location. I can't do noisy work at the park. I've been shuttling bits of cabinetry back and forth between my wife's house and the park to get them sanded, stained, painted, etc., and that's marginally do-able.
I know I'm not in a time crunch like you are, but I am 2 hrs away from my bus and only get to work on it on the weekends. It sucks! I do all my planning and research and reading this forum during the week. Then try to execute on the weekends. I just wish I could do some work in the evenings where I live, but I dont have the tools or air lines, or indoor facility to hide from the ghetto people that break into everything.

But at least I'm doing something constructive on the weekends instead of sleeping in and hanging out at the bars
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Old 05-13-2005, 04:46 PM   #40
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Chassis: International Harvester S-1700
Engine: 9L IHC V-8 Diesel 180HP
Rated Cap: 60
It's legal! :D

Woo-hoo! It's legal! I just got back from SCDMV, paid the $164.00 in fees, and had EVERYTHING they wanted. Should get the title in the mail in a few days. Got the tags and registration today.



Good thing, too, as the temporary tags expire on Sunday!

Okay, enough celebrating. Back to work!
Eric von Kleist is offline   Reply With Quote
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