Race car hauler project

[Peasant Racing]

A little background first I guess - I'm a retired coal mine millwright with a drag racing habit and operate a regional drag racing website here in Atlantic Canada: http://maritimedragracing.com. Got tired of the pickup truck towing an open trailer and staying in motels thing on race weekends so after a lot of searching I picked up an unfinished project that might make things easier. It's a 1990 Ford B700 with a 6.6 diesel that's already had the back part converted to car hauler complete with ramp and side door. What's left now it to put a wall in and build the remaining 12 feet to the back of the driver's seat into a camper of sorts. A little internet searching led me to this forum and I could tell right away there is a TON of good info to be had so we signed up. Here's a few pics of what we've got complete with all the junk that came with it LOL.

 

[gizmoq]

Looks a lot like mine (I have an 87 Wayne Lifeguard). I ripped out all the wood flooring in my garage because it had begun to rot. Wish I had the underfloor storage like yours.

You're the second toy hauler signed up this week. Welcome to the madness!

 

[sdwarf36]

Welcome.
Are you one of those crazy N.S. guys running NHRA stock? I seen them at e.town and figured how far you gotta tow.

 

[Peasant Racing]

Currently running a slooooow 1996 Saturn in both the Sportsman and Sport Compact series but we are planning on building a Stock class car in the near future. Being from Sydney on Cape Breton Island we've got even further to tow than any of the Maritime Stock/Superstock bunch. It's 7 hours tow from here to either Greenfield Dragway(Nova Scotia) or Miramichi Dragway(New Brunswick) and almost the same length of time but with a ferry ride in the middle to go to Raceway Park, Prince Edward Island.

 

[sdwarf36]

When I used to drag race (bikes) I would see some of your guys up at Epping. Hadda admire the the dedication to make a tow that far.

 

[Peasant Racing]

Tomorrow the cleanup starts. All but two passenger seats are gone and all that's left is a load of junk to cart off to the dump. Will be nice to get down to bare floor so I can start doing the camper part layout with masking tape - a tip I picked up in this forum.

 

[Peasant Racing]

The further I dig into this bus the more good things I find and the luckier I feel for grabbing this abandoned project. Spent two hours on cleanup and sorting through a bunch of NOS bus parts that were lying all over the floor and found brand new and still in the boxes tie rods, wheel bearings, oil filters, front brake pads and even two new rear brake drums.

All those parts and more including all the brake lines and exhaust had already been replaced and have less than 30 miles on any of them. The son of the guy I got the bus from works at the School Board Maintenance garage so it's not hard to figure out why the old girl works so good and has so many spare parts LOL. Those guys did a lot of work on that bus but once they came into a little money and the family got bigger they went with a motorhome and enclosed trailer instead and the bus project got ignored for a couple of years. Then I was at the right place at the right time and had the right subject come up and the rest is history.

Still looks messy but most of my cleanup time was spent carrying all those parts 200' to the garage and putting them away. All except for those heavy brake drums - those will make the trip in the bucket of the tractor.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Nice extras to find!

I bought a 63 Beetle when I was in high school that was still owned by the original purchaser. It was sitting all sad looking under a tree.
Paid $500 and pulled it home with another beetle. When I got to lookin through it, I found the front trunk was FULL of awesome and rare NOS parts and accessories!!!

 

[Peasant Racing]

Made a small bit of progress with the cleanup and found the offset car ramps under all the trash. Once I get the race car in there and tied down in it's final position I can start making the wall and the door that goes from those steps over the wheel tub into the camper part. Only been a member for a short time but I have picked up a whole bunch of ideas from this forum already. Some of you people are true craftsmen....

 

[Peasant Racing]

I've got this 1951 Ford 5 ton cab sitting around doing nothing and I was wondering how much work it would be to swap the front clip on my 1990 B700. Found a pic of an actual 1951 School bus so I thought it might look cool.

 

[Crazy]

Your B700 probably has a frame width of 34 inches give or take. If your '51 is close, you are off to a good start. How good are you working with sheet metal?

 

[Peasant Racing]

Sheet metal work is not a problem. Over the years we've chopped tops, shortened cars, customized all kinds of hybrid vehicles and built drag cars from scratch. Making the transition piece from the square cowl of the bus to the rounded body lines and V shaped hood of the 1951 will be the real challenge. Easy if I cut the cowl part off the 51's cab but I'm saving that complete cab for another bucket list project(rat rod).

Still trying to decide if the swap will be worth the effort. It's a lot of hours of head scratching, pattern making, metal working and MIG welding and that's IF it's wide enough to cover the tires. Those front fenders are way too wide for the 1969 F350 frame the cab is sitting on but only the tape measure will tell us if it will fit on the bus. Then again we could widen the 51's fenders if that's the case - fairly easy because of the flat mounting flange. See how I'm trying to talk myself into this project?

The whole plan needs a bit more thought before we even attempt it. I guess a check with the Nova Scotia DMV to check the legality of the conversion from a 1990 front clip to a 1951 might be a good idea first LOL. Ran into a problem with registration many years ago when we grafted a Jeep CJ front clip onto a 1947 F100. Eventually got it straightened out but it was an added hassle to the project.

 

[Peasant Racing]

Backed the race car into it's new winter quarters and discovered I'm not going to have the 12 1/2 feet for the camper section I thought at first. Going to be closer to 10 feet now but at 8 feet wide that should be plenty of room for weekend camping.

 

[EastCoastCB]

That's SO COOL! Rock on, man!

 

[gizmoq]

Backed the race car into it's new winter quarters and discovered I'm not going to have the 12 1/2 feet for the camper section I thought at first. Going to be closer to 10 feet now but at 8 feet wide that should be plenty of room for weekend camping.

With 10ft is there going to be room for a separator wall?

I ran into the same dilemma. I was counting on 16' for the house section and because the car is so long and I had to have a wall, I'm down to 12' from the front door to the divider. That just means I have to get creative with the overheads above the windshield and the space under the dash.

 

[Peasant Racing]

A divider wall 2 feet behind the car then gives me 10 feet up to the back of the driver's seat. Also that 2 feet behind the car gives me better access to the winch and tie-downs under the back of the car and some storage area for raceday stuff like jack and jackstands, fuel and water jugs, battery charger, etc. With the ramps offset that little bit I can open the driver's door enough to get in and out and the walkway along the side of the car to the back door is plenty wide even for a big guy like me.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Way cool! Lot'sa work, but way cool.

 

[Peasant Racing]

I think we've got a first draft for A floor plan. Toilet has to be where it is because that's the only place under the floor where the black water tank fits. Won't get used much anyway since all the drag strips we go to have toilets and showers on site.

 

[CaptSquid]

Try rigging all of the water on one side. Delete the vanity and use the sink for double duty.

 

[gizmoq]

Try rigging all of the water on one side. Delete the vanity and use the sink for double duty.

That's exactly what I did!

Hey P.R., have you considered doing away with the black tank and use a Loveable Loo instead. That way you can put both you fresh and grey tanks below. My floor plan is similar to yours, but instead of a futon, I have a jack-knife sofa sleeper with my fresh water tank under it but still inside the bus. I also put overhead storage over both the sofa and the dinette.

Comment on your floor plan:

Scale - if the grid represents 6" squares your draft is one column too wide, most busses are 7'6" wide inside. That 6" could hurt. The bath area is way too tiny even if you take the vanity out. The door is only 16". The distance from the toilet to the door is 12" - that's a size 10 shoe. Dropping trou and sitting in that little space is uncomfortable at best, impossible for larger or taller folks. Your hallway and garage door is only 18", I made mine 28 in case I need to move furniture or large items thru there (during my tear-down. I stored my couch, dinette, overheads, and captains chairs in the bus's garage). How tall is your fridge cause 12"x16" will barely hold a six-pack.

Layout - If you're not really needing an oven. You can buy a portable cooktop (1 or 2 eyes) and park it over the refrigerator and do away with the corner.. The microwave can go up on the overhead to regain counter space. Lastly, One thing I did for strength and to save some space is installed my 2x4s sideways so the walls are only 2" wide instead of 4". My wainscots and walls are all Luan for the same reason. Doing this means you have to create your own door frames, but it saved space while maintaining rigidity.

Please don't take this as criticism, I've been where you are and had to redo alot because the space was smaller than I thought. I had to resort to an outdoor shower cause my fridge took its space. I'm a small guy and my 30x30 water closet makes me claustrophobic. I really wanted to have the bathroom door serve double duty and lock off that part of the hallway to make the loo feel bigger, but moving the hinges to the front meant you couldn't get in there from the house section - bad plan. I'll update my build thread this weekend and show you some of the compromises I had to make .