Hi sidecar 44
Like you I am a new member to this forum - am looking through the treads for info on building a motorhome. You sound like you have thought this project through well and will do a stirling job.
We have a common interest in sidecars as I'm a retire sidecar rider (42) myself, having stopped racing at the end of 2002 -only ride the senior meets now at Mac Park.

I to have bought a bus - a 1985 Meceedes and just about to embark on the building a motorhome with a view of using it when I return to racing -- with a period 5 chair
Cheers Adrian

Lol,Gday Adrian, we made our decision to but one after the SA Historics on New Years day.
We were at Mac Park with the Denning belonging to the Clancys and it was a no brainer to get one.
Were you at the SA Titles this year?

Ive decided to get our F2 built as I want to step up to that class as the Vincent,Chivos TZ and Bayliss running alcy now is getting to hard to stay in front on a cheeseburger budget.
So the P5 will be brought out at the big meets now.

What type of Merc have you got? Got any pics?

Ive found a pic of ours,was taken near Dubbo Zoo on the way home after picking it up


btw welcome aboard the forums

I understand your point about staying ahead of the likes of Chivo and Bayliss - but I raced against those people for years and on a shoes string budget - I'm sure I can do it again and give them a fair run for their money. I'm going to do it for the fun more than anything other wise I'd go back to modens and do national titles again.
The bus I bought is a 1985 Mercedes 1316 turbo diesel -used to be a school bus / coach -- have stripped the seats out and trying to get it registered - the RTA knocked me back because now it's classed as a van and the driver's seat requires a seat belt -- thats not a problem but they could not find the chassie no on the chassie and have told me to go home and find it - well I can't find it either - it's no the complience plate but they want to see it on the chassie.
I've had the bus in to have the brakes do and they had a look for it also - but with no success - so at present I'm under the bus going over the chassie with a wire brush and bright light.
Have added a photo - it's not in bad shape for it's age - motor was recond 130,000ks ago - no rust apart from some on the bin doors
Cheers Adrian

I must say things are a bit different now with the sidecars,its becoming a bit like cheque book racing.
Ive gone back to using deadstock engines and found that I was riding far better as my laptimes showed.
Was using the Wiseco 1166 kit but have used a stocky at 1075 now for a while and find it more fun as Im not wondering when it will go bang.......
But lets not talk about this years Historic Winton....I blew 2 up that weekend.
Still my main aim is to disgrace the Irving-Vincent as he knows we run a 108hp stocky and he would have close to 160hp,but funnily enough I dont mind getting beaten by Chivo as the ol fox is an awesome rider.....and I love 2stroke fumes
Anyways Ive been flatout with the coach,its finally stripped of everything including the old Coachair roof unit.
Big thanks the Robert at Bankstown Coach's for doing that stripout for us.
Took it down to get weighed aswell to find out where to load it up,got a 3.9t reading for the front axle and 8.15t for the rears so now I can start the fitout and see what we ended up putting in it.
We have upto 6t (front) and 13.5t(rear) max limits so Ill go close ove the front but the rear I should have close to 3 ton spare.
Ours could do with more front axle weight as she is so light to drive at 100kph and feels like my Hilux at times.....just so dam easy to drive.
Ive started to make a fliptop hydralically operated roof that I can open up and gaze at the stars from bed and have cut out most of the old wooden flooring to be replaced with redtounge as the yellow is a tad to thick.
Once the roof unit is done Ill paint the roof in thermal paint and seal it up before we start the fitout as I want to find any leak early in the build.
Plus not having it undercover I had to protect the exterior while we built it to keep any rust at bay.

Are u going to start a thread on your bus build?
Got a heap a q' ready to hit you up with.

Anyways here where we are at now,

Hi back again - understand what you say about standard engines -- I've ran stock for years - only blue printing them, it does keep blow ups to a min - you don't need wild engines to win titles - Lushy proved that as has others -- I work on the principle that until you can get all the power to the ground only then do you need to run non stock. I ran in the top six in the Aussie tiles for years with them principles.
As for starting a thread of my own - I probably will when I finally get round to starting the build -- I am currently on long service leave for the purpose of doing exactly that -- BUT! - have been caught up with an other project - rebuilding a horse float for Lesa - my partner - it's taking long than I expected -- also I've had to get my fences up to standard, as I have some steers who have learnt the art of finding weak spots in the fences. -
Hopefully I'll get to start on the bus in a few weeks when I have gained enough brownie points. I'm lucky that I have a 18 x 15 metre shed which the bus is parked in - so the weather won't be problem when I do start - the brother of the person I bought the property from used to run a super carting business and used the shed to park his trucks in. The bus fits in there very nicely - although only just clearing the rafters.
Anyway the first thing I need to do is find the chassie number so I can get the bus registered - then like you, I would like to get it weighed and work out the weight distrabution - I have drawn a mud map of where things are going to go - and drawn them out on the floor -- started to buy water heaters, tanks, toilet etc - amazing what you can get on the net and ebay - makes shopping so much easier - particually when you live in a rural area.
Have attached some possible pics of interest
Cheers

Is the sidecar shot taken at PI? Looks like you have just come over Lukey Heights coming into MG.
Ive had to take a short sidecar break and finish the coach as I cant actually get the outfit out of the garage as the coach is blocking the driveway.
Just give me more incentive to get the fitout done as Im hanging to race again.

Its been a nuts few days working on the coach,so far Ive managed to build the new poptop roof unitover the master bedroom but am still nutting out the hydralic ram mounts for the lid lift.
Hopefully by the weekend it should be all welded up,rams fitted and hopefully get this thing installed into the old AC hole...........
Going to interesting getting it 4mt off the ground then into the old hole.
Ive made it so it disassembles enough so 2-3 people can lift it onto the carport roof then Ill back the coach back to the edge of the carport and lift it in from there.
Must admit Im spoilt living where I am in Melb,there is every store I need mostly within an 8km range from an RV store,metal suppliers,bolt shops,paint supplies,truckbits, bloody everything.

The only thing Melb is USELESS for is watertanks.Ive had to get mine through Queensland as they seem to be the only state with tank manufacturers apart from NSW(way to pricey there).

There has been 1 bloke that has been a massive help an that is Bill from motohomeconversion.com.au Ive been following his build progress and he has done a fantastic job on his so far.
He has been a wealth of info aswell and I cant thank him enough.

Heres some piccys of the roof lift assembly during its build,note rams arnt mounted yet nor were the hinges fitted.

Lil bit of an update,
finally got the poormans rooflift finished ready to paint this week and install.
Have a fibreglasser ready to make a roof panel for the flip top next week so hopefully we should be sealed up ready to start inside.

S/Car,

Nice work.

Keep the pictures coming.

SD

Hey all,
Well its been a nuts few weeks getting the roof unit made and fitted in,between the rain,hail and wind...(Bloody Melbourne) Ive managed to make some progress.
So far Ive spent close to 3 weeks,every weekend and most nights for an hour or so to get the coach sealed up from the elements.
I have a mate popping over to make the fliptop roof cover and will blend in back into the roofpod and also tidy up around where the new air intake comes out.
I will cut the pipe back on the some shape as the pod and fibreglass another mesh grille into the opening.
Whats left is to seal the sides up with some gal sheet(recycled from the interior skins:) and Sikaflex em on as I cant get in there to screw them down.
Then when the roof is done Ill start cutting out the old RHS thats been corroded from the old toilet area......urine is dam nasty on steel over time. Pics to come soon
Heres some of the roof and air intake so far.

and some more