Basils Bitza

Howdy All,

A few have asked what is this secret project is im working on so I reckon it was about time to own up.
Whilst I enjoyed driving the 190 across to the right coast it was a painfull experience, noisy, hot hard work so Ive been building myself abit of a custom out of bits I have around to make abit more of a comfortable faster old style tug to pull my float and this is what ive come up with.
1949 GMC with 420 horse Scania power. Im staying with the synchro box to make it easier for Deb to drive. 3.42 Spicer backend will give me around a 100 clicks at 1700revs.
Aircon and some bostroms she should be a good ride.
Basil

lookin great there jimmy diesel
better hurry up with this one before the the white ants step in

OH and Andy sez congratz on the tie-nnn the nott, nott before time

Hi Melon,

No chance of the white ants settling into it. Im full steam ahead with it to try and finish for the run to Alice next year.
Pretty well finished the mock up so I will start stripping it shortly and start blasting.
Running gear is all done except for paint.
Just got to work out what suspension to run under the back of it ???
I was thinking of air bag so I would appreciate some comments wether its a good idea or not for a single drive.

Basil

nice job mate. good to see something different. we are eagerly awaiting the finished masterpiece.

Bazzr
GuddayM8
firstly congratz on the knot tyin bit
Weelll dun

Bout the GMC beast
Have U decided on a color scheme
( no matter wotya paint it sum one will say U stole the color scheme )
With the scania tikn over @ 1700 th@ will put fuel back into the tank
but I dont think it will B more economical than the screeemer powered 190
Spose we could have acompetition to name the GMC Beast

The Western Cruiser

WotSayU
LOL
Cya
[ch9786]

Hi Basil,looks good mate,the V8 scania`s sound nice,you might need a 5'' straight through muffler to give it that nice thump.Air bags on single drive`s are fine as long as you`ve got at least a little bit of wieght on them,otherwise they ride quite rough with no wieght on them,same as everything else I suppose.Another option might be some long parabolics out of something european,Volvo/Scania.A nice ride,no niose or heat,what are you thinking?I must admit it is fun for a couple of hours,but after that it wears a bit thin.It looks like a Scania chassis your using?They are a bit narrower in the rails than the American gear.I reckon it`ll sound as good as it`s going to look mate.

Howdy All,

A few have asked what is this secret project is im working on so I reckon it was about time to own up.
Whilst I enjoyed driving the 190 across to the right coast it was a painfull experience, noisy, hot hard work so Ive been building myself abit of a custom out of bits I have around to make abit more of a comfortable faster old style tug to pull my float and this is what ive come up with.
1949 GMC with 420 horse Scania power. Im staying with the synchro box to make it easier for Deb to drive. 3.42 Spicer backend will give me around a 100 clicks at 1700revs.
Aircon and some bostroms she should be a good ride.
Basil

Basil,

The Yank Set won't know what's what with the GMC! Euro power and driveline with American cab and panels!

Joe

Hello Swish and Cam,

Swish I have my paint. Dark charcoal grey for front guards, chassis and all the running gear. Engine will be Scania orange with some polished rocker covers.
Cab and bonnet etc will be Mercedes silver.
Got sum shiney bits to go on also. Stainless rear guards and air cleaners etc.
Cam,
Ive set it up with twin 5

The old 3070,I had a couple,and they where noted for their ride as I`m sure you know.You could nearly use the old Roadranger range change valve on the Scania box and hide it`s heritage?Mind in the old days (that is a sliding scale on how many birthdays you may have enjoyed) ZF syncro`s where used in a lot of things.
It`s a great combo mate,when I did my apprentiship in the early 80`s,not long after I worked in the Used Truck yard of the same dealer,they all reckoned the Europeans had the ride and the yanks had the go.I remember they bought about 6 or 7, 141 Scania`s ex Brambles I think,I could well bde wrong,they came from the south and used to run west,380 hp,big power then,and very quick.I did a couple of months with Diesel motors,Adelaide, in about 1988 and I thought they where a good thing to work on.

Cam,

Ive had to get abit creative with the gearchange. Im using a remote stick thingo off a KW cabover with a linkage to get the stick back in the right place so I can have a straight stick with a cat handle. Its a good idea you have to use a RR button for the range part. The Scania uses two 24volt solenoid valves and a switch but I want to run 12 volt so that would fix that problem.
I was going to use an early 16 speed spicer box then thought about it abit and why not use the scania box. Air clutch and everything is there ready to go and the cook will manage it. She struggles with the RR abit so she'd be in the poo with the spicer.
Unless someone has a better idea I will probibly stay with the 3070 springs.
Ive never driven a single drive with air bag so I have no idea wether its the best thing to do.

Basil