Thread: Need help on bus origins.

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Just got a message from Noel McMillin: 'Ring me'.
So I did.

It seems that the steering is still binding, so he's talked to Willie Roach, whose advice was to get both the steering boxes and the pump calibrated together; it seems that it's possible for one or all of them to be slightly out of sync, which will affect the operation of the whole system.
He reckoned he didn't understand it properly, but when Willie explained it it seemed to make sense; and of anybody it would be Willie who would have the answers!
Just ******* do it!

Also; it seems the seats were not what I had specifically asked Starfish Interiors for; they're for an hgv, not for a 'light' vehicle, and will therefore have to be strengthened...at a cost to me of around $800...it will take about a fortnight and they will lose their recliner action.
Just ******* do that too...I'm getting ****** off with the delay.
Sheesh!

It's ten weeks as of today since the vehicle landed ar their workshop; and they still haven't got it sussed...I am not impressed...and I'm not happy!
And I rather think that message got through.

I have deliberately refrained from making contact with any involved in this Certification debacle; because I know damned well I couldn't refrain from venting...and I'm aware too that when I eventually get to pick the bus up I'm going to have to keep a tight rein on my feelings.
But if someone were to make a smart-ass comment...

('Scuse me; I've gotta go...off to see the Bank Manager to arrange another mortgage...and to buy another tub of ice-cream...)

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Ice Cream will calm you some, but I think I'd be holding back some $$$ if they can't get the job done.

As of last thursday its been fifteen weeks since the bus landed at Nostalgia Motors in Hamilton.
And it's still not certified.
So on Friday She and I fired up the '47 and drove the four hour trip north to talk to the man.
I've been patience personified over this bureaucratic debacle, and now I'm going to be demanding answers.

I didn't get them.

The short answer is: we've 'over' engineered it by putting it on a chassis that's heavier than the bus requires...the chassis is rated by GM for 6.5 tons, and the bus will weigh in at a gvm/gvw of well under 4 tons.
But the bureaucrat-with-the-clipboard from LTSA (Land Transport Safety Authority,) maintains that the factory chassis rating is the only figure he can judge the vehicle by...and that the 6.5 rating puts it into a heavy goods vehicle class.
If it had had 'caravan-type' stuff in it he could potentially have rated it as a motor home...a different class entirely. But it didn't have anything in the back; so he insists it's a heavy goods vehicle.
(If I'd have outfitted it as a motor home prior to certification they'd have insisted on ripping it apart to check the internal structural integrity...a Catch 22 situation.)
I took all my documentation and my scrap-book with me and was able to show everything we'd planned, and what we proposed to Noel McMillin, the proprietor of Nostalgia Motors.
He got his office girl to photocopy the lot...about 100 foolscap sized pages, detailing our trip back to Billings Oklahoma, and quotes and estimates from the people I intend to get to fit the interior, and all things in-between.
"This might just persuade the b*****d," he said.
I surely hope so!
A meeting of minds and a punching of heads can sometimes be almost the same thing.

And so back home to another tub of icecream.

So here's hoping!

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I wish you luck as sometimes you just can't get them to understand..But on the good side there that dependable ICE CREAM

The logic of bureaucrats is often so skewed from the rational that one cannot see the path they've followed to get there. It seems obvious that regardless the capacity of the chassis, if the bodyworks mounted weigh less, and there is not cargo space built to carry freight loads then the vehicle rating follows the load carrying capacity that can be accommodated, in this case a few passengers and their provisions. To go by the chassis capacity would lead one to say that if GM used that chassis for multiple applications, say from "heavy goods" to pickup trucks to city buses they would all be classed to the chassis max. I sympathize with your situation and hope that you get a nice Christmas surprise of a new certification in your stocking, if not before.

Along with the other well wishers.. sigh.. I'm not sure what to say other than "THOSE B _ S T _ R D S!".... I think eventually "we" here in the states will have the same situation and bureaucracy as you folks do now.

And yes, I rue the day and guess I'll buy stock in Ben & Jerry's.....

Originally Posted by 34_40

Along with the other well wishers.. sigh.. I'm not sure what to say other than "THOSE B _ S T _ R D S!".... I think eventually "we" here in the states will have the same situation and bureaucracy as you folks do now.

And yes, I rue the day and guess I'll buy stock in Ben & Jerry's.....

Or Remington Arms Company, LLC......

Thanks Charlie!

Roger: you're right with your assumption that GM used essentially the same chassis for different applications; they just lengthened or shortened the chassis rails as needed.
To you and me to apply the highest potential rating where it's obviously not applicable in a particular usage of the chassis is a no-brainer.
But to get that viewpoint into the head of some idjit with a modicum of authority...

Sigh.

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Originally Posted by rspears

Or Remington Arms Company, LLC......

Amen Brother!! Amen!!

Originally Posted by rspears

Or Remington Arms Company, LLC......

Oh boy!

I hear ya on that one!



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This is not an update; there's nothing to update.
Its been seven months come next Sunday since the bus went to Nostalgia Motors for certification.
And it hasn't happened yet.

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Originally Posted by johnboy

This is not an update; there's nothing to update.
Its been seven months come next Sunday since the bus went to Nostalgia Motors for certification.
And it hasn't happened yet..

That's just terrible! I don't know the words that could make you feel better... Gov't. Bull Stuff!!!

Originally Posted by johnboy

This is not an update; there's nothing to update.
Its been seven months come next Sunday since the bus went to Nostalgia Motors for certification.
And it hasn't happened yet.

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John,,what the ##@**&^$ is going on up there??Is it because it's a heavy motor vehicle(just)??or are the boobycrats just dickin you around?? or what?? What can Justin do??if anything??I suppose he cant rock the boat too much.. Or is Noel just fiddlin with it?? I have NEVER heard of so much excrement over a certification..
I smell trouble,,just read ya Ramblings,John.. Go....Leakers.. Wanna be there and watch..hehe...

It's time for a bribe

It's a b***dy farce.
Justin can do nothing...it's well out of his sphere now...LVVTA (Justin's crowd,) are completely out of the picture, Land Transport are controlling every facet of it now.
I can't blame Noel McMillin; he can only do what LTSA tell him to do.
And it appears to me that one fella in LTSA has a snitch on either Noel or myself.
We have never before had a vehicle take more than three days to go through certification.

First off was their (read 'his',) insistence that it had to be classified as a 'heavy goods vehicle'.
Okay, I don't like it; but I can live with it.
Just let it be certified!

But no.
The next 'requirement' was the pink slip for the pick-up truck that the donor chassis came from.
We managed to get it.
Okay; now certify it!

But no.
The next 'requirement' was the FMVSS (Federal Moto Vehicle Safety Standard) sticker from said truck.
I'd got shot of that cab over two years ago, but managed to track it down.
Thankfully it was still intact, and I was able to get photographs of the FMVSS tag.

But why oh why would such things be needed?
The body now on the truck chassis does not resemble in any way, shape, or form the initial body.
So the FMVSS is now totally irrelevant.
And essentially, in New Zealand, the pink slip is meaningless.
Prevarication?
I drew my own conclusions.
So now certify it!

Sigh.

The K member we put in to support the gear-box has been okayed.
And the drive-shaft loops.
The jury's still out on the steering.

And that's where things stand. (Stand being the operative word!) It's still not certified.

I'd thought of contacting my local Member of Parliament about it, with LTSA being a Government entity; but was told by those that know and understand how the 'system' works that that would actually prove to be a negative move.
My hands are tied...there's nowt more I can do...until the next stupid demand sends me off on another meaningless wild goose chase.

Its gone past ice cream...we're in rum territory now!
And doubles at that!

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