Should I buy a mini-bus? Am I out of my mind?

[Jim Becker]

You also may be able to just move the seat tracks, depending on how things are setup.

[Bill Dufour]

I actually ended up buying the tilt column from ebay. It included the steering wheel with the cruise control switches and intermittent wipers switch/control box. later I bought the other criuise control stuff under the hood and connected it all up.
Bill D

Looked on ebay and I see chevy columns for $100-200 delivered. I have no idea what will fit.

[Bill Dufour]

Is the seat a factory stock seat or is it some special air ride commercial seat?
Bill D

[Zachary Hoyt]

I think the seat is factory. It just sits on a metal base, and slides back and forth manually. I might be able to move the whole base back a couple of inches, but I'm not sure yet. I need to look under there and see if there's anything that would be a problem. It's snowing today, but tomorrow is supposed to be above freezing and not snowing, so I'll probably dig deeper into it then.

[Bill Dufour]

Moved a seat years ago for a neighbor. Drilles four holes in the floor and underneath connected them front to rear with a hunk of heavy angle iron drilled to match.
Bill D

[Zachary Hoyt]

Sounds like a good plan, I'll just have to make sure there's nothing under there that I would hit when drilling. I forgot to check yesterday, so I looked today and found that the bus was inspected in December, and since it hasn't been driven much since then I imagine it should pass again pretty easily.

[Derek Meyer]

Zachary, thinking of you moving a seat in a vehicle makes me remember the scene from Police Academy where Hightower rips the front seat out of the car and uses the back seat to drive. Appropriate, because I think you are actually taller than Bubba Smith, who played Hightower.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I didn't see Police Academy, but I remember hearing on the radio a few years ago that some police organization in Germany had ordered a bunch of new cars only to find out that they were too small for most of the officers to fit in the front seat. I'm 7'1/2" tall last I knew, so most cars are a bit of a squeeze for me.

It looks like I can move the seat back, but I also spent some time trying to figure out how to fit myself in the existing scenario, and I can do it more or less. I think I will try driving it locally with the seat where it is now and see how uncomfortable that is, and then I can move the seat if necessary. I don't intend to keep the bus long term, so the less I have to change the better for future resale to normal persons.

[Jim Becker]

Well, if we ever do an SMC remake of Star Wars, we know who gets to be inside of the Wookie suit! . You are one tall dude, my friend!

[Zachary Hoyt]

I'll need a Wookie wig too, as most of my hair is taking the early retirement option.

[Jim Becker]

i'll need a wookie wig too, as most of my hair is taking the early retirement option.

roflol!!!!

[Bill Dufour]

How about swapping in a smaller steering wheel or the new Tesla steering thing that is not a wheel. More like a race car steering butterfly. Air bags in the wheel? Gold plated chain wheel perhaps.
Bill D

https://www.amazon.com/Alta-Bicycle-...784736042&th=1

[Zachary Hoyt]

I finally got around to replacing the broken glass pane in the passenger door today. I figured I would need to get it done before inspection. It got up around 50 in the afternoon and I had to go into town anyway for the blood drive, so I bought a piece of acrylic at the hardware store. The original was laminated glass, but I don't think it will matter for my purpose. The rubber gasket took a little prying and poking with a large blunt screwdriver, but finally everything is where it needs to be. I hadn't realized the pane was broken before I bought the bus, but it only cost $10 and less than an hour of work to replace it.

[Tom Bender]

'Not needing another project' says don't try to fix the driving position if you can get by with it as is. It's not your DD. You are going to need a cup holder and someplace to corral loose stuff like lunch, a coat and some tools for the trip. Screw a cardboard box to the floor and call it good. You have a shop to build.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Yes, I agree that it would be best not to do anything unnecessary to the bus. I'll have to see how I do driving it locally. If my leg goes to sleep in 15 minutes I'll need to do something, otherwise I should be fine. I don't intend to drive it back and forth more times than necessary, especially with gas prices what they are. There's a handy compartment in the wall above the driver's head that should be good for putting things like my computer that I want to have out of sight while in parking lots, and there are also some built in shelves behind the driver's seat that the school employees put in that are good for things like coats and small tools and such.