Astro van cat conversion

[Snowy Rivers]

Thanks.

Daddy trained me to be handy at just about everything......

Was a sad deal.....having to design and build a complete stove controller.

Luckily it was early spring when the one failed and the small stove carried us through to summer.

Had time to design, gather parts and get the box for the big stove built, tested and installed before the fall weather came on.

Then built a similar box for the little stove.
Repainted the living room and the stove just looked ...missing something....
Blue tape and paint...some lumber and a bit of fooling about.....
Really spruced up the corner

Chupi the cat had to get in the act too.
I sort of copied a piccy I found on line advertising custom fire places.
The little "Wood box" was made using a plastic tote as a template .....Was a fun project.
Did a similar treatment for the big stove.

Imagination is about 90% of this sort of stuff.

Not nearly as much fun as building snow cat parts.....but it needed to happen....

Old horse shoes from the stable...Clean, weld and paint.....Easy brackets for the mantle....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Hi troops.

Quick deal....My health has taken a real turn into the toilet....finishing the cat is just not gonna happen.
The cat is FOR SALE....
This thread pretty much tells the entire story of what has already been done on the machine.....
Everything I have for the project goes with it.....
The OC-12 IS ALL FRESH WITH NEW BEARINGS AND THE BANDS RELINED

PM ME and I will send my contact information.

Hey....It's been great fun.....

 

[Pontoon Princess]

truly sorry to hear,

sad that we, the snow cat community will not get to see you out with your snow cat at a gathering,

the journey is the best part of life's adventures,

I sincerely hope for the best, take care

 

[Track Addict]

Hope everything works out for you and you get better!

Post a link on the snowcat classifieds to get some more visibility.

Love the shell setup!

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thank you so much

70 years on the clock has taken it's toll....
But the journey this far has been great

 

[vintagebike]

Thanks Snowy. I've enjoyed the ride and the ridealong.

 

[m1west]

Ahh, I was looking forward to the adventure thread, after the build. Maybe if you sell it all of you can buy something running? Anyway like what others said, its been fun.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thanks.

I will not get another cat.

Just gonna take care of a few things and just hang out..

Been a swell time though these past few years......

 

[norscaner]

Damm Snowy..I really enjoyed following your threads. I wish you all the best.

 

[Pontoon Princess]

hope you are feeling the love, it is enough to melt a snowy river, the thread was epic and never ending we thought

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I appreciate all the good thoughts...
Sadly us old farts go along fine...then life comes up and smacks us.....

Not totally sure whats up yet....
I had the covid that started on Dec 29th and seems like it's gone...

Now there are other issues that can't be explained......
My gut feeling is that cancer is back.

I had Kidney cancer in 2012 and had surgery.....

We shall see.

Thanks again so much for the loyal following of my project.
Possibility that one of our members may be getting the cat.

Not sure yet....so will not say more at this time.....
If it does happen the cat will be going to a great home....

 

[vintagebike]

Our Thiokol 2100b will surely benefit from your journey.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Well now....Thats cool.
I do hope much of what I did can benefit others....

 

[vintagebike]

Just a thought...keep us all going, pick any subject and just talk about in the 'not necessarily snowcats' section. Just like Andy Rooney

 

[GMoose]

Hope you can still pass some of your knowledge along in this forum, it is always helpful and appreciated. Keep us updated, we care. Best of luck, Gmoose.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Vintage....Will do

Thanks so much Moose
I will continue to frequent the forum.
Happy to offer advice if I can

 

[PJL]

Snowcat or not don't be a stranger. You are always welcome here.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Don't worry.
I will stay in touch.......
Going to be checking with the Dr soon to see what we have going on....
The answers there will tell the story......

 

[Pontoon Princess]

for those thinking about buying SR project, here is a fabulous custom build, not complicated to build, the SR chassis would make a good platform to build from...

food for thought

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Sweet looking ride.....

Well so far there have been two scammers reply on craigs list and one of our members is thinking about it.

My cat would make one helluva machine when finished.....

Guess we will see what shakes.....

 

[PJL]

That KickerCat is awesome.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

There are some very sweet creations/Mods that have been done by folks over the years.......

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Nothing much going on.

Still kicking....Nothing happening on selling the cat.......

Just fed up with the low ball pukes that call up and want to offer $500
OMG ......These people can't be serious.....

 

[PJL]

Glad you are still up and kicking.
That OC-12 alone is worth a large pile of coin.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

YESS INDEED
I was able to save a huge chunk of $$$ on the bearings.... I got New old stock off ebay...
Still, the reline on the bands was $300 and change.

Yeah....I am not going to give it away.
Somebody offers me $10K and it's theirs

 

[Snowy Rivers]

SOME GOOD NEWS "I THINK"

Seems that the worst of my heath issues was/is/were related to that stinking Covid crud I had back in January
Predicting what all types of issues will happen are tough at best.
Feeling much better....(Subjective)
The symptoms come and go as the time passes.....but they can affect a lot more than just the respiratory system.
Anyone recovering from Covid may experience gut issues among other things that can be pretty nasty...

I lost 15 pounds with the Rona.....Has stabilized now....Actually did not hurt a thing to shed the extra baggage....

Still no serious inquiries on the cat.
There may be hope yet of getting back to work on it come spring time.
The worst fears were that cancer had returned....(Had a bout with that crap in 2012)
But it now seems the Rona is/was the culprit.....

Anyway....Don't count me out just yet..

Some days I get excited and want to get out and go after things...other days can be tough to get enthused about much at all....
Still....at 70 ya just never know......

This morning....sitting here planning the process to get the S10 BLAZER body off the frame and then the process of mounting it on the cat.
The front mounts will fit what is already done...

With excitement returning....it is a pleasant relief from the doom and gloom that has been persistent for the past month.
Doctors simply do not know near enough about this virus to know what all can/will happen.

Take care troops....

 

[norscaner]

Great to hear Snowy get well soon and back out to the shop

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thank you.

When the desire to do stuff returns....it is a good sign....

I will be very honest....at my age, when the normal routine of things gets loused up....it takes quite a while to get back up on the step......

 

[Puckle]

That's good news Snowy, hope you find renewed enthusiasm to crack on with the frankencat!

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Puckle
Thank you very much for the kind words.

If this morning is any indication of things....we are on the mend.

My intention are to keep on the project at this time.

If this had turned out to be cancer the attitude would be far different.

Having been down that road before.....not a pretty path to traverse......

Today we are getting the nut shell supply for the stoves stocked back up (Grind a couple barrel fulls) big rain coming by tonight through the week.

We have had snow on the ground this past week....and temps down near 15 F at night.
Two weeks ago we had 65 F and sunny.

Winters last gasp I guess
Spring will give time to get back into the grooves

I want to get the front clip off the S10 and then get after the body mounts.
This time around the front fenders and hood are gonna stay....Plan is to do a tilt front end.... Cut the fenders on a 45 degree angle to allow the area at the cowl to all fasten up and the hood, fenders and core support to tilt open for engine access..

Earlier in the fall I did some looking at a few S10 Blazers that folks had done the tilt front ends......Pretty easy....


Be safe