SCHOOL BUS MOTORSPORTS PREP TIPS

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these tips DO NOT gauarantee a win or added safety
1. The front bumper should be trimmed on each side one foot, the reason being that sometimes the bumper bends into the wheel and keeps it from turning. Ive seen some people remove the front bumper off the bus completely but that gives less protection and wont keep the frame rails in guage. There are some speedways with rules that make you trim the front bumper, so don't put a sponsors name on the full length of the bumper. Using an oxy acytelene torch is the best way to trim but you can also use a reciprocating saw.

2. Some speedways make you take off the side view mirrors and all the windows except the windshield, the side windows have screws that hold the aluminum window frames in place, the screws will probably be rusted so you can hit them with a hammer to loosen them up. If there are 6 screws holding in the window(2 top 2 middle 2 bottom) you can remove the top 4 screws and pull the windows out from the top breaking off a small portions of the window frame on the bottom. All the aluminum in those window frames can be cashed in to help pay for the bus! You can smash the glass out of each frame and pull the rubber trim out, the total cash from all the aluminum should be about $40. The side view mirrors can be unbolted or cut off but if your driving the bus there you need to do that when you get there. The inside rearview can probably be left there but that tinted cover needs to come down. Just pull down and push toward windshield to pop it out of its sockets.

3. Some speedways make you remove the seats or seat foam. The bus is less likely to catch on fire that way. Some places will let you keep the seats as they are, some make you take off just the bottom cushions(they come out easy when you pull the lever on underneath of seats), some places make you take off the bottom cushion and top cushion(for top cushion slash lower back portion of seat)or you can remove the whole seatframe, go under the seats and remove all the bolts that hold the frame in. I don't know how to recycle this stuff but if you know you can tell us in the forum, just don't pay money to get rid of these things because you can always put them in a restaurant trash container if you get permission.

4. It will probably help to remove the back bumper completely. Sometimes it will get caught on the top bumper of another bus and your bus will run perfectly fine and you cant go anywhere because your back end is up on another bus. Removing the back bumper makes the back end crumple up quicker but you really need not worry since it is almost impossible to mash the back end all the way to the wheel wells in one demo derby. If you keep the back bumper try to back into the sides of the front wheels of other buses, if you remove the bumper try to back into other buses radiators. If you remove the back bumper there may also be metal on the frame rails sticking down that you should cut off.

5. Some speedways make you remove the rear emergency door and the front door and that hand lever for the front doors. If you don't have to remove them then you should chain the front door shut because if its open another bus could push the whole firewall forward by getting its bumper in the doorway, this could cause electrical problems. If your too big to fit through the bottom window of the door then maybe you should cut the bottom portion of the door off. Put padding on the edges so you don't scrape your back.

6. If your school bus is from before 1977 then some speedways will make you use a marine gas tank because the buses back then usually did not have a frame to protect the gas tank. The marine tank may have to be metal and you will probably need a firewall to separate you and the tank inside the bus.

7. Just like in a car demolition derby but even more important in a school bus demolition derby you should remove the stock fan and replace it with an electric fan. If there is not enough time to put an electric fan on running with no radiator fan at all is probably better than with the stock fan, just turn the interior heat up all the way. Be aware though that you may have to do parade laps or a figure 8 race just before the demo heating up your engine.

8. The whole front axle assembly is attached to the leaf springs with U bolts. Sometimes the U bolts break or the front axle assembly slides backwards down the leaf spring so one of the front wheels touches the wheel well. put a lot of grease on the back portions of the front wheel wells. make sure there is nothing that could cut the tire also.

9. Make sure the battery is bolted down tight or attached tight somehow, make sure the battery cables are on tight too.

10. One of the most important things about preparing the bus is the drivers seat. The drivers seat on the older buses (the ones that currently run in demos) have a seat back that does not go up the full height, (like a car seat) they do not have headrest If your tall the seat back is not even the full height of your back. This makes it painfull to your back. What I do is I cut a piece of plywood the width of the seat and high enough from the floor to go to head level, I put this piece of plywood between the drivers seat and that padded area for the first passenger seat. I put a whole lot of padding (not wrapped too tight) above the drivers seat on the plywood so I have a headrest! Make sure the plywood is fastend down well. Now you have a headrest so you can back into other buses as fast as the bus can go backwards with a minimum amount of pain!!!!! Remember the more soft padding the less pain. In the future (when the new buses that have drivers seat head rest) are worn out and ready for the demolition derby we can skip this step!

11.figure 8 race tip: If you go too slowly through the figure 8 X and get hit on the side by another bus your driveshaft is likely to be broken. The faster your driveshaft is spinning the less likely it is to break from a side impact so don't go too slowly through the Figure 8 X.

Here are some ways you can make profit from running school buses in demolition derby's, I still need to learn more but this is what I know so far. First you want to start off by buying the cheapest bus you can find that can still drive, here are some ways to pay for that bus.

1. Some speedways pay you money just for showing up with the bus to wreck it, so instead of paying money for the entrance fee (like in a car demolition derby) you get money!

2. Most speedways make you remove all the windows except the windshield, all the side windows have aluminum frames. You can smash all the windows out of the aluminum frames and get about $40 dollars in aluminum scrap!

3. If the tires are in good shape you can sell them after the demo, although the speedway may need you to keep the tires on the back if your going to leave the bus there so that they can tow it.

4. You can try to sell all the space on the bus for advertisement to sponsors before race night. Also, stop at a few places on the way to the track and ask--- when business owners realize it's a BUS that they will sponsor as a glorified rolling billboard, they may say YES. Try to get sponsors at the speedway. Most tracks will help you out by making an announcement to potential sponsors in the stands.

5.If the price of scrap metal is currently high you may be able to sell the bus to a local scrap dealer after the demo, make sure the price of towing it there is not more than the price you get paid for it. You may also be able to fix the bus for another demo if you can find a place to store it.

6.Will ad more as I learn more.