As trumpets sounds.....
We have work on the bus done after a VERY long break. After a bunch of ups and downs with a job we are semi soild enough for me spend a little money on it.
Sooooo I decided to start on the working on the skinning of the windows. This was very half assed done by the previous owners so I am just finishing what they started.
I invested in rivets off of Ebay. They seem to be very good pieces here is the link to the company
http://www.adprivet.com/ultimate_rivets.html only issue I has was I didnt buy enough of them. The rivet gun came from Harbor Freight. So far its been a good unit. It did a better job of clamping things together than the previous owner did so I assume they did a manual riveting. Heres a link to the rivetor.....
http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-qua...ter-98898.html
Ok few rules of engaugement here.
1) do not do this if you plan on using a cordless drill. Unless you have a SERIOUS bank of batteries. So plan on a electric drill and ear plugs.
2) make sure you order more than enough rivets. They dont ever go as far and you think. I spaced mine 2 inches apart and they are going like no tomorrow.
The previous owner started the window skinning project. They only put them up with a few rivets and I could only go on the assumption they will go back and do more of them but that never happend so I am doing just that. I am not sure how or what their method was on spacing but their were very random on their placement. I am planning on 2" spacing on mine so some of them will look ackward but I know mine will not have any issues.
Here is a pic of me getting started. What I did was I got a yard stick and cut it down to fit the window area. I marked it every 2" so I would make quick marks to drill the holes to put rivets in.
Once that is layed out I drilled the holes and stuck in rivets. I used 3/16 rivets and bought a 3/16 drill but. it works well but its still a little small so I had to wallow it around a bit to get them to fit. It was easier to drill the holes and go back with the rivetor.
Here is some of the handy work towards the back of it....
This is where I left off and will pick up again another day
Only issue I see coming is where the top meets the curved part of the drip edge of the bus. The sheet metal is not tall enough so its flapping at the top. Im going to have to look on the inside to see what i can weld in and have something to attach to but not sure. I will have to see how this will affect the windows I will be using down the road.
I will start to document more work these steps so I hope to have more to say here down the road. This site has helped me but Im trying to tell how and why I am doing what I am doing. Not lot of people tell how they do certain things and I think it helps people when they know and hear ever step of the way.
Bapos