Remove walls without damaging them?

[lifeinleftfield]

We are converting a 2002 GMC Thomas shorty. We were fairly happy when we saw there were no rivets, only screws, holding the walls on. I decided to remove some wall panels to make it easier to run some wiring where I want it, but I'm currently stuck...

I removed all the screws from the wall panel and started to pull it away from the wall. All went well until I got up by the window. It looks as if the aluminum might be folded over under the windows? Is that the case?

Is there an easy way I can remove the wall panel without damaging it so I can put it back in? Every tutorial I find is from people drilling out rivets and gutting the bus with no intention of reusing any of the wall materials...

Thanks!

[PNW_Steve]

I have worked on a couple of Thomas's of similar vintage.

We had to cut the top of the wall panels to get them out. It looked to me like the interior panels were installed first. They wrap over the window frames and a short way down the outside. Then the exterior panels are installed, trapping the interior panels in place.

If you are going use the bus as an RV I would suggest removing all of the interior metal, insulating and skinning the interior with wood or some material other than metal.

[lifeinleftfield]

Thanks! I figured they were going to come out easily but I was still hopeful.

[Marceps]

If you absolutely must reuse the wall panels, you should be able to fold them up and out of the way without completely removing them. Take care, however, as the wall panels double as flashing (so if you do cut them out, leave enough extra material to secure to the window sill beam).