1990 International-14" Roof Lift.

[Abbott]

Originally Posted by the_experience03

Did you find any of those "special" welds that took so many of those Carpenters out of use as you were exploring those roof panels?

I didn't find any cracked welds up along the rail. The bus had been previously inspected by the School District and they hadn't found any cracked welds either. If there had been cracks it would have been a fairly easy repair.

[Abbott]

This morning is the first day of decent weather we have had here in two-weeks and I am busy working on one of my son's trucks! I still hope to have a few more of the sheet metal joints buttoned up and the Bus ready for winter storage by Halloween.

[lapeer20m]

you sure made that look easy!

congrats on the project, she looks like she's going really well.

[Elliot Naess]

I want royalties. A penny for every mile you drive that thing.

[Abbott]

I just updated my Bus page with more photos, a material list and some work notes on installing the new skin. I hope some of you folks find it of interest.

New Skin

[Abbott]

Hello gang! Just waiting for the snow to melt here..then back to work!

[reprobate]

Welcome back and thanks. It was your posting of your roof raise that I first saw and prompted me to think, "I can do that!" 18" later we are off and running. Can't wait for you to get back at it and see some more cool stuff.

[Abbott]

We started back to work on our bus a couple of weeks ago, buttoning up the exterior sheet metal that I did not get finished before the snow came last year. I am very pleased with the way it is progressing. To attach the new exterior skin (20 ga. sheet metal) I reused the sheet metal screws I had removed from the inside of the bus. These being about 5/8" in length and 5/32" in diameter with a 'star' head. I purchased about 15- 5/32" drill bits and went to work drilling hundreds of holes. Where the screws went through the sheet metal into a body strut or rib, (either a factory rib or a piece of angle iron or tubing that I have added) they held just fine. Where the screws went through only a couple pieces of sheet metal, either the existing sheet metal or an overlap of two sheets that I installed there was a bit of a problem with the sheet metal screws not wanting to tighten up. Some would snug, others would just spin. This was unacceptable.

After trying various sheet metal fasteners (screws and rivets) I came back to using the same screws I had removed from the inside of the bus. However this time I had my wife on the inside of the bus with a box of locking nuts and a 10 millimeter open end wrench. Instead of hassling with a standard lock washer and nut I used nuts with a nylon insert. I had used these nuts for years while rebuilding and servicing railroad cars and I have found them to hold exceptionally well while standing up to the constant vibration from traveling. I purchased the locking nuts at Ace hardware. Purchasing a few hundred (I needed 300) of these nuts is cost prohibitive if you buy them separately. If you look in the back of the bolt bins at ACE (pull the drawer out farther) you will find them by the box (100 each). These are priced very reasonably, I paid $5.99 per box of 100 rather then the .13 cents each that they had them individually priced at.

Turning the original sheet metal screws into bolts with locking nuts on them has made an extremely large impact on the installation of the new skin! Not only have I added a locking nut to each new sheet metal screw, I went back and removed & replaced each sheet metal screw that was not run through the sheet metal and a body strut, tubing or piece of angle iron. Almost all of the screws are easily accessible and this procedure has only added a day's work to each side of the bus. The payoff in strength and quality has been tremendous!

[Abbott]

On a side note: This winter I also replaced my aging computer system. My new system uses Windows vista 64 bit as an operating system which has caused me a few issues with some of my favorite software. For instance Photoshop doesn't like the new 64-bit environment which leaves me lacking a critical tool for documenting (updating) the bus's build notes. When i find a work-around for this I will update the photos and notes on the build.

[Elliot Naess]

Yes, yes... NyLock nuts are the cat's whiskers! I pretty much use nothing else on any bolt, if I can help it. I buy them by the POUND at an industrial supply/surplus store. Now, using them on sheet metal screws is a new twist to me -- good on ya'!

[Abbott]

Originally Posted by Elliot Naess

Yes, yes... NyLock nuts are the cat's whiskers! I pretty much use nothing else on any bolt, if I can help it. I buy them by the POUND at an industrial supply/surplus store.

I like them as well. Many applications on railroad cars (which I spent a few years rebuilding) require them. The nuts I used while at Trailer Train were called Essna Nuts, the ones I purchase from ACE Hardware are called Stop Nuts. Nylock brand is the best description/brand name I have heard yet.

[Elliot Naess]

Yes, NyLock is probably a brand name, but a bit like Kleenex and Velcro -- household terms by now.

[Abbott]

More progress, walls and flat ceiling framed in. I went with a flat ceiling for several reasons. I wanted more of a motohome look inside, I wanted a well insulated attic with vent space and I like the idea of hanging cabinets from a flat ceiling. I also gave up about 3" in width to frame in the walls with flat studs. This offers me 3" of fiberglass in most of the wall space and lots of flexibility while I finish the interior. Finished height floor to ceiling will be 6'11".



I plan to cover half of the walls and the entire ceiling with 1/4" Luan from Lowe's. The stuff is actually 0.19" instead of 0.25" so it is a bit flimsy. Framing the walls and ceiling on 12" centers with flat studs where the Luan will be installed will offer adequate support. I also ran a row of blocks centerline on the ceiling to back up the only joint and to provide nailing for trim. The front half of the bus's walls will get 1"X6" T&G knotty pine so 16" stud centers were used from the wheel wells to the windshield.





At the back of the photo is the roof vent boxed out. I retained the original 2 speed fan and roof vent.




My wife took the entire assembly apart and cleaned it up, sanded it and primed it with Rustoleum. The fan motor was loud on high speed so while it was out I drilled a small hole in the rear bearing housing. I then inserted the the red plastic tube from a can of WD-40 and gave it a good spray. I also sprayed the front bearing housing under the fan blades. After lube/maintenance I let the fan motor sit for 30 minutes before operating it. This knocked the sound of the running fan motor down by about 70%.



Both sides of the vent were closed off with a 2"X4" flat on edge. The front and back openings were left open. This will allow the vent to evacuate hot air not only from the interior of the bus but from the small attic as well. Having a small 5" attic the length of the bus (which will be insulated with 31/2" of fiberglass) will allow hot air from two ceiling vents in the front of the bus (not installed yet) and from a channel behind the refrigerator (not built yet) to vent hot air from the 2-speed roof vent.

[timbuk]

NICE WORK ABBOT you must be a wood tick and a tin basher and yes its great to work on the bus on the wet coast when its dry and sunny just think about your bus on the coast if there is anywhere id take my bus on a longer journey it would be down the oregon coast might be a good place for a skoolie meet timbuk

[reprobate]

Wow! Your bus is going to be nice! All that framing looks great! That Lowe's ply is some flimsy stuff, no doubt. And if you just show it to the sun it wants to curl back into tree trunk shape. Works good though. Man your work looks good. Can't wait to see more progress pics.

[Abbott]

More progress: Long upper cabinet on the driver’s side going in.





The Dormitory refrigerator cabinet on the opposite wall going in. Note: In the photo you can see a piece of 1 1/4" PVC pipe I ran behind the cabinet. This will enable me to pull the wires for my back-up camera (when it arrives) behind the cabinet installation.

[Abbott]

Drivers side wall including 110-breaker box. The bus is wired for two 15 amp circuits and one 20 amp circuit.

[reprobate]

Your bus is looking damn nice!

[Abbott]

Thanks. It's getting there, once it's trimmed out, has some finish and some paint it will look good. I plan to paint the ceiling and all of the cabinetry (face frames and doors) with off-white semi-gloss enamel and finish the knotty pine with clear Polyurethane. That will brighten things up considerably. The R-13 insulation makes a HUGE difference even with the bus only half insulated you can feel the heat differential depending on where you’re standing. I would venture a guess that it's about a 10-15 degree difference without the heat radiating off of the inside sheet metal.

[Abbott]

The roof lift itself was pretty easy. It took me about a week (by myself) to get the roof ready to lift. The lift itself was done in 1-day with 2 people helping me. I easily could have raised it more then 14” if desired…once the roof starts going up one can stop lifting at the chosen height. I lifted mine 14” and then framed in a flat ceiling losing about 5” of height. Floor to flat ceiling in my bus with carpet is 6’ 11” (I am 6’). Re-skinning the bus was labor intensive and took me a few weeks (part-time) with some help to get done. I have step-by-step photos and descriptions of the roof lift and re-skinning at the link in my signature.

I got lucky and found some Knotty Pine at Lowe’s that had bad tongue cuts from the factory and was discount priced. They screwed up the T in the T&G After a few days of cutting this and adjusting that I have been able to rip the boards into something useful. The joints aren't the best but once I get it trimmed out, sealed and the cabinets painted I think the bus interior is going to look great! I have enough knotty pine to do the walls in the front room and the galley. I am already pleased with the "Cabin feel" the interior is taking on; just walking into the bus in the driveway feels like camping!