92 Thomas International Navistar - Page 14

BurlKing · 01-13-2017, 07:34 AM

lol! "take off layers and turn up thermostats" gave me a good laugh.
hopefully in a few hours i can take off layers and throw more wood in.

we're deciding still on our source of heat that we will switch between the wood stove depending on conditions. The wood stove is there for off-grid purposes pretty much, just the only way to heat the bus yet.

BurlKing · 01-13-2017, 05:31 PM

Spent the whole day doing the front end. We got way more than I thought we'd get done.

Here is a nice before shot, so bare. No heaters, defroster tunnels, doghouse, and the transmission and stick-shift base cover.

Made templates out of cardboard and jig sawed them out, worked out great. used sub-floor glue and actually used the same self-tappers that were in the original bus floor to fasten it back down. No doghouse cover in this one.

The doghouse cover is back on, just need to use butyl rubber to create the gasket and bolt it in, super easy.

The drivers seat pedestal is back in, again with nylock nuts and thread-lock glue on them through the bus floor, like it originally was, nice and safe. The drivers heat console and blowers are back in, as well as it being insulated behind that. We will be making a custom console that sits on top of that, it will hold all the wiring and switches that were previously there and more.

The only difference from the last picture is the defroster tunnels going back up. The front end is getting wrapped up pretty quickly. Might just go with some thick carpeting under the pedals, its on the list of many things left to decide.

cadillackid · 01-13-2017, 05:58 PM

lookin good!! though i wouldnt carpet anything underthe pedals.. that carpet will be nasty quick.. i would dynamat then put a vinyl covering over the area under the pedals and up the firewall as far as you can go...
-Christopher

milkmania · 01-13-2017, 10:04 PM

@BurlKing...
Dang! Your steering wheel is in the middle your bus!
My driver's seat is so tight against the left side, that it would hold a single sheet of paper between seat & wall. Actually, mine's got forward and backward rails, then left & right rails so you can get your legs between seat & doghouse.

A driver's door woulda been awesome!

BurlKing · 01-13-2017, 10:36 PM

Cadillackid - thanks for the tips! i'll probably go somewhat that route now, never knew about dynamat and all i could think of to put there is some thick indoor/outdoor carpet. If you know of anything else throw it my way.

milkmania - haha! it is a tad ways away from the window than i'd like. i swear you've gotta be at least 6'3" to crane your damn neck out the window. takes all i have at 5'6" to press in the clutch while in looking in reverse with my head out the window flipping between brake and throttle to get it back up on the pad we are parked now. I've got forward and back rails so i can easily reach the pedals, but sideways...that'd be great, oh and another swivel too.

BurlKing · 01-13-2017, 10:50 PM

cadillackid - would it be something like this? this as far up the firewall under the pedals as you can. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dynamat-1...sem#about-item

then cover that with something like this?
HDX 10 ft. Wide Textured Black Vinyl Universal Flooring Your Choice Length-HX55LV10X1MB - The Home Depot

cadillackid · 01-14-2017, 04:25 AM

It's normal for the wheel to be that far from the wall, the heater box needs to be strong to handle the bulk of the bus heat and defrost, I hope you rebuilt that bergstrom box before setting it in, in my carpenter it was designed so it must be removed to change the motors .. I gutted mine and put new fans and an A/C cool, bit if I were you I'd see if yours was like mine or if the motors can come out box in, if not then replace them now.

I would look for some vinyl truck flooring material to use, some of it is designed where you heat gun it to shape it,

I used hush mat sheets on my firewall and also rubber flex seal flex shot to seal all the cracks I could find where the bus transitioned from engine compartment to cabin, you have new wood so you should be much better than me to start off, I still get a lot of engine heat in summer on my feet.
Christopher

Phatman · 01-14-2017, 10:45 AM

The dynamat thing works Burlking. I use another material that is used for a/c duct wrap on my vw beetles. Floor & ceiling. It's about an 1/8" thick X12" wide. Works as a sound deadner and thermal barrier. Using it in BLUTO as well. You can get it at Home Depot but I can't remember the name of it. I will get the name of it and post it. Running errands with my honey right now. Ugghhhhh !!!!

Phatman · 01-14-2017, 10:55 AM

That product at Home Depot is called Quick Roof.

BurlKing · 01-14-2017, 01:26 PM

cadillackid, funny you mention that lol because i did restore that bergstrom heater box. took the fans out, cleaned them and tested them and labeled wires, then did the same with the radiator that was in there. mine was actually very easy to do, the fans just had to be removed in a specific order.

seriously though thanks for all the information. your ideas sound way more sound than what i had planned before. i know the exact cracks you speak of between the body and engine compartment, i got some caulk in those yesterday.

phatman - i was out running errands with mine too! i'll definitely have to check that out, thanks for spending your time to look that up.

browncrown · 01-14-2017, 01:39 PM

The new flooring up front looks nice!

Phatman · 01-14-2017, 01:53 PM

It looks like this BurlKing. The Roof Quick is in the roofing area. This stuff is in the A/C area. Roof Qick is only 6" wide. This stuff is 12" wide. I know the roof of a bus or floor board would take a bunch, but if you notice it has a sticky foam side and it really works great on old vw beetles. Those things are noisy and don't have a/c in them. Down here in south Texas YOU BE DAMNED IF YOU DON'T HAVE A/C. If you use the stuff, get you a can of heavy duty 3M spray adhesive. Don't trust the sticky foam up overhead.

BurlKing · 01-15-2017, 08:25 PM

starting to begin putting the walls up. here is the first one cut to the curve.

just placed for show

Finished up the whole length ones on the ribs, now onto framing out the windows with it, and then the ceiling! We were surprised how solid these felt once attached with glue and self-tappers.

cadillackid · 01-15-2017, 08:39 PM

nice to see the walls going in!! your bergstrom box is buolt to be serviecable.. mine was not.. it was designed so that to service the heater core or the fans it has to be removed from the bus. the screws were against the back wall.. when talking to Kysor (who bergstrom became).. they said yes some of them were designed that way..

you should be good to go now that you completely serviced it.. I knew I wanted A/C in the driver compartment so I gutted mine and built it from the ground up with one of the new units being an A/C..

I no lon ger have a first seat in my bus so I didnt need the first seat heater.. just the defrost and the driver heater.. (mine had 3 fans in it.)..

-Christopher

BurlKing · 01-15-2017, 08:44 PM

now that is cool! puts mine to shame, nice work man looks like it came straight from the factory. that'd be really nice going down the road right next to you.

cadillackid · 01-15-2017, 09:03 PM

its a huge help in summer.. I located the vents in such a way that they can be rotated down for winter driver heat. and then spun upwards for summer A/C..

I have to say im much more a fan of the Hurri-Hot units bluebird used prior to 1995.. those things were built much better and serviceable.. even the kysor / bergstrom box in my 2000 bluebird is serviceable.. both the motor and an access panel to the coil with a filter that is washable..

thomas does give you nice dash vents on the defrost ducts.. im thinking an A/C copil could be mounted inside yours and still keep the factory heater core..

though it all depends on how much travelling you are doing whether you want / need A/C in the driver seat.. I spend the majority of time driving my busses so it was important.. I wouldnt habve done it if I was just going to go on small weekend jaunts and be camped most of the time.
-Christopher

BurlKing · 01-16-2017, 04:06 PM

we worked a half day on the bus today, going to relax and prepare since the next 4 days seem to be alright with temps in the 40's. We did manage to make some progress though. All of the ceiling 2x2's got ripped into thirds. they are all 1/2" thick, and bend perfectly to the ceiling curve, the first one kind of sucked but like all things on this bus it gets easier the more you do it.

here you can see most of them cut into strips and set by the rib they need to go in at. Had to bring in the tools so they don't get freezing rain on them.

Then i had to counter-sink all of the screw holes because i didnt read the self-tapper box and got metal to metal and not wood to metal screws. The forstener bits came in handy though.

the screws are sunk in here, so whatever is on it will be flush. a nice view of the liquid nails getting squeezed out the sides as well.

This was as far as we got today. all of the ceiling supports cut and one done, so 12 left to glue and screw up.

cadillackid · 01-16-2017, 04:19 PM

what a cool way to do the curve!!
-Christopher

milkmania · 01-16-2017, 04:20 PM

For the guys that pulled down their ceiling panels, getting ready to insulate...
How are you reworking the ceiling endcaps?

Removing the endcaps, insulating and building cabinets and just leaving the steel endcap out?

Just spitballin' here.

BurlKing · 01-16-2017, 05:07 PM

thanks Cadillackid, makes dealing with that sudden curve much more manageable. we were going to go with this ceiling and a mix of nats vaulted ceiling in the four season prime, and use the ceiling we're currently building to hold in the insulation and run wiring and such in the space between that and the vaulted part. Now we're just thinking of running most wires along a channel near the beginning of the curve like it original was and just hiding it with an "access board" that runs from front to back.

Milkmania, i do not have an exact answer for you because i was saving the front and rear caps for last as those were almost left undecided what to do with them, except make them in cabinets like you mentioned. we dont plan to reinstall the first layer of the caps that were originally there, from the bare shell that you see now, it will be that and then insulation with framing to make it as square as possible, plywood to close it out and caulking the seams. the front cap we plan to have speakers on both sides because we have wiper motors in the way and there isnt much you can do with the space, and in between where the original emergency kit cubby was we plan to just build out with another cubby to hold emergency stuff (Fire extinguisher, maps, etc...) the rear cap will be shelving to hold clothes or other bedroom needs. I'm sure there will be a lot of band saw or jig saw work when it comes to the caps, not really looking forward to it! lol.

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