BruinGilda the Aeroswine

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Tullamore

Do you think you could do a little experiment for me. Measure the outside temperature and then the temperature in your pump house. I would like to know how many degrees that bulb can raise the temperature per cubic foot.

[Vern1]

Greetings,

Sorry, it's been short sleeve tee shirt weather here in Texas until last night.

I will try to get this info for you this week - if the weather cooperates!

[Vern1]

Greetings,

Page 4 in all it's glory????

http://www.pettypb.com/bus/index4.htm

Getting closer to maiden test run......only a few (dozen) things to complete:



Outside:

1. install permanent gas line to genset

2. finish primer

3. paint and detail including roof

4. install reflectors and marker lights

5. change fluids and filters



Inside:

1. doors and drawers on cabinets

2. insulate and panel back door

3. carpet/astroturf

4. install seats and seat belts - all seats will have seatbelts

5. install 2 table pedestal bases in floor and fab table tops.

6. make and install curtains

7. finish driver cab area

8. install towel rack and tp holder in bathroom

9. and on and on and on.....



Enjoy!

[soused moose]

Wow! That's a great Conversion job Vern!

I can't wait to see the interior finished ...



I'm still plodding along on our Bus...the endless bad weather is starting to get me down though

[Les Lampman]

Wow! The bus is really coming together and looking super! What a great job! Thanks for all the fine photos, they're an inspiration for sure. (BTW, I couldn't get the Page 3 photos to load this morning.)



How are you doing the interior floor; that is, from the black rubber floor that came in the bus what steps are you taking (did you take) to the final material?



How did the waste tank install go? Were you happy with the method you used?

[Vern1]

Greetings,

I think I fixed the htm on page 3.

I hate all the formatting that FrontPage adds to the code.

I sometimes have to manually go into the html with notepad or wordpad and fix it.



As for the floor....

There are quite a few areas already insulated from underneath over my bays, tanks, etc. and the rest has a pretty heavy undercoating - I know it's pretty thick as I had to chip it off wherever I welded my bays, tank mounts, etc. on.

After the seats were all unbolted, I took an air chisel to the strips that held down the rubber and trimmed around the edges, fender wells, etc.

The screws were mostly rusted from the bottom and no amount of screwdriver power would remove some of them.

If they were sticking up, they got ground down.

Then, I removed all the rubber flooring as it was funky in a few places.

After removing all the rubber and about a 5 gallong bucket of crud from under the rubber, I treated the rust.

After that, I painted the floor with epoxy paint.

Then, I sealed the seat and screw holes with tin caps held down with polyurethane caulk.

I have primered over some of the caps, and applied more as I went.

I have reapplied heavy coats of undercoating where the tanks and bays were welded to the box.



Now that we have had substantial rain here, and I am finally confident of no leaks, I will start finish flooring soon.



We have two ideas, but are not fully decided on either method.

First is: regular 1/2 carpet pad covered with brown astroturf.

Second is just brown astroturf.

The first one is probably what we will go with just to add the 1/2 inch foam for insulation.



The black and gray water tank install went very smoothly after all the planning.

I had to trial fit them so I could drill the holes for the drains and vents to go into, so when they slipped right into place up against the stops, it was a good feeling!

We held them up temporarily with vice grips on the angle iron mounts while I marked the holes.

We pulled them out, drilled the holes and beveled the edges of the holes lightly, installed the grommets and replaced them in the mounts.

With them firmly clamped into place with vicegrips and an added c clamp or two, I checked the location of the holes and grommets.

They were right on, so we welded the iron in place and made a stop for the rear to keep them from sliding back.

Then went inside and installed the pipe stubs into the tanks.

The plywood "boxes" the tanks fit into were sealed with some extra marine poly I had laying around.

I sprayed rubber undercoating over the outside of them, too.

[Les Lampman]

Thanks for the great explanation on your floor project; I don't know why but it's been the part of the conversion that's giving me the most grief. I don't think I can get the rubber up in our bus; at least the section I tried just ended up taking the top layer of plywood with it. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the ribbed center rubber and flat side rubber; that is, how to cover it or make it level for some flooring laid over it. I don't want to put too much material (like 3/4" ply) down and lose headroom. Still contemplating.



And, thanks for the update on the tanks; it sounds like it worked nicely. Now I just have to learn to weld! Always wanted too anyway.



Yea! Your photos are back on Page 3...thanks!

[lapeer20m]

Just thought i'd put my 2 cents worth in here and tell ya what i did with my bus.



I used an angle grinder to remove all the bolts from the seats. In retrospect, i probably should have sealed each of the holes with silicone or calk, but i expect my bus will stop running long before it rusts out.



Then i took 3/4" foamboard insulation cut it to size, and placed it on top of the rubber floor and covered the foam board with 1/4" plywood. I didn't secure the flooring, just laid it down. The front half of the bus got a double layer of pad then carpet. the rear half of the bus got a sheet of luan nailed to the plywood, then peel and stick linolium from Home Depot applied to the luan.



I'm very happy with my floor, plus it was cheap and easy to install. It significantly cut down on the road noise compared to the stock rubber floor.

[Les Lampman]

Hey, thanks for the ideas! It sounds like it worked out well for you.



I'm trying to avoid adding that inch of height to the floor; it's not overly tall even with just the rubber flooring in there now in our bus. I'll have to look at some of the rigid foam (I hadn't thought of using that on the floor) and perhaps I can find a thinner version that will work.

[lapeer20m]

stock, my bus ceiling height was approx 72 inches in the center. Adding an inch or two of flooring works out allright for me, since i'm only 5 foot 6 inches tall.



that was one long run-on sentance !

[Les Lampman]

My bus is about 72" in the center as well and I'm 70" tall so I really hate to take much headroom out; especially since I want to put some covering on the ceiling too. I don't mind being close to the ceiling but I don't want to have to stoop all the time.



Always decisions and choices!

[Vern1]

Greetings,

Uploaded the fifth page tonight with progress and updates up until a couple of hours ago....

Enjoy!



http://www.pettypb.com/bus/index5.htm

[Steve]

What is covering your floor? Is the original floor grey like that?

[Les Lampman]

Well Mr. Petty, you're doing a helluva job there; it looks just marvelous! (I'm jealous by the way!). Thanks very much for taking the time to post all those pictures and update us on your progress. I've really enjoyed reading and re-reading your site.

[busone]

Looks awsome, you have really made some progress. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[Vern1]

Greetings,

Originally, I was going to leave the rubber floor in place and cover with carpet, but it was uneven.

When I pealed up the cracked and torn rubber floor, I found some rust spots on the floor so I am glad I did pull it up, luckily only one was over about a 1/2", so they were easy to seal.

Anywhere there was rust, it was treated with rust converter, then if there were holes, they were sealed.

98% of the floor was still in good shape with the original black factory paint showing, so I really got lucky.

Also, most of the contact cement that held the rubber down went with the floor, so I didn't have a lot of prep work to do.

The floor was then sealed with some MIL-Spec 50/50 epoxy primer I had sitting around - that stuff sticks to ANYTHING and does a pretty good job of self leveling.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

This is a cool rig. Anyone know if it's still around or if the owner is still active here?

[Danjo]

I don’t know but thanks for digging it up. I couldn’t believe my eyes for a minute!