Since my last update?? Well, I guess that's the way it goes. It's not that nothing has been done....But I haven't updated much.
I finished clearing out the driver's area, getting rid of all the unneeded wiring and panels. It's down to just the signal lights, the electric mirrors, and the windshield wipers. I have the wiring diagram, so once I figured out how to read it, it wasn't too bad.
I put in all new LED rear lights & a trailer conversion kit so that now I have stop/turn lights & turn signals (7"), and 3" white LED backup lights. I also installed 8 7" white LED lights (four front, four back) where the old red/amber lights were. I plan to use them like cargo lights, and will wire them to switches in the driver's compartment.
Got all of the decals/reflective tape removed, using the 4" eraser wheels. I think it took about 8 to do the whole bus. They're not necessarily "easy" to use, but easier than scraping, and it doesn't harm the paint.
The bus basically sat with little progress from October until June of this year, when I FINALLY got going with the roof raise. I found a local fellow to help me initially, but through a series of circumstances, ended up using Charles Kern & his company,
Chrome Yellow. We're 1-1 1/2 days from being done.
I ended up doing a full 24" raise. I installed a side door (full size residential exterior door, 30"x80")behind the rear passenger side wheels, along with two steps. An electric drill with a trigger lock is basically mandatory if you're going to do this.
Charles and his guys have been amazing. I have been able to do a lot of the grunt work myself, with some direction from them, so that I am not paying them for work I can do myself. The quality of the work is amazing, and I couldn't be happier. This isn't meant to be an advertisement, by any means, but I want to give credit where it is due. All that's left is to install the front cap piece and do some finish work.
Also, I know that questions come up regularly about the structure of the bus walls/floor. Since I cut a hole in the side of my bus and through the floor, I have good pictures of cross-sectioned walls/floor of my bus. If anyone is interested, just let me know.
Here's a couple of pics. I have tons more, but I know the forum doesn't like too many, and I am sick to death of Photobucket.