Desert Sands AKA The Finger Lickkin Good Bus

[mikerob643]

Originally Posted by TrailLifeBill

Since I've been unable to locate an accurate electrical diagram for my bus thus far, I have been removing my unneeded wiring from the far end and working back toward the source. For safety interlocks, since there was a single wire going from the front to roof hatches and emergency exits - it meant identifying with an ohm meter whether grounding that wire bypassed the interlock, or activated it. Then, until I got all the way to the source and bypassed that, I grounded the wire to satisfy the interlock. For other systems such as cameras, stop signs, etc - I traced and eliminated as I went along. I haven't cut/removed anything yet that I haven't identified what it was, and whether removing it would adversely affect operation (safety interlocks).

Thanks for the tip , this is going to be the plan moving forward. Brought a friend of friend over who was a electrition to see he could quickly isolate the ignition interlock but after five minutes of looking at it he threw his hands up in the air and said he didn't want anything to do with it and good luck ... So were on our own but after looking at it for extended hours and days the overwhelming feeling is subsiding

[mikerob643]

Bus update , the L tracks are all out! I know this may not sound like a big deal but we have been battling these things for weeks , and are so excited to be done with them ! We have so many holes to deal with in the floor now but that is for another day . we are planning on using some L tracks for solar panel mounting on the roof , but should have a bunch left over if arizona skoolies are looking for some

[mikerob643]

Photos below

[mikerob643]

Sorry for the sideways photos . no matter which way I rotate them on my phone they rotate sideways on the forum

[PigPen]

Congrats on getting the L-tracks out! They were a real PITA for us as well, so we can appreciate how much of a relief it must be to be done.

[Rovobay]

L-track costs a fortune. wiring annoys me, I think I am just going to leave it...

[mikerob643]

Spent the last few days trying to get the new toy , a millermatic 130xp welder going . who knew you needed so many things to weld. It was a pretty hefty up front investment but I've always wanted to weld and hope it pays off in the end.
I Filled my first few holes in the floor with it today and nothing lit on fire or exploded so I'm calling it a success !

[mikerob643]

Ok sorry about the sideways photos again, finally found a solution to it on my phone. If I edit them and crop them a bit for some reason the site doesn't rotate them when I upload. I don't really understand why but it works I'm going with it

[Tango]

Stick with it. Welding skills open up a lot of possibilities. Maybe even take a weekend course at a local school. Migs are easy to learn but there are tricks that someone with experience can pass along that make the learning curve much tighter.

Melt some metal and have some fun!

BTW...nice choice on the Miller. I have two and LOVE'EM!

[mikerob643]

Thanks tango, i don't have enough experience to know if this well there is any better than others but I sure do like it so I'm going to say buying the Miller was worth it. And after learning how cool Public Surplus was when looking for a bus it came in pretty handy to pick this thing up on there fairly cheap.

Also was working on getting my lettering decals off today and didn't have a heat gun around so I grab the portable propane camping stove and it worked like a charm! I'm sure there's something on safe about it but it's a pretty good option if you don't want to buy a heat gun

[mikerob643]

Photo of the ghetto heat gun

[Tango]

Brilliant!!! Just brilliant!

[mikerob643]

Thanks tango, the decals peeled off really easy using the stove so I was happy with it.
I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a thread or post on here with info about deleting a door from the rear side of a bus?
We have two rear side doors and a rear back door. We are planning on deleting the side doors because we don't need them. I have a rough plan on how i would go about it but I was hoping to learn from others who have done it .

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by mikerob643

Thanks tango, the decals peeled off really easy using the stove so I was happy with it.
I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a thread or post on here with info about deleting a door from the rear side of a bus?
We have two rear side doors and a rear back door. We are planning on deleting the side doors because we don't need them. I have a rough plan on how i would go about it but I was hoping to learn from others who have done it .

Take off the doors, remove the body-side hinges, fill the rough opening with sheet steel on the outside and insulation on the inside.

You might want to add a cross-piece halfway up the opening.

[mikerob643]

Awesome thanks for the info Twigg. That was my plan but hearing that it is actually the way to do it is reassuring.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by mikerob643

Awesome thanks for the info Twigg. That was my plan but hearing that it is actually the way to do it is reassuring.

They are simple beasts, for the most part. If you look inside the walls, that's exactly how the factory built 'em.

The chair rail doesn't extend across the door openings, so a little extra bracing will do no harm.

[mikerob643]

Today, we worked on riveting sheet metal over one window. Here's our progress:
Mikey grinded the old rivet heads, then drilled them through, making a hole for new rivets in the sheet metal. I placed the new rivets and drilled any holes we missed! Looks quite alright to me!

[mikerob643]

Also we were wondering where the best place to get 3m seam sealer and how much you generally go through to re seal every window ?
We are going to be resealling the windows and have two doors and another window that we are going to be skinning over .
With 3m seam sealer going for 25 bucks on Amazon its going to get pricey fast. Are the "offbrand" seam sealers a waste of time ?

[Tango]

Last I bought was from an auto paint & body supply for about $17-18 bucks. Ain't cheap because it ain't the cheap stuff.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Tango

Last I bought was from an auto paint & body supply for about $17-18 bucks. Ain't cheap because it ain't the cheap stuff.

I get 3m seam sealer at AutoZone for $15 a tube.