Rusty 87 build thread

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

You did a nice job on your T-bars.


Were the 110V limitations of your welder the reason you were hiring out the flooring job?

No, my lack of confidence in my own welding ability and my healthy fear of angle grinders led me to hire out the job. I am happy to have had somebody else do all the cutting, and his welding did give me the confidence that I can do a better job myself.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

No, my lack of confidence in my own welding ability and my healthy fear of angle grinders led me to hire out the job. I am happy to have had somebody else do all the cutting, and his welding did give me the confidence that I can do a better job myself.

LOL. It's your confidence in dealing with your rust situation is what's giving me the confidence to deal with mine.

Never welded anything. I'm getting excited.

[musigenesis]

Couldn't figure out why my t-bar was a quarter-inch short on each end, when I had measured it to fit perfectly against some scrap of the same 3" angle steel as the beams in my bus. Just now realized the angle steel is 3" on one side but only 2.75" on the other side.

[musigenesis]

Rats, I found a huge score on Craigslist for Roxul insulation, at basically half the price of the equivalent XPS foam board. But it's just so much (over 700 sq. ft. of 2" rockwool) I'd have nowhere to store it other than my bus and that would get in the way of the work I'm doing.

Hmm, I do have a spare bedroom.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Rats, I found a huge score on Craigslist for Roxul insulation, at basically half the price of the equivalent XPS foam board. But it's just so much (over 700 sq. ft. of 2" rockwool) I'd have nowhere to store it other than my bus and that would get in the way of the work I'm doing.

Hmm, I do have a spare bedroom.

Sounds like a deal! Is Roxul sensitive to the elements? If not, then just store it outside. You could build a wind break under the bus to insulate while you work on that little hole between your wheel wells.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

Sounds like a deal! Is Roxul sensitive to the elements? If not, then just store it outside. You could build a wind break under the bus to insulate while you work on that little hole between your wheel wells.

Rock wool is water-resistant (the stuff is impregnated with oil for this purpose) and this stuff is bagged, so I guess I could keep it outside. That might finally turn my neighbors against me, though.

The other negative is that it's all 16"x48" batts which would work perfectly for my floor but would require everything to be pieced together between the channels for the walls and ceiling.

This is just such an insane price, though, I think I have to go for it. It would basically be about $300 to insulate my entire bus.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Rock wool is water-resistant (the stuff is impregnated with oil for this purpose) and this stuff is bagged, so I guess I could keep it outside. That might finally turn my neighbors against me, though.

The other negative is that it's all 16"x48" batts which would work perfectly for my floor but would require everything to be pieced together between the channels for the walls and ceiling.

This is just such an insane price, though, I think I have to go for it. It would basically be about $300 to insulate my entire bus.

It looks like that 700 square feet may not be enough. Using 8 ft for the ceiling, 6 feet for each side and 7.5 feet for the floor, you'd be using 27.5 square feet per foot. 700 square feet is 25.5 linear feet. You probably have more than 26 linear feet .. plus there is the back wall. If you use it everywhere bt the floor you should have enough.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

It looks like that 700 square feet may not be enough. Using 8 ft for the ceiling, 6 feet for each side and 7.5 feet for the floor, you'd be using 27.5 square feet per foot. 700 square feet is 25.5 linear feet. You probably have more than 26 linear feet .. plus there is the back wall. If you use it everywhere bt the floor you should have enough.

Yeah, I guess I do have a bit more square footage than I thought. I could always buy a bit more as needed. In any event, dude hasn't responded to my emails, which for miraculous finds on Craigslist usually means somebody else has already bought it.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Yeah, I guess I do have a bit more square footage than I thought. I could always buy a bit more as needed. In any event, dude hasn't responded to my emails, which for miraculous finds on Craigslist usually means somebody else has already bought it.

You can only hope. It is rare that one finds a CraigsList poster that responds to all the e-mail messages and such. As soon as an interested party contacts them, the rest go in the bit bucket. Or at least it seems that way.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Looks like classified gov't top secret bus pics.

Hid his face but not his street number

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

.....
It fits into that opening very well, and I'll have enough room to get 2" of insulation all around it. The only problem is going to be fitting the step part of it (along with a layer of insulation), which I'll have to deal with by notching the wheel well and possibly raising the tub a couple of inches above where I'd planned. I've been thinking about cutting part of the step off the tub but I'm not sure I want to go that route and risk leaks.

Standing in it feels fine, plenty of foot room.

Hope you never have a tire blowout... looks like it will take your shower with it.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by kidharris

Hope you never have a tire blowout... looks like it will take your shower with it.

The underside of the tub will be encased in a steel box and insulated. It's not going to be hanging out there exposed.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Rock wool is water-resistant (the stuff is impregnated with oil for this purpose) and this stuff is bagged, so I guess I could keep it outside. That might finally turn my neighbors against me, though.

The other negative is that it's all 16"x48" batts which would work perfectly for my floor but would require everything to be pieced together between the channels for the walls and ceiling.

This is just such an insane price, though, I think I have to go for it. It would basically be about $300 to insulate my entire bus.

........................................

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Sleddgracer

........................................

Fool's gold ... dude never replied to me. That roxul is gone, baby.

[musigenesis]

Chopped, osphoed and cleaned behind driver's side back wheel.





On the other side, I was happy to find that the cutout for the fuel pipe is just a hole and does not go down all the way to the base of the chair rail. This means I'll be able to slip my 3" angle steel splint beam on this side right in there. I thought I was going to have to rig something very funky to go over this cutout.



Painted the driver's side with POR-15.



Beam placed and holes drilled (five 3/8 holes for the bolts and two 3/4 hole cutouts for the existing bolt heads that attach the chair rail to the ribs (so I can get this beam flush with the chair rail). With the other beam I realized I don't have to cut all the way through to get clearance for these.



Bolted in place. The bolts go in from behind the chair rail and are nutted on the inside, and this was about as big of a pain in the ass as I thought it would be. I clamped the bolt sideways in a vice grips and was able to get this down behind the chair rail so I could nudge the bolt through the hole and then pull it all the way through and get the nut onto it. I then tightened it as much as I could and released the vice grips, then had to stick a wrench down to lock the bolt head while using my new torque wrench to get the nut down tight.

I used a split ring lock washer on the bolt head side on the theory that it would hold the bolt head tight so I wouldn't need to get the wrench down onto it (wrong), then nylon lock washers on the inside along with red thread lock. Overkill no doubt.



I'm putting these beams splinted to the chair rail in all four corners of this repair because I'm worried about the loss of wall support from the missing floor hear and the tendency (I imagine) of these wheel wells to sag otherwise. These beams also give me a much better point of attachment for the cross-pieces that will run behind and in front of the wheel wells.

[ted@campbycanoe.com]

I'm envious of your McGyver like fabrication skills!

I'm going to have to make some "extensions" for some rusted floor supports and I can't say I'm super excited about that process...

[Native]

Originally Posted by ted@campbycanoe.com

I'm envious of your McGyver like fabrication skills!

I'm going to have to make some "extensions" for some rusted floor supports and I can't say I'm super excited about that process...

Just like any other aspect of building your skoolie ... one step at a time.


I bet that the first time Musigenesis saw the floor rusted throug, he thought he would never get that fixed ... too much! Now, he is getting much done and really understanding the bus in the process.


Keep up the great work, Musigenesis!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

I bet that the first time Musigenesis saw the floor rusted throug, he thought he would never get that fixed ... too much!

I literally sat in my car and cried and hatched my plan to drive the bus into one of the back lots of the bus services company next to where I was parked and just abandon it there. The bus was actually not in my name in any way at that point so there was no way it could have been traced to me, and most likely the bus company would have just sort of absorbed it (the engine and transmission at least had some value).

I'm glad I stuck with it, since I'm forced to learn how to do a lot of things that I wouldn't have had to learn with a rust-free bus.

Thanks for the encouragement, though, it definitely helps.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I literally sat in my car and cried and hatched my plan to drive the bus into one of the back lots of the bus services company next to where I was parked and just abandon it there. The bus was actually not in my name in any way at that point so there was no way it could have been traced to me, and most likely the bus company would have just sort of absorbed it (the engine and transmission at least had some value).

I'm glad I stuck with it, since I'm forced to learn how to do a lot of things that I wouldn't have had to learn with a rust-free bus.

Thanks for the encouragement, though, it definitely helps.

For some reason, I always like your "origin" story of your build!


You are welcome for the encouragement. You have presented many scenarios that many of us may never see ... and many nice solutions as well.

[MacC]

Nothing but respect! You got this.