SanFord the Great! A 1956 Ford B-600.

[Tango]

You are doing great! Hey...I over four years into mine and still have quite a ways to go. Just keep pluugin' away!

[cadillackid]

lookin good! these things do take time.. esp the ones with extra included no charge rust!
-Christopher

[Toyman01]

Got a little more painting done today. I'm liking how it's turning out.
Before.



After.

[cadillackid]

thos colors ROCK!!! they fit that Bus PERFECTLY!!.. way to go!!!!
-Christopher

[Robin97396]

Nice transformation. You took off all the patina.

And when you put a toad behind your bus you can call it Sanford & Son.

[dgorila1]

Originally Posted by Toyman01

Got a little more painting done today. I'm liking how it's turning out.
Before.



After.

What kind of paint did you use and did you spray or brush it on?

[Toyman01]

Originally Posted by dgorila1

What kind of paint did you use and did you spray or brush it on?

There are a couple of paints on there. The brown primer is Rustoleum rusty metal primer, applied with a roller. The next coat is a acrylic primer, also applied with a roller. The final coat of paint is Sherwin Williams Infinity exterior, semi-gloss, acrylic. It is applied with a foam roller.

I had originally planned to use Tractor Supply's Truck and Implement paint, but I'm going to be doing a bunch of work on SanFord over the next couple of years. I have plans for storage under the bus, generator doors, and propane tank access. I will also be replacing all the bent panels and smoothing all the dents. That's going to mean cutting and a lot of repainting so I wanted something easy to use.


In another 8-10 years when all the metal work is done, I'll probably strip the entire bus down again and shoot it with automotive paints.

[ii_amnt]

Originally Posted by Toyman01

... The final coat of paint is Sherwin Williams Infinity exterior, semi-gloss, acrylic. It is applied with a foam roller.
...

Do you have a color code/name for the light blue?

[Robin97396]

Nice transformation. Previously it looked like you could probably put your fist through the exterior wall of the bus in places. Just color, I know. I'm just colorblind.
That's quite the roller job. Looks great. Many of us are following you lead with similar paint jobs.

[Toyman01]

Originally Posted by ii_amnt

Do you have a color code/name for the light blue?

The lighter color is Aloe. Color code SW6464. The paint came from Lowes.

Edit: For the record is is an outstanding paint. Probably one of the best I have ever used. It covers extremely well. That side of the bus has less than a quart of each color on it, only two coats.

[Toyman01]

SanFord has not been forgotten. It's just been too damn hot to work on it. Since my last post, the blasting is complete. It took several hours to clean all the sand and dust out of the interior.



Paint is almost complete.





I haven't quite decided how the front is going to be painted. Hopefull I'll make some progress on that tomorrow.

I've had the devil of a time with side view mirrors. I really don't want some junky mirror hanging off the side, so I've been playing around with using cameras.

This is stuck up there with a magnet to get some idea of what the placement would have to be.



Then there would be three of these screens mounted in the dash. One for each side camera and one for the back. The screens are 7". The view is several times better than what you can get with a mirror. I will still probably mount mirrors, but they will be more for redundancy than primary.



More to come, and as the weather down here cools off, it should happen faster.

[Toyman01]

I've been a little slack about posting updates. Here's a picture dump to bring this up to date. They aren't in any particular order.

Exterior paint is 98% done.



Super nasty carburetor removed, rebuilt and replaced. It runs much better.





Breather sandblasted and painted. There is still a lot to do under the hood.



Sideview cameras installed.



Monitors are mounted. This is not where they will be staying, this is temporary to make the bus usable until the dash is rebuilt some time in the future.



Conversion of a couple of window units to basement air units started. Still some work to do on them, plus getting them mounted.



Rear ceiling prepped for paint.



Wire for all overhead lighting, including exterior clearance lights, pulled in.





Rear curved windows pulled, frames painted, new rubber, and reinstalled. This part was a little nerve-racking. Breaking one of these would have been expensive.





Ceiling paint started.



Really cool turn signals found and installed.



Side rear door was coaxed into opening.



The latch for it was cleaned up, painted, and reinstalled so the door will work properly.






In the midst of all that, it got new front tires.


That's pretty much up to date. I'll try to be more diligent in keeping this thread current.

More to come.

[EastCoastCB]

man, I'm impressed. You saved a classic!

[Rusty]

Cool bus ! Very nice work.

I dig those sidemount cameras. What brand? Definitely on my list so I can see where my rear is swinging.

[Toyman01]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Cool bus ! Very nice work.

I dig those sidemount cameras. What brand? Definitely on my list so I can see where my rear is swinging.

The cameras and monitors came from Amazon. They were surprisingly cheap and seem to work very well.

Amazon Link for Cameras.

I will be mounting three of them. One on either side and one in the back as a backup camera.

[cadillackid]

+1 on a great build!! I lvoe these old classic busses!!!

im also interested in cameras... i would so love to have a sleek look with no mirrors in front of my windshield view...

-Christopher

[Tango]

Excellent...glad to see you making progress!!! Great looking old gal that you seem to be treating right. Keep the pix and updates coming.

[Stewzer55]

Very nice bus! Reminds me a little of my uncle's '61 (?) International

[Toyman01]

I'm still being a slacker about updating this thread. I apologize. Here is another picture dump.

Installation of the basement A/C for the front. The return air is in the step well, the vent is in the floor.



That necessitated moving the fuel tank back 10 inches. While is was out, I cleaned it inside and out, broke the pickup tube, fixed the pickup, painted it and the mount and reinstalled.





I'm still amazed he made the 1000 mile trip home with all this crap in the tank. There were a lot of chunks of goo that I cleaned out.


While the tank was out, it got a new sending unit so the gauge may actually work.



All cleaned up and ready to install.



Tank and A/C hung where they belong.



Vents and grills installed. The flooring will cover up the ugly.



This is the old fuel fill. The cap kind of floated on the end of a hose. It was pretty nasty.



Since I had to move it back 10 inches as well, I made it a little less ugly. The cap is from a Opel GT. Much better looking than a plain old round cap.



There was a change of plans on the rear A/C unit as well. Originally I was going to use another 5K btu unit hung under the bus, but I was worried about having enough A/C down here in the South. So I installed a 12K btu unit instead. It cost me a small cabinet, but A/C is more important than storage.



I had to build a sheet metal pan for the unit to sit in, as well as some dividers for the condenser air discharge. I'm happy to report it works like a charm.





I also came across the new engine and transmission for SanFord as well. I picked up this as auction, for cheap.



That gives me a 6l Turbo Diesel, 5 speed automatic, 27K btu engine driven A/C unit, dual alternators, dual battery boxes, and possibly the entire, modern front suspension, brakes, and steering. I may graft the entire front chassis onto SanFord. There is still a lot of measuring and planning to do there, but the new bus was so cheap I couldn't pass up on it.




He did manage a trip to the gas station for some fresh fuel.



I'll try to keep things updated on a more regular basis. I've got a bunch of projects underway at the moment so things are progressing in fits and jerks, but they are getting done, albeit rather slowly. More to come.

[cadillackid]

I dig this project!!! love these A/C units too... make sure you give them plenty of room for the condensor air so it doesnt suck the hot output air... use a grill with directional vanes to help..

be sure to bulletproof that 6.0 before you use it!! and go through the trans as well..

great score on a donor bus.
-Christopher