Sloppy Yellow

[DanMan80]

Purchased 427 lbs of steel for the roof rack today. $280. Another $120 for bolts and parts and it'll be done. Hopefully….

[DanMan80]

Bought a heat gun to remove all the lettering. Works awesome.

[nat_ster]

Thanks for the pics.

Nat

[DanMan80]

Looked at dozens of bunk bed designs & kinda worried about attaching them to my bus since I'm not particularly handy. Then yesterday I came up with an idea; since I'm already drilling holes in my bus, use longer bolts to secure my verticals to the bus & attach 2x2 material to it on the inside for the bed frame.

Grade 8 bolts, 8" long will do the trick nicely. Any qualms regarding using 2x2's for bed frames??

[DanMan80]

Very handy. It's my dads, and older than I am.

[DanMan80]

Inside the bus looking at a 6" bolt inserted from the outside. Grade 8, 3/8" from Fastenal.

[DanMan80]

I'm hoping this will work out. I guess I could always use 2" Square Tube 11 ga, but it's def more expensive.

[Motobus]

Every time I read the name of this bus I think of an ex girlfriend from a long time ago.

[JakeC]

Originally Posted by DanMan80

I'm hoping this will work out. I guess I could always use 2" Square Tube 11 ga, but it's def more expensive.

I would put a lock-nut (or a regular nut with Loctite) under the 2x2 first. You don't want a compressed 2x2 responsible for keeping tension on the bolts that hold your rack up!! Put a nut on the bolt and tighten against the metal of the bus, drill 2x2 large enough to go over nut, use large washer and second nut to hold 2x2 in place.

[DanMan80]

Originally Posted by JakeC

I would put a lock-nut (or a regular nut with Loctite) under the 2x2 first. You don't want a compressed 2x2 responsible for keeping tension on the bolts that hold your rack up!! Put a nut on the bolt and tighten against the metal of the bus, drill 2x2 large enough to go over nut, use large washer and second nut to hold 2x2 in place.

Thats exactly what we're going to do. I figure we'll rout an "inset" on the bus side of the 2x2 so the lock nut will fit snug. I appreciate your comment as we didn't think of that until we looked at the picture!

[DanMan80]

Originally Posted by Motobus

Every time I read the name of this bus I think of an ex girlfriend from a long time ago.

No ex's allowed at Sloppy Yellow! haha

[JakeC]

Perfect!! I think that will work awesome.

[DanMan80]

Did a lot of hole marking today, and drilled out all the 2x2 steel tubes. We're going with 3 bolts in each vertical.

Because this is a NASCAR party bus, I'm thinking about different ways to do the canopy, tables, etc. I think I found a way to use some of the smaller pieces of tube we had left over. I'll mount them on the side and drill a hole through them to use as table mounts. That way all we'll need is a couple 2x4's for legs and some plywood (we certainly don't want anything nice at the track).

Starting to have a lot of fun, and still thinking I can get it "ready" for $1,000 total. So far I've spent $280 on steel, though I just added a lot more in bolt cost.

[DanMan80]

nothing will go to waste!

[DanMan80]

I'll post in the insurance/registration area as well, but I got coverage thru my StateFarm agent for $11/month. Had to send in photos of rv & VIN. American General quoted me $70/month.

[DanMan80]

Made some big headway today. Bought some 24" sheet metal with a blue finish from a local metal supplier for $230. So to cover up the windows I first cut 1/2" insulation board to fit, taped in place, then put the sheet metal over the windows. I then secured the 2x2 uprights & the metal sheet with 3 bolts. It's solid!

[DanMan80]

This is def something that requires help. But with 3 guys it's pretty easy.

[DanMan80]

You can start to see how the bolts from the 2x2 uprights are going to also hold the bunk beds.

[DanMan80]

This makes it really dark & a lot quieter. Won't stop the noise from a 850hp NASCAR engine tho.

[DanMan80]

Have a long way to go in a few weeks but coming along.