The Four Season Prime

[nat_ster]

Then the winter of 2013 / 2014 set in, I got busy with work, and nothing changed till spring of 2014.





And a pic of the pollution layer coming off the three massive coal fired power plants 50 km to the west.



Nat

[nat_ster]

Now it's the spring of 2014.

I got a big jug of marine clean by por 15, a few brushes, and got started degrease the engine. This is all being done out in a field, without running water, or electricity hook up.








Then I installed the newly rebuilt 160 amp alternator.





And I dropped this silly mess out from under the engine. It won't be reinstalled.



Front engine mount is pounded out. It will need replacing.



I also started reinstalling the large rad hoses that lead to and from the trans heat exchanger.





I also mounted the heat exchanger a bit differently.






Nat

[EastCoastCB]

You're so hardcore, man.
I'd be scared of all that rust and crust.
You're kicking its ass!

[nat_ster]

Then I leveled the bus in preparation for the 23 inch roof raise.

Less than ideal equipment, but it will do.

Rear.



Front.



And a side shot.



Nat

[nat_ster]

Then I removed the rusted out skin from the rear of the bus. I'm not leaving anything untouched.



Under the rear corner rub rail rusted completely through. This was caused by the fiberglass bat insulation and the dirt that held the moisture and salt.

















Corner rub rail removed.



New one from a less rusty bus.



Nat

[nat_ster]

Tools of the job. No electricity out here in the field.













Peeling this all off took time. Many many rivets.











This is a mix of rust, dirt, and a massive gob of seam sealer.













Nat

[nat_ster]

Almost cleaned up.





And the rust is soaked with por 15's metal ready.



Nat

[nat_ster]

When I removed the ceiling the previous fall, I left the two front panels. Upon removing them I found a bird nest that had been used in the spring by a moma wren bird. She was always scolding me, but I could not find her nest.







And the other side is stripped of the rusty skin.



You can see the legs of the blue scaffold waiting for the roof raise.













Nat

[EastCoastCB]

Some of this makes me cringe.

[nat_ster]

Then a package arrived in the mail.





Two jugs of oshpo. Oshpo is around 5 times the strength of the por 15 metal prep.



Then I washed the whole bus out with the 2 inch trash pump, pumping from the dugout. This got rid of 99% of the fiberglass insulation dust and fibers.







Nat

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

You're so hardcore, man.
I'd be scared of all that rust and crust.
You're kicking its ass!

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Some of this makes me cringe.

I know eh. What looked so minor on the outside, is so severe on the inside.

What makes me cringe is, most people don't dig into it as far as I do to fix it. It's in there, waiting to rust through. I don't like waiting for surprises.

I'm done for today. Up next are roof raise pics.

Nat

[EastCoastCB]

Lucky there, my batting was stuck up there with what looks similar to tar. Not sure how I'm gonna get that goo off, its nearly petrified.

[EastCoastCB]

I'm really looking forward to the roof raise pics. I'm still very much on the fence about doing this to my bus.
I agree about stripping them down. When I had to put in new batteries, I completely stripped, treated, primed, and painted the whole box, tray, etc. new fasteners too. Any time I fix anything I fix it right.

[nat_ster]

Ok, now for the 23 inch roof raise.

First step, remove all the sheet metal from the support ribs and pull out the fiberglass insulation.



And get a 100 count box of #12 3 inch self tapping screws with a 3/8 bolt head.



Then I braced the walls back to the floor with a angle cut 2x4 every second or third support rib. This will keep the walls from pulling in or out.

A single self tapping screw into the floor.



And a wood screw into the support rib.



All 2x4 wall braces in place. In this pic you can see the two blue pieces of scaffold. They are attached to the roof of the bus with two 2x4 braces. One on each side to keep it from moving front to back, but still allowing the screw jacks at the bottom of each scaffold piece to move. At the top of each piece of scaffold is a 2x4 to take the point load, and spread the weight to three of the roof ribs. All 2x4's are secured to the bus ribs with the self tapping screws.

I put lift force on the scaffold before cutting the ribs with the 7 inch grinder to prevent binding the cutting wheel.
The ribs are cut, the weight of the roof is on the scaffold.









By simply turning the screw jacks at the bottom of the scaffold pieces, the roof raises. Here it's up a foot.



In this pic you can see the new section of support rib secured to the second last rib at the bottom with a clamp. Same at the front. This was done at all four corners to act as guide rails. Doing this prevented the roof from moving side to side if a big wind came up.









Nat

[nat_ster]

That's all the time I have today folks. I have to go meet with a engineer this morning.

More pics tomorrow.

Nat

[jazty]

Holy ****! The new windshield is going to be HUGE! I'm especially looking forward to seeing how you put that together.

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by jazty

Holy ****! The new windshield is going to be HUGE! I'm especially looking forward to seeing how you put that together.

It sure is, and that pic is only 14 inches up. 9 more inches to go.

One thing I like about newer large RV's is their massive windshields that allow the driver and passenger to see the breath taking views of driving through the mountains.

As soon as I drove my bus home I realized I would like the bigger windshield. Despite it being a cab over, the view out the front was not as good as I hoped. Sitting higher increases your visibility all around. However, with the stock size windshield, sitting to high took away from the upper view. My final set up will have a air ride seat, with adjustable peddles and telescopic steering column.

This also eliminates that big, ugly forehead that some of the roof raises have on this site.

Nat

[nat_ster]

Now for more pics.

Now up the full 23 inches.



In this pic you can see the scaffold screw jacks only have so much lift range before you have to reset them for another lift.
To over come this, I used my little red floor jack to support the one corner of the scaffold, lower the screw jack, add more big blocks of wood, repeat.



All 23 inches up from the side.



Now you can see the 2x4 braces that stop the front to rear movement better.



Rear braces.





Here is a better pic of the floor jack, screw jack, and my 2 inch diameter, 16 inch long ABS leverage pipe for turning the screw jacks.





This pic shows the entire setup.



From standing height. Like always, my little red Honda CRX on the job.



Nat

[nat_ster]

A few of the fellow skoolies here were giving me the gears about wanting to rivet vs welding my support rib extensions in. One of their concerns was the sheer strength of a 1/4 rivet. At over 500 pounds of sheer per 1/4 stainless rivet, I know they would have worked great. However, I didn't find a decent air powered rivet gun in time that could set 1/4 rivets.

So why use 1/4 rivets when 1/4 bolts are cheaper, more available, and I don't need anything special to install them.

This one is temporary, needs to be removed and the rust converted, then painted.

Bottom



The nature of metal. Never perfect, clamp, clamp, and clamp some more for a perfect fit.

Top



Other side.



Por 15's metal ready is sprayed onto the new rib extensions with a hand pump weed sprayer to covert the rust before painting. You can see the difference in color of the rust.



Scaffold on the outside of the bus is much safer to work from than ladders. I will always bring a few pieces with me.



More of the support rib extensions going in.




A good pic of the bracing.



Bottom bolts done, Now for the top bolts.



Nat

[nat_ster]

Nice and strait



All but the first four rib extensions rust converted painted.



Painted with por 15.



Painted vs unpainted.



Had a bit to much paint in my dish and you cant pour in back into the can, so I painted the drive shaft.



Nat