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Old 03-22-2014, 10:54 PM   #21
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Re: The Land Lubber

BTW --- HyTech makes a clear finishing coat that reportedly extends the life of the insulating paint quite a bit plus also makes it more UV & dirt resistant.

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Old 04-23-2014, 12:53 PM   #22
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Re: The Land Lubber

Me and my buddy Frank (caterpillar mechanic) changed all the fluids and filters on the 8.3. When we changed the fuel filter, the primer pump didn't seem to work so we had to fill the filter with fuel and he pulled some magic with a gasoline soaked rag held over the intake vent behind the passenger windows. It fired up, but the primer will need to be replaced or fixed. Haven't changed the belt or the air filter yet, I'll order them as soon I find out what it's gonna cost to get my Jeep fixed first. We also flushed the coolant system with distilled water and refilled it with antifreeze and distilled water.
also finally had some decent weather, so we painted the roof. Turned out great so far. We taped off the old bluebird and black stripe, to preserve that, but painted the entire roof otherwise. after the first coat was down, I was snowblind up there, couldn't see sh!t. Check the blog for pix, I still can't figure out how to put pics on here from my I phone. I'm a loser I know.
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Old 04-30-2014, 07:52 PM   #23
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Re: The Land Lubber

Well the tape pulled off some of our original black stripes. Oh well just have to touch em up with some One Shot. The roof paint is very nice. This stuff spreads thick. We plan on using Hytech's clear coat to seal it up.
after we pulled off all the tape, it was time to level the bluebird. We used land scaping timbers(cut into 2 foot pieces) with treated 2x6 s(cut into 11.5 inch pieces) (width of tire roughly). Got a 20 ton jack from lowes and lifted the bus about 100 times.
Its not perfect, but it's in the bubble front to back and side to side.
We are going to MO for the weekend, so construction begins a week from Sunday.
Check out the blog for pics.
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Old 05-10-2014, 06:02 PM   #24
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Re: The Land Lubber

Quote:
Originally Posted by LandLubber
after the first coat was down, I was snowblind up there, couldn't see sh!t. Check the blog for pix, I still can't figure out how to put pics on here from my I phone. I'm a loser I know.
haha, I can relate to the blinded by the white thing, and that last sentence made me laugh, haha. Dig the tattoos by the way.
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Old 05-11-2014, 07:24 PM   #25
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Re: The Land Lubber

Don't be so hard on yourself about pics. You're not a loser just because your slightly technologically impaired.
You should have seen me trying to teach my mother email....
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Old 05-21-2014, 07:46 PM   #26
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Re: The Land Lubber

We got the bed/platform built. We are using a Kreg joint jig system. So far we really like it. We are not carpenters so things are just built the way we can figure.
We also covered the rear wheel wells. Should have some pics up on the blog soon.
The bed has two sections. We put a hinge on front section, so you can access the rear engine hatch that is in the rear bench/engine hump. We built the bed to where the bottom of the mattress will rest on the engine hump in front of the rear window/emergency hatch. There will be storage under the bed where there's not an engine hump. If that makes sense.
We painted the floor with old left over paint. gonna burn up every old gallon I have laying around on it. We are gonna floor it too, but I figured it couldn't hurt for now. We used plywood on the woodwork. It isn't 3/4 it's like 19/32 or some BS. So I had to cheat back the collar on the kreg drill bit, after that no more screws coming through the face.
Thanks for the humor and I like your tattoos as well eyedeal.ink
this thing is getting to be a lot of fun. FO REELZ.
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Old 07-01-2014, 11:08 PM   #27
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Re: The Land Lubber

Haven't posted in a while. We deleted 5 windows. To delete the windows I took 29 gauge flat sheet metal and wrapped it around a 34 sheet of plywood cut to fit in the window's place. I liquid nails the metal to the wood and let it sit for a couple days. Then we folded/broke the metal around the wood. Then cut another piece of wood to fit against the back of the wood with the metal. This sandwiched the metal that is folded around between the two pieces of wood. the two pieces fill the hole perfectly and gave me a place to kreg jig the walls too. The back 3 windows on both sides stay, then the next one(s) are deleted. These are the bathroom and closet walls. Then a window, and then another one deleted for the front BR wall and closet wall. The bathroom and closet will close or open up to each other. there are three windows deleted on the starboard side the third one being the fridge.
We have up all the bathroom walls, We have to redo one of them. It isn't level, which is key for the dual purpose doors. I have pics on my Facebook page
Robbie Wilson (should be the one with the bama logo).
We have one wall up on the other side. The way we did our template for the ceiling was with a 3 ft wide roll of brown paper that we have had for ever. I use it to cover up my table when I make ribs, I have no idea where my wife got it, ask your wife. J/K. anyway, we used it to bend and cut with scissors to fit, then applied it to the wood and it worked very good. We kreg jig ed the walls to the floorboards, and to the window deletes. Then applied some brackets to the top in a couple of places. Sorry for no pics, but we think it looks good. Should be some pics on the blog (mentioned in earlier post). We are loving our progress and we are getting a lot done.
Now for a question. Do you guys think that if a strong enough trailer jack was mounted at each corner or wheel area, could they be used to level the bus? I know I would have to get under it to crank it, but I'm gonna be under there anyway.LoL. just a question I'm not married to it, but thought it could be a very affordable/temporary leveling system. Don't laugh too hard.
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Old 07-02-2014, 02:14 AM   #28
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Re: The Land Lubber

Quote:
Originally Posted by LandLubber
Haven't posted in a while. We deleted 5 windows. To delete the windows I took 29 gauge flat sheet metal and wrapped it around a 34 sheet of plywood cut to fit in the window's place. I liquid nails the metal to the wood and let it sit for a couple days. Then we folded/broke the metal around the wood. Then cut another piece of wood to fit against the back of the wood with the metal. This sandwiched the metal that is folded around between the two pieces of wood. the two pieces fill the hole perfectly and gave me a place to kreg jig the walls too. The back 3 windows on both sides stay, then the next one(s) are deleted. These are the bathroom and closet walls. Then a window, and then another one deleted for the front BR wall and closet wall. The bathroom and closet will close or open up to each other. there are three windows deleted on the starboard side the third one being the fridge.
We have up all the bathroom walls, We have to redo one of them. It isn't level, which is key for the dual purpose doors. I have pics on my Facebook page
Robbie Wilson (should be the one with the bama logo).
We have one wall up on the other side. The way we did our template for the ceiling was with a 3 ft wide roll of brown paper that we have had for ever. I use it to cover up my table when I make ribs, I have no idea where my wife got it, ask your wife. J/K. anyway, we used it to bend and cut with scissors to fit, then applied it to the wood and it worked very good. We kreg jig ed the walls to the floorboards, and to the window deletes. Then applied some brackets to the top in a couple of places. Sorry for no pics, but we think it looks good. Should be some pics on the blog (mentioned in earlier post). We are loving our progress and we are getting a lot done.
Now for a question. Do you guys think that if a strong enough trailer jack was mounted at each corner or wheel area, could they be used to level the bus? I know I would have to get under it to crank it, but I'm gonna be under there anyway.LoL. just a question I'm not married to it, but thought it could be a very affordable/temporary leveling system. Don't laugh too hard.
i wish you had some photos, i would love to see your bus
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Old 07-02-2014, 08:36 AM   #29
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Re: The Land Lubber

It always says the files are too big. This is the only site that I have had to photo bucket first and then I don't have a clue how to share from there. Too many steps. I all ready run a tattoo shop and build a bus when I'm not doing that. I don't have time to learn a new way to do it. Last night it actually said the attachment was full. Full of something. sorry though. check em out on our blog or on my Facebook page. My name is Robbie Wilson in Hattiesburg, MS. lots of pics on there.
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Old 07-02-2014, 10:45 PM   #30
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Re: The Land Lubber

http://s1151.photobucket.com/user/robwi ... slideshow/
new pictures in the slideshow.
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Old 07-02-2014, 11:22 PM   #31
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Re: The Land Lubber

Quote:
Originally Posted by LandLubber
http://s1151.photobucket.com/user/robwilson78/slideshow/
new pictures in the slideshow.
i like the photos, i see you went with plywood like i did. its hard getting the roof curve correct isn't it? i had a heck of a time.
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Old 07-03-2014, 07:52 AM   #32
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Re: The Land Lubber

I wanted to use plywood and a kreg jig to eliminate the need for so many 2x- style boards. One of my wife's many skills is being a seamstress. So making a pattern was not much of a challenge to her, but I found it very unpleasant to say the least. (and just because the curve is perfect for one wall, doesn't mean the next one will). Glad I got the pics up, I have been on Jeep forums and off road forums, and have not had the same challenges for posting pics, but I'll get you guys something to look at. also I think it should be said, that the teal floor paint, and soon to be other colors on the floor, is only a layer of paint for overkill, I have old paint sitting around and I wanted to coat that cheap wood with something. anyway happy building/nervous breakdowns.
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Old 08-01-2014, 06:19 AM   #33
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Re: The Land Lubber

were you wearing an ol'skool MOPP suite top?
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Old 08-30-2014, 10:16 PM   #34
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Re: The Land Lubber

If you still have the stock exhaust ie large muffler under the battery box. What I did with my 1996 AARE
was to take off the muffler and take the elbow that comes out under the motor and facing forward and
turn it 180 degrees to face the rear and install a small resonator on it and take the tailpipe from the original
muffler and cut a short piece of straight pipe out under the bumper. Found a resonator with 6 inch outside
diameter and about 18 inches long but 5 inch inside diameter all the way through this eliminated the 4 in
inlet muffler which reversed the exhaust flow and came out the same end at 5 inch. So from the elbow out
its now all 5 inch. The resonator/muffler I picked up at Oreillys Auto parts.
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Old 01-25-2015, 05:27 PM   #35
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Haven't posted in a while. We've been busy. I'll see if I can post some pics up.
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IMG_1306.jpg   IMG_1962.jpg   IMG_1300.jpg   IMG_0482.jpg   IMG_1386.jpg  

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Old 08-04-2015, 08:29 AM   #36
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The Land Lubber

Finally put the app on my phone. Now I should be able to post photos easier.
We are still converting away. Hung a tankless water heater most recently. Hopefully from here on out no gaps in updates. Click image for larger version

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Views:	12
Size:	410.8 KB
ID:	8083Click image for larger version

Name:	ImageUploadedByTapatalk1438694937.508473.jpg
Views:	13
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:36 AM   #37
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Gotta ask...is that water heater an "indoor" or "outdoor" model? I see the vent stack but that doesn't tell me much.
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Old 08-04-2015, 08:57 AM   #38
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It is indoor. I will cut the vent when we plumb it in. We looked at both, and the indoor is the one we chose.
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Old 08-04-2015, 09:11 AM   #39
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Roger the "Indoor". A lot of folks are not aware that the outdoor (cheaper) models can produce enough CO2 to be harmful if not totally isolated and vented to the outside. Glad to see you went the safe route.
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Old 08-04-2015, 01:14 PM   #40
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I just read through your blog. Nice build and great pictures, thanks for posting!
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