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Old 05-22-2021, 07:36 PM   #81
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pass side air dam installed

So aside from mitigating the potential site of water intrusion, I also got to install my very first piece of insulation today!

Big day indeed, I can see the finish line...damn it still is far away...

In order to put the air dam back in I had to put up a wall for which to attach it to.

When I did the roof raise I did not realize that I had to have a place where to put the top screws in...well I know I had to do it but I did not plan for it up in advanced...

Well I like to think I did but hey, this is a custom job ain't it?

When I did the roof raise and put up that particular piece of skin where the air dam opening is, I did place a square tube as a cross member so I could rivet in the exterior face/screen of the air dam. Problem was that I did not realize that on the inside, I should have attached a piece of angle iron to the top of that cross member so I then could place the screw on the inside of the bus, that hold up in place the air dam cover.

So no problem I just cut a piece of 1/4 plywood, installed some insulation, and screwed it all together.

The first piece of insulation was the corner piece.
I made cuts spaced one inch apart in order to make the bend. Then I used the outside corner of the bus to actually bend it.
Fit like a glove, pressed fit tight, no glue. same for the other pieces that I installed behind the plywood, pressed in real tight, no glue for now.

Came out real nice! but I think I'm biased...

Here's some pics.
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Old 05-27-2021, 03:08 PM   #82
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Inside work begins !

So after a long and challenging journey in just remediating lots of rust and rotted metal, I'm finally starting on the inside work.

It is a new chapter...yeah !!

I got the one air damn fully installed and the second one is ready to go, just got to go to lowes and get some insulation.

A while back I was able to get a FREE 32' travel trailer, a 2012 ZINGER BY KEYSTONE RV (CROSSROADS RV). It was rolled over by a hurricane in the Florida Keys a couple of years back.

I started to gut it out this week and so far I got 10 windows, 9 with trim rings and two that are emergency exit windows. With the stock rear window also being an emergency exit window, my bus will have 3 emergency exit windows along with the drivers side emergency exit door.

I removed the TT fuse box, roof top a/c which just so happens to be a ducted unit or should I say I also have a/c ducts for the ceiling now!

I got a fairly decent RV fridge, stove, shower glass enclosure, a cheapy but still free to me!

Today I'm gonna replace the bus driver window and see if I can replace it with one of the travel trailer windows.

I plan on cutting a 3/4 inch piece of plywood to fit where the bus window is then cut that out so I can put the rv window in followed up by new sheet metal skin on the outside.

My best guesstimate is that I'm saving about 2 grand on materials here.

I yeah I almost forgot, thanks to craigslist, I got a stack of plywood almost 3 ft high, different thickness - 1/4 - 3/4", for free !!!



Let's see how this turns out!
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Old 05-27-2021, 07:18 PM   #83
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That is some epic free stuff, nice finds. The plywood especially - you might want to hire an armed guard for that.
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Old 05-27-2021, 07:46 PM   #84
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Exactly! Free plywood? It’s like getting gold bars for free.

It must have been part of an international illicit drugs shipment.

Or came from the Chernobyl Plywood Plant LLC.

Or perhaps Vladimir Putin pushed a dissident or two into the plywood machine
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Old 05-27-2021, 08:58 PM   #85
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My plywood floor came from crates of South American fruit juice concentrate.
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Old 05-28-2021, 08:53 AM   #86
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Exactly! Free plywood? It’s like getting gold bars for free.

It must have been part of an international illicit drugs shipment.

Or came from the Chernobyl Plywood Plant LLC.

Or perhaps Vladimir Putin pushed a dissident or two into the plywood machine
ROFLMAO ....

Good one...!

Being down here in hurricane alley, this plywood came from a business that shut down. They built these huge wooden panels to cover up the 18' high roll up steel door in order to protect them from the winds of storms / hurricanes.

The pile was actually bigger than this, about a third more. Used it, gave it to my friend "KAT". We used quite a bit of it on her bus!

The landlord told them it had to go...so I got it! Had to disassemble them and cart them off but hey...pre-pandemic it was already a gold mine...post pandemic, it's like hitting the lottery!
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Old 05-28-2021, 04:52 PM   #87
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Drivers window

So I went ahead and installed an rv window where the drivers window was.
I cut a 3/4 plywood to size and used that to fill the window void.

Doing this for the first time ever, I was thinking the window should be all the way forward and down in the corner. My thinking is that would provide best / maximum view of the mirror.

I dry fit it for now and, after thinking it over, I'm thinking about sliding the window back about two inches...
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Old 05-28-2021, 05:29 PM   #88
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Originally Posted by ewo1 View Post
So I went ahead and installed an rv window where the drivers window was.
I cut a 3/4 plywood to size and used that to fill the window void.

Doing this for the first time ever, I was thinking the window should be all the way forward and down in the corner. My thinking is that would provide best / maximum view of the mirror.

I dry fit it for now and, after thinking it over, I thinking about sliding the window back about two inches...
Looking real good.
I don’t think moving it back a few inches will be much benefit for shoulder checking that side but may create a much larger A pillar out front and that could get annoying.
Liking the look of that roof raise.
Cheers
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Old 05-28-2021, 05:44 PM   #89
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Window looks great just way too small.. I remember when carpenter went to a factory smaller window with rounded corners I hated the view and blind spot.. I’d go to a big rectangular window that fills the complete space and slides both directions.. a lot of RV windows only slide from one.. only way to get air in a driver window on a bus is to open a bit at front and back of it …
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Old 05-28-2021, 06:19 PM   #90
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Looking real good.
I don’t think moving it back a few inches will be much benefit for shoulder checking that side but may create a much larger A pillar out front and that could get annoying.
Liking the look of that roof raise.
Cheers
The A pillar was a concern. I went ahead and cut out another piece of plywood, this time with measurements to slide the window back just one in.
I'll post pics when I' get it done.
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Old 05-28-2021, 07:07 PM   #91
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Window looks great just way too small.. I remember when carpenter went to a factory smaller window with rounded corners I hated the view and blind spot.. I’d go to a big rectangular window that fills the complete space and slides both directions.. a lot of RV windows only slide from one.. only way to get air in a driver window on a bus is to open a bit at front and back of it …
You made a really good point about both window panes sliding...
didn't think of that, thanks!

Now you got me re-thinking this...dang...
From an aesthetics point of view, I really like the way the RV window looks but yes, only one pane slides.

So I running another idea in my mind... Using the OEM bus window with some minor changes to not only make it look different but maybe also blend in with the RV windows.

If I painted the OEM window frame black and added some window tint...

I think I'm gonna have my buddy tint the windows before I paint just to see what it would look like.
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Old 05-28-2021, 07:29 PM   #92
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ID:	57903Good point on the possible paint job. This is what I did, while I had all the windows out to re seal them I took that opportunity to strip the aluminum frames and hat channel covers to paint them black. As my bus had very dark tint I was trying to incorporate that dark band into my paint scheme.
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Old 05-28-2021, 07:33 PM   #93
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Attachment 57903Good point on the possible paint job. This is what I did, while I had all the windows out to re seal them I took that opportunity to strip the aluminum frames and hat channel covers to paint them black. As my bus had very dark tint I was trying to incorporate that dark band into my paint scheme.
I like it !
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Old 05-28-2021, 09:05 PM   #94
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I like your idea of test-placing the window with plywood. I would have just stuck the window wherever and then convinced myself it was the right spot all along.
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Old 05-28-2021, 09:50 PM   #95
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I like your idea of test-placing the window with plywood. I would have just stuck the window wherever and then convinced myself it was the right spot all along.


You have no idea on how much I am overthinking this.

At first I thought about creating a square tube frame, welding it in then skinning it but I.m terrible at making exact measurements.

Then I said to my self, what if it’s off or crooked!

Then I realized that I can just use the plywood, cut, fit then skin it!

Oh yeah then Cadillackid made me re-think it all over again. He made some good points

In the end, I’m gonna count on you guys on this in helping me determine the final outcome.
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Old 05-29-2021, 04:14 PM   #96
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Driver window verdict is in!

So thanks to CadillacKid and Oscar1 for their input. I finally decided the stock OEM drivers window is staying in place.

What I dis, the rear pane I put on some Limo tint and on the front pane I put on legal window tint. I actually plan to use that mirror alot so I wanted to be able to see out the window fairly well...

Thanks guys, Chris... you were right, a bigger window would be better and I didn't think about the airflow to the driver. the ability to move both panes of glass was really helpful too...

OSCAR1, the pics you posted did it for me.

So here are the two window ideas, i've decided on the bigger one!
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Old 05-29-2021, 04:54 PM   #97
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I was talking to someone and now cant find the pics but they created a roll-down window for their bus.. (actually power in their case) using a Step-van window mechanism.. it looked cool and did involve them de-skinning that part of their bus.. but oi think yours has the electrical panel below the driver window. one idea I had for my red bus was a wing in the front part of the windshield 1/4 window for air.. then I realized unless the weather is perfect i have the Air conditioner on anyway so I didnt try to fab up a cenbter pivot wing frame..
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Old 05-30-2021, 08:50 AM   #98
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one idea I had for my red bus was a wing in the front part of the windshield 1/4 window for air..
You know, that might actually be a good product to design and make.. got to be a lot of busses out there both private and commercial, that could benefit greatly from something like that!


I found this one, looks like it for an off road side-by-side, but at a price of $190.00,
https://can-am-shop.brp.com/off-road...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'll make one myself !
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Old 05-30-2021, 09:02 AM   #99
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You know, that might actually be a good product to design and make.. got to be a lot of busses out there both private and commercial, that could benefit greatly from something like that!


I found this one, looks like it for an off road side-by-side, but at a price of $190.00,
https://can-am-shop.brp.com/off-road...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

I'll make one myself !
That's an interesting product, but yeah $190 is pretty steep for that. My bus came with a Sea II air foil mounted on the rear cap (it's made to direct airflow down across the rear of the bus and keep it free of dust and snow while driving) but I'm not sure if I'll end up reinstalling it or not. If not, I might repurpose segments of it to build air deflectors like this, although the foils are made of aluminum and that's beyond my fabrication abilities right now.
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Old 05-30-2021, 10:15 AM   #100
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School busses used to have a driver window deflector option .. on one hand I love them on the other hand they blocked the view somewhat. My old superior used to have one the brackets are there for it . The Polaris wing shown is for the opposite effect to direct wind away which is what our mirrors do and why you get so much engine heat when the driver window are open in your bus as it makes for a negative pressure. A real wing window on a vehicle could be turned around to create positive pressure as could the device sold new on old school busses.. growing up our blazers and scouts all had. CEnter pivoted wing windows.. they weren’t used much as we always had AC
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