I'm waiting for mr. phoenix to begin framing (he's working on a bathroom reno right now), so I'm tackling a few smaller projects in the meantime:
I removed the windows to clean and re-seal them. I used to balk at the idea of doing this, because it seemed so labor intensive, but removing them wasn't difficult at all. Once the screws between the frames are removed, the entire frame comes out with some force applied to the top (in a TC 2000, anyway). The old weatherstripping is coming off easily, but there's a lot of caulk to remove too:
I laid the windows on plastic sheeting, cleaned the frames with steel wool and degreaser, and hosed them off. A shop vac sucked up the water to prevent it from going onto the grass.
I now have 23 super clean bus windows:
The oven I purchased (see a few pages ago) was a real mess. I was beginning to regret it, since the burners and tubes looked so badly rusted I figured I'd need to spend a few hundred to get the parts re-enameled. Since I thought they weren't salvageable, I used a screwdriver to roughly hack into what looked like the rusted out enamel on the burners. Then I hit fresh, unblemished enamel. They had developed a hard coating covered with surface rust. Underneath, they're in great shape.
The oven is still messy, and it's a slow process, but there's lots of promise here. I'm super excited every time I get to work on this.
I removed the metal dash and sanded the front down to bare metal. I'll be spraying it with etching primer followed by Rustoleum before reassembling it.
I'm also painting the original bus seats to use them for a dining area. I experimented with vinyl paint, and it worked great. The paint seems fully bonded to the vinyl and the finish is just the right sheen. The original:
After 2-3 coats. It needs another coat, but the can ran out.
The bus is windowless right now, but I hope to have the sealing finished in the next few days.