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Old 04-12-2014, 05:43 PM   #21
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion



So, lets start with the ceiling insulation phase!

Everything about this phase is extremely difficult!!!
1) The position is super uncomfortable!
2) There are more than 1,000 screws
3) Metal covers are heavy as hell!!
4) Metal covers are so flimsy that it makes it very difficult to handle without scratching them or provoking bend marks!
5) When you are removing the metal panels, insulation particles are aspirated (even wearing a mask)

Then, there is reinstalling them...
1) Remember "uncomfortable position", and "heavy and flimsy"? Make that x5 while reinstalling them
2) Trying to synchronize ceiling panel holes with the frame's holes for the screws.
3) Screws falling while trying to screw them...

Well, you get the picture!!

Here we go!



More than 250 ceiling panel screws already...



Removing the lamp covers



PHEW!!!!! Almost done... Most panels and insulation have been removed!
The only panel left is the one over the driver. In order to remove this one, we need to remove the side covers on top of the front door, and the one on top of the driver's window.



We are extremely glad that we found little surface rust, and it was NOT where we thought! The emergency exit holes are CLEAN!!!!



Now, side panels are being removed





And this is what happens when Mike is left by himself, with power tools, without adult supervision!!!



We removed the rear top panel to rewire the non-existent rear warning lights. We will install 2 reverse lamps, and 2 turn signal lamps. Then, we will install insulation here as well!



While browsing through the wires... we found that the bus is pre wired for speakers!!!!

And... the wires are labled!!!! AWESOME!!!



We followed the wires back inside the control panel, and they end abruptly, but the good part is that they were all together, easy to find!



That night, while driving, we noticed that one of the headlights was not aligned properly and was "bouncy", indicating that it was not secured in its socket.

Our suspicions were right! The nest was totally rusted and broken into pieces. So, we took a piece of the old rubber floor, and made a temporary frame, while parts were ordered by internet, and shipped.



This are the nests and retaining rings we ordered



And, these are the headlamps/headlights conversion kit we ordered! From the H6054 sealed beam, to H4 housing and exchangeable headlight bulbs!



Back to the insulation and rust...

This is the rust converter we chose. Corroseal. Sold at HomeDepot and it has free shipping to store! ;)





After the Corroseal, we will apply a rust inhibitor.
This product was sold to us as "rust converter", when in fact, it is a "rust inhibitor".
We already have it, so we will apply it on top of the Corroseal on the floor.



At this point, the only area with rubber floor and subfloor that has not been removed yet is the one under the driver's seat. In order to remove it we have to remove:
1) Driver's seat
2) Driver's side heater unit + heater fans assembly... And to remove this one, we have to remove the whole control panel metal cabinet!!!
3) Hand brake and transmission cover
4) Heater unit by the door... And to remove this one, we need to remove the front door's arm rod and assembly, and the dash...

So, here we go! (Adventurous... with The A-Team's intro song in the background!!!)

First, we removed the rubber floor that was accessible... And to our surprise, the wooden subfloor did not showed water damage!!!



Then, we removed the whole control panel metal cabinet, and driver's side heater fans



And then, the hand brake and transmission cover... And it does not have water damage!!! WOW!!! Unexpected...

Notice that we had already prepared ourselves psychologically to remove the dash and heaters (the arm that operates the door is gone!)



We decided not to remove the subfloor, due to its good condition, and started to reinstall everything...

Door's arm



And, control panel



The next day, we decided to remove the 2 fans that are above the windshield. To do that, we needed to remove the front top metal cover





When we first bought the skoolie, it still had the top front red and yellow warning lights...



When we went to a shop, for its first oil change and brakes fix, they told us that it was illegal to drive it with without first eliminating the warning lights (if the bus was "out of school service").
So they offered to deal with that task as well.
However, we never paid attention to how they dealt with the task. We did noticed that they had put black covers on it.



When we removed the top front metal panel (to remove the fans) we found that the lamps were still there!!
They never removed them! (And why would they, right? And, if they did, they had to handed them back to us!... Well, we never paid attention to it! LOL)
What they did was to paint the lenses with flat black!
So, I came to the outside, and jumped on top of the engine, and removed the covers!!!



The next day, we gave her first power wash!

Preparing the inside for a power wash!





CLEAN!!!



The rear top warning lights were removed already when we bought the bus, but they covered the holes with cardboard, and painted over it.
CARDBOARD!!! On rainy days this was going to be a problem! And it did!



So we took the covers we removed from the front warning lights and installed them temporarily in the rear










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Old 04-12-2014, 08:42 PM   #22
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

I like the barn window idea-clever! Do they swing all the way over-or just 90*? I know with my bus-the area right in front of those windows (outside) has the most traffic. Hate to stand up from a lawnchair into one of them.
Reading you unbuild reminded me of my disassembly. I did it before I found this site. Everytime I wanted to remove something, I had to take off the panel above it first . And to get that part, you had to take off a trim piece up higher. And to get that trim piece...you get the idea.
I had a bodyman buddy helpping me-he had taken a tour of a couple of camper companies. "Oh yea-everything is built from the top down-you want to work on the floor, start taking it apart from the ceiling".
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Old 04-12-2014, 08:53 PM   #23
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by sdwarf36
I like the barn window idea-clever! Do they swing all the way over-or just 90*? I know with my bus-the area right in front of those windows (outside) has the most traffic. Hate to stand up from a lawnchair into one of them.
Thank you!!

They only open 90°

Yeah, we received that same warning about traffic under it... If we manage to modify them for them to open all the way, we have resolved that concern. If not, we may move them to the other side. Thank you for bringing it to our attention! Very appreciated!
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Old 04-13-2014, 01:51 PM   #24
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Yaaaaayyyyy!!! We just got headlamps & headlights!!! We will install them tomorrow!

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Old 04-18-2014, 12:48 AM   #25
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Hey LaCasitaBus, I was curious about this photo:



will you be insulating the section below where you've currently installed that insulation?
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Old 04-18-2014, 03:01 AM   #26
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Awesome, the visual reference is what I was going to ask for half way through reading your post, but you covered it! I still would have been confused since I couldn't picture it, but the link definitely cleared that up for me. Thanks again, I'll probably be thanking you fairly often it seems haha.


Now onto my next question based on the insulation of this build



I've been looking at the insulation that Home Depot carries at the 1.5" thickness and the Durofoam/PlastiSpan HD insulations only have a 6.06 R-Value.

Does anyone in Canada know of an insulation similar to the Super Tuff-R? That photo says the R-Value is a 9.8!

I looked online and noticed that is a US Commerical/Residential product only, so I'd definitely like to find something with a similar R-Value in a 1.5" thickness.
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Old 04-19-2014, 01:59 PM   #27
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerDaniels
Hey LaCasitaBus, I was curious about this photo:



will you be insulating the section below where you've currently installed that insulation?
PowerDaniels:
I guess that when you say below, is down inside the wall "pocket".
You may have missed the following photo (already posted above), which shows 2 foam board panels per pocket.
The wall opening is 28" tall, and we cut the panels in half, ending with 2 panels measuring 14" each.
It helps when installing, because of the angle makes it very difficult to install them without damaging them.


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Old 04-19-2014, 02:10 PM   #28
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by nat_ster
Basically the metal frame and exterior sheet metal need to be thermally isolated from the interior sheeting. This minimizes thermal transfer, condensation, ect.

Good simple way is strapping the interior with 3.5 inch wide strips of 3/4 plywood. The strips would be screwed to the support ribs. Interior sheeting gets fastened to the plywood strips. No fasteners from the inside should contact the ribs or exterior sheet metal. If they do, they will leak heat, cold, and condensate.

Styrofoam should fill all gaps behind the interior sheeting to prevent cold/hot zones.

Many don't do this due to height restrictions, lack of knowledge, money ect. All that don't regret it after.

Jatzy did a good job the way I explained, starting in pic 9 of this link. Jatzy used 1x4's but found they split too much as I have also found. Now I use 3/4 plywood strips.

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=466764

Let me know if I still fail at explaining this.

Hope this helps

Nat
Nat, thank you for the re-explaining, and the link for the visual guidance!!
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Old 04-19-2014, 02:54 PM   #29
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerDaniels
Awesome, the visual reference is what I was going to ask for half way through reading your post, but you covered it! I still would have been confused since I couldn't picture it, but the link definitely cleared that up for me. Thanks again, I'll probably be thanking you fairly often it seems haha.
We post our build, not only to share what we would like to do, are doing, or have done, but to guide others into how we did it if in any case they want to do it as well, and adapt it to their circumstances!

It's always our pleasure to be of help!
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Old 04-19-2014, 03:04 PM   #30
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerDaniels
I've been looking at the insulation that Home Depot carries at the 1.5" thickness and the Durofoam/PlastiSpan HD insulations only have a 6.06 R-Value.

Does anyone in Canada know of an insulation similar to the Super Tuff-R? That photo says the R-Value is a 9.8!

I looked online and noticed that is a US Commerical/Residential product only, so I'd definitely like to find something with a similar R-Value in a 1.5" thickness.
We did a search, and the best insulation we found available in Canada is the

"DOW STYROFOAMTM Brand CLADMATETM Extruded Polystyrene Foam Insulation"

It has a 7.5-R Value @ 1.5"

Here is a link to the spec sheet: http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedL...romPage=GetDoc

Here is the link to the page where you can buy it: http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/in...nt3/R-I2719179



If you find something better, share it so any other Canadian member can benefit of it.

Hope it helps!
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Old 04-19-2014, 04:51 PM   #31
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

My visual reference post was actually in response to Nat's link for the roofing question I had, but I didn't quote him in my response, my bad. Every single step and visual reference you've been posting of your build I am still just as grateful for!

Thanks for all the great responses, I did miss the photo that shows the insulation going to the floor, so thanks for that.

I will continue looking at insulation options, but I definitely appreciate you sharing the best you've found for Canadians!

Keep up the great build and topic!
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Old 04-20-2014, 01:44 AM   #32
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerDaniels
Every single step and visual reference you've been posting of your build I am still just as grateful for!

Thanks for all the great responses, I did miss the photo that shows the insulation going to the floor, so thanks for that.

I will continue looking at insulation options, but I definitely appreciate you sharing the best you've found for Canadians!

Keep up the great build and topic!
As we said before, we are glad to be of help!

Thank you for appreciating it!
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Old 04-21-2014, 01:38 PM   #33
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion


Look at the difference between the new headlamp, and the old one!!




This was the condition of the best of the two headlamp nests! The other one was just rust pieces all over the cavity!




Marked difference between new & old!




We got new headlamps & headlight bulbs!!! We are loving this conversion!!!







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Old 04-21-2014, 02:07 PM   #34
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion



We bought a garden pressure pump to apply the rust converter without knowing that the chemical was going to be as thick as diluted paint. We thought it was going to be a thin liquid substance. It will clog all the sprayer tips, and will only work for spaces in where you cannot reach with a paint roll or paint brush.




Any way, we managed to apply it to the ceiling and walls. And it seems to work as advertised. It only works on rusted metal, and the good metal its just covered with the thick substance, which could help in "sealing" or preventing further rust to forming.

Here is the before & after:





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Old 04-21-2014, 02:09 PM   #35
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion


Yaaaaayyyyy!!!!
Window film rolls arrived!!!!
We will soon have visual privacy without needing curtains!!!




Window scraping!
Preparing the surface to install the window film!!!




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Old 04-21-2014, 02:20 PM   #36
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

As materials become available (mostly through snail mail), & we have good weather, we multi-task and carry on with multiple projects at the same time! Insulation, rust treatment, headlights, window preparation for the privacy film, etc, etc...

Here, we are going back to insulation... This time, we measured, cut and test fitted ceiling insulation, then cut all the insulation that we could.




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Old 04-21-2014, 02:31 PM   #37
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion


Unlike a regular house build, which the frame and walls are usually wood, there is no traditional way to install the weather barrier material to the bus metal ceiling. So, we bought spray adhesive to adhere the Tyvek weather barrier to the ceiling, and seal the overlaps in the material.



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Old 04-21-2014, 02:56 PM   #38
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion


Since the garden pressure sprayer did not worked out the way we expected when applying the rust converter, we bough high density foam rollers to apply it onto the floor.



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Old 04-21-2014, 06:04 PM   #39
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

It is really easy to wind up with "adhesive" everywhere using a rattlecan. In fact...it's almost impossible not to since it needs to go on both surfaces. Not to mention the fumes are quite toxic. Personally, I'd go with old fashioned Contact adhesive & a small roller. Only occasional drips to deal with instead of a sticky mist that is uncontrollable and decidedly not breathable.

And though it may be a little late now, for rust converter...I use a little $19.00 siphon sprayer called a "Critter Sprayer". I use it regularly to apply rust converter to all the rebar in my cement work. Crank the compressor up to about 90 psi and it goes into every nook & cranny like gangbusters.
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Old 04-22-2014, 01:37 PM   #40
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Re: La Casita Bus Conversion

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tango
Personally, I'd go with old fashioned Contact adhesive & a small roller.

I use a little $19.00 siphon sprayer called a "Critter Sprayer".
Thank you very much for your suggestions. Will definetelly take them into consideration for future tasks!
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