Rusty 87 build thread

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I'll bet stuff like furniture will be real cheap in a few months man. Could probably score a new one cheap if you're vigilant.

I wonder if things like this are going to become more expensive. Furniture manufacturing isn't exactly an essential industry, and if there's no new furniture in the pipeline for a while the used stuff will be more in demand. Of course nobody will have any money to buy it.

[musigenesis]

Definitely messier than mig, but it seems easier to control the puddle and get good penetration. Unfortunately I did an inventory and I have eight rolls of mig wire and only one roll of flux core.

[Frochevy]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Attachment 42692

Definitely messier than mig, but it seems easier to control the puddle and get good penetration. Unfortunately I did an inventory and I have eight rolls of mig wire and only one roll of flux core.

Not too bad! One roll should get you by for a little while. With flux core you don't have to worry about wind if you have to weld anything outside. Note: if you weld any multi pass welds, chip the flux off the weld after each pass...

[Truthseeker4449]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

When I held a magnet next to the ABS box, I got the SEN, LFT and RER lights lighting up. Pulling the codes is something else?

Hmmm, I'll have to go see what lights up on my box, I know I've got a couple red lights while the bus is running.

Yeah I mean pulling data over the com lines. Once this pandemic is over I'll be happy to help you pull codes that might narrow the problem down more and examine the live speed inputs to the module.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I found an even better one:

Attachment 42685

This one's ideal because it's very narrow (29") and has a perfectly rectangular footprint. Its main flaw is that it's in Jersey so I probably won't be able to get it until July, if then.

I have this tendency to fall in love with CL/FBM stuff and then be disappointed for a long time when I don't end up with it.

Yeah, that one does fit the bill!


My wife is like you with the CraigsList free stuff. Ten years ago, she got a cover for an Ikea sofa that she has wanted. It was free. Only thing is we do not have that sofa. She watched and waited and about a year ago she found it. Jackpot. Then she found another a couple of weeks later.

[musigenesis]

I forgot to weld one side of one of the crossbeams I added for the floor.



I actually got a good bead down the vertical part of this, now completely obscured by the flux from a couple of later globs. I had problems with my extension cord being too long and thin, and I kept blowing the circuit breaker, but it's good enough I guess.



Why I should have done it before painting:





Sanded down and spray-painted:



Added a rubber gasket to my flex pipe bracket and socked the nuts down with thread locker.



All set to put the center floor trays in permanently this afternoon.

Edit: just reminded myself I need to put pieces of conduit over the bottoms of the openings in the crossmembers, so that the air hoses aren't rubbing directly on the metal edges.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I forgot to weld one side of one of the crossbeams I added for the floor.

Attachment 42719

I actually got a good bead down the vertical part of this, now completely obscured by the flux from a couple of later globs. I had problems with my extension cord being too long and thin, and I kept blowing the circuit breaker, but it's good enough I guess.

Attachment 42720

Why I should have done it before painting:

Attachment 42721

Attachment 42722

Sanded down and spray-painted:

Attachment 42723

Added a rubber gasket to my flex pipe bracket and socked the nuts down with thread locker.

Attachment 42724

All set to put the center floor trays in permanently this afternoon.

Edit: just reminded myself I need to put pieces of conduit over the bottoms of the openings in the crossmembers, so that the air hoses aren't rubbing directly on the metal edges.

Looks like the spray paint matches. I hope you applies many coats since the spray paint is waaaay thinner than the two coats of the stuff you brushed on.


In reference to the conduit ... you know they will rub ... it is the nature of the beast.

[musigenesis]

Covered the hose-rubbing spots with pieces of conduit. These crossmember holes all had pieces like this before I started cleaning and painting them, so it seemed a good idea to replace them.





Dry fitting the first tray.



Thick layer of the 'tron.



Socked down.



View from underneath with the sealer oozing out.











My floor rebuild is complete, more or less (I still have to put the subfloor down but I'm counting that as a different task).

[Native]

A BIG congratulations!


I am stilll so very jealous of your pretty painted rails. I can hardly wait to see the inside floor painted ... then the underside!



Keep on truckin', buddy!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

A BIG congratulations!


I am stilll so very jealous of your pretty painted rails. I can hardly wait to see the inside floor painted ... then the underside!



Keep on truckin', buddy!

Thanks! I was sad to put these trays in since the big yellow looked so cool. Now it just looks like the inside of a cheap shed.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Thanks! I was sad to put these trays in since the big yellow looked so cool. Now it just looks like the inside of a cheap shed.

That is just temporary ... just wait until you have the subfloor down!

[DoxieLuvr2015]

WOW creative and interesting method. I like it very much but that does seem like a bit of extra production work.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by DoxieLuvr2015

WOW creative and interesting method. I like it very much but that does seem like a bit of extra production work.

It's not too bad time-wise and I think it will go even quicker the more I do it and the more I can mass-produce the stuff for it. Welding the posts is quick and easy - it was much more of a pain getting the masking tape off them after painting, and the dowels just need to be cut, with one hole drilled for the posts and another operation for the counterbore (to fit over the nuts). Then I cut the piece of foam, press it down over the posts to locate the holes, and drill them out of the foam with a 1.25" hole cutter. Then screw down the dowel pieces and it's done.

This is in theory, of course. I may have a different opinion of this method by tonight. So far the biggest pain is having these posts sticking up for me to trip on. If I fall onto them it could be mighty unpleasant. Ideally I would weld the posts and then immediately lay the floor over them, but I have to weld and then paint first.

[banman]

Wait, what?! Is that surface rust I see all over the wheel wells?!

The progress looks good!

And we've made it to Spring-Time!
(I've actually gotta go waste part of this beautiful day mowing my lawn...

But as a friend said to me -- mowing helps the neighbors tolerate the junkyard...)

[musigenesis]

Needs a better name, that's for sure.

Needs to fit on the end of 1.25" dowel:



Cut notches in the side, welded finishing nails into the notches and ground off everything but the tips, then welded a nut on from the inside. Was going to do four nail tips but I messed up the weld on one of them and decided two would be enough.



This tool hammers onto the end of the dowel and lets me turn it with a ratchet wrench. Tool pries up fairly easily (although I could have made these tips a bit shorter) and leaves just these two little marks.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by banman

Wait, what?! Is that surface rust I see all over the wheel wells?!

The progress looks good!

And we've made it to Spring-Time!
(I've actually gotta go waste part of this beautiful day mowing my lawn...

But as a friend said to me -- mowing helps the neighbors tolerate the junkyard...)

No, it's just glue spots on the original wheel well bits. You think I'm gonna rebuild my entire floor and leave rust on the wells as a sort of sacrifice to the rust gods? My philosophy is that any part of my bus that has survived this long without any rust on it should be left alone.

It's funny, my original goal in October was to get the floor rebuilt before winter shut me down until the spring. So I'm basically where I planned to be, just with a few months' extra work to get there.

[Phatman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Made a strap/hanger whatchamacallit out of some scrap galvanized to support my piece of flex pipe in the middle. Couldn't finish attaching it because I only brought ONE FREAKING BOLT to my bus.

Attachment 42661

How big is your flexible metallic conduit? Do you already have your wire in it ?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Phatman

How big is your flexible metallic conduit? Do you already have your wire in it ?

It's not conduit, it's a four-foot section of flexible 4" exhaust pipe that goes up and over the rear axle. My original section was rotted out by the rust and had to be replaced, so I went the quick and cheap route. It's been on there awhile and holding fine, but the original pipe had a support in this spot so I thought I would add one as well while I still had easy access to it.

[Phatman]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

It's not conduit, it's a four-foot section of flexible 4" exhaust pipe that goes up and over the rear axle. My original section was rotted out by the rust and had to be replaced, so I went the quick and cheap route. It's been on there awhile and holding fine, but the original pipe had a support in this spot so I thought I would add one as well while I still had easy access to it.

Hahahahaha. I got ya. Just wanted to make sure you pull wire before you got to far. It’s a real bitch pulling wire in greenfield.

[musigenesis]

I cut the piece to fit and pressed it in. Lesson learned: run a piece of cloth underneath to make it easier to get the piece back out (like they do with batteries in appliances sometimes). The posts leave perfect indentations for where to cut the larger holes.



Cut the holes and also reamed out the indentations for the clip bolt heads.



Back in place.



1 7/8" piece of dowel, pre-drilled for a 1/4-20 bolt and counterbored to fit over the nut. Went a little deep on this first one.



Hammered on the screw tool.



Socked it down with a rachet wrench.





Making these with a miter saw and a drill press (and just my hand drill for the counterboring) takes almost no time.



All done.



Next piece is going to be a bit more complicated because I have to cut a groove down the middle to fit over the vertical part of the t-bar.