Rusty 87 build thread

[musigenesis]

Building the corner posts for my rear wall.



Making them out of two pieces of 1X so I can fill in the corner with XPS and prevent cold corners.



Making sure the joined pieces still fit and can maneuvered into place. There's about a 96% chance I'm going to rip out one of my new wires in the course of this.



Added a couple of wings to hold foam board.



Gluing in XPS on the backside of the corner.





Fitting the driver's side post.

[Native]

Foamboard on a stick ... is that a new state fair treat?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

Foamboard on a stick ... is that a new state fair treat?

Ha ha, can't be any less healthy than the regular stuff.

[musigenesis]

Added another two layers of PT 2x to the front blocks - still not level. Also added a couple of wheels to the biggest one, which is just way too heavy to drag around easily.

[musigenesis]

Almost there. Driver's front wheel is 10.5" off the ground now.









I'm legitimately concerned that I'm going to forget and drive the bus off the front of these things. Would the shocks be OK with a sudden 10" drop like that? Never mind what that would do to my spine.

[Bus'n it]

Smart idea! I was looking at ready made ramps and they are $700 a pair. Crazy!

[musigenesis]

I just realized something I could have taken advantage of with more advanced planning. I'm not super-concerned about AC so I'm not going into the expense and effort of installing a mini-split. My plan is to use a window unit or two when necessary, although obviously this is a bit of a pain if you have to take them out before driving anywhere.

I just realized that because of my bulkhead wall behind the driver's seat, I could have mounted a window AC unit in the bulkhead (since the cab is not part of my insulated living space and is effectively outside) in place of one of the windows. I may still do this anyway since the windows are only bolted to the steel frame of the wall, but had I thought ahead I would have made one window easily removable and swappable with a window AC unit that fit the same opening. Since the condenser would be sticking out inside the cab instead of outside the bus, I wouldn't have to remove it before driving.

[Frochevy]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I just realized something I could have taken advantage of with more advanced planning. I'm not super-concerned about AC so I'm not going into the expense and effort of installing a mini-split. My plan is to use a window unit or two when necessary, although obviously this is a bit of a pain if you have to take them out before driving anywhere.

I just realized that because of my bulkhead wall behind the driver's seat, I could have mounted a window AC unit in the bulkhead (since the cab is not part of my insulated living space and is effectively outside) in place of one of the windows. I may still do this anyway since the windows are only bolted to the steel frame of the wall, but had I thought ahead I would have made one window easily removable and swappable with a window AC unit that fit the same opening. Since the condenser would be sticking out inside the cab instead of outside the bus, I wouldn't have to remove it before driving.

Good call- you would need a way to capture condensation that would drop from the window unit, but that could be as easy as a 5 gallon bucket...

Good work on all of the wiring removal! It took me awhile on mine. However I removed so much wiring I used a lot of it for the bus build. I only had to buy some heavier wire for certain things like an invertor, and a winch for my bed... I also purchased some Marine wire that has red/black wires on it to run for my see level II gauges. It might be a good time to run wiring for gauges if you plan to have tank monitoring system, wiring for water pump etc. Like others have said a built in chase is nice. I used a board horizontally to creat a flat shelf for the wiring to run in, then I used another board vertical that I can easily remove with a couple screws if I need access to the wires.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Frochevy

Good call- you would need a way to capture condensation that would drop from the window unit, but that could be as easy as a 5 gallon bucket...

Good work on all of the wiring removal! It took me awhile on mine. However I removed so much wiring I used a lot of it for the bus build. I only had to buy some heavier wire for certain things like an invertor, and a winch for my bed... I also purchased some Marine wire that has red/black wires on it to run for my see level II gauges. It might be a good time to run wiring for gauges if you plan to have tank monitoring system, wiring for water pump etc. Like others have said a built in chase is nice. I used a board horizontally to creat a flat shelf for the wiring to run in, then I used another board vertical that I can easily remove with a couple screws if I need access to the wires.

Do you have any pics of your chase? I'm still not sure how I'm going to run these wires from front to back, although I have vague ideas.

[Frochevy]

Hopefully my quick hand drawing makes sense.... I have furring strips screwed into the metal ribs behind my insulation and wall board. I screwed 2x2 ish blocks into it. This gave me a place to screw a board on the bottom of these blocks that creat a shelf for the wires to lay on. I then put a piece of tongue and groove car siding (same as I used on the ceiling) and used the tongue to go in behind where and meet the edge of the roof panel. This creates a spot for it to wedge in and then screwed the bottom of that board to the shelf board. This allows for only a few screws and tight fit which makes quick access. You can adjust the width of the "shelf" board so you get the wedging action against your ceiling panels (if you have them).

Hope this helps!! Let me know if you need additional details. I could remove that board and take a picture inside... (That picture is inside the bathroom) However, where I have overhead cabinets, the wires simply are on top of it at the rear. I haven't installed a facia over these areas yet above my cabinets but plan to in the future.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I just realized something I could have taken advantage of with more advanced planning. I'm not super-concerned about AC so I'm not going into the expense and effort of installing a mini-split. My plan is to use a window unit or two when necessary, although obviously this is a bit of a pain if you have to take them out before driving anywhere.

I just realized that because of my bulkhead wall behind the driver's seat, I could have mounted a window AC unit in the bulkhead (since the cab is not part of my insulated living space and is effectively outside) in place of one of the windows. I may still do this anyway since the windows are only bolted to the steel frame of the wall, but had I thought ahead I would have made one window easily removable and swappable with a window AC unit that fit the same opening. Since the condenser would be sticking out inside the cab instead of outside the bus, I wouldn't have to remove it before driving.

How are you going to remove the heat from the cab/oven, leave the door open? fan in an open window?

[ol trunt]

I wondered that too. I've seen some snazzy side roll screen doors for patios that might work. Maybe a window shade with screen substituted for the shade material and stood on end would work. That way you wouldn't have to deal with the screen door swatting you on the ass every time you passed through.
Jack

[musigenesis]

I'll be able to open the driver's side window and the two forward-most passenger windows (also the passenger door if I felt like it, but I'll generally keep that closed since I'll have a lot of stuff stored in the cab, including my bikes), since those aren't part of my internal space. I won't need screens on anything in the cab since it's effectively a porch.

[cadillackid]

what about the drippy water.. normally on a window unit that gets slung into the condensor fan and sprayed all over.. or evaporated which means you are going to be loading up your tools and such with lots of warmth and moisture even if you have a window open..


A/C's need to be outside.. at least the hot portions of them do..

[ol trunt]

My window AC is entirely within the bus as close to the ceiling as I could get it. I put a drain hose on the condensation pan and routed it out the bottom of the bus. I ducted the hot air from the condenser down and out the bottom of the bus via a chase-way. I wasn't sure it would work but the chase is large enough and the exhaust fan powerful enough so it works just fine.
Jack

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[kidharris]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

what about the drippy water.. normally on a window unit that gets slung into the condensor fan and sprayed all over.. or evaporated which means you are going to be loading up your tools and such with lots of warmth and moisture even if you have a window open..


A/C's need to be outside.. at least the hot portions of them do..

Maybe an (insulated?) elbow from the back of the A/C condenser to the nearest window to redirect the hot air outside. Perhaps the elbow could be made out of a fabric so that it could be removed easily when the space was needed for some other use.


This would essentially turn the A/C window unit into one of those expensive self contained units as sold in the big box stores to be vented outside, only better?

[musigenesis]

Found a pair of double-hung windows on CL for $20 each, and pulled off the outer frames.





One of the windows has a bunch of condensation inside it so I decided to cut/pry the frame off. I didn't think the frame was part of the hermetic seal and I'm happy to see that it's not.





My plan for my windows (I'm keeping all the originals) is to cover them with removable insert panels of 2" XPS foam board in winter, but I want to build a few inserts that are mostly these double-paned window panels, so that I can still get some light inside.

I was originally going to incorporate them with the vinyl frame still on each window, but it's cool to know I can use just the glass unit. If the seal eventually fails I can easily replace the window.

[Native]

It is nice to know they can be dismantled down to the essential parts.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by Native

It is nice to know they can be dismantled down to the essential parts.

Yeah, I never knew. This particular one ended up 24" x 20", and ordering a custom unit of this size is something like $75. Not bad for $10 and some sawzalling.

[musigenesis]

Urg, got a quote from the mechanic to fix my ABS light: $6000. Says I need new harnesses for both the left and right wheels, and need the ABS unit reprogrammed. I don't think he's scamming me because he also recommended not doing it and I'm not going to. I will give it the ol' electrical tape fix.

I suspect an ABS light would cause me to fail a safety inspection, which will be interesting in the future.