Tank -6 window International

[drtbreau]

Our 1500 mile adventure is over. We drove from Louisiana to New Mexico to pick up our new bus. We left Tuesday after work and got home Friday just in time for hurricane Delta. My 10 year old son loves all things military so we have decided to name the new shorty Tank. He is a 2004 International CE300 6 window. It has a DT466, Allison 2000 transmission, and air brakes. He made it home with no troubles except intermittent gauge disruption. Since all but 2 seats were removed we spent the first night in the desert picnic area. We are planning on using it for weekend hunting, camping, and hopefully national park visits (my hope one day is an Alaskan trip!). Weighed him at the CAT scale on the way home and he was 13,730 lbs.

Issues I have found so far: some leaky windows (front windows leak a little from the bottom seals)-this was apparent when driving thru hurricane bands! Any ideas to fix this?
Most of the side windows leak some. I’m planning on pulling them all out, painting black, removing old caulk, and replacing with DAP polyurethane caulk?? Does this sound right?
Instrument cluster: I pulled it out and wasn’t sure what to caulk. Blew out the connectors and it has been working since then. I’m not sure what to do about the air brake gauge if I remove from the panel is it going to mess anything up? My backup is to install a bluefire but I’m having trouble finding the diagnostic port.

Yesterday I got to work and removed the 2 remaining seats. Got down to metal and found some rust. Happy he lived in NM because he wouldn’t have had a bottom left in Louisiana. I wasn’t brave enough to strip the stairwell and drivers seat yet since they seem to be on the same sheet of plywood. I plan on driving some next week so I figured I would tackle that at a later date since I will have to deal with the drivers heater and side panel.

This week I plan on grinding the surface rust off with my wire wheel attachment, cleaning, then applying the old Naval Gel, rinsing, then attaching pennies with silicone caulk. I think I’m going to spray that with flex seal as well. Then I will paint with rustoleum......does that sound like a good plan??

It hasn’t been serviced in over a year so I’m planning on bringing to my local International dealer for the 85 point inspection for the first go round.

Here’s some photos so far...

[drtbreau]

Today’s progress....finished grinding the rust. Treated rust with Naval Jelly. Some of the bad spots needed 2 rounds. Replaced old caulk with Lexel and glued pennies over floor holes. I have to wait 7 days to paint the floor bc of Lexel so I will work on ceiling and wall panels this week.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by drtbreau

I’m planning on pulling them all out, painting black

For painting your windows, I recommend SEM self-etching primer (in a rattle can) and then Rustoleum semi-gloss black enamel (also rattle can). The three windows in my bulkhead wall were salvaged from another user's bus and were originally bare aluminum. The SEM primer adheres to aluminum very well and dries perfectly smooth - looks like a factory job, as long as your masking is perfect.

Originally Posted by drtbreau

My backup is to install a bluefire but I’m having trouble finding the diagnostic port.

It should be on the underside of the dashboard (the molded plastic thing) to the right of the steering wheel, underneath the gear shifter. It should be next to a small black push button, and it should have a cover (this is assuming it's like my 2003 International CE 300, which it should be).

[drtbreau]

Thanks, I will definitely take your window advice!

[musigenesis]

This is how they came out: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/r...tml#post388693

[Native]

When I read your first post, you mentioned using silicone to adhere the pennys to the floor. Your next post stated Lexel ... a *MUCH* better choice! For those reading the thread, Lexel is a super-elastic high adhesion paintable caulk.

[drtbreau]

My husband is a carpenter....he insisted I use Lexel. He loves the product.

Also note 7 day wait time before painting with oil based paint.

[drtbreau]

Got the interior gutted yesterday (behind the driver’s seat).

[Native]

Clean looking floors.

[drtbreau]

Got 1/2 the windows pulled out, painted, and resealed. Dropped him off at the International Service place yesterday to get a checkout and serviced to make sure there’s no underlying issues that we need to worry about.

[64crew4x4]

Shorty is Awesome... love the name. curious did you baby sit MPG on the trip..? I have a Vet friend looking to do a Shorty also...he and i are curious How the DT466 does in a Shorty.
Thanks. and have fun...

[drtbreau]

We drove 60-65 for most of the trip, average MPG was 8-10. I've been very happy with the engine power. We haven't been thru mountains yet, but I think with the Allison 2000, we should be fine.

[drtbreau]

Mechanic check: was impressed with how well our bus is put together and functioning! No leaks and in great shape!!! Even better news PRE -EGR!!

Got the rest of the ceiling out, floors sealed and painted. Pulled the other 6 windows, paint and resealed. Got all the dreaded reflective tape and adhesive off. Just need to do cockpit area floor to contend with. How hard is it going to be to remove the driver’s seat with the air suspension? Any tips??

[WIbluebird]

Originally Posted by drtbreau

Mechanic check: was impressed with how well our bus is put together and functioning! No leaks and in great shape!!! Even better news PRE -EGR!!

Got the rest of the ceiling out, floors sealed and painted. Pulled the other 6 windows, paint and resealed. Got all the dreaded reflective tape and adhesive off. Just need to do cockpit area floor to contend with. How hard is it going to be to remove the driver’s seat with the air suspension? Any tips??

Most air ride seats are secured with 4 bolts to the floor. You will have to have someone climb underneath and hold the nuts while you whack the bolts loose.

There is also the air line that will need to be disconnected as well.

[Native]

Disconnect the air line and plug it with a golf tee. It will hold pressure as long as the tee is in place. This is what i did when I removed the air-ride seat. Atthis point, the seat may be removed without having to be concerned with the air line.

[drtbreau]

Can it be plugged on the side connected to the seat or where the line originates? Did you use electrical tape to hold it on?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by drtbreau

Mechanic check: was impressed with how well our bus is put together and functioning! No leaks and in great shape!!! Even better news PRE -EGR!!

Got the rest of the ceiling out, floors sealed and painted. Pulled the other 6 windows, paint and resealed. Got all the dreaded reflective tape and adhesive off. Just need to do cockpit area floor to contend with. How hard is it going to be to remove the driver’s seat with the air suspension? Any tips??

Your ID tag on the ceiling up front should say the exact date of manufacture of your engine. It should be some time in 2003 if you don't have the EGR stuff.

Do you have any pics of your seat? There seems to be some variety in how they're attached. Mine has a sort of flat pedestal screwed and welded to the floor, and then the seat itself is attached via eight rivnuts. This is where I started on the seat demo: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/r...tml#post380337. It might help if your seat is the same, but I think my whole arrangement is a post-factory rebuild of the area.

Native gave me the same instructions about disconnecting the air hose but I couldn't manage to get the coupling separated, so instead I gathered up some slack in the hose on the underside of the bus, and this allowed me to unbolt the seat and tip it back onto the floor without disconnecting the air hose at any point. Kind of lame but it worked fine and let me work on the floor all around it.

[Native]

Originally Posted by drtbreau

Can it be plugged on the side connected to the seat or where the line originates? Did you use electrical tape to hold it on?

I disconnected at the seat ... there is a quick-disconnect there. Just press the golf tee in, no tape needed. It stays in. I tripped over it and kicked it and subjected it to all sorts of abuse ... never came out. When I was installing a second seat and the flooring, I pulled the line back under the bus and reinstalled the golf tee under the bus. Later, I put it back up through the new holes in the floor. I should have done this at the start. It would have saved a few near face-plants.

As Musigenesis noted, they can sometimes be tricky to remove the line fromthe connector. The trick is to press the palstic ring on the side you want to disconnect towards the center of the connector, then press the line IN before pulling it out. This loosens up the line from the connector. To connect it back, just shove the line back into the connector and press the line in. By press, I mean hold the connector and the line and push them together.

[drtbreau]

We removed the floor next to the driver’s seat and could tell it was immaculate under so we decided to work around it.

Got the walls framed up, figured a way to hold up the old wires and have a place for new ones over the windows. Started blocking the roof ribs to later attach cedar tongue and groove.

Talked my husband into rebuilding dash out of reclaimed old cypress. We decided to leave the area around the cluster since that was just too much figuring on that part. So far it’s unfinished and we are waiting on our switch plate covers and cup holder to come in before finishing it out. Also going to add a shelf on the passenger front and a cabinet by engine bay.

Got our Vermont plates in!!!!

[Native]

Nice work on the console.