General Questions

[New2Skool]

Hello All,

I have exposed the bare metal flooring.
The very rear section is pure rust.
The Rear windows, interior structures are pretty much gone from rust.
The bottom of the door is rusted but, will be removed and covered in time.
The entire last foot of the flooring is rust and needs replacement.

I purchased $700 in metal material to replace sections of flooring with 10g steel sheeting. 10g matches the original floor thickness.
Tubing to prepare for lifting the roof.
Eight Sheets of 18g sheet metal to cover the exterior walls after the lift before window purchase and installation.

Now, I need advise on replacing a few key areas of rust.
The worst spot is where the wheel well meets the wall.
There is physically a 4x10 inch rusted hole following the wheel well into the wall.
How can I, fit this?
I have material, I can weld, but need advise.

Second question,
The drivers & Stair well flooring.
That entire section of metal floor is horrible, worst on the entire bus.
Huge, deep dangerous rust spots near the stairwell, under the drivers seat and where the passenger compartment attaches to the engine compartment of the bus.

I have the material to replace the entire section but, I am unsure how to remove the old.

I plan to add angle iron to help brace the new floor before the replacement 10g flooring goes in. I am just not sure how to remove it. Any help would be great.

Third and last question.
Interior wall lower section. I see they are riveted but I don't think the rivets match up with the exterior rivets on the body. Can I grind the rivets and remove the bottom section of the interior walls? The section where the seats mount to the walls.

Thanks in advance for the help and I am sorry it is just a long post.
DLJIII

Oh by the way, a name came to me today.
The Independence

[family wagon]

It sounds as if you're looking for advice on forming the new metal to match the original contours in those rusted areas. Could you add some pictures so we see what you're working with?

[New2Skool]

For some reason it will not allow me to attach a picture.
It is on the interior, where the wheel well meets the interior wall.
It follows the rounded shape of the wheel well from the floor about four inches up along the wall.
It is completely rusted through and I can see the exterior sheet from the interior of the bus.
Banana shaped rust hole.

[Docsgsxr]

Originally Posted by New2Skool

For some reason it will not allow me to attach a picture.
It is on the interior, where the wheel well meets the interior wall.
It follows the rounded shape of the wheel well from the floor about four inches up along the wall.
It is completely rusted through and I can see the exterior sheet from the interior of the bus.
Banana shaped rust hole.

The site has storage issues. Post it to photobucket and import the link here. It will show up.

[New2Skool]

This is my not bus but, the red highlighted area is where the interior wall is rusted through.

It follows the wheel well partially up the curve and corner base.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Let me know what you think.

I am unsure how to fix this.

[Scooternj]

Originally Posted by New2Skool

This is my not bus but, the red highlighted area is where the interior wall is rusted through.

It follows the wheel well partially up the curve and corner base.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

Let me know what you think.

I am unsure how to fix this.

So its the actual chair rail that's rusted out?

[New2Skool]

No, it doesn't extend to the seat rail, its about 4 inches tall from the floor and wheel well. A very awkward spot, I can patch flat panels.
I am just unsure how to patch that corner section especially when it curves up along the wheel well.

[New2Skool]

Sorry about the delay.

This is the hole in question.

http://picpaste.com/20160508_163154-PHGhPKhO.jpg

[Robin97396]

Are you wanting to do a structural repair or just cosmetic?

[New2Skool]

Yes both.
Structural and cosmetic.

So far my idea is to cut the rusted areas out completely.
Weld angle iron as a frame structure.
Then replace the cut outs with sheet steel.
If there is a better or easier way please let me know.

[Robin97396]

That's about it if you want it to be strong and to last. You've got the right idea.

[family wagon]

For reference in case you haven't been able to get a good picture in your mind of what the subject components look like, there are some photos from Blue Bird's assembly process over there to help visualize the shape and extent of the chair rail section. Other makes seem to be constructed similarly. Most of the rust in your photo is in the chair rail, which is a Z shape running vertically down the interior wall, horizontal about 2 inches across the floor, then down again on the outside of the bus.

It actually isn't all that hard to manually bend a 1x1/8 hot rolled angle so you could perhaps bend a section to follow the contour and provide something to anchor new flat sheet into.

As an alternative you might try hammering/stretching a curved flange in the replacement sheet and skip the angle steel altogether. I'm thinking maybe cut the vertical chair rail patch say 1/4" to 1/2" oversize around the wheel house so that the oversize part can be hammered toward the interior 90 degrees, making a ledge to which the replacement wheel house steel can be fastened. A little corner like that doesn't have to be pretty so you probably could form it acceptably with just a normal construction hammer and a random heavy chunk of steel as a dolly.

I guess I'd start by cutting out as much as is necessary to 1) get the weak rusted stuff out and 2) open up enough room to manipulate tools to achieve #1. You might be cutting out steel that's fine in order to make sufficient room to work comfortably. Watch out for the hat channel/rib running up the wall. It is behind those 4 rivets at the left edge of the photo. There'll be something similar supporting the floor too, so take care to cut only the floor sheet and not the supports below it. After it's opened up a plan of attack will probably become clear. One other thing before cutting it open: make a cardboard template of the curve on the wall. You can use that when fitting new steel to make sure it's close so that the repaired wheel house won't have a weird shape there (too high or too low compared to the inboard side).

[New2Skool]

That is excellent thank you guys so much.

I can do that.

Appreciate it.