Sealing screw holes from rub rails with rivets?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by HamSkoolie

Yikes cancer. Must be a salt belt bus?

I've seen a lot of people on youtube pulling up their floors to expose massive cancer and holes that have to be repaired. I would be worth a trip outside just to not deal with the massive corrosion issues.

You're new here, I guess - my bus came from Buffalo. I generally advise people to purchase rust-free buses, but: I got into this project because I wanted to learn to fabricate, and there is nothing better than a rusty bus for that purpose. As a bonus, my DT466e has fewer than 40K miles on it after a rebuild because the body was too trashed out to carry children any more.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by cilantro

Hi friends,

I want to remove the rub rails to give the bus a cleaner look. I know there is rust/dirt behind them, which is really just another reason to remove them.

I can remove them by removing the screws holding them in, but then I need to patch the holes.

The most effective way of doing it is to weld them shut like Michael from Navigation Nowhere (following this guys videos). I don't know how to weld and while I would like to learn I am considering the next best option which I think would be to just place a rivet where the hole is with some seam sealer.

What are the negatives?

I would be thinking of adding more rails for a more balanced look and more strength, but....


I haven't welded in a long time, but best I remember, filling small holes is easy with a small gas wire welder and a copper "spoon" ( a flat copper bar with a handle attached). Have someone hold the copper bar flat against the back side while you fill the hole in (about 2- 5 seconds each) from the front side. Gas (usually CO2 for steel) doesn't have any slag to make it hard to see what you are doing as opposed to flux wire or stick welding. The steel doesn't stick to the clean copper bar and the copper allows excess heat to quickly dissipate into the copper to help avoid warping the steel. Some of the welders here could tell you better than me, but I think that it would be cheaper, quicker, more waterproof, and better looking to weld vs rivets.


Warping would be my biggest concern, so some experimentation might be in order.

[Kentucky Dreaming]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I think someone may have gotten a vacation.

I sure hope so.

[HamSkoolie]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

You're new here, I guess - my bus came from Buffalo. I generally advise people to purchase rust-free buses, but: I got into this project because I wanted to learn to fabricate, and there is nothing better than a rusty bus for that purpose. As a bonus, my DT466e has fewer than 40K miles on it after a rebuild because the body was too trashed out to carry children any more.

WOW that's some serious rust straight out of the salt belt. I have the skills but zero desire to that much repair work. You'll definitely learn some fabrications skills as well as some cutting skills getting all that cancer out and new metal in.

Curious, it looks like you're fuel tank is behind the rear axle?

[LargeMargeInBaja]

(Disclaimer:
I have no way to test this theory using the standard repeatable procedure of comparing an altered group to the non-altered (aka 'the control group') over years within a stipulated population.)
.
Some folks bolt a long 2x12 along the side of their rig... hoping to add rigidity.
In theory, the wood stabilizes the wall, and, in theory, reduces flex.
.
I see the plank as sacrificial; if you get conked by a stray frozen chicken shot from a cannon, the splinters can be chiseled away, then a new plank installed.
In theory.
.
Again, without comparing a long-term test group to a non-altered control group, we have no repeatable system to verify or quantify anything.
Removing or adding or doing nothing, we just do not know.
.
.
PS:
This is not intended as a criticism/encouragement of any current affairs, nor do I care if you take 'em or would never take 'em. Not my job.

[sportyrick]

Don't use silicone anywhere on the outside, it won't hold paint, use seam sealer. I don't see a problem removing rub rails but the tremendous amount of work to plug hundreds of holes and make them weather proof. Especially if you intend to make it look like they were never there, even more work and for what? I highlighted mine with paint, to make them disappear you have to draw peoples attention to something else to make them invisible.