Elf Bus E350 corbeil

[joeblack5]

Thanks Frochevy,


yes a big concern, We used bus seats with hip seatbelts, plenty of stuff flew thru the bus. The fridge door that has a lock on it busted open, the rear door got so twisted that that it opened up. This was only a side impact.. the front bumper is hardly bend.. A lot of self tapping screws got just ripped out of the metal because they were designed for shear and suddenly they got exposed to pull forces.
Looking at ethe bolts for the seats... 5 pieces 5/16" with backup plates ..to hold two kids in place.. That does not bode well for a bunch of drywall screws holding 2x4 together.

I left the inner roof panels and with a roll over they are essential in holding the roof up. They are stressed skin and together with many screws or rivets they form a nice box profile. A wood ceiling made of tongue and groove is not the equivalent of a stressed skin.


anyhow with so many skoolies being made there will be more accidents and no doubt we will see a couple of them show up on this site.


Johan

[joeblack5]

Yesterday was a sunny day with still some snow on the ground.
The front door post was about 1/4 low but with a jack I was able to " straighten " that out. Now on to replacing the windshield.

Johan

[joeblack5]

Still not happy with the straightness and strength of the passenger side a frame pillar. I will make an extra vertical column from the top of the A frame pillar to old door rocker panel.
Did some more tweaking and unbending and started putting self tappers in to keep all the pieces in place.

Found a couple of " vintage" marker lights with aluminum frame. Hope that will be able to take the bearing of branches better then the current cute cat eyes.
Wire brushed the corrosion of it.

[joeblack5]

In both our van buses I have found leaks around the windshield and that both buses did not have the original windshield.

I noticed that the passenger A pillar is not supported very well and I wonder if that could be a reason that the stresses on the windshield are higher then normal.

To make our 4*4 bus a bit better I decided to make a vertical post from the top of the A pillar to the top side of the rocker panel. Now I can use a 1*12 plank or better plywood to connect the door post and A pillar support together in a much stronger fashion.

Also cleaned up the RV door frame and installed a rain gutter above the door.

[cadillackid]

Makes me wonder if taking out the passenger door and not having a factory body pillar at the back of the cab causes a vibration that weakens the A Pillar over time .

[joeblack5]

Hi Chris, that is what I think. Will find out soon enough if the windshield cracks after driving thru a pothole .