Jumping on the band wagon or maybe off of the bridge.

DoninTexas · 03-11-2021, 06:39 PM

My wife and I have just gotten a bus. We have been looking for one for a while We have a conversion van that we have made into a stealth sleeper and we were looking for something that we can stand up in.

My wife spotted this 2000 E450 Shuttle on facebook and contacted the owner. He said we could come over and look at it. By the time we drove the 30 miles to see it, it had started snowing. This was our first view of the bus.

This was not the ideal conditions to look at it, but we were pleased. The bus had a 7.3L Power Stroke with 200,000 miles. It started easily and sounded very good. The inside needs a lot of work, but we have rebuilt several campers in the past, with good results. We will see what we can do with this one. I hope to record our progress here, so others can give ideas to help us or learn from our mistakes.

More to Come

kazetsukai · 03-11-2021, 07:49 PM

Welcome! Look forward to seeing what you do with it!

DoninTexas · 03-12-2021, 06:09 AM

It’s a little rugged, but I think it will turn out nice.

DoninTexas · 03-15-2021, 08:54 PM

This bus has some water damage on the floor. We are now taking out the damage and about to replace with new plywood. Now, I have found another problem, the back corner on the passenger side has dropped about 2 inches. I have several ideas on how to fix this, but any suggestions on lifting and supporting this corner would be appreciated. This is a Diamond coach.

DoninTexas · 03-15-2021, 08:59 PM

I will be posting photos soon.

Sander · 03-16-2021, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoninTexas

... the back corner on the passenger side has dropped about 2 inches. ...

Pictures would help explain what you got going on.

These things were built for the sole purpose of being Leakey.

We are tracing and fixing all leaks before starting to fix any damage.

DoninTexas · 03-16-2021, 08:52 PM

Here is a view from the back of the bus. Notice that the right corner is lower than the left. It, also, show how un-level the back door is. Any ideas on repairing this. I have ideas, I will post the results, good or bad.

Sander · 03-16-2021, 09:22 PM

Ours looked that way, but it was the bumper being out of adjustment.

Get under it and see if there's a problem with the Crossmembers.

This is what ours looks like. Yours should be something similar.

DoninTexas · 03-16-2021, 09:45 PM

We have torn out the back 5 or 6 feet of floor. The replacement sub-floor has been painted and is ready to fit into place. We have coated the top with a roof sealant and caulk. I have repaired an old fiberglass topped rv with this before with good results, I hope it works on this one, also. Today was a perfect day to patch a roof, it was 76 degrees with sunshine, and no wind. Tonight, it is supposed to storm and tomorrow, we have blizzard warnings.
It's spring in the Texas Panhandle. Notice our weather app. 75 with Blizzard warning.

DoninTexas · 03-16-2021, 09:59 PM

Thanks, I'll check that out when the weather clears, maybe Thursday.

DoninTexas · 03-17-2021, 11:02 AM

Well, no bus work today! 8 inches of snow and still falling.

kazetsukai · 03-17-2021, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoninTexas

Well, no bus work today! 8 inches of snow and still falling.

You guys have been slammed this year. That kind of snow is an almost every year thing for NH, and it sticks around for months.

DoninTexas · 03-18-2021, 08:44 AM

That’s one of the reasons I live where I do. I’m a warm weather, flat lander kind of guy. I like to visit the mountains and the forests, but I start getting claustrophobic real quick. I plan on visiting back east sometime in the next few years, maybe after I finish this bus.��

DoninTexas · 03-21-2021, 09:28 PM

Well after the snow, we finished removing the rotted floor. We took it down to the black plastic water barrier, then cut 2 pieces of plastic corrugated camper underpinning to fit over the opening. This gives us a strong moisture barrier between the frame and the under flooring. We, then, used these as templates for cutting our 3/4 plywood under flooring. They are, now, in place ready to be screwed down.
We are working on the roof, finding and fixing the leaks. The snow showed us where some of the leaks were. Now, I am ready for it to rain, so I can check for any leaks I missed.

DoninTexas · 03-21-2021, 09:48 PM

When we finish screwing down the floor, I plan on re-fiberglassing the walls to the floor. Hopefully this will help tie it all together.

cai70 · 03-22-2021, 09:15 AM

I’m enjoying the posts! Keep going! Best of luck.

DoninTexas · 04-02-2021, 08:49 AM

We have fixed all the leaks that we can find, and we have finished replacing all of the rotted wood. Now, we are fiberglassing the walls to the floor and patching any damage that we find else where. I used to work at an amusement park repairing and maintaining rides. I was pretty good at doing fiberglass patch and repair, but that was 20 years ago. Now I am having to relearn and remember how to get the results that I want. Working on the inside is good practice for the body work that I will need to do around the rear wheel wells. Will post pics of the fiberglass work inside when I finish, hopefully today.

DoninTexas · 05-03-2021, 10:27 PM

Well, I started to post an update last Thursday, but I hadn’t formatted any of the images to work on the forum. I don’t have any images, just yet, but I have made some significant progress. I got insurance through Progressive and a temporary 30 day tag about 2 weeks ago.
We have the bus to the point that we can spend the night in it, so, we took it out on a short trip on the weekend before last. We travel and do craft shows. The vbus had new tires and the tire shop had inflated them to factory specs, 80 psi. The Oklahoma roads about beat us to death. We pull a small enclosed trailer for our booth. The bumper hitch I had installed tried to peel off, so the trip home was very tense and the trailer lights were not working properly. The van ran well other wise.
Last weekend, we went out on our second outing. The new properly mounted trailer hitch worked like a charm. If you need a trailer hitch for your Ford E450 cut-away, the hitch for a Ford E350 van fits perfectly, with a little drilling. I let the pressure out of the tires. I am running at about 70 psi. The ride was much better over the same roads. This trip was a success, even though the trailer lights were still giving me fits.
We got home late last night and parked in our front yard. We are leaving on Thursday for longer trip, 800 miles, so I took the bus and had the oil changed, the coolant system flushed and other maintenance. While I was there I had it inspected for getting the new tags and title. It passed with flying colors. Took the bus and had it weighed, then after 4 trips to the DMV got my new tags and new title as an RV/Motorhome. Tomorrow, I hope to fix my trailer lighting/wiring problems and I am going to install rear view and blind spot cameras.
I will post images of our build tomorrow evening.

peteg59 · 05-04-2021, 09:21 AM

Good work in relatively short time.

What was causing the right side rear body drop in post# 7?

DoninTexas · 05-06-2021, 10:41 PM

I am not 100% sure, but my theory is that the floor in that area rotted away from the fiberglass walls and this caused them to sag. I jacked the back corner walls up with a hydraulic jack, installed the new floor and re-fiberglassed the walls to the floor. I reinforced the fiberglass wall to the floor all the way around from in front of the driver side wheel well to the passenger side wheel well. It seems to be very strong and took care of most of the sag. If you need to do this, I used 2 pieces of 4 inch channel iron about 2 feet long along the back of the body on the passenger side to support the body when jacking and I used to jacks. One on each piece of channel iron. Go slowly, alternating between the jacks, so you don’t stress the body to much and break something. You may not be able to get it lifted all the way, but it should be better.

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