My 1990 Ford E-350 Goshen Bus - Page 8

Stuff · 07-15-2012, 07:55 PM

well finally got around to doing some work on the bus today. Did flip a couple windows.. found out reason one leaked so bad.. there was holes drilled into it from the last guy that flipped it originally.. now it shouldnt leak ever again. Also the hitch has been widened. not sure if i will bolt it as is, or add 1"x1" square tubing from side to side where it will be bolted for more down and more strength.

first window out. this was easy. just had that camper goop crap behind the window.

scrapping the opening clean

and back into place and silicon-ed!

Window on the back side had this black tar stuff on it and was a NIGHTMARE to get it to come out and and to get it off the frame. this was the leaky window.

Hitch was modded with some 4" angle iron

think it should be good enough!!

Stuff · 07-30-2012, 07:43 PM

So I have started to paint the bus. Im using rubberized undercoating that is paint-able. right now its a matter of coating everything and getting it ready for the long weekend. sure its black but its staying on like something awesome!

Stuff · 07-31-2012, 11:55 PM

Well its done getting the undercoat paint job for now.

Worked on putting up light blocking curtains. were on sale at fabric land for $7 each. 1 pack made two curtains. rods were $4 a window at wally world.

put in a temp lock for passenger door and something to help it hold the door firmly closed on the highway.

just still so hesitant to put the holes through the floor for a co-pilot seat... Anyhow get to test her out this weekend camping with the family. I bought L shaped brackets that double screw to the floor and what ever your attach it to for the futon frame to be securely attached to floor. also got good sized felt pads for the floor where the futon frame will sit so no squeeky squeeky!

Stuff · 08-03-2012, 05:27 PM

Progress today!!

finally found a place to put my sticker

SO got to working on the seat installation. First was to flip it over and on the left side there you can see its not flush with the plate. there was two washers welded onto it there cutoff disk and a chisel = gone!

where its going

couldnt find the bit, had to buy a new one, of course...

my probe - an old 1157 welding rod

BANG on! right into the cab's frame! those lines were just electrical and were not touched.

Stuff · 08-05-2012, 10:58 PM

so back from first weekend of camping. got the seat in, garbage out of the way and out the door 10pm to head out to the campgrounds for the weekend.

so all the way forward

normal position

turned around.

and yes the chair can also lock in the forward and reverse position.

Stuff · 08-05-2012, 11:08 PM

so since it was first time out i had to get a couple shots of it tucked into the site. It ended up being more of just a place for the GF and I to crash because the family had 3 other rv's already on site. Boy did the park have a harry seeing 4 units on 2 sites! got away with the bus by saying it was the tow vehicle (even though the hitch aint on yet!)

campfire shot

Used that trick for the RV to plug a fuse into the top two prongs for the park lights to come on.

Stuff · 08-11-2012, 10:35 PM

got an AC for the bus. should work good. just a matter of venting!

not bad stats.

ol trunt · 08-12-2012, 05:47 PM

Glad to see that someone else is willing to try a heat pump AC/Heater in their rig. I'm going to do the same with mine. Somehow I ended up with three of em so have done some trial runs in a room in my house that is about the same size as the bus. I chose to keep the one that throws a little more heat--about 13K BTUs even though the other two are better looking.

Even if your AC lable says that it evaporates it's own condensation don't believe it! I turned the carpet in the test room into a carpet bog with condensation overflow and had to dig out the shop vac to dry it up

I also read that the heat pump units work best in "moderate" climes (above 34 degrees and below 100 degrees) because that range covers the working temp of the refrigerant. That is to say that if it is too cold outside the unit can't take enough heat out of the air to warm up and if it is too hot it can't give off it's heat to the air. I guess we will see how true that is. Because I will have propane anyway and I have a gas space heater that works I'll probably just go ahead and install the heater--if I find I don't need it I'll take it out for the storage space. Since your unit is in your bus I am anxious to hear just what it does, good or bad.

GreyEagle · 08-12-2012, 06:09 PM

maybe a drain tube to the outside, maybe through the floor ....... just in case......

Stuff · 08-12-2012, 07:59 PM

yup it has either a hose out the back 1/4", a bucket in the right hand side that fills up, or a hose from inside there that you can feed out through that bucket handle and into a hose. I bungee corded it in now cause we went to go get stuff for the bus today and it worked its way out, come and saw us between the seats then when i touched the gas it went and visited the bed lol.

Also i need to vent it outside. thinking ill make a cardboard template i can just put in drivers window when parked and have the hot air vent out there, that or put a 4" hole through the floor and put a mesh screen over the vent under the bus.

Stuff · 08-15-2012, 07:04 PM

well never got time to plumb it and didnt even need to use it this last couple days. only bout 15 to 18 Celsius out each day.

The trip went near flawless. Bus drove, ran, handled really well. GF hates the mirror to look back into the body. she must have hit her noggin about 10 times!

that screen door... yeah im happy i put that extra latch on it. the wind would change from side to side driving around the city and on the ring road it would sometimes "pull" on the door and the screen door handle just didnt have the oomph to hold on to her. Think im going to install a second one to hold me over until i get my RV door windowed up and so forth.

then driving a long wheel base dually in downtown traffic wasnt fun. everyone and grandma thought they could just take off at the light from beside me and cut infront of me just so they could lay on the brakes and either get to a red light first or turn off! managed to scuff both side duals to.. Parking a double the regular length vehicle was just as fun!

Camping went well. have the gen bay full of firewood and got to the place and "NO OPEN FIRES".. so crap, its still full! lol. kinda wishing i had my own bathroom because the ones there were overflowing nearly out the doors! nasty nasty nasty! also discovered that I got shoved into a site with ONLY a 30 amp plug in it. no 110v 15/20 amp. the nice campground owner gave me an adapter to use for the night.

the patio lights from 80's were not as great of a freebie as i thought lol

so i went and splurged on these

I also picked up a cheap 30 to 20amp plug, awning hangers, other misc stuff from an RV dealer up there.

oh, I dont know the mileage yet, got home late and parked it and pulled out the perishables and passed out in my bed lol. I have another excursion this weekend so when i top it off ill know. overall the trip and driving etc used 3/4 of a tank. when i filled it up before leaving diesel was at 1.1149/liter here and took $83 to fill it from half so i expect the fill to be around $100-110.

ol trunt · 08-15-2012, 09:32 PM

That's how you park the beasty---just like you did at Subway! Just make sure to give yourself enough room in front to pull out and not enough room for some jackass to block you in

More pics plcs on your next run--looks like you had fun!

Stuff · 08-22-2012, 06:28 PM

Well went on another road trip this weekend. I did record the mileage, just on the good camera.. at home.. lol

she looks good in the parking lots lol

I Jerry rigged the AC for now. It worked great! hooked it up to the 30a breaker with a 30 to 15 adapter i got last weekend.

Got out the patio lights. just used those sticky hooks and put them on the window frames. works well.

trippy effect!

Since all of this road tripping been happening the original door latch for the screen door broke.. it was made of... PLASTIC.. cheep %$#U)#*$ companies... went to crappy tire and got a metal one and another door latch.

managed to have a good fire to! first campground in awhile that has allowed open fires!

and then it was all worth while. peppered honey bacon, scrambled eggs, real OJ, and peace and quiet at 9am!

ol trunt · 08-22-2012, 09:50 PM

Fun to see folks out and about in their busses.

Did you power your A/C by generator or shore power? You said you were happy with how the A/C worked-- any idea about the temp diference inside and outside? What is the volume you were cooling (length X height X width for comparison). You probably mentioned the BTU's of your A/C unit but could you restate it. I am going to use an A/C unit similar to yours in my SKOOLIE so any info you can provide will be appreciated. Thanks

Stuff · 08-23-2012, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Fun to see folks out and about in their busses.

Did you power your A/C by generator or shore power? You said you were happy with how the A/C worked-- any idea about the temp diference inside and outside? What is the volume you were cooling (length X height X width for comparison). You probably mentioned the BTU's of your A/C unit but could you restate it. I am going to use an A/C unit similar to yours in my SKOOLIE so any info you can provide will be appreciated. Thanks

shore power, no ac yet, lol filled the gen bay with fire wood for the trip :P.

its a 8500 btu, bout 6'7" tall by about 17' long. dont know exact temp difference but it was a HECK of allot cooler inside then out! Still gotta plumb the vent and drain through the floor. just used the built in bucket for the one night of running. really its not bad to dump it out once a day.

bansil · 08-23-2012, 02:48 PM

kOOL.....where did you get the model of your bus at?...it even has a scale flag on the antenne

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I can't wait to get out in mine next month

Motobus · 08-23-2012, 04:29 PM

I have a portable ac and shorter you can get the exhaust the better it will work.

GreyEagle · 08-23-2012, 06:27 PM

Why not vent the AC exhaust out the side of the bus?
You could always put a vent/cover over it if not in use....Then filled the hole with insulation.......

Stuff · 08-23-2012, 06:42 PM

lol scale model.

the ac sits right where the angled part of the bus is at. going to make it short and sweet out the bottom with a mesh cage to prevent critters.

have it in the shop now getting chassis ac checked. it stopped working on last trip..

Stuff · 08-27-2012, 12:16 PM

so more progress. more seats, more disappointing... found out where my black mini van went (long story) and recovered the hide a fold out bed bench seat from it.

I was wise and grabbed a second seat to. original plan was to have both side by side but that left 5" to squeeze past to the back..

We ended up having problems with the bench fold out bed seat. it had been tampered with and the reclining part of the main part of the seat no longer worked,, all the time and effort to make the mounts for it and everything up in smoke..

in this picture here you might be able to see that the J hooks for the seats to the caravan floors have been shaved off, making them flat so we can mount them to the floor. they sit low but will be for the kids.

Also not pictured cause i was so tired and worn out is that we managed to mount the other captains chair I have in the back and bolted through the floor.

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