What's her first name? Quickly. CRINDY!

[Robin97396]

I've had snow again for about four nights in a row, and oddly it seems to only snow at night now. My service door has been frozen shut on several recent mornings. This after over a month of 60 degree weather.

[consti2tion]

If it was in the shade.

[Robin97396]

Everything in Oregon is in the shade.

[consti2tion]

Quick update tonight... Been trying to decide what to do about these awful rusted floors. I have applied Phosphoric acid on the rust tonight. The floors are pretty thin in some places. Anyone have any suggestions for moving forward? I have a MIG welder, albeit I do not know how to weld well, suppose I can practice on scrap metals at work. I am really disappointed that the floors are in such bad shape, so much for buying a Texas bus.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by consti2tion

Quick update tonight... Been trying to decide what to do about these awful rusted floors. I have applied Phosphoric acid on the rust tonight. The floors are pretty thin in some places. Anyone have any suggestions for moving forward? I have a MIG welder, albeit I do not know how to weld well, suppose I can practice on scrap metals at work. I am really disappointed that the floors are in such bad shape, so much for buying a Texas bus.

Pull some of the wall or ceiling panels and use the steel for patches.

[consti2tion]

I started to pull the wall panels, apparently IC welded them in at the seam under the window.

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by consti2tion

I started to pull the wall panels, apparently IC welded them in at the seam under the window.

Cut them off right below the window. Don't worry about the bit that is left, you will cover it.

[consti2tion]

It’s not necessary for any structural reason?

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by consti2tion

It’s not necessary for any structural reason?

It's necessary to insulate properly, but the compromise in strength is tiny.

Do not try to remove the chair rail. That is the lower part of the wall that the seats bolt to. It's structural, and welded to the rest of the body frame.

[Tango]

Ya. In many rigs the "chair rail" is what holds the bus together!

[consti2tion]

Oh I see! Excellent information! Another question about the interior walls, are they made of galvanized metal? Is it not a bad idea to weld galvanized metals or is there a method to it?

[consti2tion]

Sorry that my updates are so spread out!

Been working on the floors and haven't had time to sit down and upload pictures. Removed the side walls to install better insulation as well.

Got a few goodies from Amazon in. Got a small "camping" range, automatic power transfer switch, 110v - 12v charger for the battery bank, shore power connector, 12/110v panel should be in any day now.

Relocated the smaller ceiling mounted AC under the dash, need to build a new shroud for it and fab up some sort of duct work so I can have cold air blowing on me when we are en-route to our travels!

Anyway on to the pictures. Just finished putting paint down on the floors, going to hopefully build a frame for the sub floors and install insulation in as well.

[dbhost]

That bus is a beauty. Perfect size too!

I've seen a LOT of DIY RV conversions using those Camp Chef stove / oven combos... Certainly a LOT less expensive and uses less space than those regular 3 burner RV range / oven rigs...

Interesting move with the AC. Let us know how that works out!

[consti2tion]

Thank you so much man, we are growing more and more attached to her!

Yeah the camp chef set up seemed like a good compromise. That way we wouldn’t have as much of a need for a microwave. I’ll be hard piping all of the gas lines here in the next week or so.

Finally got the AC going today, went ahead and replaced all of the o-rings on the lines front to back while it was evacuated. Still need to build the cover for it, just have an amazon box wrapped around it for testing purposes.

Also installed a cheap head unit from Walmart today, surprisingly works well! Even has hands free calling.

Going to get my RV inspection and weighing done tomorrow. So fingers crossed we will be registered next week!

[consti2tion]

Okay got quite a bit done recently:

Framed out the floor, installed foam insulation in the floors, installed the plywood.

framed out the walls, installed fiberglass insulation in the walls, installed some 1/4" plywood.

Registered the bus as a Motor home. Doesn't seem like much in pictures, but I have done a lot of other things that I just didn't document or haven't completed yet. Just need to do a couple things to finish out the stair well.
Here are some pictures.

[weboughtabus]

Originally Posted by consti2tion

Okay got quite a bit done recently:

Framed out the floor, installed foam insulation in the floors, installed the plywood.

framed out the walls, installed fiberglass insulation in the walls, installed some 1/4" plywood.

Registered the bus as a Motor home. Doesn't seem like much in pictures, but I have done a lot of other things that I just didn't document or haven't completed yet. Just need to do a couple things to finish out the stair well.
Here are some pictures.

The stained plywood floors remind me of my house, growing up! Parents did an addition when I was 5-Present (aren't all projects endless?), but didn't install carpeting until I was about 16. Prior to that the C-Grade plywood was stained Minwax Cherry with Satin Poly.

By the way - I never mentioned how much I appreciated seeing AD referenced in your thread. Phenomenal show!

[jjhwick119]

Looking good man! Any pictures of the wall framing? How was the registration process?

Edit - saw you posted in basics for Texas skoolie about registration so I'll read through that

[consti2tion]

Originally Posted by weboughtabus

The stained plywood floors remind me of my house, growing up! Parents did an addition when I was 5-Present (aren't all projects endless?), but didn't install carpeting until I was about 16. Prior to that the C-Grade plywood was stained Minwax Cherry with Satin Poly.

By the way - I never mentioned how much I appreciated seeing AD referenced in your thread. Phenomenal show!

How funny! My parents home is always "under construction" as well, my dad starts more projects than he finishes! Haha! We bought Sanded Plywood not sure what grade it is, but I am actually about to go to Lowes and get the Minwax sealer for it so my wife can finish that up this weekend.

AD is probably our favorite show, such an underrated one for sure! We have probably watched every season 10 times

[consti2tion]

Originally Posted by jjhwick119

Looking good man! Any pictures of the wall framing? How was the registration process?

Edit - saw you posted in basics for Texas skoolie about registration so I'll read through that

I just looked through the pictures we have taken and I did not document that damnit! Unfortunately I am not the best at remembering to take pictures of every process. I pretty much framed it out and put in the walls on within a matter of hours, so I forgot to get any pictures. The way I did it was running 1x4 planks across the top and bottom, and 1x2's sections up and down screwed to the existing metal frames. I used a magnitude of different screws trying to find what worked the best. I should have really just counter sunk the self tapping screws for the best result, but I am impatient and get tired of running back and forth to the store. I ended up drilling pilot holes through most of it and using some heavy duty deck screws with the Torx T25 heads.

Also yesterday I got my knock off "Nexiq USB Link" and downloaded the navistar software on my old shitty laptop and removed the speed limiter. Really makes me want to invest in a more modern laptop so that I can really play around with the stuff more. My wife and I have Macbooks and this is one time it is definitely not of benefit.

[jjhwick119]

What are you doing about the wall below chair rail? That's the main thing I wanted to see in framing. I was going to use 2x3 going vertical above the chair rail, and then a horizontal one at the very bottom at the floor allowing me to run electrical and plumbing between chair rail and lower 2x3 and still attach a wall peice that goes to the floor and covers chair rail so you dont see it