1972 IH Ward Conversion

[Steve-SKO]

Here is my conversion in progress. It's a Loadstar 1600 with a 345ci IH V8 (5.6 Liter).

 

[Rainforest]

I love the use of woods in the interior. I'm beginning work on a 75 IHC/Carpenter and that's my plan; lots of wood!

 

[Steve-SKO]

Last night I added two new batteries adding another 270 AmpHrs to my bank. Now I am at a total of 915 AmpHrs of battery capacity. :shock:

 

[EldoMike]

How are you charging your battery bank?...what are you running off it?

BTW, I really like the color scheme...



EldoMike

 

[Steve-SKO]

How are you charging your battery bank?...what are you running off it?



EldoMike

I have a Heart (Xantrex) 2500 W Inverter/Charger/Transfer Switch. I use it for charging before and after I get back from a trip. The rest of the time the engine does all of the recharging (because I hate to turn on the noisy generator)







Inside my bus I run two refers, microwave, two elec heaters, satelite tv, stereo, and the water faucet pumps.

 

[EldoMike]

That was quick..

How long do you think you can run those items now without a battery recharge? Why didn't you use the UPS' you talked about in the other post?



EldoMike

 

[Steve-SKO]

That was quick..

How long do you think you can run those items now without a battery recharge? Why didn't you use the UPS' you talked about in the other post?



EldoMike

Because I didn't think of the idea until I had already bought that thing

 

[Steve-SKO]

I drove the bus down to NAPA today and picked up some winter blades. They were kinda expensive but they will be much better than the regular assembly that have been on there forever.

 

[Steve-SKO]

I recently installed a new CD player under the dash. I couldn't get the old radio out without completely taking all of the plastic below the windsheild off so I build this u-braket out of sheetmetal and mounted the stereo under the dash.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Someone decided to take on of my interior lamps and smash it on the floor last night. Luckily Lowes carries all kinds of globes, I found one I can kinda get to work as a replacement.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Six of us took the bus camping last night at Ledges State Park. I was really nice went we went to bed about midnight, but this morning it was 34 degrees outside. Luckily I have enough battery power to run the electric heaters for a full 24 hours.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Today I finally got around to starting the refinishing of the stairs.

This is what it looked like before:




After I finally got the old rubber/sheetmetal parts off it didn't look as bad as I was expecting for a 30 year old bus.




Now I need to figure out how to carpet. Should I put down sheetmetal or plywood under the carpet. And I need to figure out how to affix the carpet to the stairwell. I have also decided to take out the stair light since it never worked anyways and I don't know what was supposed to make it turn on. What normaly turns the stairwell light on, the dome light switch?

 

[lapeer20m]

In my ward bus, the switch that turns the stairwell light on is the switch connected to the door open/close handle. (The same switch that tells the flashing lights to turn off) When the door is open, and the headlights (or parking lights) are on, the light in the stairwell is supposed to light up. In my bus, i noticed people having difficulty seeing the ground when exiting the bus. I installed a white light on the underside of the bus to help illuminate the ground just outside the door. This light also comes on when i open my door.

 

[lblampman]

Hi Steve,

I'd say the approach to materials is going to depend a lot on the 'levelness' and clearance you've got on that bottom step when the door swings in. In my Beaver class C motorhome where the door swings out I used some 3/4" pressure-treated plywood for the steps but on the bus I don't think there's that kind of clearance at the bottom of the door.

You've been without for quite awhile on the stairwell light but I still think they're a good idea ('course I'm getting older and no longer see as well at night. There are several nifty LED cockpit and companionway lights (look at West Marine for ideas) that should work well; they recess, look good, and should last practically forever. I also really like Lapeer's idea of getting some light under the bus at the bottom of the stairs; here again I'd consider using a strip of LED's.

 

[Steve-SKO]

I have the rope light mounted in the living area now. I will be putting one in sleeping area, outside under the awning, and maybe in the stairs area.

 

[Steve-SKO]

I did a lot of work today:

First I cleaned up the stairs, removed the rust and sanded them.



Then I gave it two coats of primer:



Then two coats of white paint:



They are ready for carpet now, Lowes didn't have what I wanted so I'll have to find it someplace else.


I extended the rope light into the sleeping area:




And then through into the bathroom:




I also added a fifth high current UPS battery into the UPS bank. That makes eight batteries total in the system.

 

[Eric von Kleist]

Looking great!

Looking great! The rope lights are interesting. How are they powered? 12VDC? Are they LED or incandescant?

Right now I'm leaning toward cold flourescent (in my theoretical bus) with oil lamps for back-up/charm, and LEDs for spot lighting.

Gee, it's so much fun working with theoretical busses...

Your battery bank is intimidating!

 

[Steve-SKO]

Those rope lights pictured are 120V

I got the stairs carpeted with dark green carpet now. I am going to using a off white for the walls.



On the stairs I used #10 sheetmetal screws and washers through the original holes. For the walls I am going to use small sheetmetal screws.

I think I am going to make a cover for the stove. The burners, covers, etc rattle a LOT while driving. The cover is going to be plywood with sides, a countertop on the top and foam on the bottom that will keep the stuff underneath it from rattling around.

 

[Steve-SKO]

As a temporary fix for the stove, I have taken all the loose parts off and stored them in a closet. Then I cut two covers out of cardboard, it doesn't look half bad.

 

[Steve-SKO]

A few days ago I installed a rope light underneath the awning on the outside. Here you can see it going through the roof of the bus, on the inside it is connected to a dimmer [I also decided to install a dimmer on the inside rope lights too because they can be very bright] and switch so that it can be varied in brightness depending on its use.




This is what it looks like at night at full power. Although you can't tell by the picture it really lights up the entire area under the awning very well.




I ordered a camera to see what is behind the bus today, hopefully next week I will do the install and let you know how it went. I will be mounting an LCD screen under or around the dashboard to view it.