1972 IH Ward Conversion

[Steve-SKO]

Tonight I finally removed the flashers from the front of my bus and covered the holes with sheetmetal. I'm undecided whether to remove the back ones yet. I suppose when I get up there to put on the camera I will decide.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Tonight I repainted the grill black and painted the area around it grey. I took my bus over to adamb's place to talk about working on our buses. I think sometime soon we are both going to get together and repaint out buses. Also my camera is coming in tomorrow so hopefully I will have some news about how that is working out.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Last night I removed the rear flashers and added a backup camera in the middle of the rear. Find out more about the camera here: http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=263

 

[Steve-SKO]

Tonight I took the screens off and painted over all of the windows that I am thinking about covering with sheetmetal. It suddenly got very dark inside....

 

[Steve-SKO]

I've been working on the paint a lot lately. I ended up taking the fresh off the top back windows because it was too dark inside and it was nice to be able to look out the back. I also went a little crome crazy, making the wheels, grill, headlight rings, and hood ornament all crome. It sure does shine in the middle of the day, I hope it wasn't too much.

 

[AK-Brando]

Looks good! I like the way it dresses the front of the bus up.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Two days ago I started covering up the lower rear window with sheetmetal. Then I found out that the rear door was rusting from the inside out. Three of my rivets just came right out making huge holes just above the window.

I took the sheetmetal and rivets off, then filled the holes with liquid nails, sanded them down and put on a coat of primer. I will have to cut a new sheet that extends past the thining metal area.

Then last night I set about hooking up the hot water to my kitchen faucet (only the cold water has been hooked up). Once I got everything connected and had taken the old plug off the hotwater valve. I turned the pump on and everything went crazy. The hot water valve had completely rusted away in the stagnant water.

So it was off to Lowes to get a new faucet. This time I got one with a spray nozel which I connected under the sink for use as a utility water source. This new faucet is VERY nice, not only does it look good but the water no longer comes out in spurts and gets thrown every place. Now the stream is smooth and more centralized. (Moral: Hook up the hot water valve to cold water if you aren't using a water heater, otherwise it will rust away.)

Here's some pics [Click for a larger view].

 

[Vern1]

Greetings,
Man, your bus is looking good!
Don't know why, but I am thinking about doing another one......I guess I miss the bloody knuckles and stuff - NOT!
Like the commercial for the military: It's not a job, it's an adventure!
Keep it up.
I wish I had done ANYTHING but black on bottom here in Texas........I will probably change my mind this winter, tho.....

 

[Steve-SKO]

Today I mounted and hooked up the air horns and air pump I got up at Camping World. Man this thing is loud!

First I removed the sheetmetal I had placed over the flasher lights holes.



Inside the right hole I mounted the air compressor and connected the power wire to the wire that used to turn on that lamp. I ran the air hose through a hole over to the left side where from there it could reach back and connect anywhere on the roof.



Here's the horn mounted and hooked up.



Then I put the sheetmetal back on and primed and painted it. You can barely see the horns from straight on. They don't stand out too much I don't think.

 

[lapeer20m]

I C you installed a compressor....does your bus have hydrolic brakes?


I'd love to get some air horns for my bus. Perhaps i should do that before burningman.

 

[Steve-SKO]

I C you installed a compressor....does your bus have hydrolic brakes?

Yes it does, but even with hydraulic brakes it stops on a dime! I'm scared that if I hit the brakes hard enough the fridge will go flyin through the windshield even though it is screwed to the floor.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Here are some pictures of the quick detatch screen door. It only takes about 10 seconds to get out of the bus and have mounted on the door.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Today I started installing the air conditioner, first I took out the window and then build a shelf for it to sit on.

I enclosed the rear of the airconditioner in one or more layers of insulation. This will be covered with wood later this weekend.

Here is a view of the inside.

Here is the louvered cover to allow the rear of the heat exchanger to exhaust heat and suck in fresh air. This works surprisingly well, you can really feel the hot air blowing out.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Today I installed the wood trim and shelf above the unit.



Here is a good picture of the whole bus with the vents, you will also notice that I painted a couple of those skoolie images on the back and side of the bus.

 

[Steve-SKO]

Tonight I put on the first coat of kool seal on the bus, I got this stuff at Camping World a few weeks ago, it just a little more than half a gallon to cover the roof. Hopefully this will keep the temps below the 110 degrees I have been getting lately.

http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm?skunum=19679

 

[lapeer20m]

looks like your bus is really coming along well !

 

[Steve-SKO]

To try and do some more work on insulating the bus and helping the air conditioner and heaters out I have covered all the windows that will eventually be covered with sheetmetal with 3/4" R4 Foam.




Once the foam has been painted it makes a nice smooth survace, and give a good idea of what it will look like once the metal goes on.

 

[Steve-SKO]

I am starting to get things ready for the first long voyage in the bus. I purchased a CB and antenna today to keep track of things goin on and to make some conversation on a long drive.

I am also tired of smelling burnt oil so I went to Napa and bought some new valve cover gaskets, sandblasted and painted the valve covers and did some cleanup of the area, hopefully that will keep some of the smell down. Quite a transformation though.

The engine is an IHC 345 ci V8 and interestingly on the valve covers it tells the timing cylinder for both V8s and 4cyl, they must have used the same cover on both types of engines.

 

[Firearm]

An excellent investment for travelling in your motorhome is an XM radio. I bought one for my wife and it's so cool to be able to listen to our favorite music and not have the station fade out every half-hour to hour of driving. There are stations for every decade of music and a station for old time radio, all for $10 a month (or less if you pay a year or more in advance). Just a suggestion...we love ours!

P.S. The covers look like new, nice job! I love the woodwork in the bus, did you make all that yourself?

 

[lornaschinske]

Lots of work but it's looking good.

I've noticed you seem to have a fair amount of rust. Is this common for skoolies in general or is it make specific? We have an Eagle 05 and the standing joke about Eagles it that you can hear them rusting due to the steel frame! To convert right you have to strip the skin down to the frame, rust proof the frame, then reskin. I wonder if this is necessary for a skoolie (based on prior research, I'm planning on a Bluebird from GA).

Also, for rust... why don't you use POR15 for the rust?

How is your KoolSeal doing at keeping the temps down?