'46 Chevy Shorty

[ol trunt]

Looking fine. Refresh my memory, how are you going to finish the platform? Jack

 

[REDD-SKO]

Lookin' great Tango!

 

[Tango-SKO]

Not a matter of memory Jack. Still going back & forth. Been lookin' at everything from teak decking to PVC marine decking to paint. Right now I am most intrigued by a layer of 1/2" marine ply...with some marine grade deck finish. Non-skid, rubberized paint basically.


Still a work in progress.

 

[cadillackid]

when you put a roof deck on a bus, how do you get to the roof paint underneath which at some point will likely need touched up or god forbid a rivet seam decides to leak.. will it be bolted together so you can pull it apart if needbe?


Love the way your roof came out.. sure looks nice N smooth and clean!!!

 

[Tango-SKO]

Howdy Christopher --- Yes...the entire rack will be removable in components. Taking the "deck" portion (all welded) will require a chain hoist but should be fairly easy to do. Unbolt from the uprights, lift a foot and drive out from under it.



I will have to do something close to that while constructing the deck. No room to complete many of the welds on the underside otherwise.



Should be fun (ya...right).

 

[cadillackid]

ha!! so an old hot rodders trick... for a frame off, you lift the body up and "drive" the chassis out from underneath.. so you'll hang the deck and move the bus in and out.. cool as heck!!!
-Christopher

 

[Tango-SKO]

You got it --- Thankfully, I have a good, solid roof with steel beams to hang stuff from. Although, according to my calcs, the deck won't really weigh very much. Once I settle on the actual deck surface material I will post the total weight. Right now looking at 1/2" marine ply with a couple of coats of non-skid marine deck paint. The framing is 1 x 2 x 16ga. steel which turned out to be only about 18 pounds heavier than doing it all in aluminum (and a WHOLE lot cheaper and easier to work with).



Although...it would have given me a good excuse to add a spool-gun to my Miller.

 

[cadillackid]

aluminum indoors on various projects makes sense for bolt-togethers but seems outside it just becomes a pain... tough to weld.. if you bolt together now you have the dissimilar metals issue with the steel bolts.. getting paint to stay on it is tougher.. I agree if steel is only 18 lbs heavier go steel!
-Christopher

 

[Tango-SKO]

Yeah...takes heavier aluminum to match the strength of steel so not that much is gained when working on structure. Then there all those "other" issues.


Also running some tests to see how cold galvanizing spray works as a primer. Would like to continue using the Hammerite as the finish but want max corrosion protection. Still some homework to do there but open to ideas.

 

[cadillackid]

probably too costly to powder it? I had a car frame PC'd and it held up amazingly well.. it was a resto-mod daily driver I did so I wanted to be abe to drive it in the salt of winter.. it was a bit pricey but it sure held up well.

-Christopher

 

[Tango-SKO]

I would love to PC this thing...but the size (transporting) and probability of getting out of shape (critical mounting hole alignment) pretty much dictate my finishing in place.


Very pleased with the PC on my doghouse. Tough stuff.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Had another great visit with Guido yesterday. And finally got to see & hear his super little '65 IH Scout. He managed to stuff a 7.3 Powerstroke into that thing and has it driving all four wheels! Great vintage and updated nicely. Even found room for A/C. Just wish I had taken some pix. Duh.


Oh well, at least we managed to hit a couple of Rum bars before he had to go.


Come back anytime Guido!

 

[cowlitzcoach]

Out of curiosity why marine grade plywood?

I would think some rolled screen would not only weigh a whole lot less but would tend to be not nearly as slick, even with some sort of non-skid painted on the plywood. It would also not allow for any for any puddles of water to accumulate.

 

[ol trunt]

I wonder about the weight. You'd have to have quite a few cross members under the screen to keep it from feeling mushy and sagging. In my experience, expanded plate like that is it is almost impossible to keep from rusting--not a pretty sight on Tango's beautiful new white roof. Jack

 

[Tango-SKO]

Howdy All --- Yep...marine ply is the deck material of choice. With a good dose of old fashioned shellac and a coupla' coats of marine deck coating on top it should easily outlast me. Pretty light actually (1/2") and should have plenty of stiffness given the crossmembers on about 18" centers. It's no.1 job is just to keep the sun off the roof. Won't be any dancin' goin' on up there. Well...not a lot, anyhow.

Thought about metal decking but don't believe it will be needed what with all the support.

Also started playing with a few gauges. This is the "TinyTach" I just fit into a gauge pod. About two inches across but will be right above eye level. Had great feedback from bluewater sailors on this unit. Very accurate from all reports & tests.


Hope to start tacking the deck frame together manana. Just have to hoist my Miller up onto a 5' high scaffold first so I can reach all this stuff.








ONWARD!

 

[Tango-SKO]

Happy All Hallows Eve! --- Not much Trick 'R Treatin' going on here. Big rainstorm, wind, hail, tornadoes (off to the west) and minor street flooding. Made it back to my studios just in time to save a buddies Land Rover from going under with three feet of water. 30 minutes later the street had drained off.


Welcome to Houston!


Meanwhile, back at the ranch house...


Still tinkering with the roof rack.

Decided this thing needs some corner brackets. Mostly to keep it from cranking out of shape when I take it down to weld & paint the underside.

In addition top LOTS of clamps...a lot of magnets come in handy. Love these with the "on-off" switch.



And, since it was raining cats and armadillos...

...I stuck around my shop and made a template for mounting my gauges.








ONWARD (if the creek don't rise...too much...)

 

[cadillackid]

Howdy All --- Yep...marine ply is the deck material of choice. With a good dose of old fashioned shellac and a coupla' coats of marine deck coating on top it should easily outlast me. Pretty light actually (1/2") and should have plenty of stiffness given the crossmembers on about 18" centers. It's no.1 job is just to keep the sun off the roof. Won't be any dancin' goin' on up there. Well...not a lot, anyhow.

Thought about metal decking but don't believe it will be needed what with all the support.

Also started playing with a few gauges. This is the "TinyTach" I just fit into a gauge pod. About two inches across but will be right above eye level. Had great feedback from bluewater sailors on this unit. Very accurate from all reports & tests.


Hope to start tacking the deck frame together manana. Just have to hoist my Miller up onto a 5' high scaffold first so I can reach all this stuff.








ONWARD!

I bought one of those little tachs (gas model) to use on my SV-392 when I drove it across the country, the fan noise made it sound like I was blowing up that gas motor (straight run fan).. the tach said 2500 RPM. so I felt alot better ..

-Christopher

 

[Tango-SKO]

The diesel version is interesting. A small sensor fits around a fuel line and counts the actual fuel pulses to one cylinder which it converts to RPM. No idea how the gasoline versions work.

 

[cadillackid]

The gas version has a couple modes in it you can select, you can wrap its sense wire around the coil wire for 1 or 2 cylinder engines and tell it 2 or 4 cycle. For bigger engines you wrap it around the plug wire for a single cylinder and tell it 2 or 4 cycle.

Christopher

 

[Tango-SKO]

As noted, this unit came highly recommended for its' simplicity and accuracy. And no little glued on magnets to go zinging off into space.