'99 Blue Bird Retirement Project - Bus #1

[JackE]

So I want to fill in this indentation on both sides of the engine bay lid. With the roof raise I plan on deleting the rear windows and having a full canvas for a mural. I also plan on an array of lights on the back. I’ll locate the license plate down to the bumper where the Blue Bird tag is right now.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of these indentations?

 

[Native-SKO]

Granite, I like it!


Good work with that drill press. I had a couple of 1/2" holes to drill in the rear frame section and had to wedge my body between the frame rail and the tail ends of the hat channel to get the leverage needed. I am so glad I had a fresh bit for that chore.

 

[Native-SKO]

So I want to fill in this indentation on both sides of the engine bay lid. With the roof raise I plan on deleting the rear windows and having a full canvas for a mural. I also plan on an array of lights on the back. I’ll locate the license plate down to the bumper where the Blue Bird tag is right now.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of these indentations?

It depends on your skillset.


If it were me, I would weld in a piece of sheet metal the same size of the indent's outer edges then finish up with the needed bodywork.


You might get away with filling it with something like Bondo to fill it in, but Bondo does not do well when applied that thick.

You can replace the panel entirely. That is what I did on our back wall on the outside (i.e. the skin) due to rustout. Remounted the lights in a different configuration.
You might also use bodyworking techniques to pull that indent back out ... but the skin on these beasts is quite thick and it takes a lot of muscle to bend it to your will. I have done a little on ours, and it takes orders of magnitude more strength than automobile skins.

 

[musigenesis]

Are you drilling holes in the flange of the chassis rail? https://transportengineer.com/wp-co...19/02/Drilling_Chassis_Holes_-_Revision_1.pdf

6. Holes should not be drilled in chassis flanges unless it is the practice of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to do so. This said, unless you are directly replicating an attachment method of the OEM, TCS recommends that you don’t drill holes in chassis flanges at all.

 

[JackE]

I guess you’ll have to explain which part is the flange. I didn’t see anything in those diagrams labeling that part. The place where the frame was 1/2” thick was along the lower level of the frame where the fuel tank is located. There must be an additional plate in there because the hole above it was only 1/4” thick.

 

[musigenesis]

I guess you’ll have to explain which part is the flange. I didn’t see anything in those diagrams labeling that part. The place where the frame was 1/2” thick was along the lower level of the frame where the fuel tank is located. There must be an additional plate in there because the hole above it was only 1/4” thick.

The two horizontal parts (as they're oriented in the chassis rails) of the C-channel are the flanges. The little x marks show where you shouldn't drill on it.

The reason for this is that the chassis rails are beams that primarily resist bending (mainly down but also some up when it flexes). The metal in a beam provides resistance to bending proportional to the square of its distance from the centerline, so the flanges (the parts farthest from this centerline) provide most of the beam's overall bending strength while the center (the middle part of the "web") provides almost none of it (the web mainly just serves to keep the flanges separated). This is why holes in the center part are mostly fine, but holes in the flanges will significantly weaken it.

That being said, what's done is done and you'll probably be fine. The rails are exposed to smaller bending forces the closer you get to the back end.

 

[JackE]

That’s kinda what I gathered but wasn’t sure. For the generator mount I didn’t drill through that part, only the horizontal part of the frame. For the hitch, I did drill one hole in the flange on each side & used one one existing hole, with the third mounting point welded to a piece of the bumper bracket. But, this is the extended party of the frame, not the main frame, and it’s at the last 8 inches, so I think I add this to the not worry pile of my build.

 

[Native-SKO]

Thank you for the drill/hole pattern for the frame rails.

 

[JackE]

I have been working on the generator mount and placement of the gas tank for it. Finally got it all mounted including the access door. Unfortunately I was in too much of a hurry to notice my cut lines were not parallel. I was trying to beat the rain forecast for the afternoon. I also was in too much of a hurry to remember the advice of another member not to cut right angles instead of rounding the corners. A few adjustments later and I straightened it out. I’ll fix the corners when I do all the outside work before paint. Sliding the generator under the skirting was almost too tight, about an inch to spare. I got it raised up with the help of my son, not an easy task. That thing weighs at least 100 pounds! We got it bolted in right as the rain started. Next weekend will be getting all the wiring hooked up.

 

[EastCoastCB]

very clean!

 

[Oscar1]

I have been working on the generator mount and placement of the gas tank for it. Finally got it all mounted including the access door. Unfortunately I was in too much of a hurry to notice my cut lines were not parallel. I was trying to beat the rain forecast for the afternoon. I also was in too much of a hurry to remember the advice of another member not to cut right angles instead of rounding the corners. A few adjustments later and I straightened it out. I’ll fix the corners when I do all the outside work before paint. Sliding the generator under the skirting was almost too tight, about an inch to spare. I got it raised up with the help of my son, not an easy task. That thing weighs at least 100 pounds! We got it bolted in right as the rain started. Next weekend will be getting all the wiring hooked up.

Looks top notch! Like the service hatch

 

[BlackJohn]

Looks good but having had the same model genny, expect to be doing maintenance regularly. Your door needs to be twice what it is height wise.
They are not nice to work on when wide open access is there.
Have you run that yet? It is old so plug, points may be necessary.
I would run it before going further. Is there a cable with it for the remote start/stop station?
Another member here bought the same without hearing it run or getting all the parts. Couldn't make it work as he had no clue about small engines being a Nascar driver. That became a boat anchor as he couldn't sell it after paying way too much, buying cables etc.
Good luck with yours.


John

 

[JackE]

very clean!

Haha. Thanks. Just don’t look too close, it’s not that nice yet, it’ll look better when I do the body work.

Looks good but having had the same model genny, expect to be doing maintenance regularly. Your door needs to be twice what it is height wise.
They are not nice to work on when wide open access is there.
Have you run that yet? It is old so plug, points may be necessary.
I would run it before going further. Is there a cable with it for the remote start/stop station?
Another member here bought the same without hearing it run or getting all the parts. Couldn't make it work as he had no clue about small engines being a Nascar driver. That became a boat anchor as he couldn't sell it after paying way too much, buying cables etc.
Good luck with yours.
John

I made sure it was running good and making electricity before I even started making the hangers for it. It only has 147 hours on it. I have the motor home it came from so I removed all the necessary wiring, start switch and hour meter. It looks a little rough on the outside, but it’ll get an oil and filter change when I hook all the wiring up. I put new plugs in it and a new fuel pump last weekend and gave it a good run. There are only 6 bolts holding it in, so if it needs service it won’t be too hard to take out. The only strange thing I came across with it is the original fuel pump was powered right from the unit. It was energized as you cranked it over. The pump was leaking so I replaced it. When I checked the power wire that supplied the pump with the unit running, it was putting out 114 DC volts. Not sure what to make of that so instead, I ran another wire to the dash with its own Switch. This will also allow me to shut off the fuel and let the genny run out of fuel for storage, keeping the carb from glazing over.

 

[BlackJohn]

Sounds like you have it under control, great it runs well.
That voltage can't be correct. Maybe your meter was on the wrong scale, 11.4v dc makes more sense, otherwise there would be smoke from the pump which isn't supposed to have smoke let out.

Good luck, they do run nice for that era.
Did you notice wiring diagram inside control box cover? Handy to have.


John

 

[JackE]

One thing that always bugs me when people post project pictures is the close up of the project. I like to see a zoomed out pic to get the perspective of the project. So here is mine. I couldn’t get it yesterday because the rain started.

 

[WIbluebird]

Thats pretty much exactly where I will be putting the generator bay on my bus. How far away is your breaker panel/distribution box from the generator? I'm looking at a 20+ ft run from the bay all the way to my electrical closet over the rear wheel well.



Also I agree with the others, you need a MUCH larger access door. I am planning on having my entire generator slide out on a drawer for servicing.

 

[JackE]

My electrical panel will be right above the generator, inside the emergency door. There will be a cabinet there’s so I can access it from inside or outside. I will have about a 15 ft. run from the shore connect to the electrical box. I built the rack so I can make it slide out if I want to in the future. I also have several doors that are just as wide, but twice as tall. I didn’t like the way it looked as much as the smaller door. Oil change is easy the way it is, there is plenty of room on the back side to reach the spark plug there and the front one is easy through the door. Any other service needed will be major so it will need to come out for that anyway. I can have it out in about 10 minutes, so a bigger door isn’t necessary. What service work am I missing that I might need a bigger door for?

 

[Oscar1]

One thing that always bugs me when people post project pictures is the close up of the project. I like to see a zoomed out pic to get the perspective of the project. So here is mine. I couldn’t get it yesterday because the rain started.

Not seeing the concern about the door, I'd much rather look at something that clean 99% of the time and service from behind or drop it if needed.:thumb

 

[JackE]

Back at it, but only had one day this weekend to work on it. I got the generator hooked up the rest of the way. Starts and stops from the dash now. Got the electrical cabinet started with the breaker box in it and the first outlet installed on the outside of the bus. Hate not being able to work on it whenever I want, which is all the time!

 

[Native-SKO]

I so muh agree that outlets on the outside are needed. I plan to have one that is raw generator/shore supplied and one house supplied. Since we are still using the bus as a moving van, I have lots of time to plan it out. I may put one of each in a socket box and one on each side of the bus. Then I can choose the power source as well as the side of the bus.