Do I need to go deeper? (Lol)

[mcsullinsberg]

Hey guys! I’m very fresh into this build, and am still on demo. Have a couple questions. For reference, this is a E-450 shuttle bus. I have hit fiberglass on the roof for sure, I’m just not sure if there are more layers on the walls that need to be taken off. Any insight? I’ll post a picture below of where the roof meets the point I’m at on the walls. There is a metal band with rivets across the entire wall on both sides. I popped a couple to see what was under. (1st pic, orange is roof fiberglass, white is wall with some foam still attached)

Secondly, I finally got around to getting the wheelchair lift out, and when I did I noticed that the base was sitting on a thin sheet of metal, and it seems like that metal extends all the way to the opening for the doors, and around the door seams without any screws/rivets/bolts… anything. If this is one piece how would you go about getting the metal off the floor, but maintaining the integrity of the doors? (2nd and 3rd pic, first is the door frame from inside, second is the base the lift sat on)

Lastly, and I’m sure I’ll get the standard “there’s a search bar for this” but my rubber flooring is INCREDIBLY brittle. Any tips on that?

Thanks for any insight!

 

[HamSkoolie]

Use extreme care when deciding whether to remove wall layers. It's highly likely that the structure of the bus body requires those layers in order to maintain structural integrity. Materials cost money and increase the cost of the final product. Manufacturers rarely, if ever, put in "extra".
You can try contacting the body manufacturer but short of that, I wouldn't remove anything that was permanently bonded on a fiberglass bus shell.


I used to maintain a small fleet of transit buses. They're built as light as possible while still meeting DOT structural requirements.

 

[Phantom5824]

That brittle flooring will respond to being warmed up. A heat lamp or gas torch will soften the adhesive and make the flooring more pliable. I used a flat wrecking bar instead of a putty knife so I could get both hands into it.


Rich