Rusty 87 build thread

[Frochevy]

Awesome score on the CL finds!!! Especially hard to beat free Stainless Steel!!!!

 

[plfking]

The only thing I really need to worry about structurally is the mountings for the seat belt anchors.

I think the original mountings for the seatbelts were stronger than I thought, since there is that weird-angle cross beam that would have been right next to both mounting points. But I'd still rather have something beefier and that rusty metal there did need to go.

I originally had the "belts mounted to the floor' also.....I bought a new belt and bolted it to the underside of the seat frame. So now, in theory, I could rotate the seat 180 degrees while driving, if I had the desire.

Just a thought.

 

[musigenesis]

Awesome score on the CL finds!!! Especially hard to beat free Stainless Steel!!!!

I know, I couldn't believe it. I was driving up there to get the one table (without the checkerboard contact paper) and I was thinking "I know it looks like stainless but it can't be stainless" and it was indeed stainless. And then the guy yelled out the window that I could take the other one too if I wanted, and it's also stainless.

 

[musigenesis]

Tar nation

It gradually dawned on me that I've been tracking lots of little bits of tar from the underside of my bus into my house. Thank goodness for Goo Gone.



This reminds me of being a kid in Florida in the '70s and having to clean all the tar off our legs with gasoline after a day at the beach.

 

[Native-SKO]

I am stoked that you went ahead and tore into the seat. I am glad you did. Yea!

 

[musigenesis]

More dash demo

Losing the radio (with cassette deck, no less).





More dash parts off. Naturally my generator picked this morning to die, since all the screws on the bottom are rusted through and need to be cut out.



Working out where the rails for my transit van seat (the whole reason I started on this mess up front) are going to go.



The front-most bolts are going to go through the bent edge of the crossbeam underneath, so I'll get to re-use a couple of the rusty angle brackets on the bottom. Middle and back bolts will have pieces of 2.5" angle steel running between the two rails on the underside of the sheet floor, and then I will have additional pieces of flat bar on the top, parallel with the rails, and bolted to the cross-pieces of angle steel underneath and to the factory crossbeams underneath. This should create a solid mounting frame for the seat without its depending on my welding for safety (I think it's probably overkill but I don't mind here).





Ay-yi-yi, I was going to reuse this section of the seatbelt setup, but realized it was a good ways torn already. With my luck, the anchor brackets would have held in an accident but the belt would have torn.



What is this section called (that runs from the floor to the seat), and does anybody know where I can get new ones? The other one is OK but I might as well replace both if I'm replacing one.

 

[musigenesis]

I am stoked that you went ahead and tore into the seat. I am glad you did. Yea!

After fully scoping out my seatbelt situation, I'm pretty glad too.

I guess the moral is: "You have to demo your whole damn bus. The parts you think are OK are not OK."

 

[musigenesis]

More cab demo

Cut the plywood out. The nine bolt holes are rivnuts. I think this platform is itself then bolted to the floor also with rivnuts, but these particular bolts have a glob of weld on them to keep them from turning, and this platform itself is also welded to the floor (along the edges). So I think this is as far as I go with the seat demolition.



Inside of the heater was extremely rusted, looks like water was just sitting in here an inch deep.



Stuck my camera in with flash to see if anything looked bad. Just one hint of rust towards the front.





Love seeing the ground from inside my bus again.



This corner by the stepwell appears to have been leaking recently, so hopefully now I can spot the source.



Started scraping away the rust on the base of the seat. Actual yikes!, like I'm going to need to measure the thickness of the remaining metal after I derust it. Fortunately this is a completely separate flat plate and I can easily fabricate a replacement if need be. Top part of this plate is severely rusted but the underside is almost factory-new except for a little bit around the edges.

The more severe rust on my bus always has these white spots on it, and I wonder what they are, exactly. I would guess salt deposits, but it's more they're buried within the rust rather than being surface deposits that easily flake off.



Took another gander at the plate next to the driver's seat that was added, from underneath. It looks like only a small section of this floor was rusted, and they just said **** it and added a whole big plate over the whole area. I'm going to cut it out tomorrow and may get lucky and only have to put a new patch over a small area.

 

[Native-SKO]

Ay-yi-yi, I was going to reuse this section of the seatbelt setup, but realized it was a good ways torn already. With my luck, the anchor brackets would have held in an accident but the belt would have torn.

View attachment 43134

What is this section called (that runs from the floor to the seat), and does anybody know where I can get new ones? The other one is OK but I might as well replace both if I'm replacing one.

Those are called "tether belts" or sometimes "seatbelt tethers" or simply "tethers".


You can get them at MidWest Bus Parts.

 

[Native-SKO]

The front-most widow on a lot of bus models leak. Ours does. I think it has something to do with the front windows on both sides being double-paned and the drip rail from the roof empties into the drip rail over the door which empties into the front of that window.


PLEASE post what you find. I still need to chase it down!

 

[Native-SKO]

Cut the plywood out. The nine bolt holes are rivnuts. I think this platform is itself then bolted to the floor also with rivnuts, but these particular bolts have a glob of weld on them to keep them from turning, and this platform itself is also welded to the floor (along the edges). So I think this is as far as I go with the seat demolition.

View attachment 43161

The mounting bracket is *usually* only bolted down. I am thinking someone decided (in a shop trying to make repairs) to weld itdown "just to be sure". The mounting bracket is supposed to allow you to connect it to the seat, then connect the bracket to the floor. In your case, they welded it to the floor requiring that secondary plate that is rusted underneath to act as the interface ot connecting bracket. Should you be adventurous enough to "free" the mounting bracket, you will not need that plate currently attached to the bottom of the seat at all. You could also refurbish the floor on which you will be riding (and more importantly, the supporting structure).

 

[musigenesis]

Those are called "tether belts" or sometimes "seatbelt tethers" or simply "tethers".


You can get them at MidWest Bus Parts.

I always feel guilty asking questions here that I could "easily" google, but the problem is I have no idea what search terms to type in when I have no idea what the part is even called. "Tethers" makes total sense but I never would have called it that myself in a million years.

The front-most widow on a lot of bus models leak. Ours does. I think it has something to do with the front windows on both sides being double-paned and the drip rail from the roof empties into the drip rail over the door which empties into the front of that window.

PLEASE post what you find. I still need to chase it down!

I will do my best. It is going to be raining hard here for about the next 18 hours, so I'm hoping I'll be able to see whatever's going on. I'm also suspicious of the hatch for the electrical stuff right underneath the driver's window, since I can see out through that from the inside.

Should you be adventurous enough to "free" the mounting bracket, you will not need that plate currently attached to the bottom of the seat at all. You could also refurbish the floor on which you will be riding (and more importantly, the supporting structure).

Jeez man, I have to stop doing stuff on my floor some day. :biggrin: I've poked around underneath and the whole framing structure there is solid. I don't feel like there's any risk of the mounting bracket tearing loose from that framing in a collision.

Multi-quote is a pretty cool feature!

 

[musigenesis]

Ooh, I was wondering if this stuff was available somewhere: https://midwestbusparts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=11644

$45 each is pretty steep, but I was going to see if my local metal supply store could bend something up for me for this - most likely it would be more than $45. I really wish there was something like a bus graveyard near me where I could get pieces like this. BrewerBob said there was one down towards Baltimore but I never went to find it and I doubt they'd be open during this.

 

[kidharris]

I'm really worried that this is the first step towards a permanently immobile bus.

Why? You running out of wire, steel. and yellow paint?

 

[Native-SKO]

Ooh, I was wondering if this stuff was available somewhere: https://midwestbusparts.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=11644

$45 each is pretty steep, but I was going to see if my local metal supply store could bend something up for me for this - most likely it would be more than $45. I really wish there was something like a bus graveyard near me where I could get pieces like this. BrewerBob said there was one down towards Baltimore but I never went to find it and I doubt they'd be open during this.

Wow that is some fair change. I am glad our trim pieces were in good condition even if the metal 2" away was rotted out.

 

[musigenesis]

Why? You running out of wire, steel. and yellow paint?

Ooh, that's a good point - I could just stack up the paint and sit on that while driving!

 

[Native-SKO]

Ooh, that's a good point - I could just stack up the paint and sit on that while driving!

How much of that wonderful yellow paint did you buy?

 

[musigenesis]

How much of that wonderful yellow paint did you buy?

I have two and a half gallons of the yellow and two and a half of the rusty metal primer (also a gallon of black which I'll use on the seat base and the black dashboard pieces after I de-rust them - a nod to tradition plus I don't feel like painting all that stuff yellow, too). I thought that would be way too much but I keep digging up more stuff I need to paint. If I gather up the nerve for a run to Fazzio's in New Jersey I may get one of the other high-performance enamel colors to paint the floor of the cab. They have a very nice light blue.

 

[musigenesis]

Those are called "tether belts" or sometimes "seatbelt tethers" or simply "tethers".


You can get them at MidWest Bus Parts.

Just ordered my pair. I was thinking I wouldn't be able to drive anywhere until I got these, but I don't have anything to attach them to right now, and since my generator appears to be kaput I'm going to have to drive to my house to weld in the attachment points. Which means driving without a seat belt, yay!

 

[EastCoastCB]

Just ordered my pair. I was thinking I wouldn't be able to drive anywhere until I got these, but I don't have anything to attach them to right now, and since my generator appears to be kaput I'm going to have to drive to my house to weld in the attachment points. Which means driving without a seat belt, yay!

I had a milk crate for my last seat lol. Seatbelts are overrated lol.