Thomas Followed Me Home Today

[Twigg-SKO]

My old Craftsman air-compressor died a horrible death a few weeks ago.

This should see normal service (and then some) restored. It was the floor model that they just unboxed this morning, but that was another $60 off:

 

[heartstrongfarms]

Been following your build looks great! I'm just a few miles north of you in Oologah and hopefully i will have the same luck getting my title changed as well!
Picking up a 1999 bluebird sometime this week. Have you found a Insurance company preferably local that is working with you?

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Been following your build looks great! I'm just a few miles north of you in Oologah and hopefully i will have the same luck getting my title changed as well!
Picking up a 1999 bluebird sometime this week. Have you found a Insurance company preferably local that is working with you?

Hi

So I took the paperwork into the Tag Office in Owasso (86th Street). The lady there was very helpful but the paperwork had to go to state.

I included the afidavit for body change.

State took weeks to process it, then imposed penalties for late registration, caused because they took weeks ... I am appealing that.

I got insurance from Progressive Commercial for the bus, and State Farm (Jim Vandervoon) said they will insure the RV when it's done. They have all of our vehicles.

Where are you getting your bus from? Mine came from Nebraska.

 

[JDOnTheGo]

View attachment 19227

NICE! I love that empty look for some reason! :biggrin:

 

[Twigg-SKO]

NICE! I love that empty look for some reason! :biggrin:

I still have a little fiddling around to do, but it's mostly ready for insulation and a new sub-floor.

The OEM plywood is staying where it is. On top of that is going 1 1/2" of R-Max, then a new 1/2" plywood floor.

Same insulation is going in the walls and ceiling. That should give around R10 all round.

Also for the ceiling I was thinking of filling as much as possible with the R-Max and using one of the small spray-foam kits to do the difficult corners of the end-caps. One of the 200 board feet kits will be cheap enough, and let me fill all the awkward spots in one go.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Things are arrivin'

 

[david.dgeorge07]

Nice! What size of water tank is that? And if you don’t mind how much was it and where did you get it from?

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Nice! What size of water tank is that? And if you don’t mind how much was it and where did you get it from?

It's a 46 gallon tank. Planning on two of them eventually.

Got it here:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MSLP7A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Bus is completely stripped out and about ready for building.

I took the opportunity to go get it weighed. It came in on the light-side of my guesstimate:

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Thank God for right-angle die grinders, and for having one

Now the coolant pipes to the front heater can go under the bus instead of through it:



Any self-respecting bus this age would be rusty, and the metal would be easier to cut !!!

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Pipes didn't want to curve through the new hole without trying to kink. Nothing a couple of 90s couldn't fix:

 

[Twigg-SKO]

New pipe run is now complete.

First pic is looking up from under the front towards the new access hole.



This one shows pipes going back towards fuel tank. Zip ties are temporary until I can get a permanent solution.



Looking up towards the original shut-off valve. The vertical pipe is now deleted and needs removing. There are shut offs on the flow, just before the coolant pump, and on the return just before the coolant goes back into the engine.



Sump is on the left. Shows new pipes finally connecting to the pump outlet and the return to the engine.



So I ran the engine up to about 175F. I added 7 gallons of coolant. I ran it with the cap off and kept topping up as the fluid level fell below the sight glass.

On my recent trip to the weigh station, I think I lost 5 gallons of coolant through shut-off valves that weren't "shutting off" completely. The engine remained in range for all but the last 1/4 mile where I thought it was de-rating and I noticed the gauge rising just before I pulled into the yard.

All seems well now. Coolant is replaced and there appear to be no leaks at all from the new pipework (or anywhere else).

Front heater is blowing very hot.

 

[M1031A1]

Nicely done there Twigg!

M :biggrin:

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Nicely done there Twigg!

M :biggrin:

Thank you, Sir.

Been trying to keep it running while I build. I needed to get this done before starting inside.

Bus is ready for filling holes and laying insulation.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Unfortunately, now it is time to spend money:

Here is the floor insulation. 8 sheets of 1" Formular and 8 sheets of 1/2".

I went with the XPS Polystyrene instead of the R-Max Polyiso.

For the longest time I was set on the polyiso for sheer R-Value. Then I did a little more reading.

It seems that the standard test for insulation is conducted at 75F. At that temp. the polyiso outperforms the extruded. That, however, is not the end of the story.

As the temperature falls, so does the R-Value of polyiso, and it can fall from 6.0 per inch right down to 2.0 per inch.

Conversely, the R-Value of extruded polystyrene is inversely proportional to temperature. That is, as the temp falls the R-Value of the XPS rises.

So when the R-Max has fallen to 2.0. the pink stuff has risen to 6.0 per inch.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Okay.

This is going in easily but I should have bought the plywood at the same time.

If I fill the bus with the foam board I'll have to walk on it to lay the plywood so that needs to be avoided if possible.

The floor will fully float. There is no framing under it but the bottom layer is 3/4" ply, so if I need to fix it down I can use screws.

I had a helper:

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Carried on laying floor today. About half done

Biggest issue is that the PEX needs to cross the threshold of the side door, which meant it had to go through the insulation and the floor cut around it.

Pics:

 

[david.dgeorge07]

Lots of progress! Feels good to check things off the list!

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Lots of progress! Feels good to check things off the list!

Lots of hard work today. Those ply panels are heavy!

So in the end I decided to go with 5/8th" CDX ply instead of the 1/2" Sanded. It was cheaper and stronger.

The panels are not flat so I will screw them down. The floor will be the OEM 3/4" ply, 1 1/2" foam board plus 5/8th" ply on top.

2 1/2" deck screws should grab nicely into the base ply layer without hitting the steel underneath.

Cutting the ply around the obstructions is slow but working out well.

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Apart from a few screws to hold the panels flat, the new floor is done.

In the second pic you can see all of the layers.

5/8th" OEM Ply, 1 1/2" foam board topped with 5/8" Ply.