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Message |
Dave and Mel
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 1:59 am: | |
Has anyone lowered the floor in the front driver's side after changing to an automatic transmission? I think some of the rods, and other mechanical stuff etc. under the raised floor are going to be removed when the tranny is finally done, and it is so tempting to have the floor around the wheel well be the same height as where the restroom used to be.
Thanks ahead of time for your imput. this board is so helpful with advice and encouragement.
This project is taking forever! Maybe (sometime)this summer the transmission changeover will be done, we will get the engine revved up and be a steel tent. Our volunteer mechanic spent the winter gutting and remodeling a small house, so we paid back his bus labor by installing new 110, TV and phone wire in his house. The place turned out great, and he was happy after 4 months of hard work to be in a house instead of a cramped apartment.
I just have to keep the faith, since we still have to work our electrical business and find time to work on the bus evenings. I don't want to spend money on the interior until I'm sure the bus is running. |
Kyle Brandt (Kyle4501)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 1:22 pm: | |
I believe there are some air lines and a throttle cable that will need to be re-routed. I think the electrical is mostly overhead.
As has been stated before, use caution when modifying the structure. (I looked at a 4501 that had sections of the floor lowered by simply cutting out all that was in the way & closing it in with plywood. No the bus did not fall apart, but when riding down the road, it sure did flex a lot more than it should have & had a ton of squeeks & rattles.)
If you cut out structure, you will need to add structure back to carry the load that the removed part was carrying.
I'm planning on doing this too, so please take good pictures for me :^)
Let me know if I can help.
Good luck
Kyle4501 |
Mike in Parker
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 3:31 pm: | |
There is not a lot of extra flat flooring to be gained in the lower front area. You can get another 2, 2 1/2 feet on the drivers side in front of the old restroom after removing that. You can go from the restroom to the back of the driver's side wheel well. But that's about all. The wood in my 4501 was in rough shape & i decided to replace it. Also water had gotten in on the electrical panel on the driver's left. I then understood why somethings didn't work or were intermittent. Also, all the electrical feeds DOWN, and goes under the driver's floorboards, then back along the same side as those shift rods. Back to the stairs and under them then to the other side of the foot channel back to the engine compartment. I tried to carefully remove, mark, and label every wire, but when i started to back them out, they frayed, broke, and in general, fell apart. I discovered along the way, just about everyone who had ever worked on my bus had their own pecular ideas on how to add or rewire circuits. I'm somewhat surprised the ole bus haden't shorted and burned to the ground years earlier. Anyway, i have removed all the original wiring from the front all the way to the back junction box. If you really look at the wiring diagrams, quite a lot of it was for customer convience. It would not be needed for a motor home conversion. I hope to be ready to finally get back on track and get the bus systems wired and get my baby back on her feet again. A heart attack and a few other life challenges set me back a bit, but have got most issues strightened out and moving forward again. WOW, didn't mean to get so long winded.
Mike in Parker |
Dave and Mel
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 4:24 pm: | |
To Mike in Parker: Not long winded! My husband talks about the bus like that too! He guessed that we could discontinue some of that wireing, or reroute it for some other purpose. Using our toner was helpful when removing the tranny and the starter. We have to replace the plywood in the driver's area also.
To Kyle: Ok, we will take photos. We have been, just haven't posted them anywhere yet.
The previous owner had a electric downdraft cooktop that vented out the air grill on the driver's side, so we are trying to rig up a fan in that area for our propane stove. |
Mike in Parker
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 07, 2006 - 12:49 pm: | |
I lowered the upper deck seat mounting areas to be level with the foot channel. It was a lot of work. The first and most important thing is to get the bus stabilized on some form of blocks. I used railroad ties under every bulkhead. Took about a day, nothing really complicated, just a lot of labor. I used the bus airsystem connected to a sears air compressor to raise & lower as i installed the railroad ties to get get it level, front to back and side to side. Then i let it sit for a couple of weeks and would re check the level to make sure nothing had moved. Be prepared for a lot of reconfiguring, rerouting, and cursing, because ALL of the bus systems run along that foot channel. Air for suspension and brakes, power steering, fuel, transmission shift rods, and electrical. Before i started all this, my mechanic and i upgraded the motor to an 8V92TA with air throttle and a Allison 754 5 speed automatic transmission. The automatic trans conversion eliminated the need to re engineer the transmission shifting rods. That would have been a good challenge. Anyway, i've got some photos of the rebuilding of the structure for replacing the flooring system somewhere. Unfortunately, they are not of the digital kind. Trying to be brief, I cut the front stairs bulkhead, the bulkhead between the bays and the rear bay bulkhead to the level of the foot channel. This height is the same as the top of the rear air beams. Can't lower those. I did NOT cut the engine bulkhead. A sandwiching framework of structural angle aluminum was placed on the tops of each bulkhead. Supporting structural angle aluninum was tied in, front to back, between each bulkhead, about 14 inches apart. Along the inside sides, from about a foot all the way the the back bulkhead, i placed a large structural angle aluminum bar. It was riveted and bolted to the sides and all the other structural aluminum pieces with hand made aluminum angle brackets. Over the top of this structure, T-6 grade sheet aluminum was placed, covering the entire area. I then had 4 4X10 sheets folded to create approximately 3X10 with a 1 foot lip. Basically a L looking shape. This sits on the floor and is being riveted to the walls. The 3 foot portion comes to the bottom of the window openings. This overlaps the aluminum already down. On top of the floor i covered it with roofing tar paper and then with 3/4 pressure treated plywood. Then comes the hundreds of elevator bolth that tie everything together. On the sidewalls, I'm finishing up the riviting and then plan to go back and cutout a bunch of 1 inch holes in the side wall aluminum and fill that void with the sticky spray foam insulation. That spray foam should help cut down with squeaks, noise, and dust infiltration. Finishing that, i hope to get enough wiring back in place so that i can start the motor, check out all the systems, and finally move my bus again under her own power. At the end of that day, adult beverages will be consumed.
Thanks,
Mike in Parker |
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