| Author |
Message |
sam holloway (152.163.197.51)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 7:57 pm: | |
I ame geting ready to take out the windows in our MCI 8 .It looks like it has rivets sides,top & bottoms . If anyone knows of a easy way to get them out i would sure appreciate it . thank you
sam |
Rich (24.147.234.166)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 8:10 pm: | |
I took the windows out of my MCI 9 and it sounds like they are held in the same way. I removed the windows by taking out the hinge pin then I used an air chissel to knock the heads off the rivets. The frames came out pretty easy once the rivets were chisseled off.
Rich |
John Biundo (Jbiundo) (64.175.36.28)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 9:45 pm: | |
Hi Sam,
I just finished this job. Not too tough. Rich is pretty much right on. The only thing I'd say is to take care with the air chisel on the rivets at the top of the frame. Here, the rivets are right on the roof skin, which you will probably keep. You'll be fitting your skins UNDER this aluminum, so it remains on top. For this reason, you want to try to minimize any damage to the original rivet holes.
For these, I used a very sharp cold chisel and hammer. I ground the chisel to a very flat bevel on one side to get a low angle of attack. I found this was less likely to damage the holes than the air chisel. Others have used wood chisels with success.
After you remove the rivet heads, I suggest you wait to punch out the rivet shanks until after you remove the frame. Once the frame is removed, grind the shanks flush with a grinder and flap disk, which will remove the shank, but not damage the skin. Then you can easily pop out the remainder of the shank. If you try to punch them out without grinding, you'll stand a good chance of dimpling the frame. This applies to the ones on the sides and bottom of the frame. For the top of the frame, you can't really get at the rivet shanks easily. Again, I found trying to punch them out tended to dimple the frame. For these, I used wooden shims to wedge the roof frame away from the rail enough to get a grinding wheel under the skin. I then ground the rivet shank flush with the rail, and punched it out.
The trick with removing the frames is to pry the little lip, which hangs over the window header rail, up and away from the rail. I used two pry bars, one on each end. You can push the hooked end (the one you use for pulling nails) in under the lip and over the rail, then pry up. Once the lip is free and away from the rail (and after you've loosened the rest of the frame, which is attached with double sided sticky tape), I found that the easiest thing is to just put some weight on the frame with your foot and it'll slide down and out.
By the way, scaffolding is highly recommended for this job if you don't have it already! [I made mine out of galvanized pipe and hand-rail fittings from Graingers.]
I'm new at this, and am learning most of my lessons the hard way. I just removed my caps, and have some thoughts that might help on that if you're also planning to do that.
Also, I highly recommend Craig Shepard's web site:
www.the-russells.com/~shepardc/bus/
Craig's converting an MC9 and has LOTS of details on the process, and lots of good suggestions. He's saved my butt countless times already!
HTH and good luck!
John |
John Biundo (Jbiundo) (64.175.36.28)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 9:46 pm: | |
Sam - forgot to mention that mine is an MC9, and I'm not really familiar with the MC8, so some details may differ.
john |
DaveD (206.47.98.151)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 12:29 am: | |
I'd be interested in the MC-8 windows once they are out, depending on how far away you are and what you might want for them.
DaveD. |
John Biundo (Jbiundo) (64.175.36.28)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 20, 2002 - 3:17 am: | |
Dave,
Where are you located? Are you interestd in some MC9 windows?
John |
|