| Author |
Message |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 10:44 am: | |
Here's todays photos...was a good, productive week!
http://www.heartmagic.com/July22busphotos
I've got a pile of old hardwood oak shiplap that I've been saving from my
house when I replaced all of it about 12 years ago (ex-wife pretty much
ruined all the floors when she had the house by herself for 5 years) so I
got a Makita power planer from ebay which I will likely sell for more than I
bought it for now that i'm done. The wood cleaned up beautifully, got me
one heck-of-a-pile of oak chips, and now the bus looks great inside! I'm
gonna simply "Minwax" the floor just for this trip to protect it from
spills, then when I get back I'll properly sand it and finish it with
urethane (a long job)
Waste plumbing is all done, shower's almost done, Toilet is set, entire
propane system is finished with the one exception of tapping the relief
valve to accept the 1" pipe thread that leads to the rear-of-the-bus exit
pipe, all I have to do now is finish the bed platform, run the pex plumbing
for water supply, set the house batteries into the engine-access gap in the
floor, build the kitchen sink structure and I'm on the road!! I have two
weeks....
Phew!!
Oh yeah, a boon- the water heater nestled into a perfect place, and it's large cutout ended
up right where the one rusted-out body panel used to be! Perefct!
So it all fell into place this week and is finally looking like something...
Ever so obsessive
Gary |
FAST FRED (63.208.86.243)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 1:56 pm: | |
Dont toss those plainer chips out, if you need to do any wood refinishing , the wood chips are great for getting the paint remover out of detail areas.
Wear rubber gloves and just grab a big handfull, and start rubbing.
FAST FRED |
Alan D. (194.97.223.21)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 4:15 pm: | |
Arent your batteries going to be inefficent over that heat from the engine? Isnt your propane take going to blow off propane when its full and the engine is giving off all that heat. How the heck are you going to fill your engine oil with that huge propane tank in the way? Why are you using rigid metal pipe, that crown twists driving down the road and your going to develop leaks in the line (boom!). Ive seen some scary conversions but this one takes the cake. The poor welding job to raise the roof is scary also. I wouldnt be supprised if you got 500 miles down the road and the roof fell off. |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 7:19 pm: | |
(1) Funny how "house batteries" are put in a coach in the first place to get used when the engine's off. I can't think of when I'd be using them while driving, and even if I did, where they are located is well ventilated and not in the radiator air stream. Quite cool actually. So strike one...
(2) If you'd look closer you'd find (DUH) that the oil filler neck is in the neighboring bay, as are the oil filters and all other maintainable items. There's nothing near the propane tank that has anything to do with engine maintainance. Strike two.
(3) The propane tank is located on the other side of the coach than the radiator, and it's on the outside of the frame rails. There's absoutely no heat there. And even if I was stupid enough to overfill the tank (which I'm NOT..are you?) and the tank DID blow off, it's properly vented (according to DOT code!) thru a dedicated vent line to the rear of the bus where propane will go away safely. Plus all the piping is UNDER the bus so even if there was a leak, the propane would go to the ground and away rather than puddling up inside the bus. Further, if there's a leak while driving, even a big leak, it wouldn't go boom simply because there's no place for the gas to concentrate in the wind. And I drive with the tank turned off. Strike 3, you're out.
(4) The black pipe follows one frame rail, in a straight line, in the same raceway that used to house galvinized pipe for the bus heaters. In over 30 years they never developed a leak and I don't expect the black iron will either.
(4) How can you comment on the roof welding job- you havn't been here to look at it. I'll bet you pinkslips that my roof is still on just fine after 300,000 miles. In fact Crown made a huge design error and when I took the roof off, I found very roof strut but four were broken clean off at the window line, due to stress fracture. That's something like 20 struts broken, yet the bus was still in service and taking kids to school with the roof quite intact thank you. I've personally seen this in three other Crown's now- it's a basic flaw in the design. Now they're repaired with much more structure than the origional and I think YOU need a big attitude adjustment....so go suck an egg somewhere and let me finish my conversion in peace.
Regards
Gary |
Dallas (216.98.68.82)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 8:37 pm: | |
YAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!
Good for you Gary!
I really detest mouth breathing, anal retentive, pimple brained nay-sayers.
I looked at your work, and hope that mine looks that good and as well documented when I'm done.
Keep up the good work.
As FF tells us, "Do it YOUR way".
Dallas |
Bradd B. Smith (Bbsrtbusproject) (208.26.165.153)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 11:27 pm: | |
WOW! It is a real boost to see one that has come so far. Nice use of side space, has given me some ideas. The oak is an excellent touch. I, along with I am sure many others really appreciate the time and effort to document and post the pictures. Thanks for the inspiration to get back in the trenches and dig. Hope the first trip, and many more, live up to your expectations. Viva la bus nuts! |
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