| Author |
Message |
Phil Potter (63.168.28.13)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 9:09 pm: | |
Converting a 1978 MC8. I have access to RV windows at a reasonable price. Any reason I can't take out all the windows. Weld in new framing to fill in where windows are not wanted and frame for the new windows. Rivet alluminum sheeting and install the windows. Is this a good or bad approach? Is there a better way to skin it?
Phil |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (216.107.197.159)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 10:32 pm: | |
Thats pretty much the way everyone does it. I just finished installing Penninsula windows. Only differecne is that I skinned it in 16GA cold rolled steel. I attached the skins with Sikaflex and rivets.
Ross |
John Biundo (Jbiundo) (67.112.121.112)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 12:37 am: | |
I'm in the process of doing the same thing. Like Ross, I used steel (18ga galvanized) instead of aluminum. Also structural pull-type rivets and sikaflex.
Hey Ross, how'd the window install go? Any tricks or tips you learned? Mine arrive tomorrow and I'm ready to begin installing them.
john |
Phil Potter (63.168.28.34)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 8:31 am: | |
What is Sikaflex? Is it a sealer? What do you recomend for sealing? |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (216.107.197.64)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 9:01 am: | |
Nothing out of the ordinary. It went pretty well. I did screw up on one point. I had planned on using 3/8" wall paneling then decided to go with 1/2" after seeing the quality of the 3/8 sold around here. Problem was that the windows were ordered for a wall thickness based on 3/8" paneling which meant that they were now 1/8" thinner than the wall. I ended up routing a 1/8" area around each window. I have the results posted on my bus web page...
http://www.concentric.net/~Rrcarl/bus/
For those interested in airplanes, I found another project the other day also. I found myself with a few spare minutes on my hands now and then...Can't have that.
http://www.concentric.net/~Rrcarl/bd5/
Ross |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (216.107.197.64)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 9:04 am: | |
Sikaflex is a structural adhesive. If you use it to glue the panels to the frames, theoretically, you could remove the rivets once it sets up...Good stuff.
For sealing the windows, I used gray butyl cauking tape. This stuff stays pliable and will never leak...Guaranteed. Penninsula recommends using a closed cell foam tape to seal the windows, but I thought the butyl would give a better seal. The advantage to foam tape is that you can easily rmove the windows to paint the bus. I can't do that. I'll have to mask them off.
Ross |
John Biundo (Jbiundo) (67.112.121.112)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 9:52 am: | |
Note that the sikaflex is pretty finicky about the surface. You need to follow their surface preparation guidelines diligently. Also, the stuff sets up REAL fast, so you need to be prepared to move fast once you apply it, or to work with small areas at a time.
Nice photos Ross. You sure are making rapid progress! |
FAST FRED (65.58.187.199)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 12:52 pm: | |
ROSS ,
Hope you have hi time in HI PO aircraft (F-8, F-16,,EA-6B, B-727 or SR-71),
I understand if you try to fly the BD5 like a Cub ,
YOU DIE! A few dozen have already bought the farm from it.
I have a pair of new Hurth engines that were created for that aircraft , if you want to be "origonal".In the origonal shipping crate, Ducatti ignition & Bing carbs if you want.
The Hurths were great engines but BD did not realize that they were very high powered , and his plan to hop them up was a total failure.
His prop drive was a bigger failure , as it managed to break the cranks with great regularity.
Hopefully 25 years later the cure is off the shelf, as the BD5 is a very pretty toy!
I got the pair of Hurths to make an ultra light twin amphib, but my Trike flies so well , and stows in the coach, so ,,on to other projects.
FAST FRED |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (216.107.197.255)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 3:03 pm: | |
I have lots of high performance time. The trick to the BD5 is to not let your speed fall below 100MPH unless your wheels are a foot off the runway. There is no washout in the wings so the stall is abrupt, which gets low timers into trouble...Especially on a departure stall. There is also an airfoil mod you can make that will lower stall speed and make the stall a bit more predictable.
The problems Bede Aircraft had with the drive systems were caused by torsional vibration. That problem was solved by Bede before they went bankrupt. The solution was to use an aluminum prop shaft with a sprag clutch. This is the drive system that has been flight tested and is currently being sold by BD-Micro.
Hirth engines are bad news. Every Hirth I've ever dealt with has burned up with less than 20 hours. A friend has one on a biplane right now that will not run less than 500 degrees on the CHT's...Which is typical of Hirth engines.
The engine going in the BD is a Rotax 582. No reliability problems there. It is also not cool to be using an air cooled engine in an enclosed bay. Liquid cooling works much better in a BD5.
If you are interested in the BD5, you should read the original flight test reports. Most flight testing was done by Les Berven. He left Bede late in development just before they went bankrupt...about the same time Burt Rutan left the project.
most initial flight testing was done on the BD5J. It wans't long before they were inviting other pilots, mostly from the media, to fly the J. They never really had a bad review. I remember one incident that happened to Bob Bishop while flying an airshow routine in a BD5J. On the back side of a loop the canopy popped open and he accidentally pulled 14.7 G's. They talked him down safely and when he got out of the hospital they went to look at the plane. The wings were bent up in a permanent 2 foot deflection. They put new wings on the plane and it is still flying today.
Sorry for all the airplane talk, but flying is one of my lifes passions. Its not hard to get me going.
Back to working on the bus. I'm trying to get the furnace hooked up today.
Ross |
Bradd B. Smith (Bbsrtbusproject) (216.18.141.89)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, October 24, 2002 - 1:27 am: | |
Ross, Great pictures and fabulous craftsmanship. I do not think you will have any problem hitting your high end coach goal. Keep up the good work! Bradd SR-71 Fred? |
Darrell (205.240.137.180)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, October 27, 2002 - 10:51 pm: | |
i thought this would be a good place to ask my question about the windows in my 85 eagle. They are new RV type sliding windows.do not now the brand. The were allready installed when the bus was bought. I am having problems with leaks.during rain it comes in pretty bad. The best i can tell it is not coming in around the frame of the window but more from where the window that slides inside the frame. I have noticed that there are holes drilled in the bottom part of the frame rail. I am not sure what this is for. But i do no that water blows up through these holes. I was assuming they are like drain holes. Don't know if i should plug them or not. Any advice on this? |
DaveD (216.18.113.69)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - 2:09 pm: | |
There should be holes or slots to the outside of the frame for drainage, but typically these have some type of covers over them that are only open on the bottom side. Perhaps, if this was done it would keep water out. The right covers (they usually snap in place) should be available from an RV dealer.
DaveD |
Dale Fleener (206.171.175.140)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 2:57 pm: | |
These covers are to stop wind whistle going down the road. The holes are 'weep' holes to drain condensation. |
Jim Ashworth (Jimnh) (172.165.136.40)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, November 01, 2002 - 4:53 pm: | |
One cause of rain coming in the weep holes and into the bottom track of the windows is driving with the driver's window open or not sealing up the factory vents in the entry door (MCI). This creates a terrific vacuum and while rain doesn't come in the driver window, air will try to come in everywhere, including the weep holes, carrying any rain with it. These caps can eliminate some of that.
Jim |