If I could put time in a bottle.....

Come on you all know the words. It's been great to have Ron here to help putter away on the bus with me. My only regret is that I have to go to work...otherwise we'd get allot done!

This was the last of the rust. The rear quarter panel, drivers side.....actually now that I think of it I'm not sure you can call it a quarter panel ass it does not comprise 1/4 of the body......but ehhh! whatever.

I cut the body panel and then the support panel underneath. I will have to weld a new support piece and then cut a new body panel, seal, rivet and paint.

The last thing on the menu was a piece that seemed to have very little use. I'm not sure what the original floor plan was but there was an extension of the passenger side raised side platform. It jutted out into the drop down floor, narrowing the center isle. So....with a sparks a flyin' she came out.

You can't really see much difference but it was fun. More symbolic than anything really....I know enough to "never say never" but this marked the turning point from deconstruction to construction. As far as I can figure from here on in it's time to rebuild....unless I've missed something......(uh ohhhh!)

With a little help from my friends

Great day was had by all, Ron and I started drilling on the drivers side. Yesterday we pulled off the second skin. So next was to pull off the damaged first skin. Things weren't going very smoothly. As you can see by the expression on Ron's face the drilling of the rivets was long and hard. Harder than I remember from the other side.

But with perseverance we got through.

Another one bites the dust.

After we busted the second drill bit, and put in the third it became apparent what was wrong....all drill bits are not created equal. I had purchased whatever bits I could from Can. Tire. Two of one kind(shop master) and two of another (premium cobalt something or other).Once we put the cobalt bit in.....wowza!!

Sometimes when you take one layer off...you get a surprise and say HOLEY SH....!!(kind looks like it too)

Is there anything left?

Michelle said the other day that she questioned whether or not we can call the bus a 1949. She figures that by the time I'm done I will have replaced most of the thing...so you can't really say it's old...it's really new. BUT I reminded her that even though in the years to come I will likely have to have parts replaced and repaired...despite her wishful thinking I will still be the original man she married.....for better or worse!

Today started by making a trip (or two) into Calgary to get sheet metal for the body panels. Upon returning....after a small detour to go see a patient as an emergency... I finally got to put hands on the ol' girl. Ron had puttered a bit trying to remove rivets and screws.

This is the drivers side. Although the panels looked OK from the outside you could see that there was some fudging going on. There was some questionable repairs done. Instead or replacing rusted( or possible damaged? panels)....they cut out the affected parts and slapped a new panel over top......I just couldn't stand it. So we removed the panel.

Underneath you could see the original emergency door...notice the crease just below the lettering, this is what makes me think there was some damage vs rust

But of course once the panel was simply covered....secondary rust set in.

Here are the new body panels.

Lots of work with nothing to show

I've had a good weekend. Lots of family activity, lots of bus activity, lots of sunshine. As I mentioned in the last post, I spent some time learning heating and cooling options. Then made some progress in removing the last of the interior tear out.....(careful never say never)....

Here is the interior after I had to remove all the interior window frames
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And last but not least I removed the big ol' LP tank mounted underneath. My plan is moving to a much more efficient and multi functional heating system that runs on diesel.....more info TBA!!:)

A window to the soul

I've had a great day. I spent the morning running around Calgary hunting and gathering...and educating. I made some good contacts and ordered some sheet metal for the body panels. I got home 3ish and got to work on the bus. I decided..(after some debate) that I needed to remove the inner window panel. I knew that there was dead space there....and I knew I couldn't "stuff" insulation up there. So I ground through some welds and removed the panels.


I hope Shawn comes out soon and teaches me how to weld these back on!!!:)

Please stand by...

This may be my last post for a little while. We leave for Vancouver on Friday morning to go catch a few events at the Olympics. Men's Hockey and Women' Aerials!


This is a pic of the flashing of the front wheel well after sandblasting.

I couple of posts ago I talked about having to address the floor because I broke all my drill bits. Well this is it. Now I'm in the process of stripping all the rubber seals that are on the frame rails under the old plywood. Not an easy task...until I discovered my air chisel again!!:)

I removed the door and just started to strip it down....how can you break a firkin Phillips screw driver bit....I mean really?...REALLY???

And of course no project would be complete with out the need for some sort of specialty seal. This is a simple weather strip for the door. I have a pretty good idea where I can get this.

So unless I am wrong, so long fr now...we'll see you in a week or so!!

A stripper...my parents will be so proud.

After so many years of University, who would have thought I would end up being a stripper....a paint stripper. Sorry I couldn't help it.

Yesterday I spent some time doing a variety of things out there. Michelle laughed and said it looked like I had created my very own weather system. At one point she looked out and all she saw was a huge cloud of dust emanating from the bus. It was just me stripping pant from the dash. Luckily I have my respirator so my lungs are still in tact!
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You'd think I was a raven with how taken I am by the shiny metal...

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you all get a chance to give your squeeze a squeeze today! I know I will...or I will try...she's not too receptive when I stink like bus.:)
OK where were we.... oh yes blasting and a mess. Well as I said in my last post, the blaster works but it makes a mess. I used some crushed walnut shells to strip the paint off the small round disk in the last post and boy look at the mess from such a small job. The media is still usable, so I decided to make a blasting booth for the shop.

Not a work of Michelangelo but it will work. I plan to line the inside with some of the scrap metal from the removed bus body.

So that is the good news...something accomplished. The bad news is that on further inspection I found some rust on the bottom of the door. Not real bad but....now I have to figure out what to do.

A bit by the hinge as well.

Time Flies....

You know as a kid, you often heard your parents talk about how time was just "whizzin' by". Frankly we thought they were full of it. Time was 'slow' and it took forever to get anywhere, it took forever to wait for your favorite TV program to come on(and then you'd have to get up to turn it to your channel...don't get me started), and having to wait to turn 16 so you could legally drive?...YIKES...time flies? Ya right!
But like many many things over the years, you get some life experience and .....you know it Mom&Dad were right...again!

This week just flew by, I remember starting work Monday morning and then signing paychecks on Thursday afternoon....the rest is a blur. But I did manage to get a little bus stuff done. I pulled the door from the bus(needs work) and the bumper(to be re-chromed)

You may also remember that way back when I took some pieces to a self serve sandblasting place to clean then up.Well it worked like a charm but it wasn't cheap. Not a problem if you have only a couple of pieces.But...I have a bus...nothing is small or singular. Anyway I happened to be at princess auto the other day and they had a sandblaster unit...for less than what I paid for my little stint at the self serve place. Anyway...as you can see it is now yet another tool in my arsenal.

It works pretty well too! But it does make a mess....I might have to build a sandblast chest that recycles the blast media for the shop..... hmm not a bad idea....to be continued...

Another day in Paradise

The day started off well enough, I decided after much waffling to remove the front body panel where the rust and bondo were. Things were going along swimmingly...until I broke my last 3/16" drill bit. Which was good. Because...it made me address a job that I had been avoiding for some time. Removal of the center isle flooring.

The issue was the screws were rusted tight, and in extremely awkward places to get at. It seemed no amount of penetrating fluid and elbow grease would make them come easily. So....at first I applied the nearly-perfected and almost patented ostrich technique, bury your thoughts in another "high priority job" and all is good. It never takes care of the problem but it helps to distract you. Well with my hands tied I had no other choice.

I had to think outside the box....so I used a combination of brute force and strategic placement of that force. I used a keyhole saw to cut (weaken) the wood around the bolts and then placed a 20 ton jack under the floor and "jacked 'er up". The force of course made the wood fail, then I could use a jig saw to split the wood and take it out in pieces. In the end I got her all out. Now to figure out how to re-install the floor with a layer of insulation.

After that, I had to go get Anna from dance class(yet again) and I got more drills from Moose Mountain Hardware....finally I got the panel off!!

What is Fuzzy Schelgel??

Ahhh a very good question.After my post from yesterday I got as few questions,so here's a few answers.
Only a few short months ago if someone asked to see my fuzzy schlegel I would have popped them one right in the kisser!
In my last post I made reference to receiving my fuzzy schlegel...just for the record this is my second shipment....the first came from an airstream supply company I foolishly thought..."ehhh that's close enough!" when I looked at the measurements. Foolish rookie mistake...by the way if anyone is looking for schlegel for an airstream trailer... I have a line on some,below cost, cheap cheap just for you.
But alas...it is late and I am drifting off topic.
What is Fuzzy(or commonly refered to simply as) schlegel?
It is the flexible fibrous window channel seal that creates a air seal on the sliding component of a sliding window!!

Nylon encases a series of aluminum "U" shaped pieces that provide rigidity with an interior layer of fibers. The fiber "fingers" allow for both the movement of the window and the stoppage of air and water flow into the vehicle.

Today was a slow bus day, but a great day for other achievements. The day started off with the family going to the travel clinic to get our Hep"A+B" shots up to date, typhoid, tetanus, Dukorol vaccine...etc etc in prep for the Guatemala and Mexico trip.
The afternoon was bus support work. I recently did some work for a patient who then in turn got me a screaming deal on a MIG welder....which then meant I needed to get a 220 service into my garage. Thankfully I know one kick ass electrician.

My friend Rob came out with a panel, and lots of wire, we drilled some holes bidda-bang batta-boom One sub panel in the garage with a 220 and 110 service. I am ready to create havoc!