Floor Rants and the Machine

Floor Rants and the Machine

Jul 17, 2021

Bel here:

And so is rust.
So much rust


Like frankly an absurd amount of it. But its been cleverly hidden in just about 3 of the ~10 panels of the bus floor, the rest is just lightly rust-touched. On the bright side, we have a trick for the L Track


On the down side the trick is to cut out every individual bolt holding them in place.

The thing we've learned about our floors with all this rust is they are actually absurdly thick. At least 10 gauge galvanized steel. Easily twice the thickness expected, closer to 3 times the thickness (roughly average based on my experience not actual fact) automotive floor metal. This means that even when more than half of the thickness of the floor sheet is rusted away, we can still jump up and down on the panel and not have it budge.

At least, when the floor is still there..

(We did bend that chunk out of the way, just to see how bad it is, it was not found like this)
Our current plan is to grind off everything close to rust colored and make sure its sealed, then weld or rivet on more metal on top of anywhere that is too thin. There is cautious optimism here. Honestly compared to a lot of buses we have looked at, both online and in person, this rust could be worse. The bad spots are concentrated, and that makes patching much more viable. But patching is still going to be expensive. Stainless steel sheets aren't cheap, and we don't want to skimp on this part.

On the good side though, we got our first toolbox, which will eventually be a proper counter!

The plan is to use toolbox/workbenches for most of the counters, in some way or another. They are easy to install, not a huge difference price wise, easy to replace, and very very durable. We are both the sort of people who see any flat surface as a possible chair, so having countertops that will easily support a persons weight is a high priority.

We also have started removing the rear heater

This involved cutting two 30' lines of radiator coolant that ran the length of the bus floor, and a giant line of wires that followed the same path.
On that note, I have started poking at the nightmare that is The Electrical System.

And oh boy am I not looking forward to figuring this thing out.
Most of the wires here aren't even used. Just in this picture I can point to several feet of wire that just ran the VCR that was removed from the bus before we ever got it. Some went to the flashing lights and the stop signs, some went to antennas that aren't there anymore. All the wires were just left in place. Some were cut. Most were unlabeled.

Its gonna be an adventure.

Until then though, we are taking turns with power tools cutting and grinding away at the floor, and every so often, getting to just play around and have some fun.


Till next time, safe travels y'all
~Bel

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