Glad to see you joined us over here on FTE. I've been following you on trip and your build. Welcome!

 

The last I saw, JC Whitney had a wide variety. You might also check eBay.

 

On the recommendation of one of the Grassroots guys, I tried these guys. https://www.metrommp.com/index.cfm

They have a dizzying array of automotive rubber products and had what I needed.

 

I finally made it home early enough to do a little more work on the bus.

The glass and gasket for the windows hasn't come in yet, so I figured I'd start geting it ready for paint. I've had a fair amount of advice to not sandblast it because of oil canning, so I figured I'd try a pressure washer and see what happened. My only pressure washer was a cobbled together electric job. Since it's time to do the house as well, I broke down and bought a decent gas version. I'm glad I did.

3000 psi is doing wonders for the finish.

Before:



After:



Before:



After:



It's stripping almost all the paint down to the primer that is on top of the original school bus yellow.

I have found a little filler in the fenders and one new rust spot that I hadn't noticed before, but over all this thing is in pretty good shape.

I worked on it this afternoon until the temperature started to drop. It's supposed to be in the 70s this weekend, I should have the rest of it done by Saturday.

 

70 is cold to you?!?!

 

70 isn't cold, but 50 and wet is cold enough for me. I'm a Southern boy, we don't do cold.

 

Not much time today to get things done because of a child's chorus recital.

I did manage to pull the outside covers off of the water heater and refrigerator.

I put my youngest to work cleaning the paint out of screw heads.



The refrigerator is either 110v or propane. I had fired the propane off the other day, but wasn't willing to leave it burning long enough to see if the fridge would cool. Pulling the refrigerator covers gave me access to the plug for the 110V line. I plugged it in and for the first time in 12+ years, it started cooling. After a couple of hours, there are ice crystals forming on the cooling plates. :biggrin:





The water heater is actually a instant heat type. It looks complete, and the pilot burns properly. I'll have to get the plumbing straight to test it though.





That's it for today, more to come as it happens.

 

Well, the rest of the pressure washing is done.



All the paint didn't come off, but a large majority did.

I sent the lightest member of the family up on the roof to pull that stupid wire out of all the holes I need to patch.



I also did something about these. They are some kind of vent system that has rusted enough to let water inside to run down the windshield and dash. They needed to be plugged up.



I'm not happy with the patch, but without the ability or tools to make a compound curved repair panel, this is the best I can do.

It must be time to buy a English wheel and learn how to use it.



Luckily, from the ground it isn't visible and after I get the elastomeric coating on the roof it it should blend in and be sealed completely.



More to come...

 

Glad to see you're making progress.

 

Today I managed to get a coat of primer on most of the roof.



In the next couple of weeks I'd love to get the top coat on, but that's going to depend on the weather. It needs to be above 50 degrees for the top coat to cure. 70 would be even better. In the mean time, I'll be stripping all the vents for replacement and reseal.

When I moved the bus today, I found this.



Yep, that's gear oil out of the transmission. I'm not sure what changed between yesterday and today, but the transmission is puking oil and it lost that much in 24 hours.

 

She's not used to all of the attention she's getting.

 

Territory has been marked.

 

I knocked off at 2 today and played with the bus some more.

To get the roof buttoned up, I need to figure out the air conditioner. I pulled the A/C unit out of the garage and did a little hot wiring. Other than a sticking contactor, it fired up and cooled fine.



There are a couple of problems though.

First off, I think it looks like crap. A big ugly white box on the roof pretty much screws up the lines of the entire bus. It will probably look better on a white roof, but I still don't like it.





The other problem is the inside shroud is huge, designed for a flat surface, and the cabinet doors hit it. It hangs down 2+ inches I can't afford to lose. My son, pictured below is 5'10", I'm 6'2". It's not going to work.





So, my choices are to scrap what I have and find something different, basement air mounted under the bus or a low profile ducted roof mount. Hack up what I have and build something different, mount it under the bus and build ducting to reroute the air. Or modify what I have to work for now, understanding that it is probably a short term (1-2 year) fix.

Funds being a little short for now, I'm going to go with option 3. Even though I don't really like the looks, the unit is going to mount on the roof. I don't have to modify the roof to install it and I can pull it later and install a regular vent. I'll have to build something less obtrusive for the interior. The roof is 2" thick, I think I can fab some vents that will fit up in the roof and then relocate the controls to one of the cabinets.

More to come on that.

 

Low profile would make a lot of difference. I am surprised they even make the "std" high units today.

You might look around at an RV salvage yard to pick up a used one.

 

Managed to make some more progress on SanFord this weekend. All the plumbing vents have been replaced. The refrigerator vent has been cleaned up, painted and resealed. The range hood vent has been cleaned up, paints and resealed. And the bathroom vent pulled, cleaned up and resealed.









Next up is going to be deciding which main vent is getting the A/C and replacing the other. Then it will be time for paint.

More to come.