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Meet SanFord. He's a 1956 Ford B-600 chassis, with a Wayne body. I bought him in Allenton Wisconsin, where he had been languishing for a dozen years, neglected. Being a glutton for punishment, I promptly drove it 1000+ miles home, to South Carolina. If you are interested in the trip, there is a thread here, on Grassroots Motorsports.
The bus got dubbed SanFord by a toll boot operator on the trip home. When I rolled up to pay the toll, she was singing the theme song to Sanford and Son at the top of her voice. It seemed appropriate, so it SanFord it is.
Today's project was to dig all the extra stuff out of the bus and figure out exactly what I had to work with. I hadn't inventoried it when I bought the bus, figuring everything extra was a bonus. It turns out there was quite a large bonus.
2 camp stoves
1 RV stove/oven.
2 12V RV range hoods with vent fans and lights.
2 SS Sinks, one kitchen, one bath.
1 RV rooftop air conditioner.
3 RV leveling jacks.
1 extra water heater.
1 extra RV direct vent furnace.
1 complete set of bath water fixtures, shower and sink.
1 side mount RV awning with side curtains.
2 extra water pumps.
1 set of electric RV steps.
1 20 ton bottle jack.
1 mummified rat.
And last but not least, two swallows of Jonnie Walker Red. (Might need some more of this before this project done.)
SanFord was converted to an RV in the 70s and already has a RV title which saves me a lot of paperwork.
I'm still a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. There is an amazing amount of work to do here. My tentative plan of attack is going to be:
Roof. Strip, repair dents and rust and prime/seal. The roof currently leaks so this is on the top of the list.
Body. Strip, repair dents and rust and prime/seal.
Then paint the whole thing.
In between the above will be going through all the other systems and seeing what works and what doesn't.
Once the exterior is done, we will move inside.
The carpet on the roof and walls has to go. While I would love to do a wood ceiling, the compound curves, front and back, will make that extremely difficult. The roof will probably end up painted.
I'm pretty sure all the cabinetry will stay. It's in pretty good shape and looks decent.
The floor has to go. It's a big question mark at the moment, but it will be replaced.
I've made a little progress since last week. I've pulled several of the dents out of the roof.
I've removed several dozen rusty screws and the remainder of the carpet on the front roof.
Removed some crappy plastic lights out of the interior.
And found the source of some of the roof leaks. The wire pictured below fed power to the lights removed above. Someone ran it across the roof, drilling holes in the roof wherever they wanted a light.
I didn't get much of a chance to work on SanFord today. I'm trying to get a couple of other projects finished off first. Rear axle replacement on my Samurai and rear suspension bushings on my daughters Super Coupe.
I did manage to climb under it and take a gander at the propane tank. It's another bonus. I didn't realize it had one until I had to climb under it to work on the rear axle on the trip home. The tank is a little rusty and I'll need to pull it for paint and hydro-testing, but over all it's looks decent.
It also wasn't empty. Naturally I had to open the valve and do some checking. The stove lit with no problems, as did the refrigerator and water heater. The only thing that didn't want to lite was the furnace.
Allen, I too followed your every move on your trip home with SanFord, it was great that you had so many folks along the way to encourage you and offer help. You will actually find a similar atmosphere here on FTE. Like Ray, I was cheering you on all the way.
The second most astounding discovery during my read of your adventure was that the theme song to 'Sanford and Son' could be sung. Who knew? I suppose it may be more in the boom chica wow catgory of singing, but worthly, none-the-less.
I admire your willingness to ignore conventional thinking, namby-pamby web experts, personal posterior discomfort, and exposure to deceased vermin for the greater glory of old iron guy-ness. Bravo!
Some more work done on SanFord today. 95% of the carpet is gone.
And what a nasty job that was. Yuck! Old moldy carpet and dust.
I did get some help with this part.
I also started studying the rear windows. One of the side windows is broken. The plan was to pull the glass, have a new piece made, order new gasketing and replace it. The first step is done. I'll drop a template by my glass manufacturer tomorrow. I'm debating on tempered or laminate. I'm leaning toward tempered like modern side windows. There is less of a chance I'll break the tempered while installing it as well.
I was worried about the condition of the body around the windows. This one is in really good shape.
The curved back glasses are going to have to come out as well. The gasketing around them is pretty much rotten. The POs have gooped a ton of RTV around them, trying to stop the leaks. I think I'm going to fix it right and hope I don't break a glass.
Now if I could just find the gasket material, I'd be set. CRL has something close I'll probably have to use. Anyone have a good source for automotive window gaskets?
Check with the local school district bus garage for a gasket source. When I drove a bus back in the 70s we always had one or two down because of window problems. It was illegal to haul kids with broken windows. They just may have a source. Have fun.
02-13-2016, 07:32 PM
