Drivers area

There might be a little rust here too.

column joint

this is the joint im haveing trouble getting apart

view of the top of steps

You see that tire under there??? Yes I do have plenty of clearance, all the way to bottoming out the suspention. While under the floor, over the tire, I will form a sort of liner over the steps so as to not have them riped out from under the bus in case of a blow out. Im a big NASCAR fan and have seen first hand what tire damage can do to a vehicle. So Ill go prepared.

A view from atop

They are very comfortable to walk up and down. This I can tell from the 150 trips ive allready mad up them. I see the radious walls both covered with polished stainless steel and the risers as well. The treads Im not sure of yet but maybe marble or granite (well see what the scale registers when I get the skin back on) in the near future.

That 2 inches worked out just fine

I used the other half of the 4 inch pipe to form the center of the upper radious and filled in all around with 11 gauge steel and seal welded everything and primered for temporary rust control.

A little plating and primer

Plated with 11 gauge steel and all seal welded for water infiltration and presto.

Wheel well fill in

heres a good picture of the area filled in between the frame and hoops for support for the slide out body.

The plan

What im going to do to get that 2 inches I need is slide the upper two steps towards the passenger side of the bus 2 inches and well, remember that 4 inch pipe. BINGO 4 inch pipe = 2 inch radius = the 2 inches I need without cutting the support structure of the steering chasis.

I got a plan

I got a plan for that 2 inches while I was eating dinner. But I have to finish welding the upper two steps together first.

Still, thinking on moving or cutting that support

Hum maybe if I cut a big notch in it, weld two plates of steel over each side, turn the bus up on its side to get to it, then????? turn it on its roof then????? aw sh** I only need 2 inches. Huh, dinners ready???? Thats good I was about to turn over the bus.

Now you see the 2 inch problem too

See, I need to get one more tread in there and that *** part of the fram is just plain in the way. Hum?????????

Still working on that 2 inch problem though

I started with a 4 inch pipe, split that down its length, and used that as the pivot point and work around that as a normal spiral would.

See this junction of steel

This cant be cut without sometype of rework. and I need 2 inches of space here and cant have it. I think the picture reflects my foged up mind.

Me, still contimplating the step issues

Me, working out a plan for the steps

detailing and finish welding

looking down into drivers side storage bay area

little debbie

I think Deb may be admiring the new ceiling of the bus

Temporary steps

I tossed the fiberglass steps to soon. I was climbing in and out without steps and about broke my neck once. So I ran down to the shop and in about 15 minutes came back with these. I will build the spiral stairs when I can take time to do it right. For now these will save the broken neck and aikin legs out a little. So if your converting like this you might not want to throw your steps away to quickly as I did.

Wheel wells

Heres one of the new "hoops" tacked in. It rained me out in the middle of the process of installing this one. Im going to put a layer of solid 1/8 sheet inside the wheel well and seal weld it all around and then flush finish with the same outside. As added protection against water entering the wheel well wall I will fill the void between the two layers of 1/8 sheet steel with expanding foam (water proof type). Mother nature willing Ill update you on this next week.

New radiused hoops for the wheel wells

I got these from Silver Eagle Manufacturing in Texas. I was surprised as they were a perfect match to the original radius. I figured they would only be close and need more attention. They changed to 1 by1 boxed as opposed to the 1 3/4 u channel which obviously just channeled the water straight into the center of the wall and promoted the rust even further.

ceiling grid

I just noticed in looking at this pic as to how much rust is gone now. After I cut those old window mullions out and put in the beam across the header all the rust will be gone from the middle of the bus. Its starting to look new again and Im not feeling so overwhelmed now.

ceiling grid

It got a little warmer last week and I got a taste of how hot it would be in the bus. It was 80 outside and probably 95 inside. So I thought I should get the high inside work done and I started and finished the ceiling grid work which is 1by1 16 gauge steel and 1/8 inch angle around the corners. Boy it was a joy to cut as it was alot faster than all the 1/8 tubing Ive been cutting and welding for the main framing of the bus. You can see part of the tray I incorporated into the living area for plexiglass and lights. There is another small one in the bedroom too.

Drivers side floor joist

This is the new drivers side floor joist on 24 inch centers. Later, the area between will get spray foam and then two layers of marine plywood over them. I cant find tonge and groove marine plywood. So I guess I will spline the first layer with a solid piece of alluminum 1/8 by 3/4 between the butt joints. I suppose two layers of 1/2 inch will do just fine.

Drivers wall rear

Both walls are now new to the back of the bus. I cant wait to get everything out of the bus to see what it looks like all new. Ive been grinding the surface rust out of the steel that was staying and priming it as I go. I now have a lot more primed new or reworked metal than rust. I aint going to miss the rust at all.

4th slideout framing

Rear drivers side slideout is framed out.

drivers side front slideout

This is the start of the drivers wall rebuild