"Temporary" siding

Since I still am not quite ready for the siding, I went and got enough 1/2 inch osb sheeting and kilz painted the inside to help it to be more fire resistant. I then screwed on these angles to "hook" the sheeting over the rails. The bus has since weathered a wind storm and these panels proved their worth the effort and dallar. This winter I will work on the remaining slideouts and fabing up the exterior doors. Then in the spring I will install all the sheet metal onto the bus. Hopefully.....lol......

Rustbullet, engine compartment looking forward

Here I have finished the wirebrushing and cleaning of the new frame and applied the Rustbullet paint for protection. What a long process this has been....lol...

Cooling fan mount "rustbullet"

After I mocked the fan assembly up and bolted everything up to get the alignment for the Idler pulley plate, I took everything back apart for the Rustbullet painting of the frame. The Bolt on parts will all be sent to the powdercoater for some bling bling before reassymbly.

Cradle Rustbullet

Just another shot of the cradle with the rust bullet. Notice the tube across the area for the radiator. This tube will come out when I fab in the swing out assembly for the radiator. I am still working on this project in the garage. Presently its a toss up between having the radiator swing out or slide out.

Fan belt Idler pulley mounting plate

Some of you that know your eagle frames my have noticed early on that this wasnt here. I just ran the down tube straight thru to make measuring for the cradle easy. After everything below was welded in I came in and side supported it and cut out the notch. Then seal welded it back in. Rustbullet all around, and I am finally feeling some relief now...lol......

More quality parts from Silver Eagle Bus in Texas

I got the new shackles (4) for the drive torsalistic arms and here I have laid out the shackles, weld in mounts(also from Silvereagle), and all the mounting hardware for one side. As usual the other side came straight outa the box and on to the frame...lol....

Bottom view of fill boxes welded in

These boxes were alot of work and I am pretty proud of em....lol....

Exterior view of filler boxes

After I welded the newly fabricated boxes in. I also welded a strip of 1 and a half inch by 1/8 inch thick steel across the bottom and up the forward side (not shown here) to keep the over flow in (like a dam) and to give a place to mount the flip door on the forward edge. When I get into the lighting and wiring I will place a light here in the box activated by the door for night time help in fueling.

New filler necks and boxes mounted to the bus

Here I have welded in the boxes and bolted the filler necks in. After I bolted them in I was able to measure the length and removed them and cut the proper amount off. Later I will unbolt the necks and send them out to be striped clean of any galvanizing residue and powder coat them in a contrasting color.

Notch for vent

Once I got everything in line the last thing to do was to notch the hole in the boxes to let the neck slide in to be mounted.

Filler neck mounting plate

Here I have welded the plates on the nipples and cleaned them up with the wire brush.

Filler neck mounting plate

I layed out one plate for each side. These will slip over the filler nipples and be seal welded in place to mount the necks to the boxes

fill neck layout

Here,s the niple that I will weld in. First though, I cut it off as I didnt want all the extra threads showing.

Filler neck layout

If you look close here you can see how thin the old neck is. There are several pin holes in it that werent to hard to stick a screw driver right thru. Here I have taken a short nipple of ridgid electrical pipe (2 inch) and layed out for the vent hole and drilled a one inch hole for the pipe fitting to weld in.

Drains in the fuel "boxes"

Here are both drivers and passenger side fuel boxes. After welding them up, I located and drilled a one inch hole in its original location for the drain for water and spillage. I then welded in a plumbing bushing for the threads to be able to plumb it to the ground as original.

New fuel box in the "rough"

Here I have cut out each side of the box in individual peices and welded them together to form the "box" that tapers to the front. I used a hole saw and drill bits to bore the holes in the back side before I welded them together.

Original fuel filler box

Here's whats left of the original box. You can see some of the fender rounds and upright tubes still attached to it. I cut out the best side (this one) to have as a pattern. They taper to the front so they will be a bit of a challenge. I will allso be rebuilding the filler necks and doing away with the original flip flap cover.