Outside of bed slide out with skin on

Here's the outside of the slide out for the queen sized bed and night stands. The siding looks smudged from cleaning up the caulking with the acetone. For now I have shoved pipe insulation around the slide outs till I get them all skinned and can start on the trim which will hold the weather stripping and closing seal.

Out side rear bed slide out

This would be the rear of the bed slide out as viewed from the back of the bus. There's still some trim to go around the outside edge yet. Before the trim I will drill out the pop rivets around the edge and replace them with solid rivets.

Bed slide out skin

Here's a pic of the interior of the new skin on the bed slide out. I have not sealed up the joint between the tubes and the skin for the expanding foam. I figure that will be a good job for winter time.

Curb side (long view)

I stopped on the roof line rivets just short of the white Filon siding. Since the 125 Siding was discontinued and I was shy enough to do the whole bus. I decided to use the aluminum so the short piece behind the front cap is coming off and going into the bon fire too. No since have a little there. Again I am going to get the slide outs covered then I will work on the front end this fall. Hopefully I can get the front cap riveted down before winter. Then I can finish the front door inside the shop while its cold outside.

Curb side (siding)

I thinks I am getting close to really shedding the water....lol......

Roof line

I stripped the paint off the roof as far as I could reach off of the ladder as I went along riveting the gutter line down. I still have a strip about 3 feet wide to strip in the middle but it can wait till next spring as I don't have the desire to do it now....

Drivers side

The reflection of the ladder gives testimony to how flat the siding is laying and I just noticed the tree trunk going through both sheets too. I heat stretched the siding and riveted with about 500 rivets per sheet. I am happy with all but one piece on the cub side and I will remedy that one too I just am enjoying the bus being in the dry for now...lol....

Drivers Side aluminumn siding

Drivers side looking to the rear

This is the area between the slide outs.

Just a pull back on the rear of the bus.

Its pretty cool not having to deal with the tarp over the whole bus now.... makes things a lot cooler and seems to move things along faster.

Drivers side rear corner

The 90 thousandths aluminum was quite a chore to bend around the corners. I purposely did not duel action sand the outside of the sheets in order to see any blemishes or twist. So far so good....lol...... I still need to trim the bottom of the cap level around. I will do it with a 4 inch cut off wheel on the side grinder. I just don't have the desire to get all itchy yet.....

Rear panel of bus

After I get used to the ideal of the bus being in the dry I will cut vents into the rear panel. Just above the rivet line at the bottom of this panel.

Outside of camera pod

Here's a pic of the outside of the camera pod all Frenched in and a little primer on it. JC on the Eagle board (aka Eagle) gave it to me when I bought the Dash from him. Thanks JC, as you can see I did not let it go to waste ...lol....

Camera pod

While I had the rear cap off, I took the time to French in the camera pod using the same methods as I did with the front cap. Its all smooth and in primer on the outside. Also while the cap was off I seal welded the tubing on the outside, ground out the welds and applied the Rust Bullet. After I skin the area below the cap and above the engine door I can buckle it down for good and get the rear of the bus in the dry....

Window seat Slide out

Just another angle.

Bedroom Slide outs

As you can see there is a lot of room back there now.

Floor space in the bedroom

Here's a pic of the wide area between the end of the bed and the window seat area. This area is about 3 and a half feet and plenty of moving around room.

Forward corner of rear passenger side slideout

Were getting closer every day now.......lol........

4th Slide out rear passenger side

In this slide out I will have a window seat for a place to sit in the bedroom. The entertainment center will be in the upper rear corner. That is why there is no framing for a window there. I will have a 36 inch television in the upper corner. The window seat will mesh with the end of the bed when both slide outs are retracted. The smaller slide will slide in under the bed slide out.

4th Slide out completed welding

Here you go Paul.....lol.... I have completed welding on the 4th slide out here and have put a coat of Rust Bullet on it for protection from the rain.

Outside rear bed slide.

Here's a pic of the out side of the rear of the bed slide out in its extended position. As you can see it really adds a lot of space and width to the bedroom. Wait till you see the one across from it out too.

The Steel frame is done!!!!!

Stick a fork in it.......cause the steel welding is over. All 4 slide outs are now welded up and completed. Its time to clean up everything and empty out the bus for a good coat of rust bullet front to rear. She will be all nice and neat and then I will post some pics of her.



Next phase is to put on some siding and get our new Eagle in the dry for the winter to come. It is the first winter on this project I will be looking forward to. Maybe I might even have time to get the fireplace in and working. At any rate it will be the first thing in after the siding is on.


I will be back soon with some pics.

Bed Slide out (allmost done)

This is my version of a queen size bed plus 6 inches in length for headboard design and two night stands built in. Its really roomy in the bedroom now...lol...

Start of the Bed slide out support system

This is just initial lay out. I have still got a lot of support left to add in under here.

Right side up

Plate is loose to show the pin line up holes.

Bed slide Clamp

This whole assembly is upside down. All in all it took about a week to fab up.

Bed slide

This is a closeup of the line up plate I fabricated to clamp the piston to the channel.

Bed slide

Motor end was a little more tricky. The shaft has a couple of large pins that protrude out of it to keep it from spinning. So I wanted to clamp both sides of the pin and also use the pin for a line up to install the piston with.

Bed slide support rail

Here's how the muffler clamps work. I welded in the nuts under the one by one before welding them into the channel. Then welded a support cradle (half a clamp) to the one by. Then I can use the clamp half of another one to clamp the piston end in place.

Bed slide support track

In this picture I had already completed the fabrication and rust bullet of the track. I started with a piece of 4 inch by 1 and a half by 1/4 inch channel. Then I headed off to the local automotive store to get some muffler clamps to size them to the piston. In this picture you see the plate that I welded to the end. That is to seal the end off to the weather when its installed under the bed. The angles are 1/4 inch thick to bolt it to the bus and support the slide out center rails.

Bed Slide out actuator and motor

Here's what I ordered for the bed slide out. Its just a stock 18 to one electric motor pushing a screw drive piston. Now to build a support sleeve to support it and keep the slide smooth and straight.

Front drivers side Slide out in Rust Bullet

Here's a shot of the front drivers slide out in Rust Bullet. They look like they tilt in at the top but, there are no rollers and hardware on them to keep them aligned right. I just don't want the Rust Bullet on the hardware. You can see also the bed slide out piston laying on the bench. Straight off the Fed-Ex truck and into the bus...lol....

Radius finished

For a time line, this radius took me about 4 hours to complete. I only have simple hand tools to work with so something like this really sets the clock to ticking. Here it is finished on the front and back as well. This finished the front slide out so it was time for some rust bullet.

Slide out radius

Here's the bottom tacked in.

Slide out radius

I started by rounding a piece of 1 1/2 by 1/8 inch steel to fit the same radius I put on the wheel well plus 1/2 inch to get the finished bottom.

Front corner of drivers side front slide out

Time to make a radius over the wheel well.

Front slides looking back

The two rear slides will be as deep as the front ones so the bedroom should get pretty "roomy" too.

Now thats a big room for a bus

I can't put into words how "roomy" the front of the bus feels now.

I'm having fun now

No rust left to cut out and the customizing begins!!! Nothing but big smiles now...lol....

Outside of steel for slide out number two

Here's a view of the outside of the steel in the slide out on the drivers side front slide.

Drivers side front slide out

This slide out, just behind the drivers seat is 13 feet long and 3o inches deep. The stick of steel in the middle is just a piece of light gauge steel I tacked in to hold up the roof in the middle while I welded the roof ribs in. I wanted to bow the middle up just slightly as to allow any wind blown water that gets by the slide out toppers to run off and not puddle up. The bow is only to the inside and will not be seen once the cabinetry is in place.

The bus just got a whole lot bigger!!

This is slide out number two in its roughed in stage. Even though work is slow to none at the shop I don't seem to have any trouble find work on the bus to be done...lol...

Passenger side intake louvers

All striped down and not a brass pole in site.....lol.... They are really in good shape all thoughts considered. Just a few deep scratches and bruises to repair and they will be ready for re-installation and then.......................in a few years maybe some paint.

Intake louvers pre and post stripping

Here's the two sides side by side. I was surprised to see how well the metal had held up after 40 years of life.

Driverside intake louvers

While I was waiting on the Rust Bullet to dry on the slides I decided to strip some parts of their paint. I wanted to make sure they were worthy of re-using for the new frame.

I couldn't resist

Turning around with the camera while taking pics of the slides and snapping this shot to the rear, that is. She's come a long way now and she's just a joy to work on now without all the rust dust flying.

End of the slideout outer tube

Here's a pic of the drop off the outer tube after I cut the length to what I needed in the bus. 2 and a half by 2 and a half by quarter inch wall, for any one interested in building their own.

The big "gap"

After I get the other slide set and both of them tuned up to be perfectly parallel. I will seal weld the area between the beam in with a sheet of 1/8 steel.

Front drivers side slideout started

This slide out will be 30 inches deep and 13 feet long. It and the 60 degree weather has sure got the project rolling again in spite of the economy woes we are in in this country of ours.

Top veiw of the slide install

Here's a better view of the bolt up plates for the slides. I still have a lot of bracing I want to put in here. I just want to get the plates welded in while I can still get at them with ease.

Slide's

Here's a top view of the start of the installation of the forward slide. I divided the slide length in half and put one under the center of each half. of course the exact math is unique to each slide. I have it laid out to have 4 window openings each all the same size. There is varying sizes of tube involved so the math is difficult to explain at the ends of the fingertips....lol....