Work never ends

Today was supposed to be a simple day. Change an indicator/turn signal assembly, take the remains of a canopy off the side of the bus and add some coolant to the radiator. Well, that's pretty much where it all went pear shaped.

The first thing to be done was to remove the canopy as the rest was simple stuff that could be done in a few minutes. The remains of the canopy was a simple metal strip about 12 feet long attached to the bus roof via square drive screws. The discovery of those screws having a bizarre square drive meant a 20 mile round trip to the hardware store. Almost all the other screws had been Phillips or the occasional flat head with several different sizes of bolt that necessitated a socket set. The screws all came out without a struggle then the metal strip peeled off without much difficulty. That's where the easy bit ended. Underneath the strip was some kind of putty that had never hardened. It took the best part of two hours to scrape 12 feet of that off with a paint scraper.

Underneath the putty, the metal was generally in good condition with the exception of one joint in the roof that had been drilled through. Rust had crept along the joint. That was treated with Rustoleum in the hope of killing the rust. All the holes were treated with rustoleum and then sprayed with grey paint. While the paint was drying, the indicator light assembly was attempted.

Previously it had been necessary to remove a lot of obstruction to the access panel and then it was discovered that the retaining screws were star drive so when the square drive bits were obtained, so were the star drive bits. Thus the panel was unscrewed but it didn't seem to want to budge thus a chisel was obtained and used to chip away the plywood floor in order to check whether there was a lip under the plywood but there was not. The panel just needed some force applied. The panel swung forward and revealed glass fiber insulation and a cloud of insulation dust. Not welcome!

The insulation was pulled forward with the aid of a plastic bag used as a glove. This revealed a connector on the back of the old light that was different from that of the new light. The new light also had a protrusion in the back in a different position from the old light. That meant that some ingenuity was needed to make the connection and to install the new indicator.

A few days ago I'd bought two new blades for the reciprocating saw but these had apparently been mislaid. I went out on a 30 mile shopping trip, buying a manual saw to use to expand the hole for the light so that it would fit. I also stopped off to buy a connector block as well as some extra waterproof tape.

By the time I'd returned, it was too dark to do much. certainly too dark to climb up to the bus roof to tape over the screw holes in the roof. It was possible to enlarge the hole and the manual saw was used. A section of the block was used to connect the wire of the new light to the bus wires. Testing proved the light worked. The only light that does not work is the left reverse light. As that seems to be dangling inside the panel, it probably needs replacement. The coolant was never touched. That's a job for tomorrow.

Truly lamentable workmanship

Today was another long day spent on the bus. Starting the day was simply a case of removing the electrical supply system that somebody had put into the bus. That was pretty interesting. They'd used a lot of expensive components and had installed them all with the same lamentable lack of skill that had been utilized throughout the construction process.

After removing the electrical system which fed down into a compartment under the bus, the wires needed to be fed through the compartment. The compartment itself was made of plywood and built with the same questionable level of skill. The plywood was wet due to the door not having a little flap over the top to stop water entering from above. Oddly enough rain usually comes down which is a fact that most people but the constructors are probably well aware.

Having removed the electrics there was time left to investigate the long bench. That had two sinks and with the same care of quality one was not bolted down so it was a case of lifting it and undoing the plumbing - most of which was finger tight only. The other, surprisingly, was bolted down.

Now the sinks had gone, it was a case of investigating the cabinets. Expecting a fight, I lifted one corner tentatively with a pry bar and the cabinet moved easily. Reaching behind, I pulled and the whole cabinet moved forward. Moving to the other end the same mobility applied to the whole of the rest of the cabinet. The only thing stopping the cabinet from moving in its entirety was a single plastic waste pipe.

Looking at what I've discovered so far, the people that converted the bus were appalling craftsmen that spent an awful lot of money producing something that was inherently dangerous. Both the cabinets and the bunks could have broken loose and gone flying at any time. The rear shelf which was unlit was a pure road hazard. Incompetent design and construction was pretty thorough and indisputable.

Some patches of plywood on the floor have rotted due to the plywood being sandwiched between metal on one side and plastic tiles on the other. The goal now is to remove all the nasty plastic tiles and the affected sheets of plywood before putting down fresh sheets and sanding the whole lot. This time the floor will be wood.

Latest bus news

As work has shut down until Monday, I have a few absolutely free days so I'm spending them on my bus while the lady in my life patiently waits while I spend time with my big yellow lady. Today between myself and the boyfriend of my lady's sister, we removed the bath. Now it will be possible with the aid of a torx screwdriver to remove thre access panel in order to do so. The bath had been blocking access.

The hot water tank has been removed also. Strangely, it was full to the brim with water. While a hosepipe helped to empty most of it, there was still so much left that after removing it from its location, it had to be held at an angle for a long time in order to fully empty it. As it contained about 30 gallons, it was pretty heavy.

Additionally, most of the 110v system has been removed. The cabling had all been put into steel conduit which looked good and led to a nice-looking top notch breaker box. There were 12 x 110v sockets which was very much overkill for a bus this small. The cabling was all about 1 amp but each cable led individually to a 10 amp breaker. That was a bit strange!

Most of the wiring has been saved for re-use. The rotted floor has been attended to also. It seems that only a section is fully rotten. The plan is to remove the rotted wood and to put down good wood in its place. The vinyl tiles must all come up as the floor of the bus will now be bare wood. The theory is that problems will be easier to spot with bare wood as opposed to wood that's under vinyl etc.

Many of the exterior hooks have been removed and the metal sprayed with rustoleum in the hope of killing rust and preventing future rust. Two large holes remain. One underneath the body where the bath outlet used to be and one on the side of the body where the water inlet used to be. They've been temporarily filled but await a real fix.

Replacing the windows looks to have an added complication in that the bottom of the window has no lip to take advantage of. That means a re-evaluation of the solution.

Meanwhile, some photos from today. The most amusing find was a spent 7mm Remington Magnum cartridge case behind the water heater together with some used plastic cups.

Working ahead of schedule

Two photos are attached - a before and an after. Four bunk beds were removed. Three were bolted end to end with a weird assortment of nuts and bolts. The far end double bunk was bolted to the side of the bus with a single carriage bolt that was passed through both skins of the bus. The near end was secured to the floor by two L brackets that were screwed through everything. Basically, the whole middle was loose and was therefore responsible for the horrible rattling noise.

Investigating further and upon removing the cabinet drawers and doors, it was possible to see the plumbing had been installed in a haphazard fashion. It's unknown whether the plumbing actually worked because it was incomplete. There were plenty parts that appeared never to have been used. Many were still in boxes.

The floor of the bus seems to be a one inch thick layer of plywood laid over the existing wooden floor. On top of that are some vinyl tiles. Stepping one one that appeared to be soft, the immediate fear was of a hole that went through to the chassis. Peeling away the vinyl tiles revealed plywood that had decomposed. Scraping the decomposed plywood away led to the original plywood floor which looked in great condition. Clearly, based on this sample, the whole of the second floor needs to be removed.

The electrical system that was installed seems to be somewhat Heath-Robinson with conduit going in all directions. That's something that will have to be stripped out as it crosses and blocks off many of the access panels to the electrics. Some of those electrics I need to access to work on.

Speaking of the electrics, the back of the bus has a bathtub. At the end of the bathtub is a plastic splash guard. That is (or was) glued rather ineffectively to a wooden panel. That panel in turn is affixed over the access panel to the right rear light cluster which urgently needs to be worked on.

Just inside the cockpit there is a big electrical distribution box with huge cables going up and down. The box is affixed to the bus by some badly fitting carriage bolts. Underneath the passenger compartment, where the cables go down, there is a badly constructed door that doesn't really fit well nor exhibit any desirable level of craftsmanship. Inside this is a coil of 110v and 220v cables. Alongside that is another abandoned rat nest.

Throughout the bus there are abandoned rat nests, dead insects and abandoned mud cocoons. It is my hypothesis that the bus (which has a Louisiana government sticker dated 2011) was in service as a relief school bus until some point in 2011. After that some hill billy purchased it to convert it to a hunting cabin. At some point construction stopped and the bus was put into storage. In storage it was infested by rodents and insects after which the fellow abandoned the project and sold the bus. The next fellow bought it, never had time to do anything with it and sold it to me.

This weekend, it's time for the rest of the cabinets, the bathtub, hot water heater etc to vanish. Then I can fix the electrics and remove the suspect floor. After that it's time to use it to transfer m'lady's belongings from her old house to her new house in the bus. Then I can think about fixing the rest of the issues.

Of primary concern right now is coolant. The bus has a 17 gallon cooling system. That's right - seventeen gallons! On Saturday I put a whole gallon of antifreeze in and it just vanished into the system. Clearly there's not enough in there. Similarly, transmission fluid is adequate but low. As far as oil, I have been unable to lift the dip stick as it seems somehow to be locked. That's probably low too.

Working on the bus

Today quite a lot was accomplished. The first set of bunk beds was removed from the bus making ingress and egress from the rear emergency door much easier. During the process, it was discovered that the beds were freestanding on the floor, unsecured by any more than a carriage bolt passed right through both skins of the bus.

As the dismantling continued it became more evident just how badly the interior of the bus had been remodeled. There were bent screws galore, a wide range of screw types and carriage bolts used instead of regular bolts. There were even a few that weren't even tight.

Having got this far, its no surprise that the bus rattled badly when driving it home. The bolts through the body are an annoyance that will be cured with duct tape temporarily while a permanent solution is devised.

The lack of a horn might be due to the fact the horn is unplugged. With luck, plugging the horn in might fix it - if its possible to get the horn to remain plugged in. At the moment it's connectors are just hanging loose. On a more serious note, the fluid level in the radiator was so low it swallowed an entire gallon of 50/50 without blinking. Transmission fluid is pinkish and while not at the maximum, fairly usable. I have not been able to ascertain the state of the engine oil. The air filter looks clean as does the fuel filter. There are some suspicious oily patches which makes me wonder about an oil leak somewhere.

On the whole, I'm happy. I do need to get a mechanic to look at the bus though. Fortunately one of the parents at the after school program that I work for is a truck mechanic and is very familiar with the international trucks and busses. I just hope and pray he's not prohibitively expensive.

On a positive note, the sheet steel I want for the windows is quite reasonably priced. For 18 sheets of 24x26 steel of 1\8th inch with holes drilled around the edges, the price is $395. Given that Lowes wanted $50 for a uncut sheet that mighty have done two windows if I was lucky, this is a bargain. Not only that but it comes ready primed for auto body work.

This weekend should see the bunks removed and the headlamps installed. With luck I should get to the indicator lamp and possibly even get the bath and or some cabinets out. The goal is to strip all the junk out and then get to the windows to work on replacing them. My goal is to get the bus ready for habitation by January 1st.

The weekend's coming!

Plans for this weekend include replacing the two headlamps and at least investigating how to replace the rear indicator. Fixing the reversing lamps is not high on the pecking order.

There was a sudden cold spell last night and as I'm not sure if there was antifreeze in the radiator, I'm not sure how the bus will have fared. The engine should be fine. The radiators and hoses maybe not - if the system had just plain water. Having said that, engines and pipes will take a certain degree of frost punishment before anything happens. I'll show up with a gallon of antifreeze anyway.

Other plans include stripping out some of the bunk beds from one side of the bus. It would not surprise me if the hillbilly who had it earlier hadn't drilled holes in the floor for bolts to secure the bed to the floor. That might entail going underneath to release the nuts.

Aside from the lights, the bus is basically roadworthy now. At some point I'll replace the right windscreen wiper motor (not essential as it's more for passengers) and fix the running lights along the sides. There's a fan that needs to be replaced that keeps the driver cool in summer too.

Right now, after the lights, priority is going toward stripping the existing fixtures that the hillbilly installed. After that, it's replacing the windows and removing bolts that penetrate the frame for nonexistent external attachments. Then it will be a case of installing the new internal skin (with access points for lighting alterations) and insulating (probably with a spray foam insulation). Then the new fittings will be installed.

At some point the bus will be painted. I have a hankering after grey and calling her the grey ghost. This weekend though is lights unless it's raining in which case it'll be the bunks.

Gone!!!

The back shelf is now gone, as too is the weird table that folded down from the side of the bus. This is a huge relief as I was afraid that despite the padlock, the table would fall down when I was driving. The back shelf was so heavy, two men alone cannot lift it and even with 3, it wouldn't be easy. Given an ATV on it, based on the fact the back wheels were so far forward, driving with an ATV, the front wheels must have had only marginal contact with the ground!

I'm working on the electrics now. The aim now is just to get the bus roadworthy as opposed to drivable. Quite a few of the lights just don't work and might need rewiring. As with the rest of the work, it looks like some Tennessee hillbilly worked on the bus. The welds were a joke. It was bad tack-welding at best. Almost all the weight of the rear shelf was bourne by the back bumper.