Categories
Stage 1 rebuild

Week #18

Prepping the outside

Converting a bus is a slow process. This week we spent cleaning the remaining reflective tape and signage off the side of the bus. After having tried several different methods, using the heat gun and an oak wood wedge seemed to be the only way to easily scrape the tape without damaging the paint. After having the tape removed, we used goo-gone and the plastic scraper to get the glue remains off. Then a bucket with soapy water to clean up the rest. The bus looks a lot less trashy now!

Reflective tape / all Clean

Raising Prep

In addition, we have been pondering how to raise the roof with heavy air-conditioning unit attached to the roof in the back. The coolant lines do not seem to have enough flex to be able to raise the unit 18 inches. To prevent this from hampering the roof raise, we have decided to unbolt the unit from the roof. We built a frame where the unit can rest once we are in the roof-raise storage location.

Always frustrating

Sunday it was time to put the bus back in storage. Lo and behold, the thing would not start. AGAIN! This time it was because we forgot to flip the main breaker after having it parked so the batteries had slowly drained. Sigh. The battery-on-the-side-of-the-bus-jump-start did the trick.

We also removed the remaining rain guards from above the window so it will be easier to undo the screws and make the roof cut in the near future. We will paint them and put them back after the raise.

Next step is putting a bead of caulk between the plywood and the steel side of the bus so when we cut and grind no sparks will fall underneath the plywood and set the thing on fire.