Awesome work guys ( I want a flattie) & ( Anthony) . Keep building big rods . Keep saving odd things and getting them back on the road . I for one understand and appreciate the work your doing.
Several family members had busses made into motorhomes. Riding in those as a youngster was a blast. I’ve always dug em
I hauled this home a few years ago. Saved it from the scrapper . I missed two shorter mid 1960’s IH buses . Had big plans but things changed
The beauty of this bus is that is already titled as an RV...i just made a for a 3/4 chevy suspension, I might keep it all 3/4 ton,fucked up thing is that i just gave a 14 bolt full floater away for like 50 bucks. Thanks man,I do regret a lot of decisions I make when I start building shit but oh well I like to think that those will be my projects to finish when I retire. This is the second bus that I bought and both have been turned into RVs,even my vanette was an RV man,it takes balls to rescue big heavy shit, I declined on buying the entire bus because, I dont have a big enough truck,I don't have a big enough trailer,I don't have the space to store it and don't have the room to take the body off...the guy made it easy for me.
Do you recall if the upper shell was spot welded?It was a major B.i.tch today,between rusted clutch screws and some Vegas heat. I had to make a special tool since all my cheap clutch bits were pure shiiiit.. Anyway,little wins in this upper hill battle.
I found tons of little spot welded around the seam,im not looking fwd drilling those mofos out. What do you guys think about a Ford rear end with a c20 front suspension? https://www.facebook.com/share/15F4nMsX5YB/
Ford am gm share the same 8 lug The center hole is different for the wheel. I broke several wheel studs running dodge wheels on my gm hubs. Switched to gm wheels and no issues
Thanks...every 14 gm has gone up in price around here holy shit! Here you can see how many little bastards I have to drill,to get the roof panels. And in the last picture,I found a bus either exactly like mine or close and it's also painted olive drab.
Most of the extended roof buses I’ve seen were government/military. The spot welds are super EZ to drill just takes time. This tool helps a lot https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JFJMJ6/?tag=atomicindus08-20
I didnt know that about them buses,it's only taking 10 seconds per,there's just lots of them.. How long does that stay sharp?? I always used screwdrivers or paint scrapper/cutting tool
I’ve had great luck with mine. Drill the center of the weld, bust loose with this chisel. Super thin. Less metal distortion
Thanks.. I was able to remove the piece of roof panel where it was cut and over lapped the next roof panel.. Yesterday I cut it off before the rain started. The day before I had to make my own clutch screw bit.. I just ground off a random bit to size and I built an extension to a 1/2 ratchet(1/4 socket to 1/4"to 3/8"adapter to 1/2 adapter) Hammered the custom bit to the clutch head,insert ratchet,kept pressure tighten really slow,break rust then back really easy..it worked awesome... It was in a really tight spot where 2 screws hold the panel for the top oval windows. Most of the little windows and most of the full windows are out.. This is gonna be expensive on glass.. I'm thinking of just cutting one more window to have a 3 window bus
You are always an inspiration Seth. I have always wanted a bus but with two projects already on the go, my wife may punt me if I start another. But then again if I can work a deal on this one, I could probably live in it.
I have a list of project I want to do before I kick the bucket..the bus is one of them,it landed on my lap kind of in the middle,of my projects I couldn't say no,my gf is out of town so that helped...I gotta put it together(roughly) before she's back..so it doesn't look like a complete pos... I just finished a 13 hour day,started with picking up the c20 suspension at 7am,then drilling spot welded on the roof,doing some cleaning,organizing,removing some of the front floor,seat,etc. Took a break,prepped an off-topic 61 scout that is going to N Carolina sometime this month,then back at it removing the hooks off the front bumper and the front frame horns that were attached to it... Finished cleaning some more and then moved to the garage to do more organizing. Slowed down on my drinking so I have a bit more energy. I cut some of the floor off to access the bolts that sandwich the floor panels.. Tightening the 3/8" bolts till they broke work best...some I cut the nut in half,some I had to drill the bolt head off.. A nightmare of a job. Its all gonna get new metal... I haven't decided on using the same method or doing square tubing with aluminum plate to cut weight or reuse the c-channel with new steel panels sandwiched like factory.. I'd hate to drill the rusty panels off the channels... Maybe new steel.
I started the floor frame on the rear half...this is gonna help me square and level the whole thing when is start putting it together. Lots of parts in a 50 gal drum with muriatic acid and water to get rid of rust.. Etc.
Got a big win today. I removed the rest of the front floor. What a nasty,rusty,piss smelling mess.. We're slow at work so i got the day off tomorrow,ill try to remove the window post/roof arch and start laying the cuts for the roof..maybe remove the front side panels to do some rust repair and im going to try to remove the steps so I can have them sandblasted,unless they fit on my 50 gal drum...so many rusty parts,so little time.
It was slow at work yesterday and today so I stayed home..kinda,woke up at 3am Tuesday and couldn't sleep so I got the trailer and I drove 90 miles to retrieve my vanette's frame that I had stashed there,I forgot I had some bus seats and some metal tubing I might need to extend the frame. I missed a chance to get a c30 frame for free. It was in the local market place.. I messaged the guy and he said someone said he was gonna be there Monday at noon so he gave it to him. It would've been perfect because it was a van.although I dont have much space,I wouldda make it work.. Now I gotta piece the frame up.
I was thinking of selling some of my stuff and buy a finished bus but there's no fun in that. I have been working on it but there's several parts that need attention (like every project) Things are being thrown away and others are getting put in storage for later,some are thrown in the muratic acid bath. Also my other projects get in the way,kinda finished the jeep fc the way I want it,I can live with it for now,well,I really want to mount a vise to it. And I lost 2 half days and half of Saturday welding in a few patches for my neighbor's 17 year old. Kid has a 60s nova wagon and needed some help,I agreed then I kicked my ass when I started fighting the under coating,welder started messing up and it was a major PITA getting in and out since it's on a trailer...got it done.. Yesterday I worked on the bus a bit and today only a little because I cleaned up around the bus some. Yesterday I started to work on the bottom back support,they cut it i assume for the bumper porch they had welded on there..it was a nightmare to clean that off the bumper,im still not done.
Yesterday I stared to patch the bottom panel and I got to witness a pretty sky today I cleaned up around the bus and build a couple of three shrines, before I stopped working,I hosed the firewall section not before cleaning the bottom corners of dirt rat pooperc,I also cleaned the firewall a bit. This guy made a mess of the pass front mount,does anyone have it? If hate to make it from scratch.
I’m enjoying looking at the different items in your shrines . That one set of blacksmith tongs is interesting. Wonder what it held being a large round set of jaws ?
The Jalopy Journal
