Let the welding begin

cody · March 19, 2009, 07:59:23 PM

I got the price today for the repair work in my bays from the portable welder guy, he said 235 for the metal and 300 for the labor and the bays would be shiney and nice and ready to load up again with everything that I never used but couldn't live without. What he didn't say was when he could do it, hopefully soon, I am getting totally shack happy and need a change of scenery, and I think it would do the war department a lot of good. So now the list begins, what do I need to do before i can get the old girl rolling and also what does the bus need lol, oops sorry. Then we have to come up with an idea of where to go, but first the smoke wrench must speak and the knuckles need to get skinned again, maybe life will be good again, expiring minds want to know.

Singing Land Cruiser · March 19, 2009, 08:24:41 PM

Cody, its good to hear that the fix will not hurt to bad in the pocket. Coffees on the spit in Tombstone,Az

anytime. All the Best, M&C

Dreamscape · March 20, 2009, 04:27:49 AM

Sounds great Cody, now you just have to make your way to Abilene TX. I'm sure you will be happy when it's finished, and all the stuff in your bays will like it too!

~Paul~

cody · March 23, 2009, 06:11:14 AM

Just talked to the welder guy, he says the metal will be in on wednsday, now the real work begins, me and jamie have been out in the garage creating room for all the stuff from the bays so I can empty them out, I'm kinda anxious to see how it turns out, I plan on undercoating the metal before I cover it up again, any suggestions? I kinda like the rubberized undercoating but one guy said that liquid stuff they use to line pickup boxes is a good choice too, I'm thinking that a bunch of people here have thoughts on it lol. After the metal is protected my thoughts are to line the bays in pressure treated plywood, that gives me a nice mounting surface to attach cabinets or my joey bed or whatever I decide to throw back into it.

belfert · March 23, 2009, 06:58:25 AM

Pickup box lining is really good stuff, but you pay for it. A truck bed runs $400 so I imagine undercoating a bus with the stuff would not be inexpensive either.

kyle4501 · March 23, 2009, 07:16:49 AM

Rust bullet is the preferred coating on the rustless money pit . . . .

From what I've seen, it is the best & most durable by far.

cody · March 23, 2009, 07:23:20 AM

Another question is cleaning the metal, I have a bunch of left over air line alcohol, I'm thinking using a degreaser and then wiping it down with the alcohol to get it clean before spraying it, any thoughts, I'm trying to do this as close to right as I can.

johns4104 · March 23, 2009, 08:40:15 AM

cody clean with lacquer thinner and brush or spray Rust Bullet this stuff works well, I used it on my bus also it is hard as a rock when it cures.

Have fun John

JohnEd · March 23, 2009, 04:22:36 PM

In my experience it is the "rinse" that is usually neglected. The cheapest rinse material is WATER. Plain and simple. The thing you have on the metal that will hurt the paint bond is grease/oil/wax. My absolute favorite de-greaser is LYE. It is cheap and it will rinse of with a garden hose for that perfect rinse. Just like at the machine shop....first solvent then de-greaser and then rinse with water. And lye won't hurt the metal at all. Plumbers Lye is easy to find and the leftover can sparkle your garage floor or open up a plugged drain. Store it in a airtight container. Simple green and that "Purple Death" de-greaser from Wally World great stuff.

Lye bio degrades by the way.

If you have any surface rust AT ALL you need to treat it with "Ospho". That stuff converts the rust to a really hard black stuff that resists rusting further. It is also a paint prep treat for galvanized metal. Excellent product and not spendy. ACID diluted!

I would spray the Rustbullet on instead of brushing. You dilute it to spray it and it coats uniformly and goes further even with two coats. Spraying usually returns your cost of the gun in reduced product usage.

High pressure water cleaner is also a real must. You don't need that 15,000 PSI monster...6 or 8 is enuf

John

cody · March 24, 2009, 12:08:42 PM

Today I got the poop tank loose and quess what, it's got a poop block in it lol. must be from that last trip last fall lol, not a big block but a chunk anyway and libby won't let me bring it into the house to thaw out, imagine that lol. We're going to load the tank up into the back of the truck and haul it to a dump station lol.

Jriddle · March 24, 2009, 05:26:45 PM

At least the block is in the tank and not somewere else. LOL Good here about the new metal.

John

letz4wheel · March 24, 2009, 08:14:59 PM

Quote from: cody on March 24, 2009, 12:08:42 PM
it's got a poop block in it lol.

\\I always knew he was FULL of it

cody · March 24, 2009, 08:32:19 PM

Tanks a lot lol

cody · March 27, 2009, 09:32:53 AM

Yesterday I had to admit to myself that I'm old, after unloading, unbolting and unscrewing what ever I could and making no real progress I hired the 37 year old kid of a friend our ours to come in and work on getting the bays ready for the welder, in the past 2 hours he has goten more done than I did in the last 4 days. I guess time marches on without me. It looks like the bays will be ready for the welder at some point today, whether the welder will start quickly is up to him but he indicated all I had to do is call him and he would appear, welding rod in hand lol, heres hoping, then comes the rebuilding and the exhaust issue, hopefully the kind offer from a busnut here to help me with it still holds. It was not an easy decision for me to break down and realize I'm not 20 years old anymore but I guess sometimes that sort of thing happens. Just figured it was time for an update lol.

Len Silva · March 27, 2009, 11:34:48 AM

Wow, you said 37 year old kid and I understood completely. We are getting old, aren't we?