mci interior panel removal

[MARKMC7]

well I started to remove that primary interior wall on my MC7 today, I took some photos of the process and thought I would share with you some of the things I did. (just in case yer doing a conversion yourself and haven't a clue. like me)
some of the rivits were your standard aluminum rivet that you just drill the head off and poof yer done. HOWEVER, many if not most have a hard steel pin in the middle and it is way to hard to drill them or even try to chisel them all off. so here is what i did.this is a photo of the rivet
then i got a pin punch, a hammer and a chisel.you can see it is a 3/32 pin punch. I first used the hammer to drive the pin on the rivet flush then used the pin punch to drive the pin thru the rivet.
Then I used the chisel and hammer to remove the head of the rivet.

[MARKMC7]

I also drilled a few off after the pin was driven out but well that took to long being there is so many of these dang things

[MARKMC7]

then there was the vent on the wall. there was 3 screws on the top, one on the right rear and 4 on the front lip at the floor. and it is glued to the floor with some very hard clay type gummy stuff. a screwdrive and hammer on the lower edge and it came lose rather nicely.

[MARKMC7]

after getting the vent off you can get to the last 3 rivits that are hiding behind it.
along the windows under the rubber seal there is occasionally a philips screw and some type of aluminum rivet that has been shaved you will need to drill them out as well. and then a flat screwdriver and some pressure and the panel will peal away from the wall. it has a very sticky tarlike adhesive so you will have to pull hard to get that stuff loses. and then you can get to that nasty insulation that is crying to be replaced.

[MARKMC7]

well i hope the photos came thru and you all can see this process. if not check them out at this link.

http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h382/mrmed5683/interior%20panel%20and%20rivets/

I Think that will about cover it for now

Mark

[MARKMC7]

by the way before you start chiseling the heads off put on yer safety glasses as them littel buggers fly and bounce all over the place, ya don't want one in yer eye.
ALSO, there was a couple of these the pin just didn't budge and those ones i just chiseled till they popped off. FWIW

Mark

[gmbusguy1]

Mark, Thanks for posting the photos of your work.

These panels are structural and you will want to reinstall them.

Chris

[MARKMC7]

thank you for the info on reinstalling them. I just wanted to do a better insulation behind there. I will keep the panels to put back on.

Mark

[jmblake]

Keep up the good work, I would rather be putting back together than to be tearing apart. Good luck Jason

[mike802]

Mark, it looks like your about at the same place I am right now.  I also have removed the inner panels on my mc9, drivers side only at this time.  I did not run into the rivets with the hard pins as you did and I was able to just chisel them off, usually within three good wacks. The small rivets around the window openings I ground off the heads with a cut off wheel, the aluminum their was real soft and I had to be careful not to bend it up.  I found some rust and repaired it, it looks like my window frames have hair line cracks just before the corners where they turn and go up toward the ceiling where water was getting in causing the rust.  I haven't decided how I am going to try and fix the cracks yet, thinking about trying lead, the type used in antique body work.  I am going to be removing some of the windows, so maybe I can just pull out the cracked ones and move the good one into their place.  I am planing on using pink, or blue board insulation, with great stuff sprayed into the steel channel frame work.  With that done I will re-rivet the panels back on and start on the other side. Most of my sticky tape survived the panel removal, I think it is there to stop the panels from vibrating and driving everyone on the bus insane.  but in some spots in did not make it, I would like to replace it in the spots where it is gone, but don't know what it is or where to buy it, unless someone has a lead on it I will have to find something of similar thickness to replace it with.

[5B Steve]

    Mark,

    The deeper you go, you are not going to believe the " FILTH '' you run into.  Make sure you ware a mask!  LOL!!


    Steve 5B.........

[papatony]

On the small rivets use a 1/8 ' drill bit ,it will take off the heads then use a punch to drive the rest back out of the whole, clean with no damage

[MARKMC7]

mike I was going to use roofing black jack from a caulk gun tube, home depot has it in their roofing department. it is almost a tar like substance that has rubbery sticky holding yet never gets hard as a rock. should do the trick rather nicely with minimal mess. And stop any metal to metal viberation noise. I have used it for the drip edge and first layer of shingles on roofs for many years. not to expensive and goes a long way. JFK

Mark

[Tony LEE]

Seen previous advice that not only is that panel structural, if it is removed for renovation, the whole body should be blocked up to prevent any possibility of sagging

[robertglines1]

I must be thinking of a differant panel than you guys are referring to. Before my involvement in the board(didn't even know it existed) I built a MCI8 removed the sheet metal along wall where air and heat traveled up and exited just below windows. The bus didn't fall down or sag.I replaced it with 3/8 plywood screwed about every 6 inches. Ran coach for 7 yrs before moving on to another. seems to me the small pop rivits that hold it on would have sheared or egged out if there was any flex there.  Is the MCI 8 any differant in side structure than the 1978 MCI 8 I had?   confused   Bob