Boy ...that was a mistake.

[chazwood]

As some of you may know, I'm in the process of gutting and using an 82 MC-9 simultaneously. Think of it as kinda like a bus gutting/using ballet. Ladies and Gentlemen,  we will start the first act with a few pirouettes, (gutting). Now a little intermission to stretch, (using as steel tent). Now the second act, throw in some tutu's (more gutting).... and so on and so forth. You get the drift. My problem is that my bus stinks. It smells like a cross between a garage and a nursing home. (I think the last 10 yrs of it's charter service was spent running to the bingo parlor )
My wife who isn't exactly gung hoe (bright eyed and bushy tailed) about new adventures, keeps turning up her nose at the door and making rude comments about my stinky new baby. (I seem to recall all of her babies stinking a little ) So, I have come to realize, that the only way I'm going to pull this whole bus to RV thing off, is if, not only do I make it comfy but I must make it smell nice to boot. I noticed after gutting everything back to the outer skin, most of the smell was coming from the drivers area. Do bus drivers bathe? I started digging around under this and that and finding so much gross junk that I ended up tearing out the steps (you could plant a garden in the dirt under there.... it was so deep) and all the plywood floor in the cockpit. Dang. Unreal. Peach pits. Straws. Coins. Bingo tickets. Corners rounded by dirt as hard as iron. Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I decided, "Hey, I know! I'll get a pressure washer and clean all the copper air lines and frame now that I have the floor up.

Everything was going pretty smoothly until I hit that shelf under the hydraulic steering box with a direct blast of water.  It wasn't a flat black piece of steel as I had previously thought......it was a piece of wide u-channel with a 1 inch thick layer of old, hard, nasty black grease that just looked like a flat piece of dirty steel. Of course I had the most powerful pressure washer known to man going and when I hit that mother lode the water went from clear to black lagoon in a hurry....so, what did I do? Well, I kept right on blasting, of course....I mean that was the whole reason for getting the washer in the first place wasn't it? To wash. (Looking back, I think stopping right about when the lagoon stuff was happening would have been good.)  It was not until later that I realized that the pressure washer didn't do anything to the grease except reform it into little balls and scatter it all over the front of the bus and out around the yard. Now you can't even walk in the general area without hitting little grease land mines, having them stick to your shoes (you can't feel them)  and tracking them all over creation. (and onto your new plywood floor ) I guess I'll just wait until the rain dissolves them all before I go outside.....no wait.....How would that work?........Never mind ....I think I'll just sell the house and move.

[HighTechRedneck]

I noticed after gutting everything back to the outer skin, most of the smell was coming from the drivers area. Do bus drivers bathe?

Probably not perspiration.  Perhaps from years of going down grades without a jake?  Come to think of it, are you sure all that black slippery stuff was grease? 

[chazwood]

I'm not sure of anything at this point.....except that since I started this gutting.... I've felt like Brer Fox messin' with the tar baby.

[TrevorH]

I just Lysol'ed, bleached, pine sol'd, boiled, steamed and then followed with a generous portion of pressure washed the inside of the bus.  I woke up this morning and could not breath I was so plugged up.  My throat is scratchy and burnt.  And I feel like hell.  Ah but the inside the bus is semi presentable and smells some what pleasant.  Off to get some drugs...

[chazwood]

I didn't think there was anyway to get that smell out of the plywood (mommas got a sensitive nose) so I ripped every last shred of it out. Went back in with marine ply painted on both sides. Hope it works.

[HighTechRedneck]

I just Lysol'ed, bleached, pine sol'd, boiled, steamed and then followed with a generous portion of pressure washed the inside of the bus.  I woke up this morning and could not breath I was so plugged up.  My throat is scratchy and burnt.  And I feel like hell.  Ah but the inside the bus is semi presentable and smells some what pleasant.  Off to get some drugs...

That ain't good.  I once got pneumonia from using 409 in limited space for too long.

[TrevorH]

I dont think is anything that some whiskey and a couple pills wont fix.  Potent stuff the makers is...

[JimC]

Chazwood
Now that its semi clean, go buy yourself a large can of fresh coffee grounds, open the top, and spread it all around the bus floor and leave it closed up for a day or two. YOu can leave it spread on the floor as long as you want, when you are done, just sweep it up and toss it.
After that, you open the door, you will smell fresh coffee, very few people I know dislike that smell, and its a whole lot better than what you were smelling.
It has killed every odor that I have ever tried to get rid of, including fresh skunk kill.
Jim

[Lin]

Another method of getting rid of odors is to use an ozone generator.  The ozone is unstable and immediately oxidizes everything it can like bacteria and mold.  You do not want to breath much of it yourself, so you can put it on a timer, shut the door and leave.  It should make the place smell like the great outdoors.  We have one and I use it to get rid of pet smells etc.

[chazwood]

Chazwood
Now that its semi clean, go buy yourself a large can of fresh coffee grounds, open the top, and spread it all around the bus floor and leave it closed up for a day or two. YOu can leave it spread on the floor as long as you want, when you are done, just sweep it up and toss it.
After that, you open the door, you will smell fresh coffee, very few people I know dislike that smell, and its a whole lot better than what you were smelling.
It has killed every odor that I have ever tried to get rid of, including fresh skunk kill.
Jim

Semi clean? Instead of the grease being under the steering box, now it's all over the bus and yard. Kinda smells like my Dads overalls.

[jackhartjr]

A bunch of charcol briquettes strew around and left for a couple of weeks can help tremoendosly!(Damn I wish I would have paid attention to the spelling class in school.)
When I have more time, I will tell the story about...well here goes.
We had sent two loads of socks for the Navy Depot in Tracy, CA. Socks like that have moth balls packed in them.
We loaded lettuce for the return to NC and points north.  Both loads had to be destoyed because of the moth ball smell.  They sent me out the with a load...told me I better not come back smelling of moth balls.  After unloading we tried cofee first, that didn't do it, then tried baking soda.  No go!
Then I was told by a chemical plant I used to work for to take a couple of bags of charcol briquettes, (Not the match light kind, just plain ones) punch holes in the bags, put them at the front were the return airflow went back in the reefer unit , load up and come home!  We did and had no problems, the moth ball smell was absorbed in the charcol.
Hope that helps!
Jack

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Chazwood,

It sounds funny but, when I gutted my bus I parked it on a declind and tilt. Then power washed the entire interior.

I used some bleach but, Simple green removed all the odors. It was pretty funny seeing all the dirt and sludge flowing out the entry door.

i did cover all the dash electrics.

Good Luck
Nick-

[Sojourner]

Another method of getting rid of odors is to use an ozone generator.  The ozone is unstable and immediately oxidizes everything it can like bacteria and mold.  You do not want to breath much of it yourself, so you can put it on a timer, shut the door and leave.  It should make the place smell like the great outdoors.  We have one and I use it to get rid of pet smells etc.

Total agree with Lin about ozone generator. A friend of mine brought a used "smokers" van real cheap because of 7 years of smell in it. They had me to check out the running condition with was OK but told them that smell is in carpets & headliner and door panels. I said you need to remove them to clean and it allot of work. My friend had in mind to use ozone generator after they purchase it. Next day after over night with ozone generator running...they call me to check it out. Wow...what a difference it make.....could not believe it actually removed all the odor of whatever out. Learned that after it been ozone-ed...you need to vacuum the floor. Bottomline that after ozone treatment, it turn to heavier than air dust.

The secret is to try to close all major openings such as doors & windows or it will take much longer to do the job. Bus job may take 2 or 3 days treatment.

After treatment done...it smell like after lightning thunder storm but after a while with windows & door open it back to smelling like nothing in the air.

If you know someone has a $400+ ozone generator, ask them if you can rent or barrow it. Cheaper ones won't do because it design within the unit to reclean air which is much, much slower or never satisfied. Good design ozone generator will energize the whole room at once via harmless electronic waves...not by air flowing system.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Jerry

[chazwood]

It's beginning to smell a lot better since I took a shower. I guess part of the smell was all the grease I blew up my nose when I was getting blasted in the face from the washer.

[kyle4501]

Sprinkle Tide in the yard over the grease balls, it will help break down the grease & solve that problem anyway.