Vegas Transplant
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- Oct 11, 2011
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What's the white material bonded to the luan? Looks expensive.
When I comment on Bus recons, commercial vehicles.
- Thread starter tuscarora dave
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Bates Detailing
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- Jan 11, 2011
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WOW DAVE - you are getting deep into these buses! You seem to be an expert on MANY trades :dblthumb2: This will be an amazing turnaround for sure!
tuscarora dave
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- Aug 21, 2009
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It's a textured vinyl coated luan. I'll replace some areas with raw luan to build it out to a level surface then overlay the entire interior with FRP board.
Thanks Anthony. I have an aweful amount of hands on experience for a young man of 42 years. It will basically look new again when it's finished.
tuscarora dave
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I'm getting all caught up with the work that came rushing in during and after my little road trip, now it's time to get back on this bus I started ripping apart before I left. I know this isn't the detailing that is usually seen here on these boards but it's my little commercial vehicle thread and hopefully someone can learn something from it.
Someone tried to repair this crack in the rear corner cap of this bus with who knows what. All I know is that it failed. I'm going to let the photos show how it's done Tuscarora Dave style.
Someone tried to repair this crack in the rear corner cap of this bus with who knows what. All I know is that it failed. I'm going to let the photos show how it's done Tuscarora Dave style.
tuscarora dave
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Thanks. That little repair was actually pretty fun to do. The nice thing about working on these buses is that they're older trade ins that are far from perfect to begin with so the repairs can be done with not too much fuss to a perfect finish. As you can see in the above photos, the repairs I do are high quality repairs so I don't mean to say that the repairs are half arsed but most of these buses are white and are very easy to paint with the rattle can method using inexpensive supplies.
I'll get the outside damage taken care of then move on to re-paneling/trimming the inside. I'll post some photos of that operation as well.
Thanks for looking and for the reply.
Mike Phillips
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- Dec 5, 2022
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Wow!
Incredible display of talent and craftsmanship...
More than I would ever attempt to tackle for this kind of rig...
I sure hope the people that own this appreciate your dedication and hard work and reward you accordingly...
I would also consider sending anyone and everyone with any oversight over this Bus the link to this thread.
:dblthumb2:
Incredible display of talent and craftsmanship...
More than I would ever attempt to tackle for this kind of rig...
I sure hope the people that own this appreciate your dedication and hard work and reward you accordingly...
I would also consider sending anyone and everyone with any oversight over this Bus the link to this thread.
:dblthumb2:
tuscarora dave
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Yes the plywood was for a backer to screw into. I thought for a minute as to how to make a quick template. I was walking around the shop looking for the right piece of cardboard when I got the tape idea. It did work out perfectly.
Thanks for the reply and the compliment Mike. I am putting this thread together exactly for that reason...So when a perspective client asks about whether certain damage can be repaired, or if they want to see my work before having a repair done, I can link this thread to them so they can see multiple examples of what I can do.
tuscarora dave
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Here's what most of these commercially owned mini vans look like when I get to see them in my shop.
Working on the paint.
The front seats come out on a base to accommodate a driver or passenger who is confined to a wheelchair. Here's a few front seats drying in my shop after being scrubbed clean and extracted.
And here's something gross that's not uncommon to see in my shop. This is what I sometimes find when I pull these front seats out.
Working on the paint.
The front seats come out on a base to accommodate a driver or passenger who is confined to a wheelchair. Here's a few front seats drying in my shop after being scrubbed clean and extracted.
And here's something gross that's not uncommon to see in my shop. This is what I sometimes find when I pull these front seats out.
tuscarora dave
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These are some crappy photos with bad lighting because my digital camera took a dive and my phone has no flash. I'll re-post some of the previously posted photos for a little contrast.
And how it looked last night as I was leaving the shop. I'm glad this job is nearing the end. I've only been pulled away from it about a dozen times.
It actually turned out pretty nice. The customer is more than happy with the work and that's what really matters. I think I'll go out and get a new digital camera today to get some better photos of this before it leaves my shop. I'd hate to take a halfhearted advantage of such a great before and after situation.
And how it looked last night as I was leaving the shop. I'm glad this job is nearing the end. I've only been pulled away from it about a dozen times.
It actually turned out pretty nice. The customer is more than happy with the work and that's what really matters. I think I'll go out and get a new digital camera today to get some better photos of this before it leaves my shop. I'd hate to take a halfhearted advantage of such a great before and after situation.
tuscarora dave
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Thanks man!!! I'm humbled by the Bow to the Master comment. This is certainly tedious work with measuring and figuring out how to cut out the window openings in the FRP board without making the openings too big for the window frames to cover them properly.
It's pretty much...measure up, trace out the openings using the inside of the window frames as a guide which leaves the openings too small, dry fit the paneling to ensure the proper fit, take it back out and glue up the wall, glue up the paneling then get it in place, then take my trusty Harbor Freight Tools mini panel saw and trim the window openings to the exact fit size so the window frames can be placed back in without being too tight, remove, re-trim, re-fit until the size is just right etc. etc. The FRP dust is nothing you'll want to breath in either so a mask has to be worn during all of it.
Thanks for following my thread and for the compliments.
tuscarora dave
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Hi everyone.
I just got this bus in to do some restoration work on. My landlord at the shop is taking this bus as a trade in after selling the previous owner a newer bus. I certainly hope he didn't give them too much for it as it needs a ton of work.
I wanted to document the condition of it as it arrived to me. Actually, I drove it back to the shop from Reading PA about an hour away. Short of the shifter tube being completely worn out making it hard to shift to the correct gear, and what feels like a bad plug wire or something causing a slight flutter or engine miss, the bus seems to run decent and it drove OK along the way back to the shop.
The bus was a victim of a company not wanting to spend the money to maintain it correctly. Basically their budget, or lack of budget had the driver/mechanic's hands tied behind his back concerning the proper care of the bus. Most of these companies don't even wash these vehicles on a regular basis.
This is where my detailing skills come in. When they call me to do wheelchair lift repairs or maintenance, I try to sell them on having the bus or van washed and any other mechanical chores or preventive maintenance carried out while the vehicle is in my custody.
Well I'll get on with it. Here are a few pics of how this bus looked upon bringing it back to my shop. I'll follow these initial pics with a short video and then a few more photos of the condition of the bus, and finally I'll show some of the test sections I performed to see what types of chemicals and or processes will be needed to clean this baby up.
Here are a few pics as it looked upon arrival to my shop.
The video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVXTRFEDsZQ
more photos of the overall condition of this bus.
I just got this bus in to do some restoration work on. My landlord at the shop is taking this bus as a trade in after selling the previous owner a newer bus. I certainly hope he didn't give them too much for it as it needs a ton of work.
I wanted to document the condition of it as it arrived to me. Actually, I drove it back to the shop from Reading PA about an hour away. Short of the shifter tube being completely worn out making it hard to shift to the correct gear, and what feels like a bad plug wire or something causing a slight flutter or engine miss, the bus seems to run decent and it drove OK along the way back to the shop.
The bus was a victim of a company not wanting to spend the money to maintain it correctly. Basically their budget, or lack of budget had the driver/mechanic's hands tied behind his back concerning the proper care of the bus. Most of these companies don't even wash these vehicles on a regular basis.
This is where my detailing skills come in. When they call me to do wheelchair lift repairs or maintenance, I try to sell them on having the bus or van washed and any other mechanical chores or preventive maintenance carried out while the vehicle is in my custody.
Well I'll get on with it. Here are a few pics of how this bus looked upon bringing it back to my shop. I'll follow these initial pics with a short video and then a few more photos of the condition of the bus, and finally I'll show some of the test sections I performed to see what types of chemicals and or processes will be needed to clean this baby up.
Here are a few pics as it looked upon arrival to my shop.
The video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVXTRFEDsZQ
more photos of the overall condition of this bus.
tuscarora dave
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- Aug 21, 2009
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- Thread starter
- #56
Some aluminum work to do.
This is gonna be tough to remove, might need a little paint here.
Lots of rust on this beast.
Wheels will be stripped of rust, prepped and painted.
Some interior and wheelchair lift photos.
Got Butt Pillow?
Reason for Butt Pillow.
The wheelchair lift hydraulic cylinders are shot so the platform drifts down into the door, see the strap holding the platform from drifting?
Here's where the lift platform is hitting the door.
Bent outer roll stop foot.
The hand pendant control will need replacing.
Not sure I want to talk about this monstrosity.
The beginning of the chemical test sections. This is a caustic degreaser I get locally.
That didn't work well at all so I'll glove up and pull out the real sledgehammers.
This is my own acid mixture that I use on a lot of commercial vehicle cleaning duties. Costs me about 50 cents a gallon.
Photos show the results here.
My acid mixture worked well for these metal oxidation streaks but it did nothing for the overall paint stains.
For the overall paint staining, I had to have something non abrasive because these buses have ultra soft and super thin paint. After testing several different chemical compounds I finally settled on a metal polish I get locally that very quickly and very easily removed the staining from the paint without removing the paint's film build.
Here are a few 50/50 shots after 2 quick section passes with a DA polisher with soft polish pads and the metal polish.
Here are a few photos of the bus after having a helper run over the bus with a Flex 3401 with the metal polish, while I did some decal removal. This is the first days work. We now know what's going to work regarding products and process.
I'll update the progress of this project as I get time to do so.
Thanks for looking, TD
This is gonna be tough to remove, might need a little paint here.
Lots of rust on this beast.
Wheels will be stripped of rust, prepped and painted.
Some interior and wheelchair lift photos.
Got Butt Pillow?
Reason for Butt Pillow.
The wheelchair lift hydraulic cylinders are shot so the platform drifts down into the door, see the strap holding the platform from drifting?
Here's where the lift platform is hitting the door.
Bent outer roll stop foot.
The hand pendant control will need replacing.
Not sure I want to talk about this monstrosity.
The beginning of the chemical test sections. This is a caustic degreaser I get locally.
That didn't work well at all so I'll glove up and pull out the real sledgehammers.
This is my own acid mixture that I use on a lot of commercial vehicle cleaning duties. Costs me about 50 cents a gallon.
Photos show the results here.
My acid mixture worked well for these metal oxidation streaks but it did nothing for the overall paint stains.
For the overall paint staining, I had to have something non abrasive because these buses have ultra soft and super thin paint. After testing several different chemical compounds I finally settled on a metal polish I get locally that very quickly and very easily removed the staining from the paint without removing the paint's film build.
Here are a few 50/50 shots after 2 quick section passes with a DA polisher with soft polish pads and the metal polish.
Here are a few photos of the bus after having a helper run over the bus with a Flex 3401 with the metal polish, while I did some decal removal. This is the first days work. We now know what's going to work regarding products and process.
I'll update the progress of this project as I get time to do so.
Thanks for looking, TD
Vegas Transplant
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- Oct 11, 2011
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WOW. You got your work cut out. What's the year and mileage, Dave?
tuscarora dave
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- Aug 21, 2009
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Yeah no doubt about it. I did get a good jump start on it Friday with the help of Gizmo, or "357 Maul Dropper" as you may have heard him on the radio over the years.
I haven't even looked to see what year it is yet, but the mileage is around 142,000 miles. It's definitely a beater bus and always will be.
Good work - and man, someone beat those buses HARD. Your clients are lucky to have you to bring them back to life...
ihaveacamaro
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- Jun 16, 2012
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You're an inspiration TD!