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MCI 102-C3 coach to RV - General/Floorplan

Wanna see some shit?! Three days of plywood down in the bus and the packrats come rolling in. I wasn't aware that they ate the prairie prickly pear, so now I have chunks of that all over to watch out for. Weld cherries and feces lol.

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Probably something for many to shake their head at, but this feels like a bit of a milestone. I'd have to go back through my thread to figure out at what time I conceived the PVC conduit and unistrut idea because it feels like something so simple has taken me forever to accomplish. The logistics of organizing the workload an hour from home and then relocating twice since the purchase of our bus was much easier said than done.

Anyway, I have two struts tacked in. Had to break the tacks and shift one after testing the ability to remove the AC conduit and finding I didn't leave quite enough room to do so. I should be able to move down the line tomorrow and have all the lower struts tacked in. My pops arrives tomorrow eve. He and I are going to knock a few tasks off my list while I have extra hands.

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bigun said,
JNHEscher said:
Wanna see some shit?! Three days of plywood down in the bus and the packrats come rolling in. I wasn't aware that they ate the prairie prickly pear, so now I have chunks of that all over to watch out for. Weld cherries and feces lol.​
I leave the hoods up on anything that isn't driven everyday after finding a pack rats nest on top of my MH engine that is full of Cholla needles, them thing will go right through a welders glove!
 
bigun said:
I leave the hoods up on anything that isn't driven everyday after finding a pack rats nest on top of my MH engine that is full of Cholla needles, them thing will go right through a welders glove!​
Thinking about a bag of rubber snakes. Neighbor is giving away a cat that's pissing of everything. Maybe he'll shack up next to the bus if I build a warm shelter.
 
Ground down the ridge holding the AC junction boxes from sneaking past the unistruts. Tacked a few more struts in today and tacking the last four tomorrow. Busy busy while the weather gets better. We will be mocking up all conduits for final fitment tomorrow. I think I will begin measuring to build my own toolboxes for the tool bay. $2,600 in a pair of Joboxes will set progress back.

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bigun said,

One of the first RV truck builds I read from Australia the guy ran an I beam down the center and and his welder off of it
 
bigun said:
One of the first RV truck builds I read from Australia the guy ran an I beam down the center and and his welder off of it​
So want to do the same. I've been shuffling so much stuff around in our bus that I don't think I'll mess with setting that up. Not too much more before the floor sheets can start laying down.
 
FirstRam said,
JNHEscher said:
So want to do the same. I've been shuffling so much stuff around in our bus that I don't think I'll mess with setting that up. Not too much more before the floor sheets can start laying down.​
That will be a huge milestone, you won't know how to act with a solid floor to walk on!
 
Too busy for pictures today. All main unistruts are tacked in, three main struts along with inverted struts for the power steering conduits are burned in. Amazingly, I was able to point my mig torch just right for each section to weld. There are a lot of tight spots to reach. Grabbing more shielding gas in the morning.

I didn't think about it until tonight, but I need to grab some DOM for the 1-1/4" PVC to pass through at the rear bulkhead. 2" .120 or .134 wall is just right. If I acquire the DOM, I can pick out the O-rings at Whisler while I'm in town.
 
Welds are still hot. Just now finished burning in every strut. Time to mock up the power steering conduits to figure out fittings and such.

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Started the morning with organizing and cleaning up the bus shelving. Shuffled more stuff from the storage container to the bus and found more parts to put assemblies together. It's looking like one beefy workshop.

Set up the power steering conduit elbows to mark the DOM locations. Center punched the corner and cut the 2" holes with ease. The 45 degree elbows you see are at the edge of the front of the floor within the cold air return. This worked out incredibly with for the whole conduit bunch.

Got the DOM welded in pretty easily aside from the wire having to stick out over an inch to reach a tight spot which made some cold, lumpy welds. Kinda matches a bunch of the factory welds.

We spent a good half hour scraping and vacuuming much of the junk buildup in the front pit over top of the steer axle. Man, what a grimy mess. Almost got all the expanding foam chiseled out, too.

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Further down the line, we heated and bent the PVC to jump it over the DC flex conduit to take some stress off. Worked out excellent. Everything fits like a glllluuuve. Made our way to the back. Marked the locations for the rear DOM pieces and cut the holes. The DOM is in place and ready for welding.

My dad has been taking care of a few small odds and ends that I've been needing to take care of as I explained my to do list to get done as well as handing me tools while I'm crammed in tight spots with no reach. I cannot Express my gratitude enough about having a helping hand for a week. So much was accomplished. We're also getting daily temps around 70 now for most of the day which keeps a body moving.

Visiting Missouri family next week. I have some ideas on wheel tubs I want to discuss here during that time. A lightbulb went off in my head yesterday. Maybe I can start drawing the plans to share.

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bigun said,

Why are you using DOM instead of just regular pipe? There should be little or no stress and you are not supporting a a load with it.
 
Elwenil said,

If I understand what he's doing, I think he's using the DOM for the consistent inner diameter so he can seal the DOM to the other conduit with O-rings. I think that is what he's doing, to be perfectly honest, I only understand about half the shit in this thread and even the things I understand, I have to ask myself why it's needed.
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
 
bigun sai,
Elwenil said:
If I understand what he's doing, I think he's using the DOM for the consistent inner diameter so he can seal the DOM to the other conduit with O-rings. I think that is what he's doing, to be perfectly honest, I only understand about half the shit in this thread and even the things I understand, I have to ask myself why it's needed.
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Well I'm glad I'm not the only one sitting here scratching my balding head wondering what is going on! I have worked industrial construction jobs that weren't as tightly engineered as this build !! :flipoff2:
 
My wife and I got a good laugh at your responses. Elwenil nailed it. The DOM isn't for the strength. Seamless and diameter accuracy for o-ring sealing. I'm closing up every air leak.
 
Didn't take measurements or bring the laptop with me. What I have in mind for the wheel tubs is to build them like a drawer. Nothing special for tracks. Probably just some tubing sized for high strength telescopic action. I got to thinking that slide-out wheel tubs would be perfect for easy access to those areas underneath the floor and double as a quick shelter if I want one while wrenching at the wheels for storm protection or shade. Of course, I need to think of a substantial locking/latching mechanism that wouldn't let go while running down the highway and also too much work for the average Joe to break into.

Originally, I thought I would build the tubs from plates that could be unbolted for access. One-piece drawers would be far better. Making them leak-proof might be the hardest.
 
bigun said,
JNHEscher said:
My wife and I got a good laugh at your responses. Elwenil nailed it. The DOM isn't for the strength. Seamless and diameter accuracy for o-ring sealing. I'm closing up every air leak.​
Glad I was able to bring a little humor into your day
yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
 
87manche said,
JNHEscher said:
Didn't take measurements or bring the laptop with me. What I have in mind for the wheel tubs is to build them like a drawer. Nothing special for tracks. Probably just some tubing sized for high strength telescopic action. I got to thinking that slide-out wheel tubs would be perfect for easy access to those areas underneath the floor and double as a quick shelter if I want one while wrenching at the wheels for storm protection or shade. Of course, I need to think of a substantial locking/latching mechanism that wouldn't let go while running down the highway and also too much work for the average Joe to break into.

Originally, I thought I would build the tubs from plates that could be unbolted for access. One-piece drawers would be far better. Making them leak-proof might be the hardest.​
flange and bolts.
easy to gasket and seal. Will look like the coach work bolted together there, not like it's something that easily pops out.

Sure, you'll have to use tools to pull them, but how often are you going to do that, and when are you not going to have a cordless impacts to zip off a half dozen 5/16 bolts?
 
bigun said:
Glad I was able to bring a little humor into your day​
Always appreciated. That topped the week off for us.
87manche said:
flange and bolts.
easy to gasket and seal. Will look like the coach work bolted together there, not like it's something that easily pops out.

Sure, you'll have to use tools to pull them, but how often are you going to do that, and when are you not going to have a cordless impacts to zip off a half dozen 5/16 bolts?​
True true. I shouldn't be in them often. Bolts would be fine and an assurance that all the seals are compressed.
 
Couple things. Just opened our awning tarp that we ordered from Tarps Now in November. It was supposed to be a 10x40 and they sent us a 10x20. Got a fun call to make about that tomorrow.

Secondly, we're adding up what to order this week and I've been considering weld-thru primer between the floor frame and first layer of steel sheets. What I've used in body shops has been alright, but I'm well aware of its lack of adhesion and that it makes for some gnarly welds. Figured I'd see what any of you have used and if you rave about it. I would like to apply some sort of rust protection between layers of steel so I'm not trapping oxidation behind the welds.

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Also finished up the DOM in the rear bulkhead. I should be clearing out the rest of the excess metal in the front pit over the steer axle next. Didn't start on any of this until about five o'clock due to high winds for most of today.

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Finally yanked out the plastic duct that ran between the spare tire compartment and the cold air return area. Both the pit over the steer axle and the tire compartment are opening up pretty well.

And edit: taking cell phone pics on a micro SD, plugging the SD into the laptop, rotating each image clockwise to be upright, and then uploading them individually to PBB brings back the high quality pictures to this thread. Much excite.

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Put in some plaz and grinder time to clear out more of the sheet metal in the front pit. I kinda want to build a drawer of sorts into this area.

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Pit is looking better. I got almost all the excess metal cut and cleaned out today. The manual trans shifter shaft was obstructing every move I made to cut out the last panel. I finally got the cajones to cut the shaft out after spending all this time happy that it was there. Alas, the Allison auto is a workhorse and the wife doesn't care for manual transmissions anyway. That's about another 80 pounds of steel removed.

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On the jacks again. I still don't get under the bus while it's on hydraulic pressure, in case you're wondering. Two jacks are bottomed out, acting as stands. Made a plan of attack to get the aluminum panels out from the bottom of the front pit. They will be replaced with stainless.

On the underside, the panel perimeters had self-tapping Phillips screws. All but three came out. Mini cordless impact driver did a sweet job of pulling every screw it could access. I'll snip the panels into pieces for extraction once I have everything loose.

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All for tonight. Much to contemplate tomorrow. I'm anxious to clean up the mess of copper air lines up front. I'll have to locate a new source for DOT fittings soon. CarQuest in Alamosa had it all along with a very knowledgeable dude behind the counter. Here's hope another such place exists in Springs.

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