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MCI 102-C3 coach to RV - General/Floorplan

Gave her the plasma again. She knocked out the panels beside the stairwell while I worked on the 3x3 tube. Came in for a bit to ponder whether I want the tube to stick out past the exterior or sit flush with the marker light pockets.

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Tube length cut for flush mount and stainless plates are set up to be welded on. I'll weld them on and trim the light pocket tomorrow. Might even start welding the tube assembly to the pockets, too. Shifting our schedule around a bit to catch more daylight while we're getting summer-like weather this week.

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Other tube end welded up and squared. Have to trim and clean up the light pocket yet. I'm going to try to get that done and weld the stainless stuff until my argon bottle empties tonight so I can go get a refill tomorrow because I swear I always reach the end of one welding material or the other on a Friday afternoon, just before suppliers close for the weekend.

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Really slow progress the last few days. Not a morning person. Ever.

The upper 3x3 tube is mostly welded in. Some gaps left around the stainless at the wheel arch. With the leftover 1/4" 304 plate, I cut out some fishplates of sorts to cover the gaps on the outside and strengthen the area. Doing some more on the inside, but I haven't quite decided how I want it. I've been going after a lot of this with the plan to attach to the existing structures, but end up cutting a fair amount out of the way to simplify the assembly. I have to think of how I want to wall off the rest of that opening between the battery bank and engine bay before I can finish that off and lay a floor over it.

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Started cutting a pathway for some 2x5 tubing to weld on top of the 3x3. This will be the rest of the wall between the battery bank and engine bay, or basically the wall between the drive and tag wheel tubs. Gonna get it cut to 97" long and notch the center so that it makes a complete run all the way across with an arch over the conduits in the center chase. I might have to bend it a bit at the arch. There's 5" between the top of the 3x3 and floor lip at the walls and 5-1/2" between the top of the tube and top of the floor frame at the center. Word to anyone else ever rebuilding this much of your MCI: Not a damn thing is straight in these buses.

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No call about the 2x5 tube today, so Friday it is. Opened the front back up and cleaned the ends of the floor frame beams in preparation for floor sheets to go down. Wife and I are hitting it tomorrow. Full front to back sweep of cleaning the frame rails. I still have few minors things to finish up before it's time to dunk the sheets to strip the mill scale. My dad arrives on Monday night. Should have two or three of us getting the floor down.

Since welding all the washers down is going to be a job that only involves myself, we will at least get the first layer of sheets down and conduit washers welded in place. We're then going to tape off all the walls and maybe make some mock stuff so that we can get a feel for it all in person. Looking at the floorplan on a computer doesn't always do the idea justice when it's something out of the norm.

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Got the next tube notched, boxed, welded and smoothed. Waiting for my fingers to warm back up before I head back out to position the tube.

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Dad - cut out and cleanup the remains of the rusted out upper panels between the front wheel tubs and front storage bay. Prepped the first four front feet of the floor rails for welding.

Me - Cut and welded in some stainless plate to fill in where the 2x5 tube will go. Notched the tube to fit just right. Hoping to grab a drop of stainless plate tomorrow to finish up.

Us - Began pouring the vinegar tray. Leveled the table while using the vinegar line to level the table. One 8-gallon block of frozen vinegar awaiting tomorrow's sunny, 50 degrees. Pending the vinegar progress, we're shooting for hauling sheets into the bus by Thursday.
 
Pretty well set up to drag floor sheets in. Top side of the first sheet is mostly stripped. Flipped it over to check out the other side and the vinegar hadn't done much so it's sitting. Might be a nice and slow process which is fine by me. I think we'll get two sheets in while my dad is here and then I can pull another in every couple days. Love how easily scale and rust wipes off, though.

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One of those things that comes to mind at the right time. Checked the height of a PVC adapter fitting on the conduits. Found that I can trim just over a quarter inch of the adapters to fit the against the underside of the floor to give me a thread-together joint that sandwiches the floor. Grabbing a 1-1/2" adapter tomorrow to see if the male threads fit into the 1-7/8"x4" stainless washers since that's the size I had already ordered for the 1-1/2" PVC pipe thinking that I would run straight pipe through the washers. I'll be ordering some more washers to fit the 2" adapter threads that are 2-3/8" OD.

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[486] said,

to save you some measuring, pipe threads are the same OD as the pipe

poke around electrical fittings, you'll find they've got stuff like you're wanting, but with straight threads rather than tapered so they clamp the panels before the threads tighten up
 
[486] said:
to save you some measuring, pipe threads are the same OD as the pipe

poke around electrical fittings, you'll find they've got stuff like you're wanting, but with straight threads rather than tapered so they clamp the panels before the threads tighten up​
I think I remember checking PVC threads against rigid conduit and found them to be the same or close. All the 2" conduits under the floor for water, drain, air, etc. are PVC. Stubbing those up through the floor where needed and wanted to be able to thread the stubs into female fittings under the floor.

Just thought it would be nice to be able thread them in so that the stubs could be easily swapped out at any time rather than sawing PVC pipe down to glue on new stuff. Test fit a 1-1/2" PVC male thread in one of the stainless washers and found that they damn near fit the 1.872" washer ID. Kind of one of the many methods used in home building that I never cared for. A lot of what I've been putting into this build comes from stuff I've dealt with and either liked or didn't like in working construction and automotive on and off for the last twenty some years.

Woke up late and spent most of the day running errands that we just got back from. At least one sheet of steel is ready to pull out of the vinegar. We will probably start tomorrow early to get two or three sheets in.
 
aczlan said,
[486] said:
to save you some measuring, pipe threads are the same OD as the pipe

poke around electrical fittings, you'll find they've got stuff like you're wanting, but with straight threads rather than tapered so they clamp the panels before the threads tighten up​
On the female side, you are correct. On the male side, the conduit fittings that we deal with at home or at work are both are standard npt thread.
See: https://steeltubeinstitute.org/steel...ng-guidelines/ for more information than you'd ever want to know about the subject.

Aaron Z
 
[486] said,

huh, I've run into a lot of NPS male
usually when some idiot plumbed shit up with rigid conduit instead of pipe "because it was cheaper" and now fittings just won't seal
 
Not much need to worry about these threads. The steel floor will be right around 0.274" thick and all but the drain pipe stubs will only be acting as conduits. The gap between the assembled male and female 1-1/2" PVC fittings I tested today was right where I needed it. The fittings really only need to engage plenty of threads to snug up and accommodate the thickness of the floor and maybe a thin rubber gasket between them. Totally doable. This "sandwich" effect doubles as a vibration preventative to mitigate wear and tear to the plastics riding against steel.

I sent a message to the eBay seller that laser cuts the stainless washers. He mentions in his listings that you can message him for custom sizes. I need a 2.35" ID and his closest washer in 1/8" thickness has a 2.031" ID. I have to think of a good method for reaming out one of his larger washers with a 3.003" ID to fit 3.098" OD threads. That shouldn't take much effort, but if I can avoid having to ream .3" or so on two to four more stainless washers at a reasonable cost, I'll do so and support a good seller.

Edit: Figured I'd give it a shot. I was able to barely fit a 4" OD washer in my 4" lathe chuck, and mean BARELY. Opened up the ID by around 0.012" with zero problems. That means I can go ahead and order the 2.031" ID washers and open them up to fit the 2" PVC male threads. Gotta pull the chuck off and check my mounting plate to see if I can fit a 6" 3-jaw chuck to fit the 5" OD washer for the shower drain.
 
It's happening. Took some contemplation to decide how we would go about pulling a sheet out of the vinegar, oiling it and then shoving it through the window. First sheet is in. Wasn't too bad of a job at all. We're waiting on the second sheet to finish stripping. I want two sheets in and clamped together before I tack down the first one. Also finally hung my welder from a cable running the length of the bus.

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And then there were two. Clamped flush and aligned with 3/8" gap between each side and the wall. Probably get around to tacking the first sheet tomorrow.

While waiting on the mill scale to finish stripping, I machined the ID of all seven stainless washers to fit over the 1-1/2" PVC threads. Looks like the 5" 3-jaw lathe chuck will fit and hold just over a 5" diameter piece without the jaws colliding with the bed. Stupid tariffs ran the cost up, but it's what I'll order and use to machine the 5" washer ID to fit the shower drain threads. Plenty of other stuff to machine that necessitates the purchase.

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vetteboy79 said:
^^ unattended T-handle in lathe chuck :flipoff2:

Floor looks great.​
LOL. I was waiting for that. First comment to follow that pic, to boot. Took the pic just as soon as I pulled that washer off the chuck.

Thanks. I'm pretty stoked to be laying it down. Went out to scrub the first side of the next sheet soaking in the vinegar and to tack weld the sheets in the bus, but the wind went from zero to 25mph last night and hasn't stopped yet. No precip for a month so there's dirt flying everywhere.
 
Vinegar tray is frozen solid so I couldn't flip the sheet. The first sheet is tacked down. Second sheet is clamped in place. I'm going to have to order that Miller welding mask. This shoving my helmet around to get a view of where I'm going to weld is getting old.

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87manche said:
I missed the floor beginnings, looks super clean.

good luck getting all that steel in there.​
Thanks. I'm digging it, although kicking myself for not oiling the steel and wrapping it up. A year and a half of sitting outdoors brought on some rust pits. Running solo again and feel like I'm at about 40% with a bulged disc that is so ready to herniate. 50+ degrees tomorrow and Wednesday and the third sheet will be ready. Gotta finish tacking the second sheet. MIG gun needs a new liner and nozzle, but it'll suffice for the moment. Onward and upward.
 
FirstRam said,
JNHEscher said:
Running solo again and feel like I'm at about 40% Onward and upward.​
40% x 24 hrs/day is like 120%, I’m pretty sure you never sleep! Looking forward to the pics of a MCI bus in the most remote locations ever!

Pulling Out under your own power will just be a bonus!:beer:
 
FirstRam said:
40% x 24 hrs/day is like 120%, I’m pretty sure you never sleep! Looking forward to the pics of a MCI bus in the most remote locations ever!

Pulling Out under your own power will just be a bonus!:beer:​
I feel I should get some of these quotes printed so I can slap them along the side of our bus. Complete with the :beer: emoji.
 
Wife and I got the third sheet in. I showed her what the sheets look like in the vinegar before the mill scale starts peeling off and found that the next sheet was already cleaning up pretty quickly. Gonna keep agitating it with the scrub bush tonight to see if I can get it finished and flipped.

I have the sheet aligned and clamped. Taking frequent breaks so the disc in my doesn't give out on me. Then on to tack welding. Should be a lot easier to access now that I'm over top of the storage bays.

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\m/ The further along I get, the more motivated I get. Next sheet probably has two or three hours to go before I can flip it.

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Yussss. One sheet pulled from the bath, oiled, and slid into the bus by myself. Could have asked my wife to help and should we rather me do so, but since I'll likely be continuing much of the floor by myself later, I wanted to try it solo while she was here in case my spine decided to launch out of my backside.

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