The return of big yellow

[MP&C]

Well, we have had quite the dry spell. Here's what we had to contend with on the bus. Some can opener effect going
on....




http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203769.jpg





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203770.jpg





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203771.jpg





After cutting some of the mangled mess out of the way.........





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203773.jpg





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203774.jpg





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203775.jpg





......we saw that the bottom structural member was not going to cooperate.
The horizontal section behind the weld tear at the top used to be vertical...
So to save some time, we'll cut this out and make a replacement. This is 16 ga,
and is there to keep vehicles out of the passenger compartment. It did it's
job, so let's put in a new one to restore the integrity..





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203776.jpg





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203777.jpg





Here the bottom flange is pushed in over an inch..





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203778.jpg





Here's the replacement we made up..





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203780.jpg





Comparison....





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203782.jpg





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203783.jpg





All trimmed, we'll get the replacement panel formed and fitted Tuesday..





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203784.jpg





Spare parts...





http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203786.jpg

[MP&C]

Well our bus side panel is just shy of 8' long and about 24" wide. We did a light pass on the wheeling machine just enough to break the grain, figured it would have less chance of waves that way... We found out real quick that 8' is a bit long, so some 1x2's were pony-clamped under the outside edges to provide a bit of support. We tried to make a pass through the bead roller for the stepped flange at the bottom, with less than stellar results, a bit wavy up and down. Good thing we had the other half of the sheet. More wheeling, and used the offset / step dies in the Lennox Tru-Edge.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203787.jpg

Given our challenges with the long panels, we had to call in reinforcements. Regardless of the late hour that Scott's attire suggests, it was only 8 at night!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203789.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203788.jpg

Linear slides really came in handy, nice straight detail this go round..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203791.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203792.jpg

Comparing the bend relief above the rear bumper ear...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203793.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203795.jpg

Tomorrow evening well get it fitted to the bus and final trimmed..

[chevynut]

Cool stuff Robert. I don't understand why you have to do any "wheeling" on a flat panel. Can you explain what "break the grain" means? Were you just trying to flatten it better?

[MP&C]

A very light wheeling with flat anvil across the length of the panel. Intent was to add just the slightest hint of a crown. A flat panel is the quickest to show waves, so hopefully it prevents that.

[MP&C]

Finished the welding of the lower structural member on the bus repair...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203797.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203798.jpg

.....and underneath it is tied to the floor cross members

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203802.jpg

Added the frame around the fuel door, this helps prevent the side panel from flopping around as the fuel door is pushed closed..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203803.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203808.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203807.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203806.jpg

Thursday evening we'll get all the holes pre-drilled for the skirting and start prepping for paint..

[MP&C]

The braces for behind the lower skirt were mangled pretty well, had to untwist the pretzels to get accurate measurements..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203809.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203811.jpg

Getting all the holes prepped...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203813.jpg

Welding in the new braces..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203817.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203820.jpg

All the pieces of the puzzle... Well, almost..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203821.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203822.jpg

Now to bust it apart for paint prep..

[Troy]

great work Robert wish I had your talent. I have a question, at the joint where the new sheet metal joins the old do you do a seam weld or rivets? If welding how do you keep the insulation from burning up?

[MP&C]

Since my paint booth is not large enough for these behemoths, typically I work with removeable parts for these repairs that can be painted and assembled afterwards. On the front edge of the new upper panel, you can see some clecos holding the panel on. Here we have about a 2" overlap over top of the old panel. The new panels will be attached with a combination of screws (per original style) and rivets, depending on location. The bus mfr even has some color matching body caulk, so that gets used during final assembly.

[chevynut]

Robert, since you call this "the return of big yellow", did you work on this bus before? I don't remember you posting about that but maybe I missed it. Was it the same driver? LOL.

Speaking of buses, we rode on a bus last night here in Cancun, and the driver literally scared the crap out of me. I've ridden on lots of buses in Puerto Vallarta and here in Cancun this week, but this guy was a lunatic. I've never seen anyone drive so aggressively with so many people's lives at stake....not even a taxi driver. He was clearly speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. Some of the cars were even honking at him and he nearly pushed a motorcycle to the curb. I heard a police siren chirp, the bus driver pulled over and got out of the bus, then got back in and drove off. Before he got out I saw him take some cash out of a bucket he kept bus fare in...probably paid the cop off. I'm amazed there aren't any more collisions here than there are. He went 3/4 mile past our stop (I told him our hotel name) before I asked him if he was going around again...then he stopped and let us out. We had to walk back to the hotel. I was glad to be off that bus. ;)

[MP&C]

We fixed this same bus about 3-4 years ago, different driver. Then the damage was farther forward; two luggage doors, panel behind those, and wheel opening ring...



http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture087.jpg



http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture088.jpg

[chevynut]

Nice work! ;)

[MP&C]

Well, only one more piece to make for the bus, we need a cap to join together two pieces of rub rail....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203823.jpg

Bent up some 18 ga on the Baileigh magnetic brake...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203824.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203825.jpg

Then for the highly technical stuff, bent the rest using vise grips to clamp it in place and a dead blow to incrementally tap the ears around...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203826.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203834.jpg

Continued to use the hammer to tap it around, then tightened up the radius on this die/post dolly

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203843.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203844.jpg

We'll get some paint on the bus parts tomorrow..

[MP&C]

Got some paint on the bus parts tonight....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203847.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203848.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203850.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203852.jpg

For the hardware, we media blast the heads and then paint....

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203855.jpg

[MP&C]

The other night while spraying parts, I made a couple trips over to the bus location with the spray gun... in between coats, to get some primer on the bare steel we put in... SPI epoxy on the structural components..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203856.jpg

.....and some epoxy AND yellow added to the nice scraped up lower corner..

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203857.jpg

Coming together...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203859.jpg

Rivets were media blasted and urethane only, just like the screws. This shows how well the paint holds up to the installation "abuse"...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203860.jpg

Done!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203863.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y167/rmccartney/2009%20Freightliner%20School%20Bus/Picture%203866.jpg

[DocHarley]

Robert, once again you amaze me with your talent. Awesome job!

[chevynut]

Looks better than new!