A demo update
To be honest, I had lost a bit of mojo with the bus project. Mostly due to how long it was at the Ford dealership for the various issues. All in all, Ford stood by me and got things right, but man, it took them a long time. All told, it spent seven weeks at the dealership, during what would have been prime demo time.
With all that being said, the bus is running great. I took it on a 100 mile trip to visit a friend and she ran solid. It’s loud because it’s a big empty cavern without enough weight, but is driving great.
Rivets. Damn rivets. A center punch and cobalt drill bit proved to be effective for the top row of rivets, but the lower rivets are buried within large metal brackets used to secure the passenger seats to the steel frame. Took me like 10min a rivet, blows.
I finally got a heavy duty chisel and an air hammer. Worked great! Made fast work of getting the rivets out and actually ended up just using the chisel and not really needing the air hammer. (I’ll keep it though, I’m sure there is something I’ll find to destroy). I’m sure this will be a common theme throughout this project, taking on a new task and learning how to do it and getting better at it as I go.
Was finally able to start ripping out the thin layer of fiberglass from the walls and around the windows. This is a bit of pain in the butt, the adhesive is really strong and the fiber glass is snugged under the window frame. Once I get all of this out, tearing off the adhesive flooring covering the plywood subfloor will be the final step of interior demo. I need to see the condition of the plywood and determine if some or all needs replacing.
Woot!!!
Top row of rivets coming out with drilling
Thin layer of fiberglass to tear out
Once I got rolling with the chisel on the bottom row or rivets, I was able to start tearing out the fiberglass.
Fiberglass dust itches like a bastard.
Right side wall is mainly out, I’ll need to dig out the bottom edge along the floor, might not be able to come out until I get the subfloor exposed.