Get out your Leonard Cohen… demo is about done.

Over the past few weeks I’ve found the time to really dig in on the bus. The subfloor is completely removed. The two side doors and frames are out. The heater is gone. Chair rails have been cut off the frame. Wiring harnesses have been investigated and a better understanding of how to proceed with the electrical system is forming. The list of to-do’s is massive. Most important right now is getting the exterior walls built and the subfloor installed. I’m really looking forward to building rather than demoing.

Subfloor be gone.

Final piece of the subfloor in hand. Had no grey before starting.

The decision to remove the subfloor had some regret. It was a 3/4 plywood, vinyl laminated floor, bolted and glued to the frame. Underneath lurked hidden dangers of wiring harnesses, fuel tanks, brake lines, plumbing for AC/heat and a small neighborhood child. Finding some areas around the doors to have significant rot made me glad about the decision and all the work it took to remove.

The box in the top right corner is the heater, turns out it was plumbed into the truck’s radiator.

One of the areas that proved challenging was getting the floor detached from the sheet metal that surrounded the seat rails which are welded to the frame. Scroll through and you can see the process of cutting out the floor and prying the sheet metal off the frame.

First victim of unintended cut under the deck. Are brake lines important? The bus has a few so this should be fine…

Rotted wood over the battery compartment. This was a project cause there was a large piece of 1/8" steel bolted to the frame from the wheelchair lift.

Found it!

This is the terminal where the lead from the battery meets the lead from the alternator and goes to the fuse panel. Glad I didn't saw through it.

Floor completely removed.

Then this happened.

I’m taking out both doors on the passenger side of the bus. The double rear doors was the location of the wheelchair lift and the passenger door/stairwell is located just behind the front passenger seat.

The rear door location is likely to be where the couch will go. The idea is to build a wall with a large sliding window that will open and a lower “hatch” doorway that will fold open giving access to the storage under the couch from outside the van.

The passenger door/stairwell is where the kitchen is going. Specifically where the cooktop and sink will be. This area will be a wall with window and below the sealed propane locker, the idea being that the cook top and eventual heater will be located just above the propane locker for easy connection.

Has anyone built walls and windows on a vehicle that will twist and move as it barrels down the highway. If so, contact me. I have a few questions.

These came off surprisingly easy, I had access to the bolts on the hinges and was able to let them fall as the last top hinge was released.

The frame was a pain in the ass. The metal strut on the bottom sill of the opening is totally rotted. I’m kicking around a few ideas of replacing this and how it will fit into my idea of framing out the wall.

This came out relatively easy. Clipped all the wiring to the power door and then removed the bolts to the frame. I was surprised that it was all one piece, prior to removing I couldn’t tell exactly how it was constructed.

Factory welds are strong.

One item I’ve been dreading and is close to the last major demo to-do’s is cutting the chair rails off of the frame. This is heavy duty steel, factory welded to the frame of the truck. They were meant to stay, and the original subfloor is cut around them for the passenger seats to bolt into. A few of the people I’ve watched on YouTube doing camper builds have decided to leave them and cut their floor around them… or not remove their floor at all.