Thursday, May 14, 2009

Bus Conversion Day 9 - Bondo

I did not get a lot done today. I had to go back into town and get more rivets to complete the emergency exit door so that ate into my time.

The emergency exit is now done.

Next we went around and flashed all the window openings on the inside where the frame meets the foam. This just provides a better seal.

Here is the passenger side flashed.



And the drivers side.



After this was done I decided to go ahead and treat the metal that was added to the bus with a chemical (Not sure what it is called) that etches the metal so it can better accept primer and paint.



The guy at the sheet metal place was nice enough to give me this stuff to use on the metal. I applied it with a rag and washed it off about 30 min later.

Next I decided to tackle the job of fixing the holes that the swing out Stop Sign had left along with the holes left from the emergency exit door that we removed.

Here is a picture of the holes before we started.



The holes that the screws had been in sort of protruded out so I took my hammer and tapped them in slightly. Then I used a course grit sand paper to rough the surface.



After some sanding I was ready to apply the Bondo.



I picked up all these items at Wal-Mart today when I was in town. The total cost came to around to $25.00.



Along with these items I got a can of rust converter (Turns rust into a sandable, paintable primer), some sand paper and the hand sander seen above.

I mixed a small amount of Bondo with the hardener as instructed on the can.

Here is my first sanded coat of Bondo. Man this stuff dries fast.



I am getting the hang of it now and it is coming along nice.

Here is the last coat I put on today. It should be all done tomorrow.



Before calling it a day I decided to go ahead and install one of the sheet metal plates that the sheet metal guy cut to cover the Emergency Flashing lights. (Top right in pic below)



Here is a pic of the plate before I modified it.



I am going to be cutting rounded corners on this so I used a carpet glue container (top right) as a pattern for the corner. I traced around the container with a construction pencil to get my mark.




Next I cut off the access metal and then re-cut right on my line. This made it a bit easier.

Here is the final finished piece.



Now for the installation. First I removed both of the lights.



I put a thick bead of caulk on the inner side of the metal to create a seal before riveting the metal in place.

Then I drilled a hole in the center along the top and riveted it to secure it in place. I did the same at the bottom. Then I drilled all my holes and put in my rivets.



I am done for the day!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

just a thought, instead of removing the Flashers, you should have replaced them with spots so as to light up an area at night.

Bus Project said...

I think at one time we considered that. Just decided against it.