Sunday 28 April 2013

YAY! Finally got some more carpet. That's the front DONE.

FINALLY Bunnings got in some more carpet and we finished off the front hatch.

As it is directly above the engine, lots of HEAT and NOISE comes up from there, even though it is insualted beneath. We decided to step p the noise and heat protection. First went fibreglass insulation wool (this also has a sound proof rating), then a welding blanket (fibreglass blend) and then the carpet.

Since the bus isn't registered, we haven't taken it for a drive to test out how well it insulates but it sure looks the part!


We have been playing with a couple of sections of interior lining but nothing to write about just yet.

Sunday 14 April 2013

Lots of little jobs

Our finances say 'no' to doing anything expensive to the bus, like adding solar, water or awnings (all of the things we'd like to be doing but can't afford!)

Until we save up a bit, we've been doing lots of little jobs.

Here's the progress.
Passenger seat frame getting ready for welding by one engineer to make another engineer happy!

Just like brand new!
 
Driver's seat frame luckily needed no adjustment.
 
Ta daaa! Front is all done (except for that bloody engine hatch cover. Bunnings haven't ordered the new carpet yet).
 
 
Spray painted the plastic moulded bits which go on the roof/wall. Cupboards will be built over them but they needed a freshen up. We will line the roof with new stuff but it would have been difficult to line the curvy bits, so we kept these.
 
Before: Rusty old wheel hubs.
Shiny new paint job! Charcoal hammer coat (we didn't paint they tyre, that's just rusty dust from the steel brush we cleaned the rims up with).
 
I didn't get a before shot of the bull bar but it was all yucky too. Now it looks just like a new one too.
 
Insulation has started to go in. We can't do too much because we have to do electrics and plumbing. Luckily this section is free of that.
 
We've also painted the sun visors, side mirrors, lined the cabin roof, and today started lining the walls which don't have any wires/pipes to go in them (I'll add photos of that another time).



Tuesday 2 April 2013

First engineer visit.

Today we took the drive to visit our engineer.

I got my permit to drive an unregistered vehicle last week because of all of the public holidays over easter.

It was a long and noisy trip today because the bus has been stripped to bare shell and the engine noise really echoes around in there! Thankfully it will be a little muffled when all the stuff is installed.

The bus did the trip easily and the GPS worked a treat, putting us right on the engineer's doorstep. He bounced into the bus, made himself comfy on a carpet covered wheel arch and got to talking.

He seemed happy with the size and condition of the bus and took millions of pictures. We need to get under and fill all of the holes in the floor from the seats (they need to be filled because of potential exhaust problems). I'll take photos of the process and send them to him.

He helped us out with what we needed to do to install the seats and he thought we had done an okay job of covering the dash and he gave us many tips and hints on what we can and can not do for the rest of the build. We got some printed out checklists to ensure we don't forget anything along the way.

A couple of hours later and a couple of $$$ we were on our way home again.

So, all in all a rather easy and painless first visit. Let's hope the rest of the build is so easy and carefree.

Monday 1 April 2013

A bit more of the same before the first engineer's visit.

Just a quick post to show you some developments since the last post (not many).

We finished off the carpet and hubby bought some more to do the top of the engine box but we decided to carpet the space under the bed instead. First we had to rip up all of the vinyl and then I got in there and scrubbed and scrubbed. I have the majority of the dirt out and the lack of skin on my knuckles to prove it! I've wiped down the inside of the panels and done the windows. We shouldn't get much more dust fluffing up when we drive to the engineer tomorrow. We will do the top of the engine box when we get more carpet (perhaps tomorrow on the way?)

Looks like there isn't a lot of flooring needed for the other parts and all going well tomorrow, we might just buy some and get into it... depending on how the visit to the engineer goes. As you can probably tell, I'm a little nervous that he will want to change all of my plans!  We have the permit for driving an unregistered vehicle and the 2 1/2 hour trip should take my mind off it. We are also taking the new seats to see what we need to do to install them.

Today we hooked up the reversing camera (for a test) and tried a DVD in the multimedia thingy. We also punched in the engineer's address to see if the GPS works... it looks good! Hubby temporarily hooked up one of the new speakers so we can listen to music on the way and we can even plug my iPhone in if the radio goes into a 'grey area' (we are very rural).

Anyway, I'll do another update soon. I have a list of questions for our engineer and we will have to wait and see what he says next!

Here are a couple of pictures of the small amount of progress.
The carpeted section under the bed. I guess it's a boot.
 
I'm pretty proud of the dash. Can't wait until those horrible, ruined, beige seats are gone. When we took the driver's seat out, it was actually installed with one side higher than the other. I can not believe they allowed that to happen. Oh well, not for long.