And now for the information on the new siding..........
installed in January and February 2003
Most
every pic here is a "Thumbnail" shot. To see a larger view of the pic...
Click on the picture.
Now that we have the siding installed,
the BUS doesn't look so torn apart. In fact it is starting to have
some shape again.
Notice that the bus does not
look out of proportion as I expected it might. I actually lifted the
roof line by exactly 12 inches.
This view shows the left side with it's
original colors and with some olive primer paint covering over the words. As
I look it over I am noticing that the Orange and Yellow lines curve over the
front tire. I had not noticed this before.
You can see where I removed
the center door. I installed steel tubing in an "x" pattern to solidify and
strengthen the infrastructure of the frame. The opening will become a door
to the tank bay.
The next few shots show how tight the
aluminum is to the framing. The duct tape you see is holding up an aluminum
shim to insure that the siding goes on as straight as possible. There is
also a paper barrier between the aluminum shim and the steel framing to
insure no corrosion. The siding is 0.065" thick and is riveted every 1 1/2
inch.
This inside view shows the
new steel framework I installed to support the fiberglass cap and siding.
This rear shot shows the raised airbox
space that has been used to insure the proper amount of space should I
change the engine for one with a turbo on top.
Note the crossbracing of
steel tubing. The original design did not have the angles tubing but I
decided to put it in anyways.
Here is a better shot of the
new inside framework to support the fiberglass cap and siding.
The siding over the
windshield shows the increased height.
The original setup for siding
had the corrugated stainless steel panel below the large sheet of aluminum
which was the window line originally uncovered with a drip tray. I
installed a 6 inch piece of aluminum siding to cover OVER the stainless to
keep the weather out.
Again, the added aluminum
panel to cover over the stainless to keep out the weather.