Bus skin

[chazwood]

I would have preferred aluminum skin but it does not come in 35 ft lengths. My old 82' had rivets all over the sides but the 92 has smooth sides. Kind of wanted to stay with that look.

On a different note. When I bought the bus a month ago I noticed the skins were bulging out noticeably. I thought the steel frames under the windows were rotted at the bottom and the skin was the only thing holding up the roof. When I looked under there everything looked great. ( partially due to the fact that the bottom sill is made of stainless steel). So what was causing the buldge you say? This year bus has sections of ridgid foam insulation in between the frame work. The foam was sticking out proud of the metal by 1/2 inch. It had to be built that way. Crazy. When you rivet the skin to the metal, at top and bottom, the foam pushes out the middle causing this slightly bloated look. I was happy to know the frame was fine.
What caused the skin rust?
The black rubber trim and channel covering the top row of rivets catches water. Eventually the water rusts out the center part of the steel rivets inside the channel  and water leaks down the back of the skin and gets caught in the plastic wrap glued to the skin. There it sits and does it's evil work. I think I will just eliminate the channel and rubber trim and just paint over the rivets.

[Slow Rider]

Hi Chaz,

Glad you found something that works for you.  It would help a lot if you would put your general area ( country, state, province, etc. ) and the type of bus you have in your signature.  You might find a bus nut lives close by and at least it help folks recommend places if they knew your general location.

Frank

[chazwood]

Good idea, Frank. I actually went into the profile earlier today to try and update the picture and info and leave a link to a website but couldn't get it to gel. Must call in the experts. (my kids)
 I drive a 1992 MCI 102c3 with a L10 cummins and a push button ht740 or hd740 Allison. With a little rust under the belly but a flawless interior and good looking outside. And what's more...every single little button on the whole bus actually still works. Amazing.

[Jeremy]

This year bus has sections of ridgid foam insulation in between the frame work. The foam was sticking out proud of the metal by 1/2 inch. It had to be built that way. Crazy. When you rivet the skin to the metal, at top and bottom, the foam pushes out the middle causing this slightly bloated look.

Chances are that the skin was installed first, and then expanding foam injected between the outer skin and inner panels (assuming there are inner panels). The expansion force of the foam is considerable, and will easily distort sheet metal

Jeremy

[Oonrahnjay]

Chances are that the skin was installed first, and then expanding foam injected between the outer skin and inner panels (assuming there are inner panels). The expansion force of the foam is considerable, and will easily distort sheet metal

Jeremy

    That's what I was thinking, too.  Because of this, there are now different "expansion" grades for spray foam installation (at least, they're available in the US -- I'm assuming that they are in the UK, too, Jeremy).  Usually "door grade" spray foam has less expansion force so if someone's spraying into an area that's covered by a large flat piece of otherwise unsupported sheet metal, it might be good to use that.

     FWIW,  BH    NC   USA

[chazwood]

Nope. This foam is cut to fit foam. Individual pieces inside the frame openings. Nice smooth beveled edges.  Loose from the framing.
 I sprayed in the foam on my 82 and this stuff is different. It's thicker than the frame material and therefore stands the skin off a bit.
Maybe the skin on the inside has bowed in and is pushing out the foam, but I seriously doubt it (having removed inner skins before.) These inserts just look too thick for the job.

[Oonrahnjay]

Nope. This foam is cut to fit foam. Individual pieces inside the frame openings. Nice smooth beveled edges.  Loose from the framing.
 I sprayed in the foam on my 82 and this stuff is different. It's thicker than the frame material and therefore stands the skin off a bit.
Maybe the skin on the inside has bowed in and is pushing out the foam, but I seriously doubt it (having removed inner skins before.) These inserts just look too thick for the job.

    Interesting.  I'm stumped at that.

[ChrisP]

http://busconversion101.com/one_piece_blank_out.htm

[busguy01]

I replaced the roof skin on my MCI EL3 - one piece nearly 40' long and 8.5' wide. got it from MCI - Just a thought.  It is glued down and we streched it as it was installed - good time to have several good friends!
JimH

[Scott & Heather]

Jim, that piece you got from MCI, was it aluminum? And how thick was it


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