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Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:16 pm

Any progress? Your doing a great job so far!!!!

Mon Jan 11, 2010 5:27 am

Sorry guys!
No progress this week. Its been record breaking cold here in florida. I swear, if it were to rain here, we would have snow :shock: :shock: :shock:

It looks like the weather will be back to normal this weekend. I plan on getting the drivers side dog leg back in tact and the passenger side started. After those two are complete, the floor pan will be back in and welded together.

Hang tight!

Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:42 pm

Professor Dred wrote: Sorry guys!
No progress this week. Its been record breaking cold here in florida. I swear, if it were to rain here, we would have snow :shock: :shock: :shock:

Hang in there Prof. Dred... I'm like you, having trouble getting motivation to get out and work in this cold. Haha, all the guys up north are wishing they could get temps in the 30s and 40s to work. I hear it will be better soon! 8)

You going to the quaker steak and lube show this weekend?

Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:16 am

HAHA.yeah. I'm such a loser. I've lived here 25 years and I only remember it getting this cold 1 time.

Anyhow, this weekend is full. Workin on Rita and my band's new cd recording is wrapping up this weekend too, so, probably no Quaker Steak for me.

Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:35 pm

Professor Dred wrote: Workin on Rita and my band's new cd recording is wrapping up this weekend too, so, probably no Quaker Steak for me.

Good luck!

Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:49 am

Hey all, Sorry its been a while since I've last posted.
Actually, there's not a whole lot more progress but I have spent some time getting the dogleg section to fit in just right.

The beam that runs in front of the drivers door was pretty rotten at the bottom.

And the new dogleg isn't quite a perfect fit. Actually, it is a little short and warped.

You can see in this pic that its a bit short.

And in this pic its a bit warped at the rear.

So, I'm going to have to find a way to bend it to the right form.
I did, however, come up with an idea for the front section. First I cut out all the bad metal. Then I took a piece of sheet metal and started forming it all the way around the bottom of the beam. I left some flaps that are going to be bent down which will give the dogleg a part to rest on. I'm also going to bend the short flaps at the end of the dogleg down as they are not going to do any good in the position they are in now. (supposed to be welded straight to the beam, but they don't reach, f'ers)

If anybody has a better idea for this, please speak up. This is the best I could come up with.

Anyhow, here's a couple pics of getting the metal in place:

So, now it's going to be a bit longer before I can get back to working on this. My band has a couple important gigs coming up and I can't risk hurting my money making fingers before these gigs (go ahead, call me a sissy..lol).

Hope everyone is doing well, been a busy man for the first month of the year. Hopefully things will slow down enough for me to get this and the other side done in a timely fashion.
Then I can finally get the floor board back in. That should be a breeze compared to this.

Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:14 am

Nice work you've been doing.

I just did the inner part of the step last weekend. I'm using 2 separate inner and outer panels as I wanted to keep part of the OG step that was still decent, I'll just trim off what I need from the outer panel and blend it in to the existing metal.

Anyway, 2 things. I had to be brutalise the panel to get it anywhere near, I had all manner of clamps and a jack under it to press it tight against the floor. Got there in the end though, however, the two captive nuts at the bottom for mounting the bumper were miles off (you can see where I drilled them out) I ended up using the original strengthening bracket and nuts from the OG step, luckily it hadn't corroded away! You might want to check this before you go too far as it will be a pain to address later.

Ant

Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:18 am

Any Updates?

Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:22 am

Garsh Guys, I'm sorry.
My band has had a few nice gigs lately and I just can't risk cutting up my fingers at the moment (cause it's happened before)

I really was planning on getting back to work this weekend.
Just have one more gig tomorrow night, then I can 'risk' it.

BTW.. if anybody is in the Tampa area and digs reggae, Awesome show tomorrow: Stephen Marley w/ Trinity 7!!! @ The Ritz Ybor

Hang Tight!

Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:20 pm

Are you guys backing Stephen? If so, that would be a dream gig! Good luck bredren!

Tue Feb 23, 2010 1:22 pm

Nah, we have our very own awesome frontman. We do all originals.
Thanks for the Big UP!

Will let you know how it goes when I post my progress on Rita over the weekend.

Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:23 am

Ok, so I'm only posting because I know some people are looking for it.
I only had a few hours over the weekend and got the extra metal for supporting the front of the dogleg in place and welded to the vertical beam.

The dogleg is still going to take some finessing to get it to match up correctly to the section under the seat. This sure aint an easy task.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take any pics. If the weather plays nice this weekend, I should have the dogleg installed on the drivers side and starting to do the same thing on the passenger side.

I do, however, have a nice pic to show from the Stephen show.

More to come.

Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:49 am

Well, just my luck.
I spent a couple hours trimming everything up and getting the dogleg in place and clamped down. Rolled out my welder, hooked everything up, got all my protective clothing on and turned it on. Fan runs but cannot get the wire feed to work. Even tapping the contact brings no spark. :cry:

Bummer! I tried messing with it and checking all connections but thing just wont work.
(Stupid Murphy and his damn laws. Who put him in charge anyhow?)

Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:04 pm

Dred,
Pull the gun tip off and make sure the wire's not stuck in there. They burn back into the tip sometimes. You'll never get it out, just get a new tip on there and roll on!

Sun Mar 07, 2010 1:41 pm

Yeah.. pretty sure that isn't it. The wire is free moving in there. I've had that problem before. Bu even when I take the clamp off for the feeder wheel, it still wont spin. There's something wrong with the wheel drive for sure.

I'll take it apart soon and see if maybe there's a loose wire inside.

Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:23 pm

keep up the great work ! fantastic progress keep at it and post more!

Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:21 am

Welp, it looks as though I'm back in business. I finally got a chance to mess with the welder last night. Errrrr... only thing is I'm not really sure what was wrong with it. I opened it up and jiggled some stuff around as I didn't see anything blatantly out of whack.

Anyhow, the point is, it is working now and I can get back in there this weekend and Git'r'dun.

Sun Mar 21, 2010 5:49 am

Hokay! Got some work done that I feel pretty good about. So, the welder worked fine..... I, however, did not. I suck at welding, but the work I did will suffice for me.

I had to weld the dogleg footstep back in starting with the rear side as I couldn't figure out a decent way to bend the metal without screwing it up too bad. If I held the piece with the front of it angled away from the bus, the rear matched pretty darn close. So, that's what I did. I clamped the piece in by placing a 2x4 resting on top of the seat pedestal and hing in the doorjam.

Then I just welded away at the rear. After I felt I had a good weld on there, I removed the clamp and then clamped it at the front horizontally to the bus frame and pulled it in place. Then I welded in the front.

Turned out pretty sturdy and looks pretty straight on. The only problem I have is my crappy welding beads. Ohh well, practice makes perfect, and I have a lot more practice left to do here..teehee

Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:05 am

There ya go professor...that's using your noggin'! Nice job. Looks good. :)

Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:38 pm

Professor Dred wrote: ...The only problem I have is my crappy welding beads.
That's why they make grinders. ;)