Demolition - Subfloor

Removing the fasteners took sooooo long that it was such a glorious feat to take off the plywood subfloor. 

Here's our reaction to uncovering the first board ...

Click to play V I D E O: Bus Demo - Subfloor

We had been debating whether or not to pull up the floor, but we were glad at this point to do it. We found some rust towards the front, we discovered that Michael had room to move his gear shifter from the right side to the left (more on that in another post), and we generally learned more about what we were dealing with. It was a bear of a chore to lift up that sucker, but now we knew we could put a new, more soundproof floor back in.

There was also the issue of taking off the seat tracks which were welded to the center chase's metal frame. Taking them out would mean that we could lay the new subfloor more easily. But we were fearful (and pooped) that taking out those rails would be another multi-day labor. Michael asked advice on a bus conversion forum and was told it was pretty easy.

To take off the welds, we had to use two grinders. One heavy mother-effer that only Michael could handle. It was so big and solid that Michael used this nylon strap as a sort of necklace that relieved his hands of some of the weight. It had belonged to his grandfather! Back in the day, factories made their tools out of steel man! Not the aluminum and plastic we see these days! Anyway, Michael used that get as much of the welds off as he could. 

Since his grinder was so humongous and thick, however, we needed to switch to a smaller, 4" version to get in between the frame and the rail. The smaller one also let us do the job without accidentally cutting any of those cables in the center chase. We still hadn't figured out which ones were important. I think this added volumes of sweat when I was working near those cables. Michael warned that if I knicked the wrong one (e.g., the cable that carries the gas from the tank to the engine), the bus could be rendered immobile! ACK, the pressure.

Taking the welds off turned out to be not too bad of an endeavor. It took a while for me to get used to the task because I was applying too much pressure and consequently causing the grinder's engine to work harder. Michael would hear it struggle, give me tips on how to properly use it, and then give me a second-, third- and fourth chance at wielding it. By the time I finished the welds however I felt I had just gotten into a groove that I was looking around at what else I could grind off! Fun times!


Dick once again gave great advice. He has converted 5 busses and one fire engine and knows some great tricks on doing things with less effort. Once we had pried off about 4' of the track. We would bend it to about 45 degrees from the floor level and then swing it wildly from side to side. This motion used the weight of the freed portion of the track to pry off the next weld without our exerting ourselves! I was so greatful to Dick for all his help that I wanted to give him a gift to say thanks. I found a nice bottle of port but didn't know that he had been dry for so many years now! D'oh! But he was gracious and said that his wife would enjoy it.