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So much cleaning!
So much cleaning!
July 17-19, 2020 - This 3-day weekend was a mix of super gross/gritty and super clean. We began on Friday evening by doing the same thing we do every time we go work on the bus: empty the bus. We have to remove all the tools, rags, PPE, and trash bags that live in the bus. When the bus was empty, we used the angle grinder and a brush attachment on the drill to loosen up all the caked on adhesive, years of dirt and school bus mess, and light surface rust. Then we swept and vacuumed up all the loose dust and rust, and applied Ospho.
Ospho is a rust converter, which means that it causes the iron oxide (rust) to chemically change to iron phosphate - an inert, hard substance that turns the metal black. Ana was super excited about the chemistry component of this part of the project! There are other rust converter products on the market, but be sure you're buying a rust converter and not just a rust dissolver or rust remover. Those products will not do anything to convert the existing rust, stop it in its tracks, or prevent new rust from forming.
Ospho was easy to apply and use. We used paintbrushes to brush a thin layer of Ospho on all rusted surfaces on the inside of the bus and then waited 24 hours.
And by "waited," we mean "did a lot of other jobs that don't interfere with the Ospho's ability to properly do its job." For example, Ana climbed under the bus to disconnect the old AC hoses from the chassis (with goggles and a mask to protect herself from the raining dirt) while Elad removed the connections and belt from the compressor in the engine bay.
We also removed more wires. There were many wires connecting the rat's nest to the dash, but many of the wires around the dash were no longer needed. For example, the wire connecting to the switch that turned on the internal AC was useless because we removed the internal AC. Tracing and removing wires released years of dirt and dust, hair ties, a marble, and a few stickers.
The engine grease and caked-on dirt make us quite filthy, and it's all so difficult to get off your skin. We're lucky that Tinkermill carries so much Cherry Bomb because it's a fantastic soap with small bits of pumice to scrub the dirt and grease off. We've also taken to showering with Dawn dish soap after we work on the bus. If it's good enough for the little ducklings and penguins that get stuck in oil spills, it's good enough for me.
Once the Ospho had enough time to cure properly, we brushed off the white powder that formed in the spots where we used too much or where there was no rust to begin with, and cleaned the bus with an solvent-based cleaning product (generally anything strong enough that you need gloves to use it) to fully neutralize the Ospho. Again, more cleaning.
After removing the wires, we took the time to super clean the driver's area. Although we had removed the old rubber flooring and vacuumed, we hadn't really cleaned it. Ana scrubbed the area with a wire brush to loosen the layers of dirt and used the same cleaning product to really scrub the area clean. Turns out this area was bright yellow! So clean!
After cleaning everything, we applied Bondo Body Filler to all the leftover holes from bolts and screws. Neither of us had used Bondo before, so it took us a few tries to get the right ratio of putty to hardener. Once we got into a rhythm, it was really nice to see the holes disappearing and knowing the Bondo would make a super strong bond to the metal. The Bondo needed time to cure and harden, so we had to wait 24 hours before we could sand down the surfaces and clean the bus floor. Again.
Then came the fun part on Sunday night: painting! This part felt really monumental and special because so far all we had been doing was destroying the inside of the bus. This was the first time we were adding something. The beginning of construction!
We decided to go with Rustoleum's High Performance Clean Metal Primer, which is an oil based enamel paint meant to protect and prevent rust on slightly rusty/clean metal surfaces. Even though we worked really hard to grind off rust and used the Ospho, you can never be too careful and we want Brienne to have a really good foundation. Painting was easy and didn't take too long, although we did have to run to the store to get another quart of paint.
New lesson for Ana and Elad: whenever you think you have enough of a consumable, buy another. You're going to use more than you think or your rough estimate of square footage might be off, so go ahead and buy another of whatever you're getting. Paint, screws, fabric, etc. And if you end up not using the extra one, you can return it.
Before
Before
Before cleaning and grinding. Red rust and dirt clinging to the old adhesive under the tracks.
During
During
After letting the Ospho do the work, the rust is black and the floor had a white powdery layer on it.
After
After
Primed with rust preventing paint! She looks so clean and lovely!
Sample videoHere's our first attempt at a time lapse video. The clouds kept coming and going, so it kind of looks like we're in a scary movie trailer. But maybe that's better than literally watching paint dry?
When you finish painting the bus but you forgot to close the windows, lock the doors, the only thing left to do is to rock climb your way out of the bus without touching any fresh paint. And then go back and do it again because you left the magnetic flashlight stuck to the ceiling.
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