Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Here is the bus with the new carrier roof top air conditioners mounted on top,it took me most of last sunday to get them fitted.
I put the aircon units over the old escape hatches.I started by removing the hatch itself,I then removed the rubber seal to uncover the rivets holding down the metal seal lip.I knocked the heads off the rivets with a grinder and pried the metal lip off.This still leaves the stainless inner lip which a simply hammered down level.
I then made this box section steel frame and welded it into each hatch opening to get the 14 inch opening required for the aircon unit.the top of the new frame is set flush with the top of the original roof spars.
I then cut the Aluminum skin for the top with the appropriate hole in it,sealed it and fastened it down.The aluminum is from the sheets I saved from the interior ceilingThe wiring is next along with insulating the blocked of portions of the old hatch and covering that with luan like the rest of the ceiling.Once all this is complete I can then get on with putting up the engineered T&G ceiling.