AN ORGANIC BUS CAN'T HAVE PLASTICS
After a long process of turning about a bajillion nuts to get out all of the seats from our bus (check out the post about it here), we took some time to clean up. We swept all of the debris, gathered our tools and reorganized all the misc pieces and parts that we plan to reuse.
Now that we’ve finished a quick clean, we turn our focus to removing all of that nasty discolored toxic plastic that lines the interior cabin of the bus. We expected there to be plastic wrapping the entire interior. What we discovered, much to our pleased surprise, all of the upper portion where the roof curves was covered by sheets of aluminum. This is a fortunate find since we are going to need some to cover a few of the windows that will be removed to make room for some better functioning RV style windows.
The process of removing all the interior plastics is pretty straightforward. If you see a screw, take it out. Once you’ve gotten all of the screws removed the plastics will just start falling like a card house in the wind. The pieces in the back that are molded into the corners will be a bit trickier. I made quick work of them by using my razor knife and cutting them down to more easily removable pieces.
After you get done taking out the upper plastics, you can turn your attention to the sides of the passenger compartment and the panels that are there. Again, just take out any screws or bolts and carefully remove the pieces that they attach to the frame.
Once all of the interior cosmetic parts are out you will be left with a shell loaded with insulation and fireproofing material. I would normally show all of this in the video, but because of the sensitive nature that comes with photography equipment, I decided to take it all out and just let you figure it out on your own somewhat. Basically, throw on a pair of gloves, some long clothes, and a mask and start chucking that stuff out the window. Once you’re done, open the windows all the way, and let the bus air out for a bit to let any fiberglass settle. Then another round of clean up!
Check out the video of how we took out all of the plastic to get ready for surface prep. I’ve also added a time lapse video of the work flow that ended with a stripped out interior ready for the wire wheels.
