'71 F350 motorhome conversion, "Bessie"

[Jacksdad]

A little bondo and a clean up around the edge, and Bessie has a rear window opening for the first time in almost 45 years

61 Correct window opening.jpg

56 Rear window fixed.jpg

[SeapineF37]

wow nice work!

[Jacksdad]

Thanks

[Jacksdad]

With the window opening roughed in, I moved on to the roof. I didn't get enough metal from the donor bump at the wrecking yard to close off the rest of the walk through, so I knew I was going to have to piece it in with something else. I wasn't too worried about the shape as it's a pretty simple compound curve, and I figured that shouldn't be too hard to replicate.
Rather than just weld in a patch and call it done though, I wanted to add some bracing before the cab was sealed off. Bumps have a single piece of reinforcing channel running front to back, and while I couldn't salvage the one at the wrecking yard, I've been toying with the idea of putting some lights on the cab. I didn't want to rely on the sheet metal alone to support them, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and fabricate a couple of braces that would also take the weight of anything I wanted to bolt to the roof.
I got a couple of pieces of rectangular steel and made a template that would follow the line of the roof, but give me a little space to add some kind of insulation/padding. I could put the gentler of the two bends in it with my trusty Harbor Freight pipe kinker, sorry, bender. The more extreme curve required a buttload of pie cuts and welds.

62 Bending the roof supports.jpg

64 Roof support trial fit.jpg

[Jacksdad]

The braces had a right angle cut in one end that would sit on the tubing I welded into the back of the cab above the rear window, and the front had an angled pad welded on to it, allowing it to sit on the small "shelf" above the windshield. I worked out the midpoint of the roof, and marked what I thought would be an ideal place for the off road lighting I had planned. I drilled through the braces and welded round tubing in place to prevent them being crushed by the bolts that would eventually hold everything in place on the roof.

65 Roof support weld.jpg

66 Roof support welded.jpg

67 Two roof supports complete.jpg

[Jacksdad]

I welded the braces in place and began to cover the back of the roof, the intention being to leave a rectangular hole at the front which I could then patch with one large piece. The first piece was going to be "joggled" in place with a recessed edge (as was the larger panel), so I cut reliefs in the tops of the braces to accommodate the extra thickness.
The rust holes in the donor panel kept getting put on a back burner. I promise I'll get around to them eventually...

68 Roof support front weld.jpg

70 Roof panel patch.jpg

71 Roof panel patch welded.jpg

[Jacksdad]

Here's where I got ahead of myself a little, in part because I was running out of time and starting to rush - my in laws were about to close on the house, and I was in imminent danger of losing my work space.
After I welded the filler piece in at the back, I realized that I'd miscalculated and the braces were a hair too high. In effect, they were sitting about an 1/8 of an inch proud of where I expected them to be, and were actually pushing up on the new sheet metal just enough to distort them slightly. Short of piling Bondo on the back to bury the bulges they were creating (nope...), I knew I had to go back in. After going over every fix I could think of, including removing the entire piece I'd just seam welded in place, I decided to cut out just enough to give me access to the braces. With an angle grinder, I could then take off enough metal to clear the roof without compromising their strength too much.
With the required metal ground out of the braces, I patched the hole (the new unnecessary hole... ) and began to make a filler piece for the roof.
For my sins, I also play with Mopars (I know, I know...), and a few years ago, my neighbor was good enough to park his F150 on the hood of my Plymouth Duster after an evening of partying. I saved the old hood for any future projects that would require mild steel patches, and as luck would have it, the curve was almost identical to the F350 roof. I made a template and chopped a chunk out of the hood, joggled the edge of the hole, and dropped it in place.
Yep, that's a 1973 Plymouth Duster hood in the roof of my 1971 F350. There you go...

95 Cutting the Duster hood.jpg

roof panels test fit 2.jpg

Roof panel test fit.jpg

[hfdco4]

Great work

[Jacksdad]

Thank you.
I had planned on getting back into the roof today, but a project in the apartment took longer than expected. Other than mechanical repairs, I haven't really done anything on the old girl since I lost the use of my in law's driveway. We're going to use her at the end of the week for what will likely be her last family trip before the camper box is torn down. The cab-over bed was cut out to give me clearance to work on the back of the cab, but the rest of the interior is intact fortunately.
Next weekend, I should hopefully have an update. And I'm on the hunt for a carb for the intake I pulled off a '63 Galaxie.

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[Jacksdad]

Sooo....after a seven year hiatus, we're back into the bump. After my in laws moved, I lost my workspace so all major work stopped, but last year, a good friend let me park her (Bessie) in his yard. He was fine with it just sitting there (he wanted to give me a much appreciated break from constantly moving the damned thing), but I think he overestimated his wife's appreciation of classic American RVs, so it's got to be gone soon. I'm already a ways into the conversion, so my posts will be playing catch up for a while.

[Jacksdad]

The cab over section has been slowly collapsing for years, and I had to take the roof mounted lights off to give me some clearance as it continued to sag. The siding was buckling on the passenger side, and it was getting harder to open and close the side door. I decided to take that section off first, so I took out the windows and bolted 2×4s through the siding to hold it up. I ran a Sawzall all the way around just behind the cab and backed the "truck" out from under it.

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[Jacksdad]

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[Jacksdad]

After almost 20 years of knowing her as an RV, it looks so freaking weird

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[Jacksdad]

As the tear down started, two things became apparent. It was rotted out much more than I realized, and someone must have had shares in a fiberglass insulation company. I was scratching like a dog even with gloves - the walls, roof, and even the floor were completely wrapped in it. The fact that my friend loves cacti didn't help either - between the insulation and evil plants, I was kept busy digging things out of my skin for days.

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[Jacksdad]

If you see what I mean...

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Most of the structure was like this behind the interior paneling and siding. It was shocking how bad it was, and it does show how diligent you need to be if you're considering an older RV. And Bessie lived her whole life in the Southwest