Working on the rear bed/seats

Things are moving along nicely on the seat upholstery.  I got a chance to work on them a bit this past weekend.
The cover for the seat back is done, the pad for the seat base is assembled.  Need to attach the side panels to that for completion.

The Jump seat is complete.

I finished the jump seat last night.  I completed the back cushion and screwed it to the seat frame.

Next I needed to trim out the back of the upper section of the seat that faces the drivers seat.  I cut a piece of treated cardboard stock and glued a piece of vinyl to it.  I glued over the edge and sewed a decorative stitch around the edge to give it a finished look.  I then glued it to the seat back back with some construction adhesive.

  It came out pretty good.  On to the flip out bed cushions and some more color decisions.   I still can't figure out what color to paint the exterior.

Work starts on the interior

I started working on building the jump seat for the dining "room" table this weekend.  I started by measuring the height and depth of the existing fold-down bed and translating those dimensions to the jump seat.  I then drew up a quick full size layout/sketch on an old piece of butcher paper and when I was convinced I could make it work, I started committing it to wood.  I used an old scrap of birch plywood I had laying around the shop.  I cut the seat platform and the back angle and left the edge that meets the body metal untrimmed.  I held the side piece to the body metal and transferred the shape to the wood using a simple compass with a pencil mounted to it.  I cut both sides of the seat base and test fit to be sure it sat OK.  I added the front  panel and some support bracing for structure.

I then cut the seat bottom and back from scraps of plywood and attached the foam to the wood with spray glue.  The foam for the bottom cushion is 4" thick and the foam for the back is 2" think.  I made a mistake here, I felt the foam in the store and it seemed just right for density, however, once I had it made and I actually got to sit on it, it was pretty hard.  Oh well, I will just have to live with it now I guess.

 

 

I used a blind insert to attach the seat to the body steel where I could not reach the nuts, and I used simple 1/4-20 bolts to attach the seat where I had access.

 

The next trick was to upholster the foam/plywood cushions.  I started by gluing a piece of 1/2" plus pad to the back of the center section of vinyl and after some careful measurements, I sewed the decorative stitch lines down the center section.

 
I then measured out the width of the edge pieces for the top of the cushion and cut them to width.  I glued  plus pad to these as well, and stitched them to the newly created center section.  This gave me the assembly that would become the top, or sitting surface for the cushion.

I placed this on top of the seat and marked out the top pad using the foam as a pattern.  I made up my contrasting edge binding and cut the side panels to width.  All that was left, was to assemble the sides to the top with the binding at the seam.

The binding foot for my old Mitsubishi sewing machine made pretty easy work of this.  The only trick was the corners, you need to go very slowly around the corners or it would be impossible to stay on target with the stitch line.
I wrapped the material around the edges of the plywood base board and stapled it in place.

I was pretty happy with my first cushion.  I think it will go a lot faster for the seat back and the rest of the cushions.
Last night I applied the cherry color stain to the base.  It came out pretty good.  I will put up those pics soon.

Front Seats

After doing some serious looking into the structure of the front seats, I have decided to give up on the OG seats and replace them with a set I bought on Craigslist that came from a 1994 Dodge Shadow.  They were in great shape and I got them for $40 for the pair.  The headrests come off so they look alot like the originals. 

 
I discovered there were many broken springs in the OG seats and I did not want to pay the $75-$100 just for the springs.  I would still meed to spend $200+ for the recovering.  Not good.  I will keep the OG seats for the next owner to restore I guess.  Just doesn't seem to make sense to me.
It took a bit of fiddling around to get them to fit.  I started with the passenger seat (that one was the worst).  I cut the original mounting brackets off the seat sliders and then I made up some steel mounts to adapt to the bus seat mount steel.  The passenger side went pretty well.  Drivers side next.

 

 

 

 

It's Alive!

Finally, I have the engine re-installed and it fired right up. I let it warm up for a few minutes and shut it off. After it cooled down, I adjusted the valves again (one was a bit loose and made it clatter) It sounds like a new engine. It warms up nice, blows heat, idles perfectly and seems to have a great rev-up. I can't wait to take it for a ride. It's not going to happen until the salt is gone from the roads though.

 

 

I re-installed the electrical in the rear, tail lights, backup lights, side markers, engine wiring, etc. and just generally neatened things up in the engine compartment.
As you can see in the pics, I make new lining for the insulation panels that go above the engine. I cut these from Masonite peg board from the originals which I used as patterns. I glued a thin sheet of foam on top of the panels so the assembly makes contact with the top of the steel. This cuts down on the sound transmitted to the bus interior.

 

The mechanicals are basically complete now. I am excited to get working on the interior. A nice change of scenery for sure.