So, where to begin working on a 7-1/2 ton forty-seven year old military truck you may ask yourself? Well, at least that's what I asked myself when I awoke the next morning after it arrived at my house and realized it wasn't going anywhere without my help. The answer was actually quite simple.
You do whatever you have to do to make it legal first!
Everything else second. In that regard, I had to prove to the DMV (in other words
The Man) that my vehicle was an RV. This is because if it's an RV, I don't need a new classification of license (Class C license are fine for motorhomes under 42' long), it won't be a commercial vehicle (and pay registration by the tonnage - which equated to a little more than an additional thousand dollars per registration!), and in general will avoid an entire boat load of potential legal entanglement. So, commercial bad, RV good. But what in the world makes a vehicle an RV? Ends up, there isn't a hard and fast definition according to the DMV. The DMV employee I spoke to said basically,
"As long as it's not a sleeping bag thrown in the back of a pickup, and actually looks more permanent, it all good." I am, of course, paraphrasing, but that isn't far off.
 |
| The original interior, wooden planks and all! |
So, I start by fixing up the interior of the van body, with the aim of getting a permanent bed bolted to the interior as quickly as possible. The interior had been painted a sloppy white sometime in the last twenty years, and had been 1960 lime green before then. God knows why the military chose some of the colors it did forty years ago, but I can tell you the original colors were truly hideous. It looks like some rushed recruits slapped some white paint on with brushes over the original paint scheme, and then proceeded to do their biznatch (like repairing jet parts) for the next twenty years or so. To say that everything was grimy, covered in dust, and banged up to hell didn't quite cover it. It was, however, a place to start.
 |
| Let the restoration begin! |
So, after sweeping out the interior, I decided to take my new 25 gallon air compressor and air sander out for a spin. I basically attacked everything within sight in the van interior, floor, walls, doors, etc. I went through several sets of sand paper, and covered myself in layers or old dust and paint. My goal was not to sand it down to the metal or anything foolish like that, but just to get enough of the grime off that I could paint over it effectively. It took some time, as the interior dimensions are something like twelve feet by eight feet, but eventually I got enough done to proceed.
 |
| Nasty, nasty rust! Must eliminate! |
The floors are made of wooden planks (like an old sailing ship!) with two metal sections that are literally the tops of the wheel wells over the rear eight wheels (four to the rear left, four to the rear right - gotta love three axle vehicles!). The interior walls are metal sheets riveted together, with a little lip at the bottom that bolts to the plank floor. It is here that I found my first signs or real corrosion and damage. Basically most of the metal had rusted to nothing in several of these places, and had to be dealt with. I was planning on putting in a new floor of 1/4" plywood and linoleum, but I knew I couldn't trap all of that rust under there and expect things to turn out well for me in the long run. Thus, it had to be dealt with.
 |
| Alchemists eat your heart out! |
So, I knew I had to buy some gear to make the floors, but I also knew I had no vehicle besides my as-of-yet-not-registered army truck that was capable of carry back the three 8' by 4' sheets of 1/4" plywood I was going to buy. Realizing there was little other available options (outside of strapping the plywood on the roof of my mini or motorcycle) I girded my loins and took the truck out for its first real spin. I think I drove around the block a dozen times, ground the gears about twice that, and then eventually figured out that I was in Low Gear the entire time. Switching to High Gear, I confidently set out to Pro Build to buy my supplies. I made it there, didn't crush anyone in the process, and didn't get pulled over. I even made it back! In the end I purchased the plywood, some tubes of construction adhesive (to glue the floors down), a ton of deck screws, and some Loctite Extend Rust Neutralizer. This stuff is the bomb. Basically you paint it right on to the rust, and it magically transforms it into inert, paintable non-rust. It's like alchemist's gold in a bottle! A few coats of that, and then waiting for it to cure overnight, and the rust had been dealt with. I finished up by spray painting it and the tops of the metal wheel wells with rust resistant black automotive primer. The interior was now ready to have its new floor put in!
 |
| Goodbye nasty rust! |
Next comes actually putting the plywood over this mess, bolting and gluing it to the floor, and then covering it with linoleum tiles. I took a ton more measurements, went and grabbed my folding table and skill saw, and got ready to do some cutting. I got lucky, and managed to rip all three pieces of plywood right (more or less) the first time. Apparently all those years helping my Dad build houses and what not on The Land paid off after all. *grin*
That done, I then started at the furthest point from the back entrance (so the part of the van body closest to the cabin in other words) and began putting down a pattern of construction adhesive. The stuff is pretty nasty, and you seriously don't want to get it on your skin. I only managed to step in it once during the project, so I consider that more or less a success. Floor as ready as it was going to be, I stepped out to get my cut piece of plywood.
 |
| ACME Brand Instant-Cement (Does not work on Road Runners) |
The first piece of flooring went in like a charm, and I set about screwing it into place. Of course, as luck would have it, I got deck screws that were too long, and they went right through the plywood, right through the floor boards, and then thorugh the bottom of the metal van body! This was not what I wanted. Grumbling, I jumped back in the wife's car, rushed back down to the hardware store (knowing full well that no good project is complete without at
least two trips to the store) and bought the right damn screws. Thus mollified, I returned home once more and screwed that sucker down. The next went in just as easily and I felt I was making some real progress! The third had some issues, as I hadn't noticed that the part of the van's interior walls had been slightly crumpled inwards, as if they had been kicked by a donkey/drunk GI/rogue airplane. The last piece had to be hammered into place, mashing up the very corner bits of the plywood, and taking my "I know what I am doing" feeling down a notch or two. Still, it was in, and all in all, looked pretty good. I may not get it right a 100% of the time, but hell, I figured it was good enough for Government work. ;)
 |
| Floors, beeeooootiful flooors! |
Time to let the construction adhesive set and do its thang, and call it a very long pair of days. Next I will struggle with deciding whether or not to put in the linoleum or paint, until I realize I pretty much have to paint if I don't want paint covered linoleum. Even I can come to the right conclusion eventually, given enough time. Look forward to posting the next chapter soon. Hope you all enjoyed the further adventures of
The Imperial Car Destroyer!
The first piece of flooring went in like a charm, and I set about screwing it into place. Of course, as luck would have it, I got deck screws that were too long, and they went right through the plywood, right through the floor boards, and then thorugh the bottom of the metal van body! This was not what I wanted. Grumbling, I jumped back in the wife's car, rushed back down to the hardware store (knowing full well that no good project is complete without at least two trips to the store) and bought the right damn screws. Thus mollified, I returned home once more and screwed that sucker down. The next went in just as easily and I felt I was making some real progress! The third had some issues, as I hadn't noticed that the part of the van's interior walls had been slightly crumpled inwards, as if they had been kicked by a donkey/drunk GI/rogue airplane. The last piece had to be hammered into place, mashing up the very corner bits of the plywood, and taking my "I know what I am doing" feeling down a notch or two. Still, it was in, and all in all, looked pretty good. I may not get it right a 100% of the time, but hell, I figured it was good enough for Government work. ;)
