Can you explain what do you mean by aluminum profiles?? I have a siding break for bending alum sofit and facia??
I mean a school bus body is straight back on the sides no fender wells. My shock is mounted inside the wheel well on my FS III frame so my homeade car body will have to have some sort of wheel well for the shock to be inside of which will require something more than just plywood. I am more troubled by the windows though.
I would make the windshield permanent, but mount the side windows in a way that they can be removed. Perhaps something as simple as a velcro strip all around it, or an aluminum channel with a latch on the fourth side. Another option would be to wander through a salvage yard and look for the hinges and latches from a van with tip out windows or a pop up style sunroof.
You could also consider a canvas sunroof for the top like an old Volkswagen Beetle, and leave the windows in place.
The one I built had sliding windows on the sides from a VW bus. The windshield was regular saftey glass so I could put a wiper on it. Bidy was 3/4" plywood with most of the actual plywood cut out to create a frame work of sorts. Top has a homemade sunroof on it. Body is covered with a plastic material like you see on the wall of comercial rest rooms.
Inside there is a car seat that folds down. In the rear is a 'trunk' door that was really the door off of a clothes dryer..it still says 'kenmore' inside it.
Yes, the body is heavy but then so were the original ones.
The picture of the school bus sidecar posted was one of doug's creations. Go to sidestrider.com for more pics. Also google 'coach sidecar' or 'busmar sidecar' or 'caterbury sidecar'.
These things are not hard to build and are a lot of fun too.
We made ours to fit on a motorvation formula II frame and it works okay.
Although it would cost more to purchase, a kayak builder I know tells me that Marine grade plywood weighs substantially less than regular plywood of the same thickness.
Check out this URL. It has a few coach type cars.
Thanks for all your replies.
There is a product out now that comes in 1/2 4x8 sheets and its plastic.. might be something i could try but not sure how it would be to paint it??
The door handle like the one in the above bus photo has been impossible to find so far... same with the chrome edge trim like around the front. I went to Lowes and talked to everyone there even the store owner and they have neither. I have the same door handle on my locker at the golf course but do you think i could find one to buy?? So far I like the looks of a and old "woody" for the bodys exterior as it will match the clasic studded seats and bags on our bike. The details are another story. Photos and input still are greatly appreciated especially on where to find this stuff and how to get the windows to look professional.
Check with someplace that sells camping trailers or motorhomes. I would expect both the handle and windows would be available for campers. Another choice would be a ship's store at a marina.
Already checked the camper places windows are at least $100 each. So making some would be alot If someone has a great idea on how?
What part of Minnesota? I used to work at a salvage yard in Vermillion. Joe had a lot of school buses. Maybe a frame from one of those windows with a lexan replacement for the glass?
Try McMaster Carr.com do a search for latches.
The real advantage of using marine plywood for a sidecar body (or boat) is that marine plywood is more structurally sound. It has no voids in any of the plies and uses more plies and better glue than standard exterior plywood.
With standard exterior plywood of any grade there is always the possibility of having one or more voids that are in all layers except the cover plies.
Lonnie
Thanks I found a door latch at the mcmaster site.
The bus windows would be square and i want them to have some round shape to them so they look nice. I was considering cutting the holes then routing from the inside around the edge of the hole so a piece of plexiglass would sit flush then mounting the old style storm window snaps inside to hold the glass in place. It Would make them easy to remove but not sure if they would hold in place with the wind pushing on them or how they would look. You can See the snaps at the bottom of page 2823 at http://www.mcmaster.com/
