I've Made a Mistake

Robert, check out the prices for aluminum sheet. With the right thickness and alloy it sometimes comes out to be a bit cheaper than steel. You can't just mig weld to it, but it can be cut on a table saw. It's easier to drill and it's lighter. You might just gain an extra 0.001Mpg out of the bus when you're done.

At the very least, redo the passenger side first, THEN order for the other side if you really really really want to redo your quality work. I suspect you'll realize that the differences don't actually matter and a functional bus and time is better. You've already learned the lessons and redoing the good side will only suck up your time and money. Also, as others suggested, keep the ribbing to break up the space. Paint can either mask the differences or lean into it. Or paint something that is more interesting than a bus, perhaps a Trabant in a hamster wheel as if it's powering the bus.

What about the old panels from the rear? Can’t you use them, if you didn’t throw them out

February? You realize that's like, the day after tomorrow? (in procrastinators time)

Just wanted you to know you're not the only one that's doing two steps forward, and six steps back. I'm about to tear apart the top of our shed/small cottage for a THIRD time, because I need to roof it before the snow hits here in Michigan. So, I feel your pain. :(

You should absolutely release the video you're discussing here on Feb. 3rd exactly cause it's mah birfday! 😁

I would definitely suggest keeping the ribbed sections -- even if how you keep them is cutting them out and riveting them on top of flat metal (or fiberglass or whatever). They break up that large expanse of flatness, which is going to do quite a lot in distracting the eye from whatever minor waviness is inevitably going to be there.

What happened to the sheet metal from the back half of the bus? You could remove the wavy front part, lay it over the flat back part and transfer all the details over (wheel arch, battery door etc.). You could then retain the symmetry because the back half would already have the integrated bump strips

EDITED BECAUSE I CAN'T DO RIGHT FROM LEFT Unsolicited opinion: Just keep the p̶a̶s̶s̶e̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ DRIVER side. For the d̶r̶i̶v̶e̶r̶PASSENGER's side, cut all the wavey parts out in big squares, and with the new metal just lap and rivet it on - don't try to weld/grind/bondo it smooth, even if you end up cutting off everything but the ribs (definitely keep the ribbed stripe down the middle - it can't have warped that much). Salvage whatever is flat and in place, lap patches on it, and rivet through the laps. It'll look cool. Like, repaired-for-another-mission-WW2 bomber cool. If anybody asks, tell them you "aren't going to take any flak."

will it really be that unsymmetrical, if you change out the warped side with new sheet metal and leave the good one in place?

Is that a mustache? :o

If you decide to keep the current sheet metal I wonder if you could hide some of the wavy-ness with some dazzle camouflage or hire a graffiti artist to give it their interpretation of the Aging Wheels logo. I have worse ideas in my head so gonna stop there.

omg, I love these videos. The mistake ones are almost better than the ones where you fix something! :)

Became a Patron to help out. You can do what I'm doing on my boat. I'm using corrugated plastic to seal an area. Then I fill it with expanding polyurethane foam. Once it's cured I seal in the corrugated plastic with acrylic pouring it down the channels which I seal all in with aluminum tape. Once done you can take the tape off sand and paint. You'll have extremely strong plastic body panels that are well insulated and provide your body frame extra rigidity. I run my own business and do crazy projects all the time. You want some help, I can come down and help you redo the entire bus in exchange for help with my boat.

Don't use sheet metal. Use something else.

Perhaps buy new sheet metal for the passenger side, cut out the ribbed section and then stitch it back in on the new metal. (As Evan Hartmann suggested) That way you can keep the driver side as is and undo the mistakes on the passenger side. I'd recommend having your steel supplier shear these for you, just so you have one less thing to deal with, unless they have an insane cutting fee.

Is there no chance, that you would be able to find another school bus and get unbent side sheets from that one? Like a scrapyard? There must’ve been more than ONE school bus in you area.

So, I figure this occurred to you but there's a reason why it wouldn't work, so I'll ask: Is it possible to get replacement sheet metal with matching bends from a decommissioned bus? Also, this is putting my "oh no my rack mount UPSs don't charge batteries whatever will I do" into perspective.

Could you just cut the hump parts off the old panels on the bad side and weld them to the new section?

I get this weird tingly feeling when I know Robert will post that day. I got that feeling this morning. And no, the feeling isn’t in my pants but my heart