What kind of metal to cover windows?

[belfert]

One of friends came over to look at the bus yesterday.  We determined that Dina uses aluminunum body panels glued to a steel frame.

I want to cover windows.  Will I have problems with aluminum sheet expanding and contracting at a different rate than the steel frame?  I am also considering Alcubond, but at nearly 3/16" thick, it might look odd on the side of the bus.

My firend is concerned about aluminum rivets corroding from electrolysis when they are driven into the steel frame.  Is really an issue?

Brian Elfert

[donnreeves]

Brian,
 I used .080 aluminum on my RTS.Yes using steel rivits will create problems.I used stainless Momobolts which cost a fortune.There are issues with painting aluminum also,although less so with modern primers.It does oil can when parked in the sun. If I were to do it again,I would use steel.

 Donn RTS NJ

[Brian Diehl]

My MCI 96A3 is mild steel framing above the floor line.  MCI used aluminum riviets to attach the aluminum siding to the steel frame work.  The theory I've been told is that corrosion usually doesn't occur because the riveting action squeezes all the air out of the union and therefore there is not corrosion.  All the rivets I drilled out were in great condition.  The only exception is where there was some rust behind the rivet, then the rivet basically fell out.

I used aluminum on my siding and have been very pleased with it.  Priming aluminum is easy if you follow all the manufacturers directions.

[FloridaCliff]

Brian E.,

When I raised the roof on my 4905 I replaced all the aluminum from the about window level up.

All of the old aluminum with aluminum rivets and the steel with aluminum rivets only had ANY corrosion or  rivet failure was where there was water intrusion and/or rust.

I used the shaved head rivets as I wanted to match the bazillon rivets that GMC put in. 

Lucky for me I only had 3,000 to do.

I have never had a problem priming aluminum also, as Brian D. said "Follow the manufacturers directions.

Cliff

[Greg Roberts]

I used 18 gauge paint grip steel that I had sheered to size. This works great and bends nicely to form radius corners on the rear of my Eagle. The steel is plenty stiff and gets evern more stiff when you apply hot foam inside. I used sikaflex between all surfaces and even on the rivets to control electrolitic activity. The beauty of this thin gauged steel is that it overlaps very well and does not require a belly band to hide the huge step that you see using the thick aluminum. This reason is specifically why I used the steel.