1959 Overlander Restoration

[reinergirl]

Originally Posted by beckybillrae

I read somewhere, on the forum I think, that you can replace the plastic piece with a piece of 14 gauge wire (I'm assuming stranded & coated). It's probably the same diameter. I lost one of mine. I also still have the other ones in a baggie. I know I should take the windows back out to put that plastic piece in, but the window slid really hard when it was in there. Frank said on the forum somewhere that if you don't put them back in, sometime your window will not be square to the frame it closes on & the weld at the corner will break. So.....I guess it's a risk without it, but I might take it. I donno....

Hey Becky, can you post a photo of this elusive piece, I haven't taken my windows apart but I'm thinking that it should be easy to duplicate!

[reinergirl]

Originally Posted by MaryC

Hey reinergirl, I now own Mello Mike's Overlander. I bought it last August from the person who purchased it from him. Its currently in the shop having the interior remodeled and the plumbing gas and electricals updated. I was so happy to find his posts here on the forums so that I knew quite a bit about what he had done to it. When we get it home, there will still be lots to do for finishing touches etc. but also the windows will be getting a tune up and some gaskets replaced, as well as a few handles. We also are going to need to replace the door gaskets. Just waiting to get it back in my possession and get going on it for some trips this year. I'm enjoying reading all these Overlander threads.

You are very lucky! Mello Mike did an awesome job with that Airstream! He had a blog which he took down, I have no idea why cause he did really nice work. I was truly bummed when he sold it. Nice to know you are here on the forums and the Airstream is in good hands. Best wishes.....

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

Hey Becky, can you post a photo of this elusive piece, I haven't taken my windows apart but I'm thinking that it should be easy to duplicate!

Here ya go.....

[65CV]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

You are very lucky! Mello Mike did an awesome job with that Airstream! He had a blog which he took down, I have no idea why cause he did really nice work. I was truly bummed when he sold it. Nice to know you are here on the forums and the Airstream is in good hands. Best wishes.....

Congrats on the Overlander! You found a great one.

archive.org took one incomplete snapshot of Mello Mike's blog.

[65CV]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

... I'm thinking that it should be easy to duplicate!

I'll order 8. So far, mine haven't come out in one piece.

Can you add it to my Land Yacht Plate restoration order?

[MaryC]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Congrats on the Overlander! You found a great one.

archive.org took one incomplete snapshot of Mello Mike's blog.

Thank you so much! I was able to read most of 2011. Incredible amount of work he put in. I was aware of most of it, but not in this much detail.
I had been in contact with Mike when I was in the process of purchasing to find out any info on the state of the frame. I'm going to send him photos once we are finished.
Okay, enough thread hi-jacking. Sorry about that. I will make my own thread in this section when I have more to share.

[65CV]

Originally Posted by MaryC

Thank you so much! I was able to read most of 2011. Incredible amount of work he put in. I was aware of most of it, but not in this much detail.
I had been in contact with Mike when I was in the process of purchasing to find out any info on the state of the frame. I'm going to send him photos once we are finished.
Okay, enough thread hi-jacking. Sorry about that. I will make my own thread in this section when I have more to share.

You're welcome. I clicked on your links and found pics of your trailer. It is beautiful, with a gorgeous shine! Hope Shelly doesn't see it!

Look forward to your thread. You already have more than enough pics and story to start.

[reinergirl]

Originally Posted by 65CV

I'll order 8. So far, mine haven't come out in one piece.

Can you add it to my Land Yacht Plate restoration order?

Sure . Right after I finish polishing

[reinergirl]

Originally Posted by 65CV

You're welcome. I clicked on your links and found pics of your trailer. It is beautiful, with a gorgeous shine! Hope Shelly doesn't see it!

Look forward to your thread. You already have more than enough pics and story to start.

Okay, now you're just teasing me . Nice shine but my competitive streak is kicking in and mine's going to be the shiniest trailer , do or die

[65CV]

I asked the question about how others gasket the baggage door and refrigerator door and forgot to report on what I did.

I ended up using the VTS Overlay Door Gasket for the outer seal and a Big Box Store 7/16 x 3/8 rectangular gasket on the inside. I haven't bubble tested it yet, but passed a big rainstorm test with no leaks.

Finished removing the rest of the windows. When I first looked at them, I couldn't imagine how I'd remove the windows past the eyebrow rain cap. I forget who mentioned how to do it, but it was written up on this forum. I never saw a pic of how it works -- one is posted at the end of this post.

Simply put, drill one rivet on the end of the brow and carefully bend the rain gutter up. Remove the center screw and slide the window out. Out of 8 windows, I had 1 good plastic piece that accepts the center screw. (see beckybillrae post above for a picture). It does look easy to reproduce. I found a pair of Vice-Grip needle nose pliers invaluable in removing the rusted steel screw from the aluminum frame.

Most of the black glazing tape came off pretty well with a heat gun. Since Permatex reformulated their Gasket Remover, the rest will be a lot more work. The old formula was nasty, but worked VERY well.

Off to find a glass shop. We had a terrific one nearby, but they closed shop.

[Colin H]

[QUOTE=65CV;1301846]I asked the question about how others gasket the baggage door and refrigerator door and forgot to report on what I did.

My 59 Ambassador still has the original baggage door & fridge hatch gaskets. Airstream used the earlier Hehr Standard gasket that VTS stocks.They were riveted on when the frame was installed. I'm sure the "overlay" gasket will work fine though.
Colin

[65CV]

Finished glazing the other 7 windows today, finally.

Removing the final traces of gasket and adhesive was quite time consuming. The advice in Frank's blog was the best -- we tried other solvents, but couldn't beat his recommendation. We had to use real mineral spirits, not the low odor stuff and had to do a lot of brushing between the grooves in the aluminum.

We hoped to save time by doing all 7 remaining windows at once, but it backfired when we didn't finish on time and driving rains accompanied by gale force winds hit. It was a bit of a Keystone Cop day, trying to use garbage bags over screens with lots of tape. In the end, we wiped up a lot of drips.

Finally, all the windows are temporarily in place so that we're ready for more rain.

Lesson learned. On the next trailer (yeah, right!), we'll do one window at a time!!!

Windows are really time consuming since you need to do a lot of sanding, polishing and cleaning before putting on tape or gasket. Otherwise, it's a lot of repeated work.

We are at the point where we can pull one window off at a time, change all the screws to stainless and carefully clean/repair/reinstall the operators. With the windows wet-sanded on the back, polished on the front and regasketed, things should go quickly. The key will be getting the bulb gasket in place well.

After that, it's on to the roof to change out the second Hehr vent for a Fantastic Vent and swap out the temporary metal cover for an Astradome.

I'd like to get every exterior seam or seal redone before restarting interior work.

[reinergirl]

One window at a time..... Check thanks for showing me how NOT to do it!

Actually I can't believe you had all of them out! That was one nasty stretch of weather. I was mopping my floor and my windows were in!

I'm with you on sealing the exterior, still working on it! Polishing is proceeding albeit slowly, but I'm admittedly OCD and finding it hard when to say it's " good enough"

Pulled my first compartment door today. Have to figure out how to use my new rivet squeezers to get it back in. For now it's soaking in a bath of citrastrip
I think the medium d gasket is going to work well, more testing tomorrow.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by 65CV

Finished glazing the other 7 windows today, finally.

Removing the final traces of gasket and adhesive was quite time consuming. The advice in Frank's blog was the best -- we tried other solvents, but couldn't beat his recommendation. We had to use real mineral spirits, not the low odor stuff and had to do a lot of brushing between the grooves in the aluminum.

Thank you for the compliment. I posted that for this very reason. I had hoped others might benefit from a little rebuild 101. I would link it but I think TOS do not allow me as a Commercial guy.Very glad it worked out. Make sure to install those nylon spacers back into the top of the hinge. They are VERY important in keeping the window from sliding forward or backward. It you don't put them in the window will shift and the next time you close the window, a miter will snap. I found this out the hard way...

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

One window at a time..... Check thanks for showing me how NOT to do it!

Actually I can't believe you had all of them out! That was one nasty stretch of weather. I was mopping my floor and my windows were in!

I'm with you on sealing the exterior, still working on it! Polishing is proceeding albeit slowly, but I'm admittedly OCD and finding it hard when to say it's " good enough"

Pulled my first compartment door today. Have to figure out how to use my new rivet squeezers to get it back in. For now it's soaking in a bath of citrastrip
I think the medium d gasket is going to work well, more testing tomorrow.

In my person opinion it better to polish, then seal the seams. If you seal the seams, the polisher will just pull the sealer back out, make it smear all over the skin, and create nasty black seams.
Having found that the Flex Seal you see infomercials for
Flex Seal - New Commercial - YouTube
does a great job on interior sealing. It might be overkill from the outside....

[reinergirl]

Yep Frank, I'm polishing and sealing after I'm done with the section, That's what makes it slow going

So does that flex seal come in aluminum color?

[Frank's Trailer Works]

no it comes in a beautiful bold black just like the stuff you meticulously stripped off your interior seams

[65CV]

Originally Posted by 62overlander

Thank you for the compliment. I posted that for this very reason. I had hoped others might benefit from a little rebuild 101. I would link it but I think TOS do not allow me as a Commercial guy.Very glad it worked out. Make sure to install those nylon spacers back into the top of the hinge. They are VERY important in keeping the window from sliding forward or backward. It you don't put them in the window will shift and the next time you close the window, a miter will snap. I found this out the hard way...

No, thank you -- for lots of good advice and the spacer warning. They are a PITA, but you motivated me to make and install them.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Use nylon. I make them on my table saw by using three set ups. Very delicate and dangerous work...
The screw is a number 2 x 1/4" machine screw. I cut a slot with a file in the end to turn it into a self driller. I will try and post some updates to the tutorial of that part in the near future. I have a 1964 in the shop now and it needs some of those stops too.

[65CV]

When removing the windows, all but one spacer just fell apart. The originals looked like phenolic resin that had cracked completely. One replacement came out whole and I modeled the new spacers after that.

I looked around for some good material to make the spacers and settled on an old polyethylene cutting board. The rounded edge matched the one good spacer that came out of the windows. I just cut a strip at a 30 degree angle and was able to cut pieces to the right length. I didn't rabbet the edge like the ones in Becky's picture.

They are a pain to get in, but the polyethylene accepts a screw easily. I used the shortest #4 stainless steel screws that I could find. With the drip caps still on, the needle nosed pliers came in handy again.