Zip Dee on the '66 Caravel

[Melody Ranch]

Anybody do this yet? I enthusiastically bought Zip Dees for the 66 Caravel...even talked with them about sizes. As I looked at the Caravel today I see a problem with the stove vent and the furnace exhaust. Vent on roof needs some sort of mod for spacing clearance and it looks like the furnace exhaust is right about the spot for the awning arm mount. Any experience with this probem out there?

[Streamin 65]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

Anybody do this yet? I enthusiastically bought Zip Dees for the 66 Caravel...even talked with them about sizes. As I looked at the Caravel today I see a problem with the stove vent and the furnace exhaust. Vent on roof needs some sort of mod for spacing clearance and it looks like the furnace exhaust is right about the spot for the awning arm mount. Any experience with this probem out there?

Unsure about your furnace vent, but on our '65 Overlander the Zip Dee patio awning would not fully retract because of the stove vent being in the way. Fortunately, I had a new one already on order from Inland RV at the time, and it solved the problem. The one from Inland RV was longer and had a slimmer profile which allowed the awning to fully retract. --dave

[Safari Tim]

I remember when watching Classic Rides restoration, they had to replace a vent because of the clearence issue. The new vent was aluminum and had Zip Dee stamped in it.

So I assume they know about the problem and offer the modified vents as a fix. I'd give Zip Dee a call.

[Melody Ranch]

Thanks for the info. I will call them in the A.M. Polishing the Worthingtons in the afternoon.

[peegreen]

Originally Posted by Melody Ranch

Thanks for the info. I will call them in the A.M. Polishing the Worthingtons in the afternoon.

Would you provide details on your experience with tank polishing; methods, success...

[Melody Ranch]

Thanks for the info. I called Zip Dee on the stove vent replacement...they don't have them anymore (strange) but our Pal in Calif. does. OUCH again!! Now I will have a Gold Plated vent to match the Gold Plated black water tank from last week....but at least they had the items.

The new Worthingtons showed up and are new aluminum...just right to start polishing on. As an experiment I used Met-all on one and Nuvite on the other. It was new aluminum after all. No difference in the shine but the Nuvite did go a bit faster and the clean up was easier. I use cornstarch on a rag to get the black residue off. The tanks showed up with lots of small stretch marks and surface marring. The Met-all does not "move metal" so those imperfections remained. I used F7 as a try and the marks are gone.
The tanks are unwieldy and need support during the polish out. I filled an old feed bag (some of you will remember those) with sand and used that as a base support for the polish out. That worked perfectly because I could now lay the tank on its side and apply pressure during the compounding with F7.
All in all.......I'd rather have been fishing.
I really want to go to Birmingham and see Clapton....

[Melody Ranch]

tanks mixed in with awning discussion

[azflycaster]

I had the same marks on my tanks when I got them. I wet sanded them first with #200 and then #400. This got the marks out as well as some splatter from the welding. I used polish that I got at Lowes. It is for diamond plate tool boxes. I think it did a great job. I built a stand out of scrap wood to support the tanks when I worked on them.