'74 Argosy 20' Motorhome restoration/rebuild

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by VintageFan

How tall is your garage door? I am trying to figure out what size carport to buy to put ours under.

Thanks!

The trailer are shorter than the motorhomes. My garage door is 11' high and I cleared with about 8" to spare.

Seems like the trailers are close to 12" shorter than the motorhomes. I'm betting you could fit under a 10' opening.

Brad

[martin300662]

I have been looking at these as a temporary shelter (either with a tarp or a roof only) just to keep the worst of the weather off.

Trouble is it will have inches to spare and I get a different height/width each time I measure mine!

https://www.versatube.com/building-k...rame-only-301?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

I have been looking at these as a temporary shelter (either with a tarp or a roof only) just to keep the worst of the weather off.

Trouble is it will have inches to spare and I get a different height/width each time I measure mine!

https://www.versatube.com/building-k...rame-only-301?

If you buy one that is 10' high where the walls meet the roof you'll be just fine, assuming the peak is 2' higher than the side walls. If you don't have an A/C unit on the roof then you could subtract just about a foot from the overall height needed.

As I mentioned previously with my 11' opening I had about 8" clearance between the top of the door opening and the top of my A/C unit, and that's with no 454 to weigh the front end of the coach down. Oh yeah, my coach is totally empty inside so it sits higher than it should anyway.

[bkahler]

Martin is thinking about having a mold made from my front valance since his Argosy came without one so with that in mind I decided to tackle this mess and get it over with

Tonight I got around to dismounting the lower front valance for repairs. It's definitely busted and broken in quite a few places.

Bottom overall view:


Bottom view of some of the worst damage:


Another view of the worst damage:


Top view. The torn section at the top right end is where the bumper bracket broke through.


It's obviously taken some abuse from road debris over the years and some obvious mishandling. I sorta made matters worse when I was using a tow bar attached to the two front bumper mounts to push the Argosy into my shop in Arkansas. One of the front bumper mounts bent upwards and tore the valance.

Of course it didn't help matters any when Airstream neglected to weld the bottom side of the bumper mounts. While pushing it into the shop the front of the motorhome ended up being higher than the back of my truck so there were upward stresses on the bumper mount during the moving operation. Lack of weld on the bottom and upward stresses were to much for the mount

Shouldn't be to hard to get it back into correct alignment and welded. I think I'll add some gusseting to make it a little stronger as well. Who knows someday I may need to install a tow bar again.

With the valance off I now have easy access to a lot of the chassis front end for painting. I'm sure glad I'll be working in a heated shop his winter!



Brad

[martin300662]

Looks complete Brad, even if a little bent and broken. Do you think the ABS will take being molded? I wasn't thinking of a creating a finished (gel coat) replicate, just something close enough that could be finished and painted.

[VintageFan]

Thanks! That helps a lot.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

Looks complete Brad, even if a little bent and broken. Do you think the ABS will take being molded? I wasn't thinking of a creating a finished (gel coat) replicate, just something close enough that could be finished and painted.

Not sure how how well the ABS handle being molded. It is fairly flimsy so a mold would have to have stiffeners inserted in various places to take away some of that flexibility.

I neglected to remove an aluminum air baffle which makes it look larger than it is. I'll try and get that done with a few more pictures to show what it looks like.

[bkahler]

Here's a shot with the aluminum deflector removed. I'm pretty sure the deflector was made and installed by Airstream although it's obviously a one off fabrication.

[bkahler]

Ok, for those of you who want pull up chairs and follow along on the valance restoration and fiberglass mold making saga you can tune in here

Brad

[bkahler]

For the past few days I've been reworking the doghouse opening to accommodate the doghouse cover I salvaged from the 345 that I dismantled. I never liked the look or the limited access that the original doghouse cover provides so I figured why not use the one from the 345. The later doghouse covers provide a lot better access to the front and sides of the engine.



To start I had to cut away about 9" of the side wall. After that I had to figure out the correct angle for the cover to fit properly.


A lot of the original side walls had to be cut away to allow access for a new framework to sit correctly. Once the side walls were cut down I fabricated a new top frame from 1" square tubing.



The new framework has been welded in place and ready for trial fitting of the doghouse cover.


Here's a shot of how the new doghouse cover looks.


One thing I found interesting is the floors in the Argosy models is about 1-1/2" lower than those in the Classic series. Not sure why Chevy/Airstream made the change but it means I have about a 1-1/2" rise that I'll have to deal with when I get around to finishing the cockpit area.


And a picture from the front looking into the engine bay.


I still have a few more details to wrap up before the doghouse task is complete but I'll deal with those when I get ready to install the dash.

[PeterH-350LE]

Awesome job, Brad! That was a smart move for many reason. Not only is access to the front of the engine, Belts, fan etc so much easier, the access to the seats is a little easier as well.
My 79 had the old style doghouse, I was lucky to have the newer version in my 310.

[martin300662]

Great work Brad.

I am struggling to see why the newer type is better, mine seems lower, and the slope of the sides is steeper giving the seats more room to turn, the main difference seems to be where the hinge is, my older type hinges at the point the newer type 'kicks up'. Would be nice to see a comparison

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Awesome job, Brad! That was a smart move for many reason. Not only is access to the front of the engine, Belts, fan etc so much easier, the access to the seats is a little easier as well.
My 79 had the old style doghouse, I was lucky to have the newer version in my 310.

I was actually dreading making the modification because of the angles involved but once I got into it things sort of fell into place.

I'm not sure when Airstream made the change but guessing somewhere between 81 to 83.

The fun parts going to figure out how to tie all the dash pieces together

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by martin300662

Great work Brad.

I am struggling to see why the newer type is better, mine seems lower, and the slope of the sides is steeper giving the seats more room to turn, the main difference seems to be where the hinge is, my older type hinges at the point the newer type 'kicks up'. Would be nice to see a comparison

Martin,

With the old style doghouse you have no access to the front top area of the engine. With the new style you can access the alternator and change the belts. I've had to replace the belts sitting along side the road on the 310 with new style doghouse. I would not have been able to do that with the old style.

Look at post 258 in your thread. Those are the pictures of the 310 with the cover off. One other thing to remember is the floor in the Argosy is about 1-1/2 to 2" lower than the 310.

I'm going to try and dig up some pictures of my argosy with the old cover and post them.

Brad

[bkahler]

Here is one of the pieces of metal I removed from the right side of the doghouse. You can see the angle on the old doghouse was higher and ran all the way to the back of the doghouse opening.


Looking from inside the engine bay you can see the old doghouse cover extension. The point where it transitions from a down angle to flat is the hinge point of the old doghouse cover. That sheet metal extension is what covers the whole front portion of the engine which is why you can't access any area at the front of the engine block.


Here's a couple of shots of the the new doghouse cover in place with the seat to give you some perspective. You can also see the 2" differential. The later Classics would have the cockpit floor level with the opening of the doghouse.


If I remember correctly you got your coach with no interior installed. In this picture you can see where the drivers seat back is in relation to the window. Your Argosy and mine shared the same floor plan. Where the back of the seat is the bathroom wall was right at that point. Actually the wall was about 1" farther forward which meant the drivers seat had NO backward movement. As it sits right now the edge of the steering wheel is about 13" from the back of the seat. Not easy to get into the drivers seat and to close to the steering wheel and pedals for comfort.


I'm really looking at options as to what I can do with the floor plan and that's why I really like your floor plan layout. My only concern is what to do about a black water tank.

Brad

[martin300662]

I rest measured and the base of my seat is actually pretty similar in location to yours Brad. The big difference is having moved the wet-room to the passenger side, my seat back has room to recline to make a much more comfortable driving position.

The photo is wrong a few months ago (the seats are now 3" lower) but hopefully you can see.



I can see the advantage of getting to the back (front) of the engine, but the early type is much narrower at the top (sloping out to full width), which gives the room for the chairs to turn (especially now in the current lower position.

[bkahler]

Martin, I see what you mean about the taper at the top. Could you take a measurement from the top flat part of the doghouse cover to the floor of the cockpit? I'd like to see if there is a difference between the new style and the old style.

Next question, what is the measurement from the top front of the drivers seat to the floor?

And my last question How far rearward is the divers seat from the edge of the cockpit window?

Thanks!

Brad

[martin300662]

I will try and get the dimensions this evening Brad

[bkahler]

Martin, at your convenience is just fine. Finishing the interior is quite a ways down the road for me!

[PeterH-350LE]

I was referring to what they had changed the dog house to in 79 or before, which was rather annoying