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Old 04-21-2017, 05:43 PM   #941
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Isuzusweet View Post
Brad, you live in a country a long ways off from snakes that possibly have you on their menu. That being said, you might not want to go down south into Belize and South America as an Anaconda's head can be in a ditch on one side of the road and its tail in the ditch on the other side of the road.

Pity this poor bugger....

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/03...ut-open-snake/

Yes, it is possible, highly unlikely, but possible. Anaconda have been known to eat full size crocs and gators.

Cheers
Tony
Tony, there's a reason I live so far from places that have large snakes.....I HATE snakes!

I saw the article about the man being eaten by the Python. I doubt very much that would be a pleasant way to go
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:17 AM   #942
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A few weeks ago I sorta went into a panic when I thought I didn't have the structural cross piece that forms the bottom of the engine cover opening. Well on Sunday I decided to install it so I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore! A few pieces of 1/4" x 1" flat bar bolted in place worked very well to hold the cross piece.
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Next up is the engine access cover.

Brad
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:28 AM   #943
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Originally Posted by bkahler View Post

Next up is the engine access cover.

Brad
Are you going to use the one from my old donor Brad?
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:56 AM   #944
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Last year when Martin was removing parts from his donor he took the time to salvage the pieces required to convert the engine access door hinge mechanism to the newer style as used on 77 and later Argosies and all the Classics. Since I now had the lower cross piece in place I decided it was time to see if I could make use of those parts from Martin.

This is how the original Argosy hinge mechanism was setup. It was sort of a Rube Goldberg arrangement
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Basically there are three components per side. The arm that is cast into the cab structure, the linkage arm and the pivot bracket mounted on the door.
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Martin removed the arms from the donor using a reciprocating saw which provided me with more than enough material to work with.
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I then used my band saw to trim the excess angle from each arm.
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Next I fastened the passenger side arm in place using a couple of 1/4" bolts. The picture shows regular bolts, however I've already replaced them with stainless countersunk screws.
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When I attempted to install the drivers side I ran into a problem.
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The only solution I could come up with was to remove the coolant recovery tank which means I now have to find another location for the tank or source a smaller one
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It only two a few minutes to attach the door to the newly installed arms. The only glitch in the whole process was the coolant recovery tank and I'm sure I'll find a solution that works
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The door fits somewhat loosely at the top and bottom. The bottom should be easy to resolve by adjusting the lower latches. The later coaches uses turn latches on each side of the cover to hold the door in place when closed. That method seems to work well as show in this picture.
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What I will probably do is source a couple of those turn latches and add them to my door. Overall I'm real pleased with how this modification works!

Brad
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:59 AM   #945
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Are you going to use the one from my old donor Brad?
I'm not sure yet. To use my original door I would need to remove the hinge brackets from the donor door and install them on mine. I plan on looking at that possibility sometime this week.
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Old 04-25-2017, 06:11 AM   #946
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Originally Posted by bkahler View Post
I'm not sure yet. To use my original door I would need to remove the hinge brackets from the donor door and install them on mine. I plan on looking at that possibility sometime this week.
Sorry Brad I was too quick of the mark and sent my message before you had a chance to do your second post!

I have these on Bella http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WING-KNOB-...L/151405362596
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Old 04-25-2017, 06:44 AM   #947
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Sorry Brad I was too quick of the mark and sent my message before you had a chance to do your second post!
I was originally going to put everything in one post but realized I had to many pictures!

Great! I figured I'd have to spend a few hours searching this evening to find something that would work.

Thanks!

Brad
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Old 04-25-2017, 05:54 PM   #948
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Martin, could you post a couple of close up pictures of how the Quarter Turn latches were installed on your engine cover.

Thanks!

Brad
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Old 04-26-2017, 02:57 AM   #949
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The latches are just mounted in holes in the sheet aluminum of the front access panel.





And the cross member above the access panel is notched to take the latch.



I also owed you a photo of the panel behind the headlight. Bella had to have new headlights to be compliant to the UK regs, so these photos are of the current install. Trouble is the outer dia of the new lights was slightly bigger than the old ones and the trims did not fit so there is same daylight coming in around the edges of the lights.

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Old 04-26-2017, 04:46 AM   #950
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Thanks Martin, great pictures!

The arms on the quarter turn locks are longer than they looked in the ebay listing. I was thinking I would have to modify the arms to make them work.

Your head light bucket arrangement is just like mine with the flat aluminum plate between the bucket and the grille. I'm still not sure what purpose the plate serves but I'll go ahead and install them anyway.

Thanks again!

Brad
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Old 04-26-2017, 07:19 PM   #951
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Since I had the little oops with the placement of the coolant recovery tank I figured I ought to get the grille in place to make sure I don't to do something else that will need to be changed to get the grille to fit. So this evening I had Ernie hold it while I used a few screws to hold it in place. There are exactly five 6/32 screws holding that thing where it belongs!

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Now that it's up there I can start looking into what it will take to use screws or bolts instead of rivets as fasteners.

I have to admit, it looks SO much different with the grille and engine door in place
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Old 04-28-2017, 07:11 PM   #952
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A while back I mentioned I was going to try and figure out a way to use screws instead of rivets to hold the grille in place so that it would be easier to remove during future maintenance efforts.

After playing around with various sizes of screws I've come to the conclusion that using 6/32 flat head countersunk screws in various lengths will probably work out the best. I had originally thought 10/24 screws might be better but I think they would create clearance issues underneath the rub rails. In the first picture I have a 10/24 screw installed along side some 6/32 screws. The 10/32 head is considerably larger. 6/32 screws are about the same diameter as the original rivets so I will be able to utilize all of the original mounting holes as is. The holes along the top where the grille fastens to the cab structure are the easiest because all that's needed are 3/4" long screws and nuts.
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Replacing the rivets on the sides will be accomplished using ABS plastic strips as suggested by Martin. The strips will be held in place by double sided tape and then holes drilled through the ABS and 1" screws will be used with nyloc nuts on the back side to hold things together.
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I'm not sure what I'll do yet along the bottom, that's going to have to wait until I fit the new front valance.

Brad
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Old 04-28-2017, 07:52 PM   #953
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A while back I mentioned I was going to try and figure out a way to use screws instead of rivets...

Brad
If I would be using screws instead of rivets, i would strongly consider using blue loctide. But then again, its just my paranoid self imagining my tires spiked with screws..
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Old 04-29-2017, 04:28 AM   #954
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If I would be using screws instead of rivets, i would strongly consider using blue loctide. But then again, its just my paranoid self imagining my tires spiked with screws..
But they are such tiny screws...

Actually they will be held in place with nyloc nuts so falling out shouldn't be a problem.
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Old 04-29-2017, 06:50 AM   #955
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Brad

These guys have every quarter turn cam lock configuration that you can conceive of; different shaft lengths, offset latches and latch length etc, etc. Tough construction.

http://www.camlock.com/en-uk/quarter...ved-handle-362

Website is UK but they have a distributor in the US.

Cheers
Tony
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Old 04-29-2017, 08:40 AM   #956
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Tony, thanks for the link. I ordered the ones Martin suggested and they should be here Monday. There are several other places where I will be using quarter turn locks so I'm sure I'll be needing to order a few more.

How's the new job working out?


Brad
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Old 04-29-2017, 08:56 AM   #957
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Yesterday evening I started installing the aluminum plate that sits on top of the firewall and covers the area between the firewall and the bottom of the windshield and this morning I finished the job.
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The defroster ducts are riveted to the bottom of the plate and they are now installed as well. I still need to cut and install an access cover over the evaporator box. The primary reason I had to remove all of the dash components was to get access to the screws on top of the evaporator box. I needed to rebuild the evaporator box and the only way to remove it was to remove those screws on top. With the access opening the top screws can be accessed and all that has to come off is the plastic dash top. However, I really really hope I never have to remove the evaporator box again!!!

Brad
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Old 04-29-2017, 09:11 AM   #958
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You have to wonder why Airstream didn't put some thought into the original design; almost every single aspect could have used the same components just installed with some consideration for the fact that later someone would have to remove those components!
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Old 04-29-2017, 09:25 AM   #959
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You have to wonder why Airstream didn't put some thought into the original design; almost every single aspect could have used the same components just installed with some consideration for the fact that later someone would have to remove those components!
Yeah, I've wondered that myself. So many components like furnaces, power converters, etc are buried under cabinets and inside walls. It can make things really frustrating AND expensive to work on As I rebuild this thing I try when I can to make sure parts are accessible in some form or fashion. I'm not sure I've succeeded but I'm at least trying

By the way, just saw your email about the faucet, thanks!! Unfortunately it also reminded me just how far I have yet to go fore this thing is done
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Old 04-29-2017, 04:06 PM   #960
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A glimpse of things to come....

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