1984 Airstream 345 owner (Newbie) need advice!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Keyair

Brad, if you don't yet have the adjusting switch, there is a place on Ebay that has them a lot cheaper than retail!
I got mine for $32 on sale, but there are some for under $50... better than $120!

Just picked up a couple last week off of ebay for $48 each. I plan on making my own little mounting plate that includes the heater switch. Should be an interesting installation.

I've been toying with the idea of having a good set of adapter plate plans drawn up and sending them off to one of those places that does CNC machining and see what it would cost to have them made. It would be nice to be able to provide an option for other owners if they wanted to install the Velvac mirrors but don't have the machining capabilities. We'll see...

Brad

[Keyair]

Two switches Brad?
Do you have the twin power mirrors... or one for a spare???

As for the mirror foot adapters... maybe make a mould and cast them in resin?

Ok, here is my problem of the day...
A while back I knew my upper marker lamps were bad.
I bought a new set, made by Grote... 5 red, and 5 amber.
Her is a view of the internals... complete with incandecent bulbs.



I already mounted the rear ones, and if you notice the Ground connection is handled by the tab under the mounting screw...
The Incandecents worked great, but when I swapped in the the LED bulbs, they would not work.. so I swapped teh incandecents back in.

Now I have the front markers on the bench and wanted to figure it out.

Connected the body to a ground, and the wire to +.
The Incandecents worked fine.
Put in an LED, on one side... Nada... Nothing, but Incandecent was working fine.
Now, I know that LED's are polarity sensative, so I swapped the connection... Body of lamp + and wire ground..
Worked great..


Now, I looked closely at the fixture..


Note... the gold colored metal is connected to the single wire... so should be +... yet its the body of the bulb...
And the silver colored metal that has the the screw tab... that would be ground is connected to the ceter post of the bulb....

What is up with that?

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Keyair

Two switches Brad?
Do you have the twin power mirrors... or one for a spare???

Nope, two motorhomes

As for the mirror foot adapters... maybe make a mould and cast them in resin?

That is a possibility. I'm not all that familiar with that process but I do know about machining

Note... the gold colored metal is connected to the single wire... so should be +... yet its the body of the bulb...
And the silver colored metal that has the the screw tab... that would be ground is connected to the ceter post of the bulb....

What is up with that?

Either these fixtures were made for incandescents which are not polarity sensitive or Triumph sports cars prior to 1967 which were positive ground

[Keyair]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Either these fixtures were made for incandescents which are not polarity sensitive or Triumph sports cars prior to 1967 which were positive ground

[Keyair]

Brad,
As I mentioned over in the mileage thread, I had the Zemco unit in my Mini, in Europe...
It was one of the last ones they made... the DCS-320..
Saw this one on Ebay recently sold for $150.
Snagged the pics for my records...
Its a DIN size unit, which was both good and bad.
I like the ZT-4... smaller, and can be mounted on dash or closer to line of sight for throttle feathering gas sipping mode!



I loved it, which is why I know it will work great in the M/H.

Only issue will be running the Genset will mess up some of the calculations!

I actually snagged a spare fuel flow sensor off Ebay last year... lucky.
It will be mounted in a insulated box up on the pass side, for exactly the reason you mentioned about heat..

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Keyair

Brad,
As I mentioned over in the mileage thread, I had the Zemco unit in my Mini, in Europe...
It was one of the last ones they made... the DCS-320..
Saw this one on Ebay recently sold for $150.
Snagged the pics for my records...
Its a DIN size unit, which was both good and bad.
I like the ZT-4... smaller, and can be mounted on dash or closer to line of sight for throttle feathering gas sipping mode!

I don't know that I've ever heard the term "gas sipping" used when talking about a 454

I loved it, which is why I know it will work great in the M/H.

Only issue will be running the Genset will mess up some of the calculations!

I actually snagged a spare fuel flow sensor off Ebay last year... lucky.
It will be mounted in a insulated box up on the pass side, for exactly the reason you mentioned about heat..

Having a spare flow sensor is a good idea.

Interesting comment about running the genset at the same time. My Argosy has two tanks, one factory of 30 gallons and one home made tank (by PO) in the rear behind the axle. If I want to install the 345 air suspension in the Argosy (which I do) I have to at a minimum reduce the size and shape of that home made tank. I do want have some sort of gas tank back there if for no other reason than to run the genset. I guess I will just make sure that the genset only pulls from the rear tank and run the 454 off the front tank the bulk of the time. That would ensure that my mpg readings are accurate.

[crazeevw]

Wow, a 30 gallon tank is all that was installed in the Argosy? The 80 gallon tank in mine is sounding better all the time, lol
Derek

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by crazeevw

Wow, a 30 gallon tank is all that was installed in the Argosy? The 80 gallon tank in mine is sounding better all the time, lol
Derek

80 gallons is great until you have to pay for 80 gallons of gas all at once

I hate those filling stations where they stop at $75 or $100. As for the 30 gallon tank, I guess they figure the smaller the vehicle (20') the less fuel it needs, yeah right

There isn't a whole lot of room under the chassis of a 20' Argosy MH. There is a 9.8 gallon propane tank, 30 gallon fuel tank, 28 gallon black water tank and an 18 gallon auxiliary tank. Put all those under a small chassis and there isn't much room left.

The home made fuel tank that was added behind the differential is probably about a 20 gallon tank. I'll have to reduce that down to about 10 gallons when I install the 345 air suspension system. In order to get the air suspension installed I have to add an air tank under there and I'm not sure where that's going to go.

There are no under chassis storage compartments other than the two small ones at the very back rear corners. Oddly enough these compartments don't seem to be on any other Argosy.

Brad

[Keyair]

Well, at the weekend I did a mod on the Marker lamps to make them center pin + for the little LED's I was planning to use...

Pulled off the silver strap, cut it off, so it no longer goes under the screws, and drilled it take a bolt that I can attach a wire to.

Modded one is upper in pic.



I cannot use this mod on the 3 skin mounted markers on the rear, so will put a BA9 bulb adapter and a small 6 or 9 LED panel in them kinda like this where I can just flip the pins to get the polarity I want.

[Keyair]

I need to get the front cap cleaned up/polished and then reseal the joints and windows before we get too much rain.

As mentioned over on the polishing thread, I have been trying some home made polish...
Black Bar melted in Odourless Mineral Spirits.


First tried it on an old oxidized alloy wheel, with a drill and small mop.


Before and after close-up.



Pleased with the results, I thought I would try a piece of the motorhome..
The storage drawer lid, that I had stripped..


Did half of it..

[Keyair]

Forgot to post this little update before...

I wanted to replace the incandecents in the interior lights before they melt any more of the fixture lenses.. Oh, and can anyone tell me where to get replacements??

Anyway, a long while back I bought these LED's to try...
Its a 1156 Base adapter with this G4 style small round warm white LED panel..




I tried them, but was not super happy with the light output... and also the light fittings indexing is not consistant...

So I had a brainstorm...
Could I wiggle two of the panels in each slot...
Yes!






Light output is still dimmer, but better than burning a hole in the diffuser..

[Keyair]

Last night I decided to build a test adaptor for the passenger side mirror.

Here is the paper template I used...
Moved the mirror down and forward, as I think I made a mistake on the drivers side... if this works I will remake it.



18g Steel bases...




Holes drilled and bases tacked.
I dicided to try this one 1" thicker(2 1/2" thick at top as apposed to 1 1/2" on drivers side)to see if it makes a difference seeing around the Awning leg...

[Keyair]

Well, it works good, but I will be remaking the drivers side now..

Bolted on the adaptor...



Then the Mirror..




The additional 1" offset creates a better view down the bodyside without the awning leg blocking the line of sight.

Approx drivers view...


Zoomed drivers view.


But I spotted something that bugs me...
Notice in the zoomed view that the mirror glasses are oddly positioned reletive to the body housing... like the upper is twisted to the left, and the wide angle is twisted to the right...
I spent some time trying to figure this out, and finally I got it!

This is caused by the mirror being mounted on the bodyside as it tapers in...
Now here is where you can see the curve affecting the mounting... at the mirror mounting point the bodyside is almost 3" inboard, and curving faster every inch.


I think I might remake both side with the forward edge 3/4" thicker to bring it back square..

[crazeevw]

Steve,
I'll get a photo of where my location is for my 'stock' mirrors on my '89. No matter, your projects get more and more fascinating! Long live the poor and imaginative!
Derek

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Keyair

Well, it works good, but I will be remaking the drivers side now..

I think I might remake both side with the forward edge 3/4" thicker to bring it back square..

Angles look very similar to the stock on my 87, except the mirrors are recessed more than yours, making it less apparent.

[bkahler]

Learned something new today. The factory Argosy mirror mounting location is farther forward than the 310 mount location. I need to remove the Argosy mirror mount so I can bolt one of the new mounts temporary in place to see how that location is going to work.



I'm hoping the forward location will work out better. I'm not sure it is worth the effort to try and make an adapter plate that accounts for the upward slope of the shell AND the forward curving angle of the shell. I'll wait and see how my test works out and then make a decision.

Brad

[Keyair]

Yeah.. Derek,
"Mater artium necessitas"

Thanks for the Input Peter, always appreciate it!

That's fun stuff eh Brad?
Who'd a thought that!

At 6' 4" my seat position is a few inches further back.
Maybe I am being too picky about moving that front edge out... ..
For the record... If I roll my eyes, its ALWAYS at myself.
Even offsetting the passenger side out by that extra inch is maybe just me being me...

[montreal]

Try a full tank on my 310 @ £280 this week.
Didnt last all that long!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by Keyair

At 6' 4" my seat position is a few inches further back.
Maybe I am being too picky about moving that front edge out... ..
For the record... If I roll my eyes, its ALWAYS at myself.
Even offsetting the passenger side out by that extra inch is maybe just me being me...

My Argosy has the front bath which means the back of the driver seat is literally right up against the wall of the bathroom. I really haven't sat in it much at all (no engine and I'm not good at making vroom vroom sounds!) so I don't know how the seat/mirror placement is going to work out. I'll have to check the seat and mirror out this weekend, assuming the weather holds. We might get remnants of Sandy so it's hard to say at this point what I'll get done.

Brad

[Keyair]

Originally Posted by montreal

Try a full tank on my 310 @ £280 this week.
Didnt last all that long!

I feel your pain there in the UK...

At least you get to bask in the weather tho....

Ok Brad, I guess you can be very sure of your mirror position suiting all sizes!

I brought my old mirror home with me if you need sizes...

So, a small update..
In my push to get the MH water tight for "winter", I was up on the roof.
The plan is to paint the center roof panels with white roofing paint to seal all the rivet holes and reflect the heat, but found plenty of work to do before I get to that...

The rear Fantastic-Fan lift mechanism is broken... the arm pivot broke or fell out, so now the lid cannot be raised or lowered by the handwheel inside. Need to get this fixed as it is possible that it could flip up in a wind.
I posted on the vent section and got some answers, so looks like I will need a new part.
Offending part..


Both vents need resealing, as the old sealant is cracked and split.

Spent some time trying to hack off the old sealant around the old broken/missing antenna assembly..
Yuk.


I have a new Winegard Sensar IV to put on, so will need to make some choices when I lay the template on the roof and see what the new setup will cover and what it will not. It looks like there is a patch or something already..

Had not spent so much time tripping the light fantastic up there, so spent time looking... plenty of dents in the front cap... what were the PO's doing!
Hoping to get cracking on the last bits of polishing and start sealing soon.

But of course, as soon as I plan something, I get stalled..
The genset would not start... it ran great last week...
Fuel pump is not drawing consistantly, so pulled that off for some bench tests...