The story of the Airstream 310 Jacket

[PeterH-350LE]

Thanks everyone and thank you Dan for posting the fuse block layout.
The chassis on my 83 is an 82, but the Coach appears to be a very late 83 according to the Airstream vin. It has the later model dash, aluminum rims, powerseats and even some oak upper cabinets in the rear that were not used until 84 as far as I know.
By then they may have realized the weakness of the spade type fuse protected compressor circuit and installed a circuit breaker fuse.
I will follow every ones recommendation and only use that existing circuit for the relay and run a #8 from the chassis Bat to small 12v distribution block in the rear.
onward through the fog...

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by mayco

.....
Is your tank still in place or are you going to have to install a new tank also? Not sure if you know or not but the oem set up had 2 air lines from the tank to the compressor set up. One line was supply from the compressor to the tank and the other line was from the tank to the pressure switch.........

Mike

Yes, Tank is in place, but what a mess someone made
Instead of a drain valve on the bottom, its been used for the manual supply line. Tank is prob half full of water.
One side of the T on top goes to the air bags the other side goes to ...drum roll....back into the tank via the original compressor input fitting
check out the plumbing on that fitting.
who sells hose and different fittings? home depot ?

[bkahler]

Now that's ugly

Some PO did the same thing to the bottom of the tank on the 310. I thought that was rather odd since there was a quick connect in the electrical compartment that could have been used just as easily.

Brad

[mayco]

I havent tried these but was tempted when I was redoing my compressor system.

Plastic Push-To-Connect Tube Fittings | MSCDirect.com

Or,
http://www.summitracing.com/search/p...-hose-fittings

Or,
Pneumatic Fittings and Couplings - Pneumatics - Grainger Industrial Supply

I had a difficult time finding proper tube fittings locally. Our "Do it Best" had some fittings but limited selection.

Mike

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

I will follow every ones recommendation and only use that existing circuit for the relay and run a #8 from the chassis Bat to small 12v distribution block in the rear.
onward through the fog...

After reviewing the installation that I did on the 310 for the compressor wiring upgrade I realized that I didn't run a wire from the coach batteries to the compressor I ran the wire from the generator compartment to the compressor.

I used a #10 wire connected to the starter solenoid of the generator and ran it across the chassis to the compressor. For some reason I didn't fuse the #10 wire so I will be doing that this weekend. Not sure how I missed adding a fuse inline

Brad

[Smartstream]

Mike try a truck parts supply house. They have lots of tubing stuff for air suspension and air brake systems. The push on fittings are just an air version of a Shark bite fitting.

[PeterH-350LE]

I may be overthinking this:
Would it not be better to let the ignition power first go to pressure switch, which then will power the relay to open the new bat circuit for the compressor?
Otherwise the relay would get a lot more use and would be energized at all times.

[mayco]

Yes, if you use a separate pressure switch and relay. You power the pressure switch and it triggers the relay. If you run power direct from the battery, one side of the relay is hot all the time, when the pressure sw calls for air it will trigger the relay to close and contact is made sending the batttery power to the compressor. Another reason I like the pressure switch/relay combo from viair. Very simple to wire, compact design, sealed unit so resists moisture.

Mike

[mayco]

Viair 85 105 PSI Pressure Switch Relay Combo Train Horns Load Support | eBay

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

I may be overthinking this:
Would it not be better to let the ignition power first go to pressure switch, which then will power the relay to open the new bat circuit for the compressor?
Otherwise the relay would get a lot more use and would be energized at all times.

The only extra use it would get is if you have a slow leak. The compressor would run periodically to keep the suspension up.

With that said, Airstream powered the compressor from the ignition circuit on most rigs. Not sure why yours went to that particular circuit breaker as I think that one has power all the time.

Personally I prefer to power the relay or pressure switch (doesn't matter which) from the ignition circuit and the N.O. contact gets power from either the chassis or coach battery which then feeds the compressor.

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by bkahler

... Not sure why yours went to that particular circuit breaker as I think that one has power all the time...
Brad

Haven't had time to trace that orange wire feeding the circuit breaker, but it only gets power with the ignition on.

[PeterH-350LE]

Finally got all the parts together to complete the compressor install. I found compression fittings and air line at Home Depot and they work great.
The only problem I had with the fittings was at the compressor. The braided compression line ViAir supplied was not long enough to go from the Tank to the mount location and I made the mistake to use it on the tank side and add plastic line to the compressor. At 90 pounds the hose will just blow off, because of all the heat generated close to the fitting. I will have to reverse that tomorrow or find a longer hose.

[cwf]

Peter, if you use copper line instead of the plastic hose, it will help cool the air before getting to the tank. It is not hard to bend. You can use side of a plastic soda bottle or paint can...to help keep a nice arc.

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by cwf

Peter, if you use copper line instead of the plastic hose, it will help cool the air before getting to the tank. It is not hard to bend. You can use side of a plastic soda bottle or paint can...to help keep a nice arc.

Got the system all tight now, even got a removable pressure gauge.
Got my seat cushions back from the upholstery shop (thanks, Channing for the referral, they do excellent work). This completes my custom dinette.

[PeterH-350LE]

Never been too fond of the wood decal and even less once it starts peeling.
If the surround decal is still in good shape, here is a fairly simple way to deal with it, without going through all the stripping mess:
To remove the top layer, use white masking tape 1 1/2 or 2 inch, the cheaper the better, since the cheaper stuff sticks even more. Use a sharp razor for some of the stubborn stuff. Works very fast and its very clean. It did those 2 sections in about 2 hours, removing the top layer and installing new decal.
Then just decorate the center to your hearts desire.

[mayco]

I like the look Peter. Ive conteplated doing something along those lines at some point. Mine is still in pretty good shape so no hurry. What is the new decal all about? What material, how is it applied, where did you purchase(what kind of vendor, local, on line, what type of business)? Did you apply the new decal,yourself? Id like to start some research but not sure what the options are. I have assumed a sign shop or a vinyl wrap business. Does a decal like that come in standard widths? Thank you for anything you might want to share. Yours really looks nice, good choice I think. Really goes well with the part you left in place and with the aluminum shell. There might be some negotiations with the wife on this one..........she has grown to really like the classic look of the wood grain. Me....Im not so sure, especially as ours starts to deteriorate more. The worst part on ous is the black and silver stripe along the front "hood". Its faded bad. Man it would look sooooo great to replace all the striping and the little rubber/vinyl insert all the way around.

Mike

[PeterH-350LE]

Mike,
I did put in new rub rail, cost for the small dark gray and the wide black was right at $215.-
The decal I using is part of my inventory I have from rebuilding Airstreams for 20 years. Some you can only buy in 150' rolls, so have a many partial rolls.
I do install it myself. Main thing is not to worry about small air bubbles, since they will evaporate in a few weeks.
Ebay is the a good source for any type of decals, my suggestion is not to buy the cheapest. Quality varies a lot and you want something that will last a few years.
for example check these:
TRACKER MARINE 103790 SILVER CLEAR CHARCOAL 1 3 4 INCH BOAT PINSTRIPE TAPE | eBay

[mayco]

Ahhhhhhh, didnt know you had been at it so long! Should have after reading your posts. Thanks for the link Ill check it out

[PeterH-350LE]

The Bath window and the rear emergency exit window use a different type of gasket. I had a hard time figuring out, how to remove the bath window. There are 2 screws on the bottom of one of the brackets, but they are frozen solid. So I found the easiest would be to drill out the rivets of the bracket that is attached to the window.
The gasket material is available from inland RV as part number 45370 and you will need 20' for the bath and rear window. I use the black weatherstripping Adhesive from 3M for these types of gaskets. Its inland Rv part number 51991

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by mayco

Ahhhhhhh, didnt know you had been at it so long! Should have after reading your posts. Thanks for the link Ill check it out

Peter's been at this long enough he can do the repairs in his sleep...