Newbie's to Airstream forums, but not new to RV'ing. We'll be posting pics of our restoration project as we go along. Enjoy! Attachment 156133 Attachment 156134
Please read the attached for your long term planning.
Welcome! A lot of those pictures look familiar..... We're in the middle of our own remodel project and we feel your dust and dirt! Continued pictures are always welcome here (and kind of required if you want to stay in good with "certain" people!)
With all the pics, you can see our work is cut out for us.
Items we're starting with first:
Taking inventory of what is destroyed, missing, needing replacement
Checking for leaks first! windows come to mind
Replacing the entire plumbing system (we're selling our fresh water tank, we do not need it)
Replacing only a few sections of flooring and beams (yes, I have seen others posts, but at this point, our budget dictates what we can do)
wiring, kitchen, tires.........
and the list goes on
am I missing anything?
Boy, it's been a while! Finally after a year long struggle to get the title straight, our 1973 beauty is in the backyard---let the games begin!
We tore out the galley today, and started to remove small pieces one step at a time. Taking a lot of photos and measurements along the way. A lot of diagrams being written as well. If anyone is interested in knowing how to take out a refrigerator, as you will see from the photos 2 brackets were holding this thing in place...she wasn't going anywhere! Did manage to pick up a 2011 Dometic gas/electric fridge for $50.00 today and a 6 gallon Atwood water heater for $20.00 as well as a newer toilet for $20.00. Yes, those are the real prices, salvage yard baby! Though some may think this is too much of a risk, we are on a limited budget and heck, what a steal! Look for more photos as we go along....and happy streaming to you all!
Kevin Patton
The old dometic I took out may work, we never got it to turn on. If you are interested in purchasing it, shoot me an email. I'm not interested in keeping it.
A few pics of the continuing saga of tearing stuff out. Photos come in handy so you can jog your memory as how this beast goes back together (should you choose that route...with upgrades). I've included my find of the dometic fridge and atwood water heater. Also included what the shower walls look like when removed. Almost finished removing all walls. Ohhhhh, I just LOVE rivets and broken drill bits. Reminds me of the song..we've only just begun...thanks Karen Carpenter. Happy streaming to all!
Another day spent finishing demo. Getting ready to remove the walls. We've taken pictures along the way to aid in the rebuild. We've also saved everything to use as a template if need be or to reuse. I've attached an Microsoft Excel file which may help you to keep track of expenses. We've used this to help us, so I figured I would pass it along. Now I am looking for a black water tank below the floor, a shower, a bathroom sink and a power converter. We'll be updating lights to all LED inside and out hopefully as well as PEX waterlines. Those are the plans now anyway.
Spent today completing the tear out.
As you can see from the pics, no wonder the underbelly retains so much water, the banana wrap acts as a gutter! This will be put under the skin once the frame is repaired. I dropped the entire belly pan/wraps. Removed all the insulation, pipes, etc.
Now needing some tips on removing stickers. What are the best options? I would also like to restore the international logo...any tips there would be much appreciated.
Got to love those Olympic rivets...going to go bye bye...they leak when used for exterior usage.
For those interested in what the backside of the front portion may look like, I've included that pic as well, and other stuff...and my ugly mug!
Man this thing is an obsession! Happy streaming all!
Kevin
Been a few months gathering supplies and waiting on warmer weather. During this time I've removed the weather stripping off of all but one window and spray painted the metal portions. I picked a rust-o-leum metallic spray paint. The 2 vista views in the back were taken apart and cleaned. I've re-tinted them and plan on doing all windows in a limo-black tint (like the new AS models). I figure each window takes about 2 hours to properly strip, clean, tint and polish. I will try to post more pics when our weather decides to cooperate....but spring is almost here!!
Now that all of the old seals have been painstakingly removed, spray painted all the metal portions and polished the windows, I am finally ready to put the weatherstripping on. I finished the bathroom window just to see how she fits and looks with the tint. Also washed the sash and the outside where the window meets. Man, does it take time to do this! Happy Streaming!
Haven't posted in a few months. We moved and this put this restoration on hold until now. Picking up from the last post I'm still cleaning windows, sashes, and putting on weatherstripping. Will post pics soon.
Just caught up with your thread again, Airpatton. I spray painted our logo with Rustoleum paints. Hafta mask off each section and spray, wait for it to dry for awhile, re-mask, and spray the next color. I used paint thinner and Q-tips to clean off the letters after I sprayed. It's a little time consuming, but looks good now. The Airstream lettering I was able to paint with a brush and paint. The striping and logo needed to be sprayed. I tried with a brush but it did NOT look good!
Windows Do take awhile! When they're done, though, you can move onto something else! Kind of like the never ending story!
With all the pics, you can see our work is cut out for us.
Items we're starting with first:
Taking inventory of what is destroyed, missing, needing replacement
Checking for leaks first! windows come to mind
Replacing the entire plumbing system (we're selling our fresh water tank, we do not need it)
Replacing only a few sections of flooring and beams (yes, I have seen others posts, but at this point, our budget dictates what we can do)
wiring, kitchen, tires.........
and the list goes on
am I missing anything?
Are you selling the tank or have you sold it? I would be interested I have a leaker.
denmcd---yes, I still have it. I live in colonial heights virginia, so hopefully the shipping wouldn't eat you alive! it's clean and doesn't leak, so if you're interested, send me a PM and we'll go from there
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Correction, 1973 Ambassador
and the tear out continues....
Linear Mode
