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Aluminati · 01-08-2008, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotochop

good luck on the rib-making. will you also be doing some BBQ ribs when finished? and where's that "Cajun Deli" located? I would love to check this out one day. not to nitpick, but down here we'd say "La Boucherie" instead off "Le", even though Le might actually be correct for all I know! sure is a heckuva nice trailer...

will you be opening a Cajun deli of your own? need any guest chefs?

best,

I wont be making ribs...I serve classic "old-school" hamburgers, Milkshakes/malts and Fries

Aluminati · 01-08-2008, 10:31 AM

This is a picture of the burger that I serve. And yes...the food that is ordered looks like the one in the picture.

Sorry...the picture is not a scratch and sniff

Aluminati · 01-08-2008, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 62overlander

just a slight word of caution... when I released the shell in the rear, it actually moved out further to the rear than it originally was. In this photo
Attachment 52216

Well..I am only going to take the blots out from the back of the wheel well going toward the back. I figured if I keep some of it locked down it wont shift much. Once I have the new floor in and bolted down, I will take out the rest and replace it. Big fear of the whole shell just slipping off to the side.

malconium · 01-08-2008, 12:17 PM

One thing that you can do to help keep the shell from sliding sideways is to use a couple of ratchet straps. Consider attaching one end to a location at the base of the body that is still bolted down with the other end at a diagonal location that you want to hold in place. It is also pretty easy to use a 2x4 or two cross wise to maintain the space between the sides. Take a look at my photo area for several photos of some simple bracing that I used during my shell on floor replacement efforts. You will also see that I used some vertical pieces to keep the body from dropping lower when I removed the floor. It is very easy to jack the body up using this bracing too if it has dropped too much in some area. You can also use a long lever to jack up the body from the side when you are inserting floor panels. The most descriptive photo is included here.

Malcolm

byamcaravanner · 01-08-2008, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aluminati

Big fear of the whole shell just slipping off to the side.

The only thing I have holding the back 2/3rds of my trailer (which is 2 feet longer than yours) is a wood clamp on one side at the rear. As long as you have 1/2 the trailer +/- still bolted the shell won't go anywhere.

I love that burger! Hurry up and get finished!

Aluminati · 01-09-2008, 06:36 PM

From what I know...my 68 Over lander is a little over 4000lbs.
It also seems that over the years the AS got heaver. As far as the frame of the 68 overlander...did they use the same frame for other model years where as the airstreams were heavier?

Aluminati · 01-16-2008, 12:40 PM

O.K.. so I have the floor removed. I removed the bolts in the back (not the front. Now my only issue is this. I am going to do a clam shell floor replacement...cut the back in half. Here is the issue. When I measure from outrigger to outrigger it is 87" When I measure (in the front of the wheels where the floor is still attatched. it measures about 881/2 inches. So How wide do I make the wood floor? Do I cut the floor so that it goes from end of outrigger to end of outrigger or do I have the floor overlap the outrigger on each side?

byamcaravanner · 01-16-2008, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aluminati

Do I cut the floor so that it goes from end of outrigger to end of outrigger or do I have the floor overlap the outrigger on each side?

Measure the floor in the front (where it is still bolted) from inside shell to inside shell. The walls are approximately 1 1/2" thick. If you hold the edge of the floor back 1/4" from the outside skin that means you would add 2 1/2" to your inside floor measurement.

So... if you measure 86" along the floor at the inside of the trailer, you would add 1 1/4 times two (for each wall) and get a width of 88 1/2" for the plywood. The plywood does extend past the ends of the outriggers.

Remember when you bolt down the floor to make sure it is equally spaced either side of the main frame rails. The shell will move around quite a bit, so don't rely on the location of the shell for locating the floor.

Aluminati · 01-16-2008, 02:20 PM

should I use wax paper on the edges of the floor to slip the floor under the u channel? It does not seem like it wants to fit in back where it came from. Also...plywood warping is a pain in the rear! I brought the ply and it was flat. I come back one day later and it has some warp to it...go figure.

byamcaravanner · 01-16-2008, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aluminati

should I use wax paper on the edges of the floor to slip the floor under the u channel? It does not seem like it wants to fit in back where it came from.

Wax paper would probably help. It will need some persuasion to get the new plywood in.

malconium · 01-16-2008, 05:43 PM

You can also shave a little bit of a taper at the edge of the plywood to help it slip into the c-channel more easily. I found that the c-channel was a little compressed here and there when I was putting my new sub-floor back in and the taper definitely helped. All you really need to do is to round the square edge off a bit so it does not catch so easily on the edge of the c-channel. It might also help if you check out your c-channel with a scrap of plywood first to see if any places are compressed or even bent a little.

Malcolm

Aerowood · 01-16-2008, 07:25 PM

I found that the shell can sag down somewhat and had to jack up the shell a tad to make the plywood slide in easier. I peeled back the rear skin and put in a horz 2X4 under one of the stringers and jacked it up with a vertical 2X4. I have seen other pictures on the forum that have done this many different ways.

Aluminati · 01-17-2008, 05:07 AM

I will try taking a belt sander to the edges a bit. I did measure my board again and it is 881/2 inches so I will try again to get the floor into place.

There are two pieces that I am having an issue getting off. If you look at the above picture, there are two corner pieces that are under the trailer, where the belly pan area. These two pieces seem to be tucked under the outside skin. it looks like I drilled out all of the rivets but it still wont move. One of the piece on the curb side seem to still be attatched. It had a lip that went where the water heater was. I need to take these off to get to the outer u chanel underneath. Also..The frame is is great shape but I wanted to put some POR15 on the frame before I put the floor back in. The only issue is that its cold outside and I think it has to be a certain temp outside to apply it.

byamcaravanner · 01-17-2008, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aluminati

I will try taking a belt sander to the edges a bit. I did measure my board again and it is 881/2 inches so I will try again to get the floor into place.

There are two pieces that I am having an issue getting off. If you look at the above picture, there are two corner pieces that are under the trailer, where the belly pan area. These two pieces seem to be tucked under the outside skin. it looks like I drilled out all of the rivets but it still wont move. One of the piece on the curb side seem to still be attached. It had a lip that went where the water heater was. I need to take these off to get to the outer u Chanel underneath. Also..The frame is is great shape but I wanted to put some POR15 on the frame before I put the floor back in. The only issue is that its cold outside and I think it has to be a certain temp outside to apply it.

There are some hidden rivets on the pieces you are trying to get off. What I did was... using a flat screw driver and a flashlight, I gently pryed away the outer skin and using the flashlight to see under it I was able to see where the belly skin was riveted behind the outer skin. when you find them, you cand drill right through the outer skin to remove the rivet as long as they are located behind the beltline trim.

It needs to be atleast 50 degrees to apply the POR15. You can achieve this with a portable propane heater, but it's best to do it on a warmer day and not in the single digit temps we are in for this weekend.

Wabbiteer · 01-18-2008, 11:04 AM

I posted the following 6 December 2006...

Applied POR-15 w/ last coats going on after midnight, outside, using 17w CFL drop-light, at 38F temperature... finished surface looks every bit like factory fresh paint from FOMOCO or GM with no evidence of rust spots now after 8-10 weeks. I kept brush core damp with a few drops of their thinner and was amazed at how far the coverage stretched...

I think as long as its above freezing POR-15 will do it's thing; once moisture in air 'freezes' the catalyst action may stop.

EDIT: wow - just lost the previous edit into the nethers!!

After 13 months paint still looks factory fresh; some rust pores have revealed themselves where they held a bubble and paint never penetrated while it was wet - pay carefull attention to first coat especially around outer axle frame rails. Shivering helped with painting in the dark, everything got extra brush strokes from trying to keep warm!!

byamcaravanner · 01-18-2008, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

Applied POR-15 w/ last coats going on after midnight, outside, using 17w CFL drop-light, at 38F temperature...

I think as long as its above freezing POR-15 will do it's thing; once moisture in air 'freezes' the catalyst action may stop.

Wabitter,

Thanks for reposting this here. That is great news for me. At that temperature, how long did you allow between coats? Was the ambient temp 38F or did you heat the trailer? Any idea what the relative humidity was?

Wabbiteer · 01-18-2008, 10:24 PM

Quote:

At that temperature, how long did you allow between coats? Was the ambient temp 38F or did you heat the trailer? Any idea what the relative humidity was?

I used 3-4 % (2 tblspn per pint) POR-15 Thinner to dilute the paint; I decanted from quart can into clean pint sized glass jars with the pre measured solvent in the bottoms, sealing one and using the other immediately - stirred well and applied using a solvent pre dampened 2" natural bristle brush.

The instructions say allow to dry (cure) until only a slight 'drag' when you brush a fingertip across it; so the very first spot you start at is where you check for dryness for the repeat coat.

Between extra preparations and general goof-offing I started painting late and knocked off near 6pm having completed one coat and doubling-up of problem areas (outriggers and corrosion near black tank) and resumed for 2nd coat at 10pm (the news came on!) and didn't finish the until 1AM so it was 3-4 hours between coats.

The floor was on so everything was unheated and outdoors in the wind. There are still some grains of sand and small leaves glued into the last coat of paint. I bet it was at or above 80% RH, but even at 100% and 38°F thats still only half of completely saturated 50°F air, or one-sixth possible water vapor in 70°F air.

Most of the internal spars in front of the axles were in perfect shape as were the inner frame rails in those compartments - they got flat black derusto spray paint which melted well into the asphalt based paint AS used that was still serviceable.

Anyhow - the paint impressed me, and I had time to write the story out; I had included the thinner comment in the EDIT above but the nether's wanted the electrons and I was in a rush so there is the rest of the story...