1980 Caravelle Shell Off Renovation

[perryg114]

Your flashing should work as long as there is nothing under it to funnel water back inside. Did you say you were not going to put the bumper box back on?

Perry

[timzog]

Originally Posted by perryg114

Your flashing should work as long as there is nothing under it to funnel water back inside. Did you say you were not going to put the bumper box back on?

Perry

If I do build a box there, I will give it an inch or more gap so that water can run past. I haven't decided how to finish off that part. I don't have a bumper at all so either need to buy or fashion something.

[perryg114]

You probably have enough scrap aluminum to make a new box that is self contained instead of the original design that used the bottom skin to finish out the bottom of the box. I am in the same boat. I think I will make the frame rails just a little longer to make room for a new box.

Perry

[timzog]

Working on wheel wells. Step 1 is curving some 1/8" aluminum to make a 30" long x 11 3/4" wide x 13" tall arc. I screwed a cleat to a board and started arcing a 48" x11 3/4" sheet with bar clamps. It seems to be taking this radius well with kinking or showing signs of stress. I'm going to let it sit like this for a day and see how much it relaxes. I am still figuring out how to attach the sides. Either I will hammer a thinner sheet into an angle or I will kerf an existing angle to make the bend. I thought about a square form but I couldn't resist trying to make the smooth radius bend. I may regret this, but I was impressed by how nicely it took the bend.

[perryg114]

1/8" man that is thick. That might even stand up to a blowout.

Perry

[timzog]

I tried a couple of ways to make the rounded wheel wells but gave up. Is there any reason not to just build a rectangular box?

Perry, I hope you are right and that I never find out

[desertair27]

Originally Posted by timzog

I tried a couple of ways to make the rounded wheel wells but gave up. Is there any reason not to just build a rectangular box?

Perry, I hope you are right and that I never find out

Why don't you take your metal to a sheet metal shop and let them bend it for you? Or take your old wheel wells and just let them fabricate them.

[timzog]

Originally Posted by desertair27

Why don't you take your metal to a sheet metal shop and let them bend it for you? Or take your old wheel wells and just let them fabricate them.

That is a good idea, but I'm stubborn and cheap and like to do things myself. Also, I haven't wasted enough money or time yet to call in somebody who actually knows what they are doing.
Tim

[Wabbiteer]

I haven't wasted enough money or time yet to call in somebody who actually knows what they are doing.

Our Hero!

Okay, I have ulterior motives... I'd like to see a bullet-proof and repeatable wheel well design come about from this...

[desertair27]

Originally Posted by timzog

That is a good idea, but I'm stubborn and cheap and like to do things myself. Also, I haven't wasted enough money or time yet to call in somebody who actually knows what they are doing.
Tim

That's funny Tim, I'm the same way.
Good luck with it! I'll be watching.
Mike

[timzog]

Not getting as much done as I had hoped this weekend.

[timzog]

So I've decided to just build a rectangular box for the wheel wells. It will be 1/8" plate aluminum all around except the outside face which will be 1/16" or thinner. I'll cut the thinner outside piece to match the shell cutout on the bottom and then rectangular on the other three edges. The original wheel well trim should fit over the thickness of the shell and the new thin wheel well. All the edges will be joined with 3/4" angle and buck rivets wherever I can reach. Not a great explanation but I'll show some pics as I mock it up hopefully later today. I am currently at a place called Kangaroo Zoo where my kids are attending a birthday party so if I am not fully coherent, I believe I have a valid excuse.
Tim

[Wabbiteer]

Said box to act as inner or outer or replace both WW tubs?

On my '73 wells, with the two layers of plastic tubs crammed with an inch of pink fiberglass, it'd be easy to reuse the old exterior black tub as tire-blow-out cushion by tacking it in the aluminum box hollow, but that leaves a Kangaroo Pouch effect in the air spaces left unfilled...

I wonder if just gluing up an inch of foam board on the tire side of the aluminum boxes would provide enough cushion?

[timzog]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

Said box to act as inner or outer or replace both WW tubs?

On my '73 wells, with the two layers of plastic tubs crammed with an inch of pink fiberglass, it'd be easy to reuse the old exterior black tub as tire-blow-out cushion by tacking it in the aluminum box hollow, but that leaves a Kangaroo Pouch effect in the air spaces left unfilled...

I wonder if just gluing up an inch of foam board on the tire side of the aluminum boxes would provide enough cushion?

I am planning on just having one layer of aluminum. I was thinking about just wrapping the box with foam or prodex. I was also thinking about painting the tire side of the box with truck bed liner material. I don't know that is insulating at all but I think it should make it very tough. I don't see how the plastic tubs are very strong at all and I have a hard time imagining how a tire blowout would break through 1/8 aluminum plate but I have never seen one and I guess there is a lot of momentum in a tire at 60 mph.

I wonder if you could spray foam on the tire side of the box to insulate and cushion and then spray the truck bed liner on top of that to give it a tough protective casing.

[Lance M]

I would recommend you spend a little more money on quality tires and not worry too much about an impenetrable wheel well. A single wall steel or aluminum wheel well with some measure of insulation would work just fine.

[timzog]

Originally Posted by Top

I would recommend you spend a little more money on quality tires and not worry too much about an impenetrable wheel well. A single wall steel or aluminum wheel well with some measure of insulation would work just fine.

No arguments on the need for good tires. I have heard stories on the forum, though, of people who thought they had good tires but still had a blowout. I could easily be accused of overdoing a few things on this project so why stop now

[Wabbiteer]

The strength in the plastics is they absorb slaps by flexing and return to their molded shape with maybe a tear in the outer layer, so adding a layer of foam on the narrow ends for the tire husk to slap seems prudent as the strength in rivets is lateral shear and not 'pull'.

After examining the local-online metal monger offerings of 4'x8' 0.125" sheet, 50XX or 60XX alloys, it appears the economy is there when oversize shipping on the plastic wells price is included IF using local pickup on the sheet stock - as in even with rivets and angle it is nearly a break-even change.

I am looking forward to seeing your interpretation put into action

[timzog]

Originally Posted by Wabbiteer

The strength in the plastics is they absorb slaps by flexing and return to their molded shape with maybe a tear in the outer layer, so adding a layer of foam on the narrow ends for the tire husk to slap seems prudent as the strength in rivets is lateral shear and not 'pull'.

After examining the local-online metal monger offerings of 4'x8' 0.125" sheet, 50XX or 60XX alloys, it appears the economy is there when oversize shipping on the plastic wells price is included IF using local pickup on the sheet stock - as in even with rivets and angle it is nearly a break-even change.

I am looking forward to seeing your interpretation put into action

I think I can see how flexibility and strength are related. Kind of like the bending tree not breaking. Yesterday, I was able to do the first part which was to buck rivet angles to the underside of my floor. It only required a thin bead of sealant.




I like this significantly better than the way that the original wheel wells are attached to the channel of goo. I think this will be much cleaner and also allows me to overlap pieces in order to try and keep water out! The vertical pieces of the box will then attach to the tire side of this angle and I think I'll let them hang down an extra 1/2" below the floor to further prevent paths for water to enter my living space.

For me the economy is that I have a bunch of leftover .125" sheet. I bought 4'x10' and only needed 7' so I have 4 3'x4' pieces of .125". I spent about $40 on angles and I already have a wide assortment of rivets plus some marine sealant from a kind and charitable forum member

[timzog]

I cut the pieces of the wheel well that go right next to the exterior skin out of a few scraps of vinyl covered interior aluminum from the few pieces of interior aluminum that were still in the trailer when I got it.
The idea is that this piece will slide into the original wheel well trim piece and then connect to the box with angles. I attached the angle to this piece with 5/32 buck rivets and a bead of vulkem for good measure.
I then put it in place and installed the trim piece and then tied it all together with pop rivets just at the bottom edge. This should provide flexibility to allow a square box to sit next to a curved wall without any exterior penetrations.
Here is a pic of one of the boxes. The white material is the vinyl coated aluminum.


This is the exterior with the wheel well trim reattached.


I've cut some of the 1/8" plate to size but may not get to it until the weekend. 4 day weekend could mean serious progress!

[timzog]

I had a few other projects this weekend besides eating turkey but I made some progress on the wheel wells. I finished all the sides of the roadside well...





And 3 of the sides for the curbside well.



Slowly, slowly, slowly. I get impatient sometimes, but as long as I don't set a final deadline I am much happier.
I hope everyone had a chance to count their many blessings this weekend as I did.

Tim