Visit our Popular Forums

goransons · 07-16-2009, 07:12 PM

Thanks Kip, just put us on the list when you get back in the states. I've got plenty to keep me busy!

Marc, haven't been back under, to be honest I've been a little sore, been doing some lighter jobs today.

goransons · 07-16-2009, 07:24 PM

Jalousie Window before:

After:

We decided to replace all the glass, many were chipped, things had been taped, glued, siliconed, and were falling apart still. I took a sample pane down to the glass shop and had 8 cut and edges polished.

I removed all the glass panes, several fell out on their own. Brass brush on a drill was used to clean up all the pieces, new weatherstip was installed (still waiting on the header gasket, I forgot to order it until yesterday).

Started with the bottom window, installed the gaskets, slid in the glass, cut the disks and pressed those in, done!!!

Started on the upper window and ohhhhh $%^$# that window is just slightly wider than the window below, mechanism is different and each pain is the same thickness, same height but 9/16" longer left to right. So back to the glass shop for 5 new pieces of glass (I have "extras" now for the bottom). Got those installed. Also did some preliminary polishing around the window and frame. Tomorrow I'll finish around the window with a small buffing wheel to get around all the lights, sharp window frame edges, emblem, handles etc, but my goal weather depending is to finish polishing the front end cap, seal the front window frame and install "8671" the "Wally Byam's Caravan" sticker, and new Airstream emblem. Then over the weekend I'll finish up the axle and get to plywood since it is supposed to cool off a little.

here you can see the first cut of Nuvite F, about an hour to get that far, much more to go. Lots of beauty marks, going to leave them, no doubt some are more recent but many are probably from far away places.

goransons · 07-17-2009, 07:16 PM

100 degrees today, still sore from the axle work, so decided that since it was too hot to work inside the trailer, that in the shade I could get some fun work done outside. Did some more polishing on the front end cap, and finished the center enough that I could install the airstream logo, caravan sticker and WBCCI numbers. I know it is probably ahead of what I should worry about, but makes the neighbors and wife happy that it looks less like crap in the driveway, and reminds me of where we're heading.

Also finished removing the paint and rust (ok mostly rust) from the tongue and coupler and finished painting that.

66Overlander · 07-21-2009, 11:28 PM

Scott,
I'm glad to see progress is again being made on 'ol 8671. Great Job!

goransons · 08-12-2009, 05:44 PM

Got a couple hours in today, removed the front interior lower skins, pulled the insulation and am preparing to remove that last bit of floor but the rain got going too hard out there and the heat to warm. Tomorrow hopefully I'll have the last frame areas exposed. Also trying some test areas by the door removing the latex paint on panels that I don't plan to totally remove before I take out the nasty plywood.

The most exciting bit of the day, through Joe we've made contact with the daughter of the Tolles that had our trailer on the caravan, who has a bunch of photos and notes from the caravan with great details. I was asking about the truck they pulled (we thought someday down the road it would be cool to find a similiar truck), which I picked to be a 63 F100 based on photos but found out talking to her that everyone was supposed to have the same spec'd year truck with the same type of options so repairs were easier. Here's a bit of what she had from her mom's notes:

"their truck was a 3/4 ton 4 wheel drive Ford truck with a heavy duty V8 engine-4 speed transmission-heavy duty shock absorbers and brakes-special springs and radiator. The tow vehicles were especially built for this adventure. Daddy built a storage compartment in the bed of the truck. Each rig was able to carry 80 gal. gas plus 60 gal. water. They had 2 five gal. containers to hold "clean water" for drinking and cooking. Every rig had 2 40lb. butane gas bottles too."

Anyway appears she has upwards of 9 composition books full of notes from her mom and many many slides. Thanks Joe for helping with the contact and Mary for sharing the info.

Pictures to follow tomorrow of the rest of the floor out, weather permitting.

goransons · 08-14-2009, 02:35 PM

2 sheets of plywood left to replace, then I can pull back the belly pan, get the walls all bolted down both sides, and replace some exterior sheet metal. A few hours with a drill and sawzall and both are out. Besides costco size piles of mouse droppings, a few old wasp nests, lots of dust and dirt etc, nothing but surface rust up front and pieces of the rotted floor. Some C/J Channel to repair/replace, lost of surface rust removal and paint today, hoping to have these two sheets replaced, trailer wire nest cleaned up and body bolted down by Monday. We'll see how that goes.

tallytwo1994 · 08-14-2009, 03:13 PM

[quote=goransons;734253]Anyway appears she has upwards of 9 composition books full of notes from her mom and many many slides. /quote]

Maybe someone will be able to scan some of these for the historical info relivant to Airstreams.

I just found out a few weeks ago that some scanners have an option specifically for slides and negatives. Looking forward to scanning in all our old negatives.

BTW the photos of your son and and the deer were priceless.

Carol

goransons · 08-14-2009, 04:10 PM

Mary is working on scanning all her mom's stuff, sounds like thats exactly what she's doing. Her mom evidentially gave many presentations on the caravan etc in the years following it. And thanks, he was sure excited to see them!

goransons · 08-14-2009, 07:52 PM

Several hours of cleaning, grinding and wire wheels and have the first coat of primer on, will top coat tonight if its dry, so hopefully I can fit the front 4 feet in tomorrow.

Here's earlier with one coat of primer and 2 shop vac's full of debris removed.

utee94 · 08-14-2009, 08:39 PM

Awesome!

I've said it dozens of times before, and I will likely say it dozens of times again, I never tire of seeing pictures of cleaned and painted frames. Had I never done it myself, I would not appreciate the amount of labor, and the overwhelming sense of satisfaction, that occur at that point.

You're moving along quite well, keep it up!

-Marcus

66Overlander · 08-15-2009, 12:10 AM

[quote=tallytwo1994;735023]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goransons

Anyway appears she has upwards of 9 composition books full of notes from her mom and many many slides. /quote]

Maybe someone will be able to scan some of these for the historical info relivant to Airstreams.

I just found out a few weeks ago that some scanners have an option specifically for slides and negatives. Looking forward to scanning in all our old negatives.

BTW the photos of your son and and the deer were priceless.

Carol

Carol,
As the new Vintage Airstream Club historian (installed at the Madison International Rally in July) that is exactly what I want to do - document and preserve the history of the old time Airstream caravans and rallies and the people that participated on them. The previous VAC Historian , Fred Coldwell, did an amazing job documenting Airstream trailer details (and I've definitely learned a lot from him), but I want to expand our knoweldge and archives into new dimensions.

I am already amassing a list of people I will need to talk to and/or visit as time permits. I am in the process of getting a laptop computer and a good scanner to assist with this activity. And yes it will have to be able to scan slides and/or negatives.

However, if Mari has already converted her parents notes and slides to digital format, I'd be happy to get a copy of that in exchange for whatever supporting documents I might have that she'd be interested in. Otherwise I will offer to help her scan them if we should ever meet in person.

goransons · 08-15-2009, 12:14 AM

I'm struggling at times with practicality versus staying true to the trailer's origins. A few areas I'm compromising:

Electrical (mostly safety related):
1: pulling new romex with integrated ground where accessible, pulling a new single green ground wire to other areas not fully accessible that circuit is in otherwise good shape.

2: Installing modern (but same size/location) breaker box with available breakers, and gfci protection

3: Installing an intelipower next to the battery to povide 12v and charge, though it will be discretely switched so we can run with 12v off and use the 110/12v switches on the various motors etc that have transformers.

Mechanical:

Modern dump valves and pex tubing instead of copper, again practical reasons. Rebuilding all original fixtures

Air Conditioning: this is probably the most drastic, but necessary for us to get any practical use out of this unit in our geographic area.

But now that the floor is out up front I'm cleaning up all the connections and wires for trailer brakes and I wonder if I should go ahead and run the wire while its open and install the lower mount back up lights or is that just not a great idea for the trailer? Our 69 has them up with the tail lights and we find it very useful at camp grounds, especially with late arrivals.

What do you think?

66Overlander · 08-15-2009, 12:44 AM

I know that by 1966 backup lights were an option (our '66 Overlander had them). Not sure about '63, tho.

To try to keep things appearing original and provide even better backup lighting, why couldn't you set it up with removable magnetic backup lights? Hide a plug in the rear bumper storage area and then pull out and plug in the magnetic mount backup lights and attach them to the bumper when you need to back into a site at night. A little more work each time than putting permanent backup lights on, but the trailer would continue to appear original. Also, you might be able to get backup lights that are brighter than original and, when needed, you could aim them to the side a little rather than straight back in case you are backing around a corner.

The best way to run wires for such a setup might be thru the bellypan area before the rest of the floor goes back in.

It's an idea anyway.

Blue Pearl · 08-15-2009, 12:54 AM

Looking good, love those big red numbers. How exciting is it to find all the history to your trailer and talk to the daughter.
Sending you Karma for the good work.

Frank's Trailer Works · 08-15-2009, 04:10 AM

Scott, I think you should do all the things you mentioned. Personally, unless the back up lights are as strong as head light, I do not see the point of them. I think all the rest of your points are valid. I would also suggest a ground wire or black to the 12 volt loop. Redundancy in 12 volt grounding is often a good thing. The AC question is one I have been thinking about a great deal. I have two 54 safaris and when they get done, I want to make the AC not seen at all. I have been thinking a mini split type unit might be the way to go. The free standing type might work also, but built into closet and vented through a roof stack. I will be interested to see how you handle this task.

3Ms75Argosy · 08-15-2009, 11:24 AM

I like the back up lights on my Argosy... I do wish they were a bit brighter, but some is better than none. What kind of A/C are you thinking of?
Marc

goransons · 08-15-2009, 11:34 AM

Frank, I'm open to suggestions on the A/C.

What I do know is that our 25' tradewind does pretty well with 15,000 BTU's

The only exterior compartment is located under the goucho (curbside). Two problems there:

1. Its the nerve center for all the 110 and 12v wiring and there's no room under the goucho to hide it.

2. I really don't want the noise and heat blasting out on the "porch" area.

3. If I made an opening in the side skin, because of the water heater, refer and kitchen location, the only suitable location would be just rear of bow number 1 up front street side, which would put the unit and its noise right under the main bed.

Portable units:

I've researched those, venting is certainly pretty easy, in fact I even thought I could simply make a snap in fit into the existing roof vent, but the hose is unsightly and units in the 12,000-14,000 BTU range are rather bulky and on average 60-70 lbs, so they would block the majority of hallway and be difficult to move out of the way.

I am considering other means of these two concepts, but also looking at a carrier low profile, and then even considering painting the exterior housing silver to help it blend in. I was going to make a cardboard mockup and try it and see what it looks like before I go that road. As far as undoing it, since option 1 would alter the entire side skin, the roof top unit it all respects would be the easiest to patch and would leave the cabinets (and very limited storage) intact. Wiring and drain tube would all be in the wall sense I had to drop most of the rear ceiling to repair the crunched bow.

Other ideas are greatly appreciated.

As far as backup lights, I think I'm going to run the wire back to the rear and set it up in the bumper area with a plug that I can put a temporary light there if I need to, easier to never use it than to try to add it later. I also agree adding a 12v ground instead of grounding to the body would be a good idea too and will do that. I need to repair the body ground which wasn't even connected inside the front wall anymore.

Aerowood · 08-15-2009, 12:17 PM

I've been thinking about the AC options quite abit. I have looked at some neat split units for the trucking industry, but they are really expensive.
Danhard Inc.-Automotive air conditioning manufacturer since 1963.Specialty vehicle,115 volt and aftermarket systems. I believe that I will use a window type and then vent through the floor via door that I can open and close for towing.

Kip

VIKING · 08-15-2009, 12:20 PM

Scott, I am putting a small AC in place of my furnace and I will be using either a small portable oil-filled 110v heater or a propane radiant heater, depending on the availability of 110v power. I found a Haier AC with 7800 btu's that will fit within the size of the existing exterior panel where the furnace vent is mounted. I'm putting the AC on a slide-out platform and I will mount the old furnace vent and trim plate to the back of the pullout, leaving a space for air travel between the vent cover and the back of the AC. When its not in use it will not be discernible from original at all. When I want to use it I can push it out the wall and turn it on. It also came with a remote. I found the AC on craigslist for $130, new, still sealed in the box. I will be starting the install very soon and the test for the 7800 btus will be at Burningman, so I expect to have good real-life desert testing results for you in about three weeks.
I picked up a small chrome 12v fan from Vintage Trailer Supply to help circulate air in the trailer as well.
One other thing I thought of: I'm running additional wires from the front to back in the bellypan to accommodate propane tank sensors. I got new #30 tanks last year, with sensors, so I'm planning on putting in a control panel with gauges somewhere in the area of the electrical panel, inside one of the bathroom cabinets.
I understand you will be keeping with original as much as you can. My safari has no historical significance so I'm open to more changes than you may be, but my goal is to have the exterior as original as the day it was made, so no rooftop AC is in my future. If you do feel you have to go that route, I saw a carrier low-profile with an aluminum cover just a few days ago, and it looked fantastic.

Keep up the good work.
Rich

C Johnson · 08-15-2009, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goransons

But now that the floor is out up front I'm cleaning up all the connections and wires for trailer brakes and I wonder if I should go ahead and run the wire while its open and install the lower mount back up lights or is that just not a great idea for the trailer? Our 69 has them up with the tail lights and we find it very useful at camp grounds, especially with late arrivals.

What do you think?

My Caravel was wired for backup lights. The lights were never installed for whatever reason. I put the original style lights on the rear. I sure do like having them at night when backing in to a site ! There is also safety factor there as well. Other people now know when you are going backwards. I made no changes to the 7 way on the TV. It was already wired that way.