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campngirl · 09-07-2010, 04:52 PM

HI Shari.

Once again.... Great Thread!

The Wye thing I have is a little different.... Double... a feed on either side of main waste, due to the galley sink and shower drain being on opposite sides of the TW.
I may have to salvage the wye that I have when I redo my black tank and just keep the modification that made the old hookup work with with a standard waste hose. I have purchased a bunch of parts that I know I will need sooner or later... just have not stumbled across the illusive double wye thingie.
Redoing one of these old Airstreams really keeps one thinking.

Still getting a lot out of your endeavor and love the photos that accompany.
Waiting to see what happens next.

Karol

InsideOut · 09-07-2010, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by campngirl

HI Shari.
Once again.... Great Thread!
The Wye thing I have is a little different.... Double... a feed on either side of main waste, due to the galley sink and shower drain being on opposite sides of the TW.
I may have to salvage the wye that I have when I redo my black tank and just keep the modification that made the old hookup work with with a standard waste hose. Redoing one of these old Airstreams really keeps one thinking.
Still getting a lot out of your endeavor and love the photos that accompany.
Waiting to see what happens next.

Karol

Oh...I think the double you describe is what we used on our '56 Safari. We have two gray tanks - one on either side of the black valve - I think we used the double to tie them together...

I'll check this evening and let you know...as well as where we found it.

Shari

Chuck · 09-07-2010, 05:06 PM

ahh...NOS gold, I see. otherwise..."unobtainium".

We were just chatting about this on a thread last week. The pic on Inland's site is actually a plain-old hardware store abs fitting, with a glued on thetford slinky adapter. Look at the page again: the valve is not included; its just there for illustrative purposes.
But this standard fitting won't attach to the thetford dump valve like the old thetford collectors, which have a proprietary flange that attaches to the valve with screws. so it can also be un-attached, should the need ever arise.
The inland solution would have to be glued to another type of thetford valve, and once its glued, it ain't coming apart. A great idea, for those who don't have a NOS gold reserve.

Valterra makes the same type of fitting, too..but that will only mate to a valterra valve...which won't mate to your blank tank...without custom making an adapter plate.

(there's an article on vintageairstream.com that describes that process.)

InsideOut · 09-07-2010, 05:09 PM

I found it Karol! This is what we used in our '56 Safari...it may work for you, but I'm not sure. All our fittings & tanks were new so we were able to be more flexible with what we used.

Part #20101

It's from the Nolan's RV catalog, but I'm sure others carry it too.

Shari

P.S. from the looks of Chuck's near simultaneous post...it may not work with the old tank.

Chuck · 09-07-2010, 05:10 PM

p.s. mine is a double, too. not for 2 grey tanks...just 2 grey drains.
no reason those lines couldn't be tied together before reaching the collector, though, should the need arise to replace it.

Chuck · 09-07-2010, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InsideOut

I found it Karol! This is what we used in our '56 Safari...it may work for you, but I'm not sure.

Part #20101

It's from the Nolan's RV catalog, but I'm sure others carry it too.

Shari

those are the valterra fittings that I mentioned in my post above. you'd have to do a fair bit of finagling to get those to work.

InsideOut · 09-07-2010, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuck

those are the valterra fittings that I mentioned in my post above. you'd have to do a fair bit of finagling to get those to work.

Yep, I got that...right after I posted. Then went to add P.S. and you posted again...JINX!

Shari

campngirl · 09-07-2010, 05:44 PM

Thanks for the info Shari and Chuck!!

Like I said... old AS redos get you thinking.

I did a glue-on ring to the old dump flange ( right after I bought the TW ) to accomodate a valterra fitting as the original flange did not fit current thedford or valterra fittings and thedford fittings are no peice of cake to find in a pinch.
That Part 20101 may work.
I have no idea what it will look like in there and what will be salvagable until I start taking things apart.

Always have a plan 'B'.

Karol

InsideOut · 09-08-2010, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by campngirl

Always have a plan 'B'.

...and 'C', 'D', etc....

Shari

InsideOut · 09-19-2010, 11:19 PM

So I thought we'd be farther along by now...but life happens! We had an unexpected visit today from Forum friends passing through town (and we're so glad they called!), so we didn't get to finish our project - but who cares, it'll be there next weekend!

Anyways, here's an update on our progress to date. We got the new pan, patched the pin-holes in our fiberglass tank (hey look mom, no leaks!), painted it, used foam insulation as a base and got the pan with tank installed. We also got the Intellipower installed and switched out some of the copper for pex/sharkbite fittings. All-in-all, it has been a pretty productive weekend AND we had fun visiting new friends!

Shari

InsideOut · 09-19-2010, 11:20 PM

More pics...

InsideOut · 09-19-2010, 11:29 PM

So far, so good - only a few cuss words were released and everything has worked out as planned! We think the hard part is done - the rest should be easy...hopefully we'll get this finished up this next week/weekend.

Shari

InsideOut · 10-18-2010, 04:59 PM

Okay, so this project took much longer than we expected - why am I not surprised!?! BUT, we are thrilled with the results!

The biggest hurdle was ye ol' Swirl-O-Matic. Everybody says that once you touch it to fix something, it just falls apart and all the parts are made from "unobtainium, so just plan on buying a new toilet. The problem is, the way this toilet is built-in to the fiberglass "airliner" bench seat (see post #12), the bench would have to be heavily modified to work with a new toilet. As I understand it, new RV toilets are either 13" or 17" high - the Swirl-O-Matic is 15". So, you have to use a funky riser or jury-rig some other way to maintain the height. Then the location of the foot pedal means the vertical face of the bench also needs to be modified. I have never seen a retro-fit toilet that doesn't look like a retro-fit toilet in a '64 with this bathroom configuration.

I am proud to report this is NOT ALWAYS TRUE! With lots of patience, (approx. 40-60 hours over the last month, including umpteen trips to all the local hardware stores) careful disassembly, cleaning/painting and replacement of all the gaskets (some we had to make custom) and o-rings, we now have a Swirl-O-Matic that works perfectly! For the first time since we have owned this trailer, the bowl actually holds water and it's as good as new!

This last weekend, we got a new battery and put everything back in order and are so happy this is all behind us! I took this shot before we put the back trim, storage compartment and rubrail back on...but this'll give you an idea of how clean & fresh the back compartment is now. Quite a big difference from those at the beginning of this thread - dontcha think?

This weekend, I also stripped all the old paint off the bumper and POR-15'd it so it will be nice & smooth again too.

Shari

InsideOut · 10-18-2010, 05:14 PM

Here are a couple of more pics...

safari62 · 10-18-2010, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InsideOut

The biggest hurdle was ye ol' Swirl-O-Matic. we now have a Swirl-O-Matic that works perfectly! For the first time since we have owned this trailer, the bowl actually holds water and it's as good as new!

Shari

Swirl-O-matic's are supposed to hold the water in the bowl? I am constantly learning new things here on the forums!!!!!

Paul Mayeux · 10-18-2010, 08:50 PM

Boy Shari, you and Rob are wizards! That looks fantastic.

InsideOut · 10-20-2010, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by safari62

Swirl-O-matic's are supposed to hold the water in the bowl? I am constantly learning new things here on the forums!!!!!

Yeah, I know...who woulda thunk it!?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 62 Overlander

Boy Shari, you and Rob are wizards! That looks fantastic.

Aw shucks Paul, thanks!

Sometimes I'd love to just wave a magic wand and POOF!

Projects are immediately completed - just the way I want them to be! We always try using some "magic words"...but they don't work!

Shari

InsideOut · 11-12-2010, 03:58 PM

In the last couple of weeks, we have stripped & painted the bumper & tongue, replaced most of the belly pan and two corner end panels on the curb side. They both had small creases that just bugged us - so now they are good as new! This also gave us the opportunity to check the wood floor under the floor channel - it was as solid as could be! No floor rot at all!

Guess we have one of those rare Airstreams that doesn't leak ~

We were also pleased to find no evidence of "creatures" in between the skins. The insulation was clean and fresh, even though it is 45+ years old!The next task is to finish up re-installing the front banana wrap, put the marker & tail lights back on, then polish the new panels to match the rest...

Shari