Argosy MH complete dash removal

[bkahler]

One of the things desperately needing attention in our 74 Argosy motorhome is the dash. The PO did a real hack job on painting and there are a lot of things under the dash that I would like to check out and attend to if need be.

Have any of you ever removed the dash from your Argosy and lived to tell about it .

Any hidden gotchas, etc would be nice to know in advance before I get to far into the project.

Thanks!

Brad

[nohillgrish]

Brad,
Do a search under postings by tn2. I believe he did a lot of work on his Argosy, including under the dash. I noticed he had it for sale a while back, but I continue to look to his posts for great information as I'm beginning to get a little time to piddle with mine.

[bkahler]

Looking at some of tn2's older posts I found this one http://www.airforums.com/forums/f160...t-29781-4.html with pretty good pictures starting at post #49 that shows his dash top removed. His dash is from a 78 which is a different style of dash than my 74 but hopefully Airstream used the same method to mount the dash assemblies in place. Lots of good information in his topic.

I'm too am hoping in the next few months to get some time to work on our Argosy as well. If for no other reason that we would like to drive it from Arkansas to Kentucky rather than having it hauled there for us! We figured one way or the other we are going to have to spend the money to get the Argosy to Kentucky so we might as well spend it on making it road worthy. In the long term we should save money.....that is if there IS anyway you can save money on an Airstream .


Thanks!

Brad

[GlenCoombe]

In a perfect world I'd blow the dash right out of my bus. The job done of cobbling together components from various manufacturers and then leaving the wiring all over the place was haphazard at best.

There are a lot of vendors who have solutions.

Check out Chaplin Kents dash redo posted here.

The photo below was of an Airstream or an Argo on eBay some time back.

[bkahler]

Glen,

I've always liked that style of dash. Our 83 Winnebago had that style where it kind of wraps around you a little. Our Argosy has this dash, very plain and to me not very ergonomic.



Here is a picture of a dash that is in a 74 Argosy motorhome like ours. The owner made the dash himself. He did a fantastic job of building and installing it. He installed a bunch more gauges that allow him to monitor just about anything you would want.



Someday I'd like to replace the current dash with something like the 83-34 dashes but then again I'd like to win the lottery also .

I've seen Chaplain Kent's dash and it looks good. I'm sure I'll find a solution one of these days. Just won't be today.


Brad

[345bill]

Brad- You might get some ideas here: www.custominstrumentpanels.com/airstream.htm , not sure if this will help but it cant hurt.

[bkahler]

Bill, I've seen that site before. Nice product but I have a hunch its out of my price range. When you have $0 to work with its hard to get someone to send you stuff .

One of two things will likely happen, I'll try and find a wrecked motorhome (any brand) that has the 83-84 style of dash and liberate it or if that doesn't work out I'll refurbish the original and fabricate some kind of new instrument cluster for it.

Thanks!

Brad

[345bill]

[quote=bkahler;657017]Bill, I've seen that site before. Nice product but I have a hunch its out of my price range. When you have $0 to work with its hard to get someone to send you stuff .

I know it well, on sites as that my budget is limited to eyeballing the photo's. I really like how that dash you sent photo of came out, he really did good a good job.

[GlenCoombe]

Brad, if you start saving now you might just figure out a way to convert to an all digital panel for not too much cash... $399 with a bunch of senders included.

Check out Nordskog DP10002B - Nordskog Universal Digital Gauge Panels - summitracing.com

This is a great starting point.

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by GlenCoombe

Brad, if you start saving now you might just figure out a way to convert to an all digital panel for not too much cash... $399 with a bunch of senders included.

Check out Nordskog DP10002B - Nordskog Universal Digital Gauge Panels - summitracing.com

This is a great starting point.

Glen, that might be TOO high tech for this old 74 Motorhome! Something like this gauge set is a good possibility. I'll have to measure to see if it fits inside the dash area of the existing dash face.

The one problem with an instrument cluster like this one is adding any other gauge would like out of place. I would like a vacuum gauge and some oil temperature gauges as well.

Thanks!

Brad

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by 345bill

I know it well, on sites as that my budget is limited to eyeballing the photo's. I really like how that dash you sent photo of came out, he really did good a good job.

Bill, I've been tempted to ask him what he would charge to make a dash like that for us but I'm afraid it would be way to high and then there is the shipping from S.Cal to Kentucky. For something that size it would probably be astronomical.

Brad