Count down to kick-off

[Gregsch]

On the rough areas where the clearcoat was long gone and the aluminum was pitted I started with F-9. Areas that I stripped off significant clearcoat I started with F-7. Then Nuvite C. The final step was Airbrite #6 with the Cyclo. Took about 200 hours, I think from what I learned in the process I could do it in 140 if I ever do it again.

[Gregsch]

Peter,
You were right about the steel mandrels. Several of them still had the mandrel in them and they were difficult to drill out. The drill bit wanted to drift off to the side in the soft aluminum. I ended up driving the steel out with a small pin punch. Finished it up yesterday.
It's raining now, going out to check for leaks.
o

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Gregsch

Peter,
You were right about the steel mandrels. Several of them still had the mandrel in them and they were difficult to drill out. The drill bit wanted to drift off to the side in the soft aluminum. I ended up driving the steel out with a small pin punch. Finished it up yesterday.
It's raining now, going out to check for leaks.
o

Yeah, I hate them, mess up your nice drill bit too. Only thing I can figure is that they are stronger than their alu counterpart, since it takes a lot more to snap them.
Good luck on your leak checking, have you made plans for the day when you don't find anymore

[Gregsch]

Only got about a quarter inch of rain last night. Not enough to really test it but, no leaks!!! The only water I saw was in the drivers window track. Somehow it wants to overflow the side of the track that has the weeps and get trapped on the inside. I think I read something around here about AS putting a tube on the inside to weep this out on the newer models. Not sure what to do about that.
Since I have spent the last 6 months chasing and fixing leaks seems like the only logical thing to do was to drill two 7/16" holes in the roof.

Installed the combiner box for the solar.
Started mounting the panels on the roof. Bought brackets from Renogy and AMSolar. Neither really impressed me so I made my own.

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Gregsch

On the rough areas where the clearcoat was long gone and the aluminum was pitted I started with F-9. Areas that I stripped off significant clearcoat I started with F-7. Then Nuvite C. The final step was Airbrite #6 with the Cyclo. Took about 200 hours, I think from what I learned in the process I could do it in 140 if I ever do it again.

I finally found a "fast" way to do the endcaps. F-7 would not touch it , G6 neither. So I used a sanding pad, went real fast and F-7 took out all the scratches in no time. What did you come up with that would save you so many hours?

[Gregsch]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

I finally found a "fast" way to do the endcaps. F-7 would not touch it , G6 neither. So I used a sanding pad, went real fast and F-7 took out all the scratches in no time. What did you come up with that would save you so many hours?

Please describe the sanding process. What kind of power sander? what type of paper?

The biggest thing I would share about polishing is:
1. Never polish in direct sunlight. (I worked almost exclusively in the barn)
2. The polish is temperature sensitive. 65 to 79 degrees is optimum.
3. Learn to work in the 'sweet spot" It's hard to describe but, after you have done it a bit you will just be able to feel it. If you are not in the sweet spot you are not 'cutting' like you want to and when you clean it up you will not see a measurable progression in the process.
4. When it is a little too warm outside to stay in the sweet spot I would mist the surface with water in a Windex bottle and it would start cutting again. You will soon learn the difference between 'cutting, and just gliding over the surface with the pad.
5. Throw your bonnet and your used microfiber pads in a 5 gallon bucket of water with a half cut of Tide with Oxyclean or Gain powder. If you let the rags dry then try to clean them it is not nearly as effective. 10% of you time will be this operation. I let them soak as long as 2 weeks before washing them and they always cleaned up pretty good.
6. Always clean the black gunk off at the end of the day with paint thinner. If you leave it dry on there overnight you will regret it. I put my paint thinner in a squeeze bottle (mine was from a chalk line chalk bottle , a similar ketchup bottle or a Arby's Horsey sauce bottle works just the same.) The squeeze bottle made it real handy to apply the thinner in a controlled fashion. If you drop it no big deal. Drop a gallon metal can and look out!
7. Watch your extension cord, if it leaves marks on the side of the MH wrap tape around it, The really flexible cords work best but they are rubbery and kinda sticky so they leave marks. The cords with the stiff hard jacket don't leave marks but, they will wear you out.
8. My entire body ached the entire time. Use a good scaffold to minimize all the reaching and stretching.

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Gregsch

Please describe the sanding process. What kind of power sander? what type of paper?

..

I use a fine sanding pad, paint stores sell them.
I timed this section which is about 24"x12". The oxidation was so severe that none of the compounds would touch it. It took about 12 minutes to get it to the stage of the last picture which is first buff with a cyclo, the heads wrapped in white cotton rags using Nuvite C
I used a wool disk for the F7

[Gregsch]

Soo no power sander, just the pad. Did you lubricate the pad or hand sand it dry?

Stopped at the local AS Dealer to look at ordering a new ZipDee and look what I saw in the lot.
It was like stepping into a time machine. If I didn't know better I would think it was 2 or 3 years old. The thing was spotless, like it had never been used.

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Gregsch

Soo no power sander, just the pad. Did you lubricate the pad or hand sand it dry?

Stopped at the local AS Dealer to look at ordering a new ZipDee and look what I saw in the lot.Attachment 262945
It was like stepping into a time machine. If I didn't know better I would think it was 2 or 3 years old. The thing was spotless, like it had never been used.

Hand sand dry, it also takes out those pesky little clear coat spot remnants that will drive you nuts when start polishing.
Looks like a real nice rig. Do you think that pinstriping was original?

[Gregsch]

Looks like a real nice rig. Do you think that pinstriping was original?[/QUOTE]

Everything about it looked original.

Got the solar panels mounted over the Memorial day weekend. Went to the Indy 500 Sunday so not much else got accomplished.



I was really concerned about the solar panels taking away from the appearance of this little MH. I purchased the smaller Renogy 100 watt panels. They were a premium price but, I am real happy with the way they look. When I get the awning mounted they will be even less noticeable.

[bobmiller1]

Really nice work, hope you can make it to the next "Get-Together", Regards, Bob

[Gregsch]

Progress is still slow and sporadic. I have been working on the carpet, I think it would be easier to carpet an entire house.

I made a template out of paper and cut the pad to fit. I used a commercial pad designed to glue down, the carpet is then glued to the pad, no tack strips!


The patterns worked way better than I expected. I made the patterns as accurate as I could then installed them without any trimming!! Time consuming but, very effective.

When I removed the carpet from the engine cover I found this mess. I guess I should have expected it, all the other plywood in the front of the MoHo was shot.

[bkahler]

Greg, that pattern is amazingly detailed! I can see why it would fit perfect the first time

All the wood in Peanut's cockpit is shot as well. The drivers side floorboard was so bad I'm surprised someone didn't put a foot through the floor.

Looking good!

Brad

[PeterH-350LE]

You could sell the pattern to other victims. If you had a 310/345 version, I would buy it from you, especially if it would have an access panel for the Master Cylinder incorporated...
There is a reason why people find heavy crystallized sludge in their MCs

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

You could sell the pattern to other victims. If you had a 310/345 version, I would buy it from you, especially if it would have an access panel for the Master Cylinder incorporated...
There is a reason why people find heavy crystallized sludge in their MCs

If nothing else the patterns would be a good starting point for someone else

Peter brings up a good point about the brake mc cylinder access panel.

I always wondered why that access panel was covered up. I have been toying with the idea of having the access panel accessible once the cockpit floor covering is in place. Just makes so much more sense to fill from the top!

Brad

[Gregsch]

Acces panel for the master cylinder. So that's what that was! Too late now its buried under carpet. finally got all the carpet finished this weekend. I thought carpet was taking the easy way out. Turned out to be a lot of work when you include the engine cover, and the boxes for the batteries, and the Boondocker, under the gauchos etc...

installed heater hose from the heater down through the floor. Not sure what to do from there. Does any one else have the antifreeze tied into their water heater? If so can you tell me how they routed the hose?

I need to start loong at how I am going to do the window treatments. I have these vertical aluminjum extrusions that appear to be for curtains??? Does anyone else have these and what are they used for?
[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

Installed this fifty little fitting to alow me to run my portable gas grill directly of my MoHo propane tank. Replaced the rubber hose while I was at it. It looked fine but it was 37 years old....

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by Gregsch

....
I need to start loong at how I am going to do the window treatments. I have these vertical aluminjum extrusions that appear to be for curtains??? Does anyone else have these and what are they used for?...

Those vertical alu guides are for miniblinds. Little taps glued to the blinds hold them close to window. I still use that system on my 310. Works well

[Gregsch]

Thanks Peter.. I like your window treatments. I will try and locate some of those plastic clips.
Installed the new Zipdee awning over the weekend. As always, it was way more complicated than it should have been but, it done now.
While i was up there I noticed these screws had come loose on the solar panels. I have only driven 200 mile or so since the install. They have nylok nuts, I was not expecting that. I made this handy-dandy wrench to tighten them the first time so it only took a second to tighten them back up. I will keep a close eye on this situation.

I am only two years behind schedule but, it looks like I will finally get a chance to tailgate! First game is against the Buckeyes at the Shoe. Got my RV parking pass in the mail this week. Stoked!!!

[bkahler]

Greg, lookin good!! I will say I know what it's like to be behind schedule

It's interesting that the nyloc nuts loosened up like they did. I wonder if you just got a bad batch of nuts or if something else might be causing them to loosen? Worse case is you might have to switch to "top lock" nuts instead.

Brad

[Gregsch]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Greg, lookin good!! I will say I know what it's like to be behind schedule

It's interesting that the nyloc nuts loosened up like they did. I wonder if you just got a bad batch of nuts or if something else might be causing them to loosen? Worse case is you might have to switch to "top lock" nuts instead.

Brad

I first planned on using pop rivets to fasten the solar panels. The more i thought about I thought that drilling out the rivets later would make a mess, shavings all over the freshly polished skin. If they come loose again I will likely go back to the original plan.