Denwood
Well-known member
Gregor, it looks pretty awesome indeed. The wheel size/stance looks just about perfect. What's the plan for the wheel arches? Stock, or flared?
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover
- Thread starter sakurama
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
Denwood
Well-known member
You're going to need some pretty serious flares to cover those boots 
I will predict here formally one of these pics (with appropriate lens flare, compostion and "Gregor" magic) posted in this thread shortly...
I will predict here formally one of these pics (with appropriate lens flare, compostion and "Gregor" magic) posted in this thread shortly...
Last edited:
stsmytherie
Well-known member
Thank you for your contribution. Feel free to visit any time ;-)
BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
Woohoo! Nice looking plates!So work is progressing on the van - I was able to get the drive shaft shop to knock a few days off the time and the shafts should be ready to pick up in the morning. That means the van should be done tomorrow. Should being the operative word. There's still plenty of things that could happen.
So of course I've been hanging around drinking margaritas and watching TV.
Oh, I only wish.
For the past month I've been trying to pull the trailer out of hibernation. I got most of the leaks fixed in the fall but not all of them. I got the rest in the spring but enough water got in that the inside was a bit... moldy. The outside was mossy. It's wet here in the winter.
One thing that bugged me was the refrigerator. The seals were shot and the frame was rusty. The doors didn't close either. These dual fuel RV friges are expensive and I'm not about to drop $2000 on a new one since this one actually works.
Cleaned and prepped for painting.
New door seals...
And I welded/machined a small clasp to replace the stopgap door lock solution I came up with last year.
I also replaced the faucet which was loose and always bugged me. This one also uses less water which is a good thing when you only have 35-50 gallons and kids.
And it's only now, looking at my photos do I realize what happened this past week.
That platform holds the single 12v deep cycle battery. We'd run out of power once before on a week trip and I thought it would be a good upgrade to get two six volt golf cart deep cycle batteries. Supposedly it gives almost three times the power.
But I'd need to cut out that rusty platform so I could make a new bracket to hold the new batteries. I have to move the propane tanks too.
Gee they're rusty. I should fix that.
Before and after the phosphoric acid soak and...
Did you see where that was going? Because I didn't. Classic mission creep. I mean, the hitch is off. If I'm ever going to strip it and clean it up it might as well be now...
Tools litter the driveway. I'm a hot mess trying to get this done. No plan, just furious energy.
I never think that I have a lot of tools. I have exactly enough tools usually. That usually means more than one. These four made quick(er) work of an onerous task. When I see a deal on a grinder I usually pick it up. The more that I have the better the deal needs to be. Right now it would need to be free.
Taped and primed.
And holy cow does that look a lot better. It would be a shame to put those ratty propane tanks on that nice hitch...
And more multiple tools. I think if you have them you use them. I drilled and tapped and drove the stainless hardware all at once and this made quick(er) work of it.
Wow, that looks so great. Man the rest of the trailer looks so ratty...
Gregor
So of course I've been hanging around drinking margaritas and watching TV.
Oh, I only wish.
For the past month I've been trying to pull the trailer out of hibernation. I got most of the leaks fixed in the fall but not all of them. I got the rest in the spring but enough water got in that the inside was a bit... moldy. The outside was mossy. It's wet here in the winter.
One thing that bugged me was the refrigerator. The seals were shot and the frame was rusty. The doors didn't close either. These dual fuel RV friges are expensive and I'm not about to drop $2000 on a new one since this one actually works.
Cleaned and prepped for painting.
New door seals...
And I welded/machined a small clasp to replace the stopgap door lock solution I came up with last year.
I also replaced the faucet which was loose and always bugged me. This one also uses less water which is a good thing when you only have 35-50 gallons and kids.
And it's only now, looking at my photos do I realize what happened this past week.
That platform holds the single 12v deep cycle battery. We'd run out of power once before on a week trip and I thought it would be a good upgrade to get two six volt golf cart deep cycle batteries. Supposedly it gives almost three times the power.
But I'd need to cut out that rusty platform so I could make a new bracket to hold the new batteries. I have to move the propane tanks too.
Gee they're rusty. I should fix that.
Before and after the phosphoric acid soak and...
Did you see where that was going? Because I didn't. Classic mission creep. I mean, the hitch is off. If I'm ever going to strip it and clean it up it might as well be now...
Tools litter the driveway. I'm a hot mess trying to get this done. No plan, just furious energy.
I never think that I have a lot of tools. I have exactly enough tools usually. That usually means more than one. These four made quick(er) work of an onerous task. When I see a deal on a grinder I usually pick it up. The more that I have the better the deal needs to be. Right now it would need to be free.
Taped and primed.
And holy cow does that look a lot better. It would be a shame to put those ratty propane tanks on that nice hitch...
And more multiple tools. I think if you have them you use them. I drilled and tapped and drove the stainless hardware all at once and this made quick(er) work of it.
Wow, that looks so great. Man the rest of the trailer looks so ratty...
Gregor
With the hitch mount (what's that part called anyway?) cleaned up and painted it was time to turn to the exterior which was looking a bit sad...
It looks like it's been abandoned but it's the combination of probably not having been washed for 10 years and then sitting out in the PNW winter where all the grime became a place for the moss to start growing.
The good news is that the moss is pretty easy to power wash off.
Next up was the rub rail. It looks white but that's the effect of age and it wasn't helped by sitting in the sun for 10 years in Westcliffe at 8500ft. The plastic is held in with rivets that get drilled out.
I'm really surprised at the thin gauge sheet stock that the Avion is made with. Part of the reason that they get away with that is that it's all anodized. Anyway, bend back the cap and pull out the old strip.
Of course there's moss and dirt under it so another pressure wash is needed.
The new stuff is almost the same size and color of Hot Wheels track just with a slightly smaller lip. Stiff too. My hand was cramping really bad by the time I got both strips in all the way around.
To get the ends to taper in where the caps close them off I cut the corners at a slight angle. I skipped the rivets to hold it in place - definitely not needed.
As you can imagine putting that nice orange stripe on really woke up the exterior. Man those wheels look tired. It sure would look nice if you painted them orange so that the hubcaps covered most of the wheel leaving an orange stripe to compliment the rub rail...
After prepping to axles for the van I am feeling pretty good about my wire-brush-on-angle-grinder skills. I can't tell you how many wires I plucked out of my skin. I even spent the day with one impaled in my cheek that I only noticed when I went to shave... hey, that hair is metal! Ouch.
I think that the taping of the rims was the worst part. Taping an inside curve is hard because masking tape doesn't want to stretch. The only way to do it was to tear three inch sections and gently insert them between the tire and rim.
And because the point of the exercise was to get a nice orange stripe on the wheel the wheel weights would have broken that up - can't have that.
Simultaneously to this, because the paint needed time to dry between coats, I was addressing what you might have noticed as the "dull" finish. Avions, unlike their lesser yet more famous brethren Airstreams, are anodized. Years ago I was entranced with the idea of a polished Airstream but when my dad bought the Avion I thought it was cool too. After lots of research I realized that the Avion was the higher end trailer of the time. Better materials, better suspension and most importantly the anodized skin. Anodizing is in essence a controlled and sped up electro chemical oxidizing process that gives the aluminum a very hard skin that is impervious to oxidation. So, unlike an Airstream, the surface of an Avion will always look good with a little cleaning.
The one thing that you can do is wipe the skin down with LPS 3 which is a corrosion protectant. This will feed the pores of the aluminum and bring back a luster that is pretty long lasting. So I wiped down the entire trailer with the stuff and it was amazing what a difference it makes. A neighbor stopped by to ask if it was the same trailer, "Is that the same one that you had up above the house? It looks great since you repainted it!"
No, not repainted, just wiped down. It took about 2/3's of a can to do the entire thing.
Man that was a lot of work for a stupid orange stripe on the wheel. Man does it look good.
So, remember those first two shots in this post?
Cleaned up real nice actually.
When I go back and see the hitch frame and how sorry and rusted it was I cringe at the amount of work that it would take to refinish that. I think if I'd sat down and planned out all the stuff involved in what I did last week I would have said, "No way!" that's a stupid amount of work. What for? Yet, through the beauty of mission creep and a single minded determination to not realistically size up a challenge I have accomplished something that I should never have bothered tackling.
Sometimes I amaze myself.
Gregor
And before one of you clowns points out the dented, unfinished and rusty bumper I want to say, yes, I saw it too. I didn't tackle it because a man needs limits. And because I'm planning on replacing it with with one that I'll make that can carry a dirt bike. Or perhaps I'll just refinish it but it was more work than even my frazzled brain could wrap itself around.
It looks like it's been abandoned but it's the combination of probably not having been washed for 10 years and then sitting out in the PNW winter where all the grime became a place for the moss to start growing.
The good news is that the moss is pretty easy to power wash off.
Next up was the rub rail. It looks white but that's the effect of age and it wasn't helped by sitting in the sun for 10 years in Westcliffe at 8500ft. The plastic is held in with rivets that get drilled out.
I'm really surprised at the thin gauge sheet stock that the Avion is made with. Part of the reason that they get away with that is that it's all anodized. Anyway, bend back the cap and pull out the old strip.
Of course there's moss and dirt under it so another pressure wash is needed.
The new stuff is almost the same size and color of Hot Wheels track just with a slightly smaller lip. Stiff too. My hand was cramping really bad by the time I got both strips in all the way around.
To get the ends to taper in where the caps close them off I cut the corners at a slight angle. I skipped the rivets to hold it in place - definitely not needed.
As you can imagine putting that nice orange stripe on really woke up the exterior. Man those wheels look tired. It sure would look nice if you painted them orange so that the hubcaps covered most of the wheel leaving an orange stripe to compliment the rub rail...
After prepping to axles for the van I am feeling pretty good about my wire-brush-on-angle-grinder skills. I can't tell you how many wires I plucked out of my skin. I even spent the day with one impaled in my cheek that I only noticed when I went to shave... hey, that hair is metal! Ouch.
I think that the taping of the rims was the worst part. Taping an inside curve is hard because masking tape doesn't want to stretch. The only way to do it was to tear three inch sections and gently insert them between the tire and rim.
And because the point of the exercise was to get a nice orange stripe on the wheel the wheel weights would have broken that up - can't have that.
Simultaneously to this, because the paint needed time to dry between coats, I was addressing what you might have noticed as the "dull" finish. Avions, unlike their lesser yet more famous brethren Airstreams, are anodized. Years ago I was entranced with the idea of a polished Airstream but when my dad bought the Avion I thought it was cool too. After lots of research I realized that the Avion was the higher end trailer of the time. Better materials, better suspension and most importantly the anodized skin. Anodizing is in essence a controlled and sped up electro chemical oxidizing process that gives the aluminum a very hard skin that is impervious to oxidation. So, unlike an Airstream, the surface of an Avion will always look good with a little cleaning.
The one thing that you can do is wipe the skin down with LPS 3 which is a corrosion protectant. This will feed the pores of the aluminum and bring back a luster that is pretty long lasting. So I wiped down the entire trailer with the stuff and it was amazing what a difference it makes. A neighbor stopped by to ask if it was the same trailer, "Is that the same one that you had up above the house? It looks great since you repainted it!"
No, not repainted, just wiped down. It took about 2/3's of a can to do the entire thing.
Man that was a lot of work for a stupid orange stripe on the wheel. Man does it look good.
So, remember those first two shots in this post?
Cleaned up real nice actually.
When I go back and see the hitch frame and how sorry and rusted it was I cringe at the amount of work that it would take to refinish that. I think if I'd sat down and planned out all the stuff involved in what I did last week I would have said, "No way!" that's a stupid amount of work. What for? Yet, through the beauty of mission creep and a single minded determination to not realistically size up a challenge I have accomplished something that I should never have bothered tackling.
Sometimes I amaze myself.
Gregor
And before one of you clowns points out the dented, unfinished and rusty bumper I want to say, yes, I saw it too. I didn't tackle it because a man needs limits. And because I'm planning on replacing it with with one that I'll make that can carry a dirt bike. Or perhaps I'll just refinish it but it was more work than even my frazzled brain could wrap itself around.
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Hello Gregor,
One thing I did notice was the A/C unit on the roof looked like the cooling fins were a bit mashed. Not sure if you knew this or not but McMaster sells a fin straightening comb kit to address that. The kit is really inexpensive too.....< $10. McMaster P/N 1750K11. Straightening those would help the unit do its job.
HTH
One thing I did notice was the A/C unit on the roof looked like the cooling fins were a bit mashed. Not sure if you knew this or not but McMaster sells a fin straightening comb kit to address that. The kit is really inexpensive too.....< $10. McMaster P/N 1750K11. Straightening those would help the unit do its job.
HTH
Mpower5266
Well-known member
That trailer is stunning.
justbummin1
Well-known member
Wow, Very nice job! I have a 50 year old steel hull houseboat so I know exactly how you feel and that is tired.
Growlertdi
Well-known member
What a fantastic job. The trailer looks amazing. Looking forward to the rear bumper build since whats there now doesn't match with the rest of the trailer.
Brian R
Well-known member
I was thinking how well that trailer looked in low-light photos. Now it looks great in sunshine.
Well done!
Well done!
Prometheus
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 17, 2006
- Messages
- 104
Holy ****! That's a thing! How did I not know this? Something to tuck away for future use for sure......
and Gregor, the Avion looks awesome! Now if we can only get a pic of the van towing the Avion.... and the van is going to need some orange accents somewhere.......
I just wanted to take a moment to point out the dented, unfinished and rusty bumper.
But seriously, that trailer looks fantastic. It's amazing how much you've transformed it.
Ha, thanks.
You know I've been on the fence about just replacing it altogether. We've never used it but it does work. Most of the time we camp off the grid so without 110v land power it won't work unless we wanted to run a generator and that isn't happening. Maybe a trip to the desert will change my mind. I have a new cover for it but once I sealed the seams I realized the AC wasn't leaking and since the nuts holding the cover are rusted I just didn't want to open that can of worms. Not yet.
But good to know about that.
Yeah!
Right? I am in bed as soon as the sun is down and I'm wiped out! There's no logical reason you get so tired but it's the constant up and down, wax on wax off and back and forth to the garage for a tool. I think I walked about 5 miles in 30' increments.
What a fantastic job. The trailer looks amazing. Looking forward to the rear bumper build since whats there now doesn't match with the rest of the trailer.
The thing that throws me is the large diameter tubing bends. Not sure how to do that and the tube actually houses the drain hoses for the tanks which I think is super smart so I want to keep that element. Maybe I weld and slide hammer out the dents? Maybe replace sections? Not sure yet.
Thanks, I'm pretty thrilled with it. It feels like an asset now instead of a burden.
Gregor
Andrew S
Well-known member
Beautiful work on the trailer, Gregor. And, I can't tell you how comforting it is to see someone else who also has the same "mission creep" malady I suffer from....
If you can take the wheels off, and air them down, the masking gets easier. There's more gap between the tire and wheel, reducing the number of tape strips needed.
If you can take the wheels off, and air them down, the masking gets easier. There's more gap between the tire and wheel, reducing the number of tape strips needed.
The easiest thing to do would be to cut off the bumper, use the rails and attach the rack, and then do the common thing of mounting some abs for the hoses. We know you won't do the easiest thing.
booch
Active member
I was going to suggest bondo to smooth out the bumper, but I remembered this is Gregor and I'd probably get banned from GJ for such a suggestion...
Amazing transformation... can't wait to see the trailer and van at a camp site!
Amazing transformation... can't wait to see the trailer and van at a camp site!
E12-535iTurbo
Well-known member
The trailer is a tribute to your father Gregor. You honor him well.
smschriefer
Well-known member
Sakurama, the trailer looks great! The trim really makes it pop and honestly, I didn't notice the bumper on my first view. One thought I had was the Avion badges front and rear need to get a coat of orange to make them pop. The first looks nice now, but with a little orange paint will really pop!
Of course, the big thing is the time you'll get to spend with your family on vacation. Time for you to take a break and recharge with the family. The mountains are calling and you must go.
Of course, the big thing is the time you'll get to spend with your family on vacation. Time for you to take a break and recharge with the family. The mountains are calling and you must go.
dreesemonkey
Active member
- Joined
- May 11, 2012
- Messages
- 43
Trailer looks amazing and I'm insanely jealous you got to spend a day working with Travis Pastrana. Loving the van as well.
BoilermakerFan
Well-known member
Looks great Gregor, except for that rear bumper. When are you getting to that? 
Awesome job on the trailer. We pulled one like that for 18 years. Where did you source the orange strip material?
I thought I had recognized the mountains in earlier pictures. We lived in Westcliffe summers for 6 or 7 years. Had a place on the east side of the valley, but elevation was too much for my wife. We now live south of Bend, OR.
Really appreciate your thread. Thanks.
I thought I had recognized the mountains in earlier pictures. We lived in Westcliffe summers for 6 or 7 years. Had a place on the east side of the valley, but elevation was too much for my wife. We now live south of Bend, OR.
Really appreciate your thread. Thanks.
Oldsklrolla
Well-known member
Yeah, maybe not.
In some foreshadowing we were getting packed up to leave and moved the trailer to the front of the house to make it easier to load and clean. The driveway is steep but I cranked the hitch up all the way. Now I've spent a lot of time fixing that old refrigerator and it was working great but now, right when we wanted to get it cool before we left, it wasn't working.
The fact that it wasn't level only vaguely occurred to me.
After suspecting it was a breaker or somehow power related I moved the trailer and tried to get it working on gas. After that didn't work I did a lot of investigating only to discover that not only will these refrigerators not work if they're not perfectly level you can also ruin them. Who knew that?
Umm, not me.
I ruined the thing - not even my father who was known for breaking or wearing things out did that. I was so pissed and angry at myself. It has survived for 40 years and I've done so much work to fix it up and boom. Done. It took the wind out of my sails for sure. Not to mention putting a crimp in the whole trailer plan.
We gamely dug out the cooler and loaded up.
I gathered all my spare tools to make an on board tool kit. I have everything but a jack. Why would I need one of those - I have new tires... I'm sure I've just cursed myself. I'll buy a jack on the road.
We finally get on the road and run into problem number two. The van felt great around town and even testing the trailer but pulling the mountain passes of Eastern Oregon sees us barely able to pull. The van is way to highly geared and while we'd planned on seeing how it ran with the 3.73 gears before regearing it's now obvious that we need a regear - especially to tow.
We made Boise but I was dreading Colorado. With memories of my pickup floored at 25mph and the van at one point slamming a hard downshift on a hill and puking oil out a ****** breather I was not enjoying the ride. Finally I saw an RV storage lot and just decided to cut our losses. We'd already lost a week of vacation due to the bent axle and it wasn't worth the stress. I'll come back and get it after we change axle ratios.
Freed from the dead weight the van soared along to Vernal, UT. It's handling great and milage is impressive. Despite the poor gearing the van managed 14mpg towing the trailer and 18 without it. Only slightly less than before and that tank included some mountains.
Outside of Vernal we got our first chance to try out the 4x4.
The first shot is the hill you see behind in the second shot.
We can't embed video in the Gallery section so here's a link: https://vimeo.com/225803392
The van flat out rocks. We climbed those hills and some of them were 45° steep which is nothing to sneeze at. To be honest I didn't expect the van to be able to do it. It's big and I thought it would spin out so I chose a hill with an easy way out so I could back down but the van climbed everything. The kids went nuts like we were on a roller coaster. My daughter said it was the best time ever. Going down was pretty impressive as well but you can feel the weight. The larger brakes are impressive however and the van would crawl down with no problems.
The kids also learned to wash windows and I made the mistake of "tipping" my boy a dollar and now every time we stop for gas they both race for the window washers and then ask to "be paid" so I'm going to be paying for that for a while. The front window is so tall I have to stand on the tire to wash it.
So not all according to plan but you roll with the punches.
Gregor
mr_magicfingers
Well-known member
Oh man, Gregor that is such a beautiful job on the trailer. Also, your kids are building fabulous memories in that van. I grew up holidaying in a Ford Transit camper that was my mum's daily drive, travelled all over Europe in that thing and I have precious memories from that time of life.
Gregor, great thing you are doing for your kids. I still remember 50 years later bombing around Nova Scotia with tent trailer in tow behind my parents Olds f-85 wagon.
Despite the little set backs, like the fridge, your projects are great to read about and you give a lot of us a standard to shoot for.
I never thought a twin axle travel trailer could look small but the MAV (Mother of all Vans) makes it look tiny. Hard to believe it would be hard to pull behind that giant diesel regardless of gearing
Have a great trip!
Despite the little set backs, like the fridge, your projects are great to read about and you give a lot of us a standard to shoot for.
I never thought a twin axle travel trailer could look small but the MAV (Mother of all Vans) makes it look tiny. Hard to believe it would be hard to pull behind that giant diesel regardless of gearing
Have a great trip!
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Is the fridge well and truly dead, or can it be fixed? Seems like there has to be a way.
Bohdan
Active member
If you switch it off and leave it for a while sitting level it might come good.
I was going to suggest the same but it sounds so much cooler the way he phrased it. Who knew the accent would come through when reading?
Your emergency tool kit looks very familiar. Right down to the glove container. I usually have a set of Channel Lock (water pump) pliers too.
The family portrait next to the van makes it look like you were towing a couple of trailers. Maybe that is the "gear" issue.
+3 on not giving up on the fridge!
I have a '74 Airstream and had at least 3 occasions when I wasn't patient enough to perfectly level the trailer and he quit on me (boiled the Amonia). But I think the trip home shakes the Amonia and gases back where they belong, because every time when the trailer is back on the perfect level storage pad he works again! (Some people successfully took the fridge out of the trailer and turned it up side down to get it going)
BTW if you have a free spot on you Todo list....add 3 12V fans in the chute of the fridge, to improve the air movement and cooling performance. Works great for me!
My Best,
Oliver
PS: Thank you for my favorite GJ thread!!!
I have a '74 Airstream and had at least 3 occasions when I wasn't patient enough to perfectly level the trailer and he quit on me (boiled the Amonia). But I think the trip home shakes the Amonia and gases back where they belong, because every time when the trailer is back on the perfect level storage pad he works again! (Some people successfully took the fridge out of the trailer and turned it up side down to get it going)
BTW if you have a free spot on you Todo list....add 3 12V fans in the chute of the fridge, to improve the air movement and cooling performance. Works great for me!
My Best,
Oliver
PS: Thank you for my favorite GJ thread!!!