A New Year and a new beginning for Moonraker!

More pictures! This has turned into quite the photo thread I I hope you all are still with me! In the second picture you'll see a bunch of foam shims that will help hold the tanks from shifting within the bellypan cavity. I'll elaborate about the modification of the axle plate in a later picture.

Preliminary fitment of grey tanks



Fitment of grey tank straps



Vulkem oozing out of joint between wheel well & frame



More vulkem applied on all seams of wheel well



Prodex being cut



“Spin weld” fittings installed



Installation of new “C” channels at base of wall.



Completed “C” channel installation & frame being flipped again to start on undercoating & bellypan fabrication.



Added more elevator bolts to corner areas than were originally used.



Measuring for axle plate extensions

    

A few more from the same day.... take a look at the Mobileglide in the last picture. It's a pretty rare trailer and really cute! I got a tour when I visited and its actually surprising how spacious it feels inside, probably because its sides have less curvature than an Airstream.

Underside of floor & chassis completely undercoated with automotive undercoating



Wheel wells undercoated too. Preliminary fitment of axles.



Undercoated frame & floor.



Prodex cut & marked for each cavity.



Undercoated frame & floor from the rear. Colin's 46 Mobilglide “Globe Trotter” is sitting just behind

 

Wishful welding

Progress continues...  As I receive this pictures I find myself wanting to learn to weld!  

I'm about to digress here for a moment but I've suffering from picture overload anyway! 

So.....
Our big screen TV goes dead a few days before Thanksgiving.... won't turn on. It's only 4 years old! My husband was resigned to buying a new TV because no way was my mother not watching the Thanksgiving parade, and well, football needs to be watched on a big screen right? 

 

Well, I got on the Internet and it turns out it's a very well known problem with bad capacitors. The day before Thanksgiving I had the big screen TV in pieces all over a table, pulled the power supply board, identified 7 bad capacitors , took them out, re-soldered their replacements and for $17 had a big screen TV back! Turns out I find soldering really cool..... And isn't that just welding on a small scale? Anyway, just kidding but learning new skills is addicting.  

 

This is what the power board looked like....

 

 And this is a picture of what a bad capacitor looks like.  See how the top is bulging?

 It was very gratifying to fix something rather than tossing it and buying new!

 

 

 

Back to the regularly scheduled programming!!!  Enjoy the pictures....

Rebuilt step welded in place & POR 15’d.



New safety chain “loop” POR 15’d



New stringers & “cut out” POR 15’d.



New rear crossmember welded in place, including
weld nuts installed for future rear spare tire mount.
Weld nuts added to the bottom of the bumper as well.



Ends of new rear crossmember completely
welded inside the “C” channel main rail, in order
to reduce potential vermin infiltration.



Added angle iron stringers to help support
front floor area.



Stringer added to rear bellypan cavity connecting
rear crossmember to the next one. This will help
support the rear floor & help spread loads from the
future spare tire mount.



Preliminary grey tank fitment



Welding stringers in place.




Flipping the chassis over for better access for welding.



POR 15’ing stringers



Straightening out street side wheel well damage.



Rear crossmember & stringer with POR 15 applied.



New rear crossmember showing bolts fitted to weld nuts.



Straightened wheel well awaiting final patchwork.



Grey tank strap fabricated.





She's coming along nicely!

More beautiful progress!

 Step reconstruction. New outriggers, pivots & sandblasted original components

Curbside wheel well only needs minor repairs.

 Original step outriggers…………..badly rusted & broken.

 Step reassembly.

Step assembly was completely sandblasted, acid etched & washed with Marine Clean before POR 15 was applied. The vertical strips will be welded on as stringers to help support the floor in the step area.

All pivots & sliders were upgraded to 1/2” diameter.  The step outriggers were fabricated out of 1/8” material, .035” thicker than original.

Angle iron stringers removed & replaced with flat bar in the areas where the grey tanks will be installed.

Streetside rear outrigger added as Airstream omitted it in 63

Rebuilt step tacked in place

Finish welding the bottom of the step outriggers, body in background :)

Outrigger extension added to support joint in Plywood subfloor. This did not exist originally & can cause flooring cracks  if  not there

Hole in main frame rail patched & outrigger

Patched frame rail.

Safety chain “loop” welded in place along with safety chains fitted.

All of the upgrades on the frame have been painted with POR 15.