Finally I gathered up my courage to resume and dive into
this project head first. It is imtimidating on a project that involve so much no-going-back alterations.
pot stickers
more steamed entree - it has been my most favorite dish of late due to the ease of preparation and incredible savory; it takes me 15 minutes of preparation time and the rest is work done by Chronos -my sous chef
typically a dish like this lasts me 2 1/2 meals - hence re
I took and am posting a lot of photos for my own posterity for future reference; I am utilizing the blog for documentation for future references
I have struggled with the want to keep the post simple concise, versus having over abundance of photos and sometimes what seemingly obvious comments. However when I revisit something I have done a decade ago, what seem obvious is much less so. To this I rather keep this kind of posts utilitarian rather than concise (which force you to take narrow perspective) and sparing.
ready to tackle the air distribution horizontal cabinet
i remove as much parts as possible as I was dropping this all by myself
as always Westfalia does not cut corners - there are many heavy gauge steel covers used for electrical fire prevention
i will be reusing this control assembly
lucky for me this is this ledge that I could rest the assembly on while I disconnect the rest of the wiring harnesses
i tried to save some of these adhesive backed foam - Westfalia use this a lot to secure harness and to prevent rattles
there are signs some grease monkeies have been here before me and made a mess
WD40 soaking will help remove this intact
here you can see there are traces of breadcrumbs that some grease monkies have been in there before me and made a mess
so glad to clean up more Airstream mess
this hanger is coming out
the jackstands are for extra level of safety - the rear wheels are carrying the full weight sitting on 2x4 scraps
these 4 bolts are the hardest to turn
again my toy jack comes in handy
another clean up
the best way to document the wiring as which is which is to leave a bit of the color stubs
this will be prepurposed for home emergency electricity - i might convert it to natural gas later
i had always wonder as to who left this mess - the wire harness not routed properly and neatly - you guessed it; the handy work of Airstream's "upfitting" shit workmanship
you can see where the hinge brackets for the spare tire carrier are cutted off to make room for the shit Onan generator
nice to have the undercarriage cleaned up to be ready to restore the spare tire carrier
our NAFTA JC definitely has a 1:3.727 rear end ratio; even the number of teeth of the gears are documented in plain sight
Some of the US-bound Westies first came with a smaller AC unit that was retrofitted before sale to a bigger one. Not sure on the details, but that would explain the signs of work in the electrics cabinet. I imagine the original design would have needed only one of the 110V to 12V power supplies.
ReplyDeleteEven Westies that shipped from the factory with the larger A/C may have had work done in the upper cabinet, as apparently there were troubles with the condensate lines leaking.
Enjoying these posts and watching your good work!
If you need welding to install a spare tire carirer, I'd be glad to help. I'm just north of Vancouver.
ReplyDeleteRob
Hi Rob. Thanks for the generous offer. I am in the process of procuring the needed pieces Airstream hacked out. Before removing the Onan, my thought was to build a pair of home make hinge brackets and weld them where the original ones were. That would involve unpleasant and risky work of welding under the vehicle. Now seeing I can reuse two leading mounting brackets of the Onan I plan to fashion a cross bar onto the Onan brackets which in turn hose the two home made hinge brackets. This will save from having to weld under the vehicle. I think my wirefeed welder will be up to the task without enlisting your help, but I will take the raincheck just in case.
DeleteTed. Thanks for the comment. I am in full agreement with observations and insights. The bread crumbs in our respective cabinet look identical. Seems Airstream or Westfalia had struggled with the condensate drain leakage as well as air leaking through unintended crevices, in addition to some JC having post-ship replacement to higher BTU AC.
ReplyDeleteBTW, John Olsen reminds me of your excellent post (on AC removal) just as I am struggling how to hoist the Kerstner off the roof. I found a neighbor with a big oak tree and willing to let me use it. Just that the Oregon rain started with no end in sight.
would you be willing to share specific information on the bracket you used to mount the new mach 8 cub? I understand it is necessary as the current cut out is bigger than 14"x 14".
ReplyDelete