72 IH + ‘85 Alaskan = Questionable Judgment...

[Nailhead]

Happy holidays one & all, may the season find everyone well and content!

During the course of this project, I formed a relationship with a woman who loves the outdoors and the whole concept of this camper.

She also is at a particular stage in life where her “thermal window of contentment” spans about 3°. This window is located well below the temperature of a typical summer day, so A/C became a higher priority than ever, so I ordered up a Vintage Air system, and Harry & I set to seeing if we could find some way to install in a ‘72 IH D-Series truck.

How hard could it be, right?

This hard:

Here is the York-to-Sanden adaptor I bought so I could fit a more efficient modern compressor to the IH compressor mount:

Supposed to enable the simple bolt-up mounting of said compressor according to the listing on the vendor’s website.

Not really:

One belt, two grooves, and nothing seemed to be available to correct that misalignment. No combination of pulleys from the parts Scout & my engine, or pulleys available online had the correct groove width in the correct alignment, mounting bolt pattern, or groove configuration that would (or looked like it would) work.

Finally, we concluded that since the original York compressor worked with one belt, we we’re going to have believe this one would too— especially since it (supposedly) required less power to run. After all, the original 3/4” belt for the York, and the 1/2” one that fit the new Sanden compressor were of the same thickness and thus had the same contact patch along both sides of the pulley groove— same contact patch, identical power transmission capability. At least that’s how we rationalized it. It would have to do. Moving on.

Pieces parts from Vintage Air’s assortment, and the stock dash vents from the dash panel I bought at Coonrod’s on the way back from a weekend in Breckenridge:

Because no one in Wheatland would crimp our A/C hoses, I also bought a crimper online:

The instructions were...amazing:

We sussed it out between this cryptic document and Amazon’s product listing, and got this:

Then more:

That’s pretty much got it for the hoses, both heat & A/C.

 

[Nailhead]

After posting that, I wished— yet again— that we would have painted that under hood area. IIRC, exasperation with the two-month hunt for a compatible throwout bearing led to stabbing that engine as quick as we could after the right bearing was found. Oh well— it’s a work in progress, I figure. Always will be.

Anyway, next in the A/C install process was mounting & wiring the controls.

The Vintage Air control system wasn’t compatible with the original IH slider-&-cable system, so I bought this control module because the individual controls could be mounted where the old ones were:

A piece of sheet steel, some paint, and instant climate control update:

To the late ‘70’s, anyway.

I think it turned out pretty well for couple of beer-swilling amateur automotive A/C techs:

It’ll have to do.


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[Nailhead]

A few weeks later, I changed out the old, rotten Pirelli seals on the camper. They seal the top half to the lower.

Got my tools and the new seal material together:

And got to it, first removing the myriad little screws securing a steel strip over the actual seal:

I then removed the staples that actually secure the seal:

Wire cutters worked really well to pry them out. There were many.

It took a few hours, but I finally got the seals replaced on the upper section of the camper. The lower section has its own set of seals inside, which would have to wait for another time.

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[Nailhead]

I then took the furnace out to clean & inspect it after downloading an instruction manual from PDX RV.

I had to remove the plywood toilet platform, and there it was, one of the most important features of this camper:

Some screws up front, and in the vent fitting, crack the gas line, and it came right out:

After cleaning out the burner chamber and checking the igniter gap, I put it back together with a new gasket:

I then rigged it up for testing:

It worked great. Now I can relocate the gas line from the passenger-side to the back to accommodate the tool box.


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[Nailhead]

Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend, and I decided it was time to go retrieve the camper from my buddy’s driveway. My GF and I went & got it in what turned into a pouring rain:

Between the load-out and the drive home:

I haven’t been so thoroughly soaked that I can remember.

Now I have a place to store the camper in my driveway while I work on it.


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[Nailhead]

Time to relocate the gas line from side-entry:

to the back.

The water filler was in the wrong spot, too:

Here was pretty much the best location for both, but the more I looked at it, the more I saw that needed changing first. All that gnarly sealant had to go, along with the cracked lower trim piece with its stripped or missing screws:

After a trip to get aluminum angle channel, stainless wood screws, and a countersink bit, I was ready to cut a new piece. I just needed some way to secure the workpiece while I drilled the holes & cut the door notch in it.

Raised beds to the rescue:

After stamping it with the camper serial number, I mounted it up, along with water fill-up, and gas bulkhead fittings:

I think it turned out pretty well:

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[Nailhead]

Plumbing time.

The gas line almost plumbed itself: there was a union in the copper line to the range about 18” to the front, so I just replaced that with a tee and ran soft copper from it to the bulkhead fitting:

The water line was more demanding: it had to run all the way to the front of the camper with a constant slope and no low spots, then make a tight turn before threading up to the top of the water tank. Add my inexperience with flare-fitting plumbing, and the odds of success weren’t great. The route & rough-out can be seen above.

After one unsuccessful attempt at making the last bend at the front, I got it:

Got the back made up:

I thought I got it, anyway: a test fill let fly a shower from the tank fitting, which seemed oddly loose.

After a bit of panic subsided, I took my grinder with a super-thin cutoff wheel and cut the flare off:

I re-flared the end after fitting the forged replacement nut you see above, tightened it, and:

No leaks, full tank.

I then ran a shore line, turned the power on:

Turned the pump on, and got this:

That was a pretty damn good day.


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[Nailhead]

Interior Pirelli seal replacement was next:

With fewer linear feet of seal within easy reach to replace, it went pretty quickly.

I couldn’t replace the portion of seal behind the closet, though; it’s impossible to get to:

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[Nailhead]

Interior Pirelli seal replacement was next:

With fewer linear feet of seal within easy reach to replace, it went pretty quickly.

I couldn’t replace the portion of seal behind the closet, though; it’s impossible to get to:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nailhead]

Interior Pirelli seal replacement was next:

With fewer linear feet of seal within easy reach to replace, it went pretty quickly.

I couldn’t replace the portion of seal behind the closet, though; it’s impossible to get to:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nailhead]

Interior Pirelli seal replacement was next:

With fewer linear feet of seal within easy reach to replace, it went pretty quickly.

I couldn’t replace the portion of seal behind the closet, though; it’s impossible to get to:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nailhead]

Interior Pirelli seal replacement was next:

With fewer linear feet of seal within easy reach to replace, it went pretty quickly.

I couldn’t replace the portion of seal behind the closet, though; it’s impossible to get to:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Nailhead]

Annnd Tapatalk queers the fun again...

Sorry about the multiple duplicate posts—- I’d remove the them if I could.


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[givemethewillys]

That was a lot of interior pirelli seal replacement! ?

Haha seriously though, great work!

 

[fisher205]

Nailhead,
I have 2 more of the horizontal propane tanks like yours. You can have them if you ever get up to Casper.