New Vent Hoods Installed

Like I was saying I picked up some cool "retro" aluminum vent hoods for Loretta on ebay.  They came today and I installed them this afternoon.

The old vent hoods

The new

And So It Begins

So I took the week off from work to surf and work on Loretta. I began with the roof. Somebody in Loretta's past sealed the roof with an aluminumized mastic, the kind used for asphalt repair.  NO BUENO!

It took me 3 full days to scrape and clean off that mess, just in the area around the vents, rivets and lap seams. I'm going to leave the rest of it there, nobody looks on top anyway :-P

I then painstakingly filled all the lap seams and every rivet with Captain Trolly's Creeping Crack Cure just in case. Once that dried I wire brushed the lap seams back to bare metal and sealed them up with TremPro 635 Polyurethane Sealant.  I'm no pro at doing this so it isn't pretty. But I can guarantee it won't leak. 

What you see here represents 4 days work. I bought some new "retro" vent hoods on ebay, they should arrive in a day or two. Meanwhile I started on the rear windows.  Pulled the eyebrow and windows and discovered the original seals with a lame attempt at a repair. More scraping and wire brushing. Got the windows back in with Butyl tape, stainless steel screws and sealed the top with more polyurethane. Going to leave the eyebrow off for now so I can polish the area.

Purchased Sight Unseen

Here are a few pictures of Loretta from the previous owner.  We purchased it sight unseen and had the old axle with hydraulic brakes and split rim tires replaced with a 3500lb Dexter axle with electric brakes and new tires before having it towed out to California from Colorado.

Marvel Fridge

Dixie Stove