Well, after a year of reading the forums, and encountering virtually every challenge that has been described here, considering all the advice, I have finally finished pimping out my boler. (I had troubles finding classy spinner hubcaps so I just settled for chromed ones)

My daughters (9 and 12) did the graphics layout, and I painted with Interlux brightside. It's not a new-car finish because of some of the brush marks, but I am satisfied. Attached are the before and after pictures.

I wanna thank all the people who provided me so much invaluable information and knowledge.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Very nice.

That's fun that you got your daughters involved! Looks like a present waiting to be unwrapped. Did you do any interior mods?

Wow!

Outstanding!

Shucks the interior was the first year. We finished it and tried it out last summer before I committed to finishing the outside. It is the most amazing little thing there is, and tows fabulously with my Honda Odyssey (even without weight distribution hitch). The fabulous 70's brown interior was resurfaced with Maple laminate and wood trim. Fantastic fan was installed, stovetop was re-chromed, fridge was taken out shaken and fitted with computer fans to blow more air through the coils, grey water tank was taken out and the cracks were welded, screen door was installed, the rubber seal around the door was replaced with the sliding door seal from a '95 chrysler minivan. A hot water tank was installed so my wife would be happy . Only thing missing now are the florescent lights.

Kevin,
Great job. It looks good! If you are still looking for spinners, did you look at hubcapmike.com?

Tom Trostel
http://www.hubcapmike.com/fiesta_hubcaps.html

Awesome. Can we have some interior shots please? Sounds like you're forging through the jungle just ahead of me.

Questions:

1) Did you do the graphics with masking-tape and paint or is that a commercial stick-on?

2) Did you get the door seal at a wrecker or did you just order it from a mopar counter?

3) How did you decide on that door seal specifically?

4) Did the door seal take up enough of the gaps at the top/bottom or did you have to do additional surgery to the door?

very nice! i like the awning too. what kind is that?

Nice work! It would be nice to see some interior shots.

I like it!

Look here....

Hi,

Can you let me know what kind of paint you used to paint the exterior!

Thanks!

Geez guys, slow down. I don't want to have the blandest looking and least-upgraded B1700 in Alberta!

Looking good, Kevin

Get off your Butt Brian and start doing some mods

Great Job, I love to see people making their campers special!!!. Ruth & Jim

Herb: Answers to your questions.

Mary F found some interior shots from last year and provided the link I see.

1) I used autobody thin-line striping tape (I think it's called). An autobody supply house will sell you for $12 per roll. I bought 2, only used one. I looked for commercial stickons but the tape and a couple cans of paint were cheaper.

2) Autowrecker for the door seal. $7.00 each. I felt flush so I bought 2 in case i messed up the first time. The trick though is to go to a pick-your-part place. A regular autowrecker who gets the parts for you wanted $45.00.

3) How did I decide on the seal? Well the side door seal on my Brother in-law's '99 chrysler van looked just like the match I needed, but he wasn't too partial to me trying. A ford pickup truck might work. When I went to the wrecker, I couldn't find a '99 minivan but the '95-96 looked close enough and I couldn't go wrong for 7 bucks. So now I pull a Daimler-Boler

4) Door seal is around the door frame. The actual fiberglass door has nothing on it at all. Along the bottom I used some closed cell foam from a lumber store. The problem I had was that the door was loosing it's curve, so the extra thickness and sponginess made up for the gaps. That was last year when I put it on.. This year, the door weakened, so I had to reinforce by bolting onto the inside of the door, from top to bottom a 3/4 inch square aluminum tube that I pre-curved to take up the slack. So far so good.

Well, the awning is a long story. Because I am cheap, I got it bequethed to me from my Dad. It is a Norseman awning. Back in the 70's when boogie vans were in vogue, Norseman made a canopy that was encased in an aluminum box that you would clamp onto the gutter of your boogie van. I got rid of the aluminum case, and really ended up with a canopy exactly that you would get if you bought a 10 foot or 12 foot tent trailer. Tent trailers these days can come with canopies that Zip into a nylon bag. I pulled out the sewing machine made a bag from some left over canopy vinyl that my Dad had from a project years ago and bob's your uncle. An exact replica of a modern awning. It comes complete with folding legs and side braces all in that pouch you see in the picture. I then slipped it into the existing awning track. I just finished the screen room a couple of weeks ago.

Hey Chester,

Give Brian a Break. Sometimes car collectors buy collectables and insist on keeping them in their original condition. They think it keeps the value higher than if you restore. Maybe that's Brian's strategy.

But that implies talent, which I see you have, but which I, sadly, lack. :-)



That's perfect. I have a small credit at pick-a-part and now I know which 4 acre section to look at.



I wondered about that plan too. Did you bolt through the door or just screw into the wood (?) core? Doesn't look like there are any bolt heads in the picture so either you covered them with filler or you screwed into the core. I'm worried about whether screws in the core would hold up..

Sorry for all the additional questions.

I must compliment your two daughters on the design! Looks great!!!!

Wood core? Ha! You wish!

I removed and reinstalled the window in my B1700RGH door to reseal it, after finding the bottom of the door full of water. I have also removed and replaced the door latch, since the lock part broke. Those views into the guts of the door reveal some wood strips to establish spacing between the inner and outer fiberglass skins around the window, but otherwise... nothing but air.

If this were a sandwich construction, with inner and outer skins bonded to a core of wood (or something else), I doubt it would sag the way it does. It appears, unfortunately, to be just a fiberglass box.

Ummm... sure... yeah... that's my plan!

Not a problem. A picture is worth a thousand words. Take a look at the picture. Note 2 bolts only. Bolts DO NOT go through the outside. My door was hollow except for a small piece of wood in the middle. Take out the window to get the top bolt in. Notice the small little silver tape on the bottom left side where I made a surgical cut to insert nut.

I put the bolts near the edges where the strength is the greatest because they are close to the lamination of inside to outside. Click to view attachment

Brian: Silly of me to assume it was wood cored. My old 1300 was..

Kevin: thanks for the pic. That's certainly simpler than some of the plans I was concocting....