Rebuild--rear-ended Uhaul CT13

[itlives]

I hear ya on the tent vs. camper camping. Those that haven't put in their 30 - 40 years tent camping don't know how good they have it!
I'm into adventure motorcycling / tent camping still! Have yet to go out in this camper, but I do have two overnighters in my (gone now) '77 13' Trillium.
It's a big step up for a low tech guy like me!

I like how clean that plug looks as compared to the original.

[groys02]

Thanks, Mike...
I've spent the last 2 days replacing the portion of harness that goes from mid-trailer [underneath] forward to the tow vehicle. The wiring connections and exposed parts of wire were really deteriorated.
I ran the new wires through a piece of plastic tubing from the LP mount back, and put some plastic-loom-shield on it from there forward--so hopefully it'll be protected enough from bumps and scrapes and UV rays for a good while.

Today I used jumper-wires to start figuring out which wires from the new loom do which lights on the camper. Got the running lights sorted first, though only had 3 out of 7 of those upper lights initially lit.....new bulbs got 2 more.....now to figure out why the last 2 are still dark.

I think as soon as I have my tail-lights wired up, we'll go up the road 3 miles to a real nice state park campground, and start figuring out what's needed most next.............. looking forward to that!

p.s. After shining up the ground spots, both up front and underneath, I smeared the surfaces & fasteners with the Oxidation Guard paste---left over from installing the service panel in the shop. It seems to help hold down rusting for quite a while.

[itlives]

I ordered the same 12v plug and usb plugs you did - thanks for picture!. Going to put it where the ash tray is (I think you said you were doing that ,too). I replaced all my lights with led's and new wires. I still need to finish the flat four plug. I'm getting there!
I'm having trouble finding the weather seal for the door window because I'm going back with a solid window(lexan). Any ideas?

[groys02]

Mike,
Not sure I follow, on your door window question. Are you eliminating that small sliding window altogether, and just fitting a single piece of Lexan? If so, I got some H-shaped [cross-section] weatherstripping from a hot rod supplier online for a customer project a year or so ago, that worked out nice......I could look up the name. [given enough search-time... ha]
Gary

[groys02]

Re-wiring continues.
Today, I finally finished up the wiring connections underneath the Scrambled Egg. I got a 5-wire harness kit... leaves me with an "extra" wire which isn't used at the moment, but will likely eventually be the feed for reverse lights, since I've got the taillights converted to mid-80's GM pickup units.
'Ran the kit harness inside some plastic tubing, from tongue to mid-trailer, just for some extra wear protection.
Got the Curt converter Tom Griebe shows in one of the wiring diagrams in the "Files" section of the Facebook site, so I have separate leads for turn & brake lights.
Used the existing wiring, after clipping off several inches of exposed/weathered ends... but I made connections with plug-in connectors crimped to the wire ends [a $25-30 crimping tool makes this go a lot better], so I can readily replace the old wiring harness sometime later. Not QUITE enough room to work comfortably under the camper... bifocals don't help... nor did 3 phone calls & 2 texts while underneath.
But that part's hopefully done, and I can move to unscrambling the wires in the corners ahead of the taillights now. Modified "spaghetti diagram" below, FWIW....
All this stuff sits on the backside of a frame member, so it shouldn't get hammered too bad by road spray, etc.

[Last photo is from mocking up the taillights a long time back... since the GM units had a reverse light built in, I wanted to be able to use it someday...]

[itlives]

Gary, yes on the solid Lexan in the door. I would appreciate a link to the weatherstrip. How did you know the size of the window? I'm guessing there's a formula according to the size of the rubber? I have seen the "H" rubber online. I will continue looking. Is it leak free?

Good job on the wiring! Did you just silicone the taillights on? Looks good!

[groys02]

Mike,

[1] I did go to the shop last night and dug up the catalog I'd ordered from. Looking at it, I realized that it wasn't an H-shaped cross-section we used, but one similar to an old VW bug window gasket. [we were fitting a Lexan back-glass into a 68 bug with a 4" top-chop] I'm pretty sure, though, that there were regular H-shaped gaskets in the catalog as well. I took a picture of one page of gaskets, and of the catalog front, with phone #'s etc. God willing, I'll have them attached here shortly.

[2] My GM tail-lights are inset into the corners. I made a "bucket" to accept them from a mold I created... glued the buckets to the inside of the camper corners... then just bolted up stock GM assemblies [with a little sanding of edges, where I didn't make the bucket quite big enough] You can see that process starting on page 2 of this thread.
This was all done before I ever started discussing with Tom Griebe how to make some new adapters... and then producing them.

[itlives]

Thanks, Gary!
Btw- I was president of our local vintage VW club. I was in the club for 10 years. Built a '58 Beetle, '71 single cab and '74 Westy (all mine).
If I were to build another, it would be another Type 2 with a Chevy V6. My friend did it and it could pull the CT easily!

[groys02]

Mike,
Sounds like you had a good collection [or series] of the air-cooled V-dubs. I never did a genuine restoration of one for myself... but drove a succession of Bugs, a 70 Squareback, and a 61 window-van over the years.
Did a resto-mod on a 67 Bug for a local friend a half-dozen years ago... at a show in Illinois, he saw a bug with a front engine & rear drive, and felt he just had to have one...........that became the last project to leave my shop before I retired a year ago. It had a one-off frame built by a mutual friend, a circle-track 4.3 V6, 350 AT, and Chevy Extreme pickup rearend. Right perky.
I wish I'd kept the Bug I had with a Subaru flat-four in the rear... cooling was a problem I wasn't patient enough to solve back then, but otherwise it worked real well.........noticeably more pep, with handling unaffected, and a heater!
Good times........

[itlives]

Sweet car! I was going to something similar (sans the big engine) but moved on from VW's. I did put a 2.3L Ford in the single cab. Cooling is no problem for a bus or truck as there was enough ground clearance to mount two Mercedes fans horizontally and build an air dam.
Good times!
Back to your regularly scheduled programming!

[groys02]

Getting 2nd step of the "vehicle" wiring done. 1st, replaced the wiring from the plug on the tongue back to where it ties up into the camper. 2nd, tap the taillight pigtails into the original camper loom, and get the taillights installed and functional. 3rd step will come later, when I sort out the wiring add-on's in the back corners under the seats, and elsewhere........hopefully then I can get all the marker lights to work, for instance.

I also added some fabricated attachment points for old VW bug jacks that I had laying around. [didn't feel like I had good spots remaining, after stock back bumper & mounts got scrunched, to use the stock type stabilizer jacks]

Closer to camp-able. Small list of odds n ends still............

[itlives]

Keep moving forward! Looking good, Gary.

[groys02]

.....ShakeDown trip at last. Elaine and I went up the road about 5 miles to Ledges State Park in central IA... stayed from Thursday morning till Saturday morning, just to get a feel for towing the CT with our Corolla... for whether we'd die in July-in-Iowa conditions... whether sharing the modest-sized sleeping platform would work okay, space-wise, and how the stock cushions + 3" memory foam would feel.
I haven't yet installed shelves, or bought specifically-sized bins to put here and there, so boxes and bags spread about a little awkwardly.......but now I have a do-list for what to build where.

All-in-all it worked out okay. Thursday was mid-90s + high humidity... no fun sleeping without a/c. Friday was mid-80s + lower humidity... and we did just fine with windows cranked, the roof vent/fan running through the evening, and then a small fan blowing our way overnite.

12V system next--new solar panel & controller are ordered and should arrive anytime. With furnace removed, I figure to put the battery box just below where it sat, and wire a 110V weatherproof outlet into the former furnace vent by the door. All the 12v wiring then will be in that mid-section of the camper, and one more chunk of weight shifted forward.

Corolla seemed to tow the camper just fine, too, FWIW. When out on the highway, I'd use the overdrive lock-out to make it a little easier on the engine & tranny. Plan to add a thermostatically-triggered auxilliary transmission cooler at some point, for added peace of mind.

'Started off with the tripod sunshade next to the door, but it interfered slightly, so moved it over a bit. 9x9 Noah tarp on hand, with 8' of awning rail on hand also, so won't need the tripod thing next time.............

[Donna D.]

A massive amount of work and it's been fun following along on your rebuild I'm so glad you're finally able to take it out and enjoy a bit. Look TERRIFIC!

[rbryan]

That recessed spare looks terrific.

[alan H]

Totally agree w/donna
Looks great i've been following this

[groys02]

Well,
Thank you all for the kind words.
I posted this same basic info over on the Facebook U-Haul page earlier, and as I got to reflecting on things, I think it was a good time to go camping [in spite of July's heat + humidity].
I was getting a little weary of there always being umpteen things to do still... so actually using the camper a bit has left me now feeling re-energized for carrying on from here.
keepin' on...
Gary

[TimothyP]

Dear Gary

This is the first time I had become aware of your thread and the amount of work you have done on your trailer. I only had time to skim through, but the work looks fantastic. I am happy to report that your furnace is well and doing fine in my trailer. There were very few problems (most of my own making) in installing it and getting it up and running. However, it actually runs much quieter than the unit it replaced.

Congratulations on your successful maiden voyage. I hope you have many many more. As I mentioned on the phone, why not come to Aganac State Park in Michigan for the September Egg-Stravaganza. See Pam G. for details. Now that you have "finished" the project you need to show it off a little. We all would love to see it.

Sincrely

Tim P

P. S. You are never really finished with one of these projects. You just keep coming up with new ideas.

[groys02]

Tim,
Thanks--it's been a while, getting it going again.
I'm delighted to hear that you've received the furnace, and already have it up-and-running--bravo! I hope it gives you another long run of service.
I'll consider the September rally.......retired or not, it still seems a challenge to plan anything very far out on the calendar.
Best wishes,
Gary

[D Davis]

Gary, thank you for sharing your experience with the restore all along the way. You have done such a fantastic job. Finally, taking her out, HURRAH! Keep on Keepin On!