Mirror arms

[Kerry Pinkerton]

I have this antique 1977 GMC motorhome and enjoy working and traveling in it with other members of the GMC Motorhome cult...and it is a cult.

One of the things that I enjoy is upgrading and modifying it because lots of things have improved in the last 40 years.

The stock mirrors fall in this category. Think 70's Chevy dually mirrors because that is exactly what they are. Newer mirrors like new motorhomes have are made by a couple people including RAMCO but a set of them is about a grand.

Last fall I scored a set of Ramco remote control mirrors at a GMC Motorhome International rally in Wisconsin for $50! Heck of a deal but they did not come with the mounting arms. When I got home I called Ramco and they make a set for the GMC for $250. I was about to order them when I thought, why, this looks like a fun winter project.

Weather today sucks...33 degrees and 2 inches of rain but a good day for shaping and it's been a while. Last month I made the frame from 1/4" aluminum and machined the head. I'm now making the aluminum skin that will be welded on. You can see it in the background of this photo. The skins are one BIG reverse and one basic tapered bowl shape. I'm not particularity worried about marks because I'm doing primary shrinking and will file them out. Besides, they'll be painted.



I used the small Eckold with the small stretching dies. The NOMAR dies were used some but they are limited in how much they can reach because these pieces are pretty small with a lot of shape.



A test fit. Reverses are made just the opposite of a bowl shape. That is, you stretch the edges and shrink the center...or do pure stretch like I did. If you're really observant, you might notice the photo above has shrinking dies in it. I over stretched the reverse and needed to shrink a bit to bring it back to fit.



You can see a crease I had to put for each of the 4 bolts to be able to go in straight. REALLY complicated the build.



I used the big ewheel a bit but mostly a one of the smaller 16S (stub axle) models because of accessibility issues. I also used a few post dollies





A lot of out of arrangement manipulation was done and because the metal was thicker because of shrinking, manual manipulation was a bit difficult. My hands are out of shape and hurting tonight.





Both the inside reverses roughed out.



The outside is just a tapered bowl. The taper changes all along the length complicating shape development. I did not take the time to make a pattern and just fit to the structure of the frame. Started out using the NOMAR dies but mainly used the small (40mm) shrinking dies with the stippled teeth.



Not completely done but that's it for today.



While I used a fancy tool to make these, it could have been done easily with hand tools. But I'm old, tired, and have the tools so I'm not interested in doing caveman shaping any more.

I'll finish up the other outside piece and start welding it up tomorrow unless it warms up.

[Ben]

They are going to look great Kerry.

Ben

[Gojeep]

Great to see you back into shaping for yourself Kerry.
Nicely done.

[invision]

Fantastic job Kerry!

[Overkill]

Kerry said

"I have this antique 1977 GMC motorhome and enjoy working and traveling in"

Jeeze you're making me feel old.... Used to think that 'antiques' had to be something older than I was.

[Kerry Pinkerton]

Here is one side, pretty well done. Still need to do a bit of sanding and decide how I want to finish it. Might clean it up a bit more and leave it in brushed aluminum.



It is a lot better than it looks from a finish perspective. I used roloc scuff pads and they make the surface look lumpy in photos.





John, a 40 year old motorhome is really rare. You just don't see many that aren't the GMC's. The rest of them just did not last. They made 12500 of the GMCs and we know where 8500 are. Of those probably 6000 are still on the road.