1979 Datsun Sunline Solaris Mini Motorhome - Page 3

**JohnB** · 08-03-2017, 08:34 PM

Amazing you found this!!! Wow. and No, that is not a Sunline. Sunline's have a unique look and that's not it.

**Sunline Fan** · 08-04-2017, 02:29 PM

Wow that's awesome! Dolphin is a pretty common brand of small motorhome built on the compact Datsun/Toyota chassis, in the late '70s and 80s.

I'm sure you could part a lot more of it out, if you had the space to store it. RV windows seem to sell well, as do appliances. You know how to test them, so if they work, even better!

Since you have the experience with the Datsun chassis already, you could always put the nice parts over on your Sunline, and then put the bad ones on this Dolphin. Strip the rotten motorhome body off and build yourself a slick AMC flatbed hauler! The tough looking bumper on your Sunline would look more appropriate on a hauler truck.

Islanders · 08-04-2017, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

Strip the rotten motorhome body off and build yourself a slick AMC flatbed hauler!

Don't think for a moment I haven't already considered it! Unfortunately, the GF has put her foot down, 2 big projects are all I'm allowed at any one time. I have the Spirit torn down right now pulling the engine, and the RV with a big hole in the roof (and we have major rain forecast for the next few days).

I think the Datusn pickup would look very cool with a 10' long pickup box on it. Take two of the standard beds and weld them together over a dually rear axle....oh yea!

Islanders · 08-15-2017, 07:34 PM

Finally have the engine out of the GT and off to the rebuilder, so I'm back to the Sunline project.
Started building the frame to put the roof back together. I went with a very thin sheet of plywood to go between the frame boards and the siding.

The plywood is a bit bowed, so that will help to hold the siding up and eliminate the pools that have built up over the years on either side of the hole. At least, that's my plan.

Here are the frame pieces being replaced on the driver side :

I bought some aluminum flashing, figured I would line to outside edge of the hole since that siding is fairly "used". Maybe fold it over into the hole area, using roll caulk between the layers, then tape over the outer edge of flashing, followed by the roof sealant.

....progress, slow but picking up some momentum.....

Islanders · 08-21-2017, 08:41 PM

So, we finally got the parts vehicle down to the Island, and started pulling parts. Some good news there, it looks like we got a bit lucky on this one.

Here are some shots of this RV:

The bonus here was the accessories we found in the camper, a mini microwave....the Half-Pint:

A decent looking electrical closet:

A Coleman A/C unit:

....and....a Propane/Electric refrigerator!

The microwave works, we plan to have the fridge tested and repaired if needed, hoping for good luck with the A/C unit. If we get a working fridge for a couple hundred we'll come out of this way ahead. If the converter works, that's just gravy at this point.
All of this on top of the sheet metal we actually bought the RV for (hood, doors, fenders), front bumper and undamaged grille. The drivetrain is only showing 14K miles (the reason the previous owner bought it was to pull the drivetrain and install it in a pickup), so we'll have spare mechanical parts too.
It looks like this was a good $300 spent.

**Sunline Fan** · 08-21-2017, 11:22 PM

Awesome! I'm glad you decided to buy that one whole after all!

Maybe the hauler truck idea won't be off the radar after all...

Islanders · 08-22-2017, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

Maybe the hauler truck idea won't be off the radar after all...

Well, while the body and frame seems to be decent, the truck cab leaves a lot to be desired. Not sure I'm in for an entire rebuild....

Islanders · 08-22-2017, 07:46 PM

We stopped by to pull more parts from the '78 tonight. We got the water pump and the entire Power Converter, Fuse Box and Extension Cable assembly.

We also snapped good pics of all the windows and took measurements so they can be posted online in an effort to sell them to someone in need. We have a storm coming in to the coast, so we buttoned up the Sunline RV and are preparing for the deluge if it comes.

**Sunline Fan** · 08-24-2017, 09:40 PM

Sounds good, be safe with the storm coming!

**JohnB** · 08-28-2017, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Islanders

S If the converter works, that's just gravy at this point.

FYI on the converter, it might work but it may not be a very good battery charger. Many of the older converters did not have much smarts in the battery charging area and they easily cook the battery dry over time. They can create 12 volts OK, just battery charging is not the greatest.

A new 3 stage power converter is much more battery friendly. The brand Progressive Dynamics is a good one and still made in the USA. These guys PD9200 Series RV Power Converters - Progressive Dynamics

They make them with the AC breakers and DC fuse panel too. The PD 9200 I linked was the stand alone converter but they do make them integrated too. They are 3 stage charging along with a desulfate mode.

I bought mine from these guys and they carry other brands as well. A good place to do business with. http://www.bestconverter.com/

Looks like the rest of your find was a good one.

Thanks for sharing. Good to learn some on these older campers.

John

**Sunline Fan** · 08-28-2017, 10:05 PM

Prayers to all affected in your area, Islanders! Hopefully y'all are safe and dry right now. I'm guessing your Sunline isn't reassembled enough to be used for evacuation?

Islanders · 08-29-2017, 11:37 AM

We're still here, sheltering in place. We didn't get hit with any real stormage until the past few hours. Its been raining hard since Tuesday @ 10pm, and just now tapering off a tiny amount (noon Wednesday). We have some flooding on the streets, but for the most part we're still safe and dry.

I still haven't installed the roof vent, so no, the RV isn't ready for transport yet. But it is remaining dry inside with the tarp, so far.....

sep · 08-29-2017, 07:26 PM

I'm just catching up on your post. I'm glad you guys are safe with that nasty storm going through Texas. This looks like a cool project. You will be able to sell almost every piece off of your parts Dolphin on ebay. I had an 84' oak that decided to fall and land on my 76 Shasta just after I had finished it and had made our maiden voyage. I made $1500.00 which I put toward rebuilding a prowler and met some of the nicest people on line. We would work through issues and methods, similar to how we do it here, and they would email pictures of finished products. Quite fun considering I had just lost one and had to fix up an new one.

Keep us posted.

Steve P

**Sunline Fan** · 08-29-2017, 07:56 PM

Glad to hear everything is relatively good for you! Hopefully you can keep the flood waters away now.

Islanders · 09-02-2017, 07:21 PM

Now that Harvey has left the area and the Sun has taken his place, I was able to get back to work on the RV. I had everything in place for the day of fun in the Sun, or work on the Sunline. All the boards were cut, the hardware, roll caulk, roof tape, sealant, flashing...etc, even had the GF prepared....nothing was stopping me today.

And I got it done...

Started with building up the roof structure, put the boards in place, screwed them to each other and to the walls. Lucky for me, everything fit quite well. I put some very thin plywood above the cross-members to help push the roof up a bit (hoping to eliminate the pooling areas that had formed on each side of the hole). Also to provide some strength at the edges, since this roof has already been through a couple of installations (you can see the many screw holes and wrinkled edges).

Next I lined each section with roll caulk, 2" wide from the edge, between the plywood backing and the roof siding. I made sure to patch each hole I found in the roof siding from below with roll caulk, pressing it 'up' into the holes. Then I cut some flashing and bent it over the edges leaving about 2" overlapping the hole onto the roof. The inside came down about 3" covering the roof structure. The flashing got a layer of roll caulk as well, along the inside edges.

After the flashing was in place, I covered it and the edges with roof sealing tape. This tape was plenty wide enough to cover the 2" of flashing and onto the roof itself. At this point, there isn't any area around the hole that isn't covered from above and sealed with roll caulk from below.

The hole was now just a bit smaller than needed to fit the vent frame, but after a few love taps with a body hammer, I had a very snug fit all the way around. With the roof vent in place, I started with 1" screws to get a pilot hole, then pulled them and filled each hole with caulk before inserting 2" screws. These screws were long enough to reach through the flashing, roof siding, plywood backing and finally into the roof structure boards. Now the roof vent is installed and sunk down against the roof structure below. Lastly, I covered the seams on the each side to the roof edges with sealing tape.

Tomorrow, I'll hit each screw along the roof vent with another small turn, just to make sure everything is tight, then start coating the roof area here with sealant. We have sunny skies forecast for the next two days, so the sealant should have enough time to cure and be ready for the next rainy day.

Islanders · 09-02-2017, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sep

You will be able to sell almost every piece off of your parts Dolphin on ebay.

Thanks for the advice Steve! Between this site, eBay and CL, I'm hoping to get as many parts off to new homes as possible.

That tree hit looks rough, as least you got one cruise out of that camper...

**JohnB** · 09-04-2017, 11:22 AM

Wow! Great job on the roof hatch. Looks good.

Thanks for sharing.

John

Islanders · 09-04-2017, 07:17 PM

We had some small rain showers hit today, so I decided to forego the roof sealant job until later this week when we have multiple dry days forecast. Instead, we went ahead with the disassembly of the upper berthing area. I'd previously looked this area over (posted pics of it), and noticed there was some water damage along the lower frame area near the wall on both sides. We started by removing the inner window frames, then pulling off the outer layer of paneling which exposed the OEM wall material. After working to get that layer removed, we finally reached the frame area below it and caught the extent of the water damage. looks pretty severe, so we're going to remove these boards and replace them.

It took quite a bit more work to get the lower frame area exposed, but I was finally able to remove the rotten wood and prepare for rebuilding the wall/flooring frame.

I was surprised to see the wall and floor siding doesn't overlap along the outer edge. Of course, I don't know how they put these things together, but it looks like the outer edging piece is whats holding everything together along the lower wall. I still have some work to do here, as the outside edging piece will need to be fully removed and the old roll caulk scraped away before I can start reassembly. The wall siding was stapled to the frame along the bottom, but the floor siding was just held to the frame by roll caulk (as far as I can see).
The side view mirror mounts were just screwed into the siding at odd places, not really into the wood frame behind the siding, so those were removed as well. I'll reinstall these using mounting locations along the edging with those screws, that will keep from making extra holes in the siding.
I hope I'm not getting in over my head with this job, it sure seems like there is a lot to consider when putting this area back together.
I am leaving the passenger side still partially assembled to use as a guide while I'm putting the other side back together. Based off the condition of the wood here though, it did have to be replaced.

**JohnB** · 09-04-2017, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Islanders

I was surprised to see the wall and floor siding doesn't overlap along the outer edge. Of course, I don't know how they put these things together, but it looks like the outer edging piece is whats holding everything together along the lower wall. I still have some work to do here, as the outside edging piece will need to be fully removed and the old roll caulk scraped away before I can start reassembly. The wall siding was stapled to the frame along the bottom, but the floor siding was just held to the frame by roll caulk (as far as I can see).

The side view mirror mounts were just screwed into the siding at odd places, not really into the wood frame behind the siding, so those were removed as well. I'll reinstall these using mounting locations along the edging with those screws, that will keep from making extra holes in the siding.

I agree, it seems odd the bottom piece is not attached with some type of molding or fastener. Just using putty tape really does not cut it to hold the siding on. By odd chance did a prior owner remove an L shaped aluminium molding? There may only be screw holes in one side but it would have an L to wrap around.

This link shows the corner molding used on the newer travel trailer. It is screwed in only on one side but wraps around the other side.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...tml#post131986

If there is nothing there, you can consider adding a molding something like this use on the travel trailers.

On there being nothing inside to screw the mirrors too, on the newer camper builds, Sunline added a piece of wood inside the siding just to help hold the added weight of an outside object. Maybe you an add a piece. on the newer campers only things like marker lights and maybe a light weight small cargo door hold open latch was only held by the thin siding metal.

Odds are high as the years went on, Sunline tweaked the build of the truck campers/motor homes just like they kept improving on the trailer lines. I don't know when they stopped making truck campers or motor homes but they did advance the builds all the time up until the end.

Hope this helps

John

Islanders · 09-05-2017, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnB

This link shows the corner molding used on the newer travel trailer. It is screwed in only on one side but wraps around the other side.

Thanks for the input John. Yes, that is the exact same corner molding on this RV, it wraps around from the bottom to the side. I'll take a close pic and post. The floor siding is only held up to the frame by this molding, no screws going through it, no staples, nothing, just this edge molding.