Greetings!
In case anyone is interested, we arrived home
in Redlands yesterday with the '73 Glacier we
bought in New York on last Tuesday (2906 total
miles).
Without going into too much detail (I'll post
complete trip account on my Web page later),
the trip went without major incident. All the
things I could have anticipated to go wrong
(tires, bearings, brakes, suspension parts, etc)
held up perfectly. Things I would not have even
considered almost disabled us. But I should
have anticipated them just because it's a GM
product from 1973. Had to replace the starter
solenoid in Pennsylvania in the parking lot of a
Days Inn (fortunately I purchased one just the
day before after experiencing the dreaded
"cllliiiiccckkk -- cllliicckkkk -- cllliccckkk" on
turning the ignition key), and had purchased a
few wrenches and screwdrivers at a Petro truck
stop the day before.
All went well until Oklahoma City. I had been
smelling gasoline off and on, and upon
checking under the "hood", I found the fuel line
dripping at the carburetor inlet. Figuring I could
snug it up a bit to stop the leak, I stopped at an
AutoZone near the T/A on the west side of OKC
to buy a tubing wrench to loosen the fuel line.
Good idea, but bad idea! I wish now I hadn't
touched it. Fuel line loosened fine, but major
problem with carb inlet fitting. Previous
maintenance attempts at changing filter resulted
in the threads in the carb body inlet being
stripped. When I loosened fitting, the whole
thing just fell out. TMALSS, it took six hours,
some Teflon pipe goo I bought at the AutoZone,
and some electrical tape to get back on the
road. Funnily enough, there wasn't another leak
all the way home. As I said, I'll give more details
of the problem, and the fix.
Bottom line is, we're home, we're happy, and
now have to get caught up with business and
home chores. We've got plenty of planning to do
with this unit, and expect to have a very nice
motor home (I've dubbed it the PMC -- Personal
Motoring Coach) in the next couple of years'
worth of customizing and refurnishing.
BTW, PO was orginal owner, had all original
docs including complete parts manual, many
receipts for maintenance and repairs (nothing
serious) and a log with mileage for
maintenance and repairs. He was a careful and
nearly meticulous owner, and we feel very
fortunate to have found this unit, as well as
having made some new friends in New York.
Thanks again to everyone for helpful hints and
tips as we prepared for this trip. I felt much
better knowing I had all that information while on
the road.
Toby and Nancy Maki
'73 Glacier 230 S/N
In case anyone is interested, we arrived home
in Redlands yesterday with the '73 Glacier we
bought in New York on last Tuesday (2906 total
miles).
Without going into too much detail (I'll post
complete trip account on my Web page later),
the trip went without major incident. All the
things I could have anticipated to go wrong
(tires, bearings, brakes, suspension parts, etc)
held up perfectly. Things I would not have even
considered almost disabled us. But I should
have anticipated them just because it's a GM
product from 1973. Had to replace the starter
solenoid in Pennsylvania in the parking lot of a
Days Inn (fortunately I purchased one just the
day before after experiencing the dreaded
"cllliiiiccckkk -- cllliicckkkk -- cllliccckkk" on
turning the ignition key), and had purchased a
few wrenches and screwdrivers at a Petro truck
stop the day before.
All went well until Oklahoma City. I had been
smelling gasoline off and on, and upon
checking under the "hood", I found the fuel line
dripping at the carburetor inlet. Figuring I could
snug it up a bit to stop the leak, I stopped at an
AutoZone near the T/A on the west side of OKC
to buy a tubing wrench to loosen the fuel line.
Good idea, but bad idea! I wish now I hadn't
touched it. Fuel line loosened fine, but major
problem with carb inlet fitting. Previous
maintenance attempts at changing filter resulted
in the threads in the carb body inlet being
stripped. When I loosened fitting, the whole
thing just fell out. TMALSS, it took six hours,
some Teflon pipe goo I bought at the AutoZone,
and some electrical tape to get back on the
road. Funnily enough, there wasn't another leak
all the way home. As I said, I'll give more details
of the problem, and the fix.
Bottom line is, we're home, we're happy, and
now have to get caught up with business and
home chores. We've got plenty of planning to do
with this unit, and expect to have a very nice
motor home (I've dubbed it the PMC -- Personal
Motoring Coach) in the next couple of years'
worth of customizing and refurnishing.
BTW, PO was orginal owner, had all original
docs including complete parts manual, many
receipts for maintenance and repairs (nothing
serious) and a log with mileage for
maintenance and repairs. He was a careful and
nearly meticulous owner, and we feel very
fortunate to have found this unit, as well as
having made some new friends in New York.
Thanks again to everyone for helpful hints and
tips as we prepared for this trip. I felt much
better knowing I had all that information while on
the road.
Toby and Nancy Maki
'73 Glacier 230 S/N
