And I Shall call her Myrtle...

[mech0001]

Oh boy, the psychology of motorhome ownership.
Hold on while I light some jasmine incense....

As a mechanic for the last 40 years, my relationship with the auto
world has changed from regarding them less as things and more
as extensions of myself.

In particular, I find myself aiming and more towards projects and the GMC is
certainly one of those. Everywhere you turn there is a puzzle to be solved
to either "bring it back to where it was" or "get it to where you want it to be".

Thus, my 1991 F-150 (after I transplanted a 1987 Mustang HO roller cam 5.0
with the full fuel injection wiring brought and various other mods)
becomes MY truck and it's like no other. A creative expression in a very real
sense.

My 1977 Eleganza II has been repainted white and thus came with the name
"Snowflake" which does absolutely nothing for me. I personally was thinking
along the lines of "The Great White Whale" but didn't like the mild sexual
connotation of Moby Dick.

Now "Eleganza II" is about as pretentious as you can get and it doesn't fit this
Standard Trim coach. She's a working man's coach and she works hard but can
be solid and dependable if treated right. I'm pretty happy with her looks and
layout, in general, but I've seen a Royale and they are impressive.

So, I felt a name from that period of time which suggested those characteristics
would be appropriate. Of course, there's Rosie, but that's a bit too common. I like
Myrtle. Maybe after a computer and some programming, I can talk to her about it.

I also think a name can be an embodiment of a goal or spirit of adventure and yours
certainly captures that.

I am intrigued by the concept of asking your boat for a name. Mine is a Chris Craft Sea Hawk
and has a huge, original Sea Hawk decal on both sides. I'm not sure what else it could call itself.
I actually prefer mechanical things to not talk. It's a go no go proposition. When they don't
go I have found them to be singularly unresponsive when queried for the cause of their failure.

Ok, that's enough of that. Man that incense stinks...

 

[mech0001]

I have been looking at these cracks on the left rear corner of my coach.
If it were a house, I'd suspect the support structure was failing.
I have been looking at the replaced generator installation and the drawings for the slide out Onan drawer and I suspect that the body support frame has been cut for said installation.

Can anyone confirm?
If so, I'd love a picture of how that frame structure is supposed to be.

 

[Kendra]

My '78 has the same structural cut-out, left behind when original slide-out Onan was removed.

I don't think the body cracks are related to that. Left rear marker shows signs of a mild side scrape.

 

[mech0001]

Thanks for the info. Mounting does look pretty sturdy.
You are right about that marker hit. I was not thinking it would cause the crack in the rear panel but I wasn't there at the time (previous owner) and it could well be the cause.

 

[mech0001]

Does anyone happen to have or know of a replacement for that rear marker light?
Seems like there ought to be an available chevy truck part out there that would match.

 

[pvfjr]

Am I crazy, or do we share a marker light with an AMC Javelin or something like that? Just what my brain is telling me this morning.

 

[mech0001]

I have removed the old refrigerator and module. It's an older Dometic that was a slightly smaller than OE model. To fit it, they modified the module, plus (as you can see from the second picture) the 12 cu ft Norcold, I'm planning to stuff in there would never fit in the original module enclosure.

I have a question I am hoping others can shed light on. The installation instructions for this Norcold IM_1210 (gas absorption - a/c/propane) mention baffle configurations related to the distance between the top of the unit and it's enclosure. There baffle recommendations start with a 24 head space. I need to lift the unit as much as I can. Can anyone tell me what a spec for minimum clearance would be? The external vent is where you see that black plastic thing (it's an exhaust fan). Clearly, that won't line up directly so room will be needed with baffles to direct the heat flow. Planning to use sheet metal for those. I'm thinking of an 8 inch lift that will leave about 5 inches for baffles to direct to outlet. I guess I'll wire the fan to the two other fans that the Norcold has on the back.

Some concerns about propane pooling, of course. What do you all like for propane detection?

Thoughts?

 

[pvfjr]

Found the marker light thread:

Wanted side markers.

I need a front and rear side marker. Especially the front amber. Thanks

www.gmcmotorhome.org

 

[mech0001]

Found the marker light thread:

Wanted side markers.

I need a front and rear side marker. Especially the front amber. Thanks

www.gmcmotorhome.org

Thanks, looking at now!

 

[mech0001]

Shocks installed and waiting for cooling system parts so decided to install refrigerator.
If you were wondering whether a 12 cu ft Norcold will fit in a GMC, that question has been answered.

 

[mech0001]

Pulled out the generator and moved it to it's new location as power backup. It starts and runs (for a while). Cleaning out the cooling system and investigating the ignition system for clues.

The generator bay now has two LifePO4 batteries installed with the inverter directly wired to the batteries. I can now use a Keurig in my coach!!! Pretty exciting actually.

The refrigerator installation is coming together. Glued bamboo wainscot with 3M 94. Should you ever do such a thing, be liberal with the glue. I have some buckling in the covering of the nearer panel, the second got a much heavier dose. Like the look, though.

Issues with transmission but that's the subject of another post.

Merry Christmas all!

 

[mech0001]

Pulled out the generator and moved it to it's new location as power backup. It starts and runs (for a while). Cleaning out the cooling system and investigating the ignition system for clues.

The generator bay now has two LifePO4 batteries installed with the inverter directly wired to the batteries. I can now use a Keurig in my coach!!! Pretty exciting actually.

The refrigerator installation is coming together. Glued bamboo wainscot with 3M 94. Should you ever do such a thing, be liberal with the glue. I have some buckling in the covering of the nearer panel, the second got a much heavier dose. Like the look, though.

Issues with transmission but that's the subject of another post.

Merry Christmas all!

View attachment 12469

 

[mech0001]

Finally, the rebuilt transmission is installed and I now have 2nd and 3rd. There was an initial panic until I checked the vacuum feed to the modulator valve. Can confirm that those metal lines can get clogged, blocking the vacuum signal. No vacuum to the modulator = no upshift.

Anyway, running good, though the cooling fan fuse melted and she blew coolant all over upon my return. 200A relay on order should fix that.

Just a few more things* to to do before I head down East to visit family at the end of May.

*Install new macerator pump assembly, Finish refrigerator exterior overlay, Fix bathroom door, build new bed frame, replace brake booster, ... (plus another 20 items I've probably overlooked)

 

[sailor man]

Pulled out the generator and moved it to it's new location as power backup. It starts and runs (for a while). Cleaning out the cooling system and investigating the ignition system for clues.

The generator bay now has two LifePO4 batteries installed with the inverter directly wired to the batteries. I can now use a Keurig in my coach!!! Pretty exciting actually.

The refrigerator installation is coming together. Glued bamboo wainscot with 3M 94. Should you ever do such a thing, be liberal with the glue. I have some buckling in the covering of the nearer panel, the second got a much heavier dose. Like the look, though.

Issues with transmission but that's the subject of another post.

Merry Christmas all!

View attachment 12469

This is my no generator design. This is a Lithionics 51.2vdc, 300ah installation with a custom slide out that was originally designed for a Firman 3042DF inverter generator.

There is also a 12vdc 1,000ah battery bank.
No generator needed.

 

[mech0001]

Awesome setup. I'm tiptoeing my way in that direction. First trip will have lots of stop over points to plugin. If she holds together, I'll add more battery and maybe up the voltage. Looking forward to getting system monitoring (via Victron Ekrano GX) fully functional, but still fighting my way through all the essential functions. The list appears to extend itself automatically!!!

 

[mech0001]

Well she's a runner!!

Just read Kendra's fine post. What an excellent drive!

Mine was more eventful than I would have liked but here goes:

Started out a day late and haphazardly loaded. Went to lock up the generator compartment and key broke on the second lock. Of course, I store my tools in there. Got down to the bottom of my 1/4 mile drive, turned to drive up the road and she died. Just friggin great, I thought. Took about 15 minutes to figure out that something was up with the lead from my FiTech unit that fires the feed pump relay and pump was not running. Fabbed a jumper for the relay socket and got her going.

Got on the road headed to Portland, OR and realized she was pinging on light accel, a problem that I've been struggling with since the beginning with this rig. I had already added a stop to the vacuum advance reducing it to ~15 degrees vs ~26 degrees and set timing with timing light to max advance multiple times. I stopped and bought a 9/16 wrench, disconnected the vac line and set the timing by ear. Hooked the vac line up and hit the road. No ping and running good - another issue slayed!

Got to Portland and stayed overnite by a friends place. Next morning I pulled out the key piece and got keys made at the nearby hardware store. Didn't have to see a locksmith. Excellent!

Then I hit the road to Maine where most of my family live. The next day, I discovered that my house batteries were dangerously low. At first I thought it might be due to the fact I was running the inverter and my converter was still on. Disconnected that but still didn't seem to be charging. The house batteries are AGMs and I recalled the thread where shocking them got them to charge, so hit the switch to connect main to house. Sure enough, they started charging but still didn't seem right.

The next day I figured out that my cooling fan switch (I think I got a 205 degree one - it's located in the return line to the radiator) was turning on at 180 on my guage. This was great for when it was idling but at cruise she is running at 180 to probably 210 depending on the size of the hill (I was in the Rockies at that point). As a result cooling fans were running continuously and they draw a LOT of juice. I was monitoring the voltage on my guage and it was down to about 12.5 (14.2 is about where it should be for GM). The house batteries weren't getting charged because there wasn't enough juice left over for the DC to DC converter to apply to the batteries. So I ran it that way for the rest of the day and then wired up a switch to break the fan sensor switch circuit. I keep it off at cruise, only turning it on when climbing up a steep hill. I guess I'll get a higher temp sensor, though I like keeping the temp down at idle.

The next event? Brakes! Made a rather hard stop and uh oh, brake system light on with low pedal. Great, I thought, a rusty brake line has ruptured. Got to the next rest stop and investigated. Sure enough the front reservoir was empty. Further investigation and dissassembly revealed that the right front caliper hose banjo bolt was 2 turns loose! Someone else did that as I haven't touched the front brakes (rears were the first thing I did do, though). How could I have put 500+ miles on this thing and not had that fail? Got it tight, bled it out and she was good to go - phew! Next day got on the road again only to have a similar result, but fluid was not gone. I had forgotten to let off the e-brake! I hate getting old!

One of the problems with being a mechanic is you can imagine all the possible failures - especially easy with a 48 year old vehicle. I had been hearing a bearing like noise from the drive train and it just didn't seem right. I started wondering if the cv joint needles were dry. Then I started to think about what would happen if they seized up - yeesh! So I put up a post and tmsnyder suggested checking the wheel bearing temps. I did and they were fine, but wait, there's another bearing in there, the right axle stub shaft. I put the infrared gun on and it was reading 125 degrees - seemed like the culprit.

At this point I was fairly near to Cleveland and figured I'd pick up a bearing in case it failed. Called a NAPA store and discovered there was one in their Tennessee warehouse. So I kept driving, keeping the speed to around 60. Above that the noise changed from a dry bearing whirring sound to a whine. I also realized that the normal application for that bearing is as a rear wheel bearing. The side load on our application is nothing compared to that a wheel bearing sees, so it should (probably, maybe) be ok.

So I kept on rolling but DM'd tmsnyder to set up a visit. We did meet up and he gave me an extra stub shaft assembly with a good bearing. I gave him my air intake snorkle (for external air filter) as I am using the OEM air filter assembly. He also supplied me with water and a pump out so I figure I still owe him a favor.

Back on the road and stopped in Chatham to visit a brother. Left there and decided it was time for what these babies are really meant for - cruising through the small towns and beautiful countrysides of Americana. Wish I had pictures but this was a solo trip and I had a schedule to meet.

And I'm there! Over 3000 miles across the whole country! In a 48 year old vehicle!

I'll be here a couple of months and then head on back. I'm thinking I'll take the southern route this time.
"Take your trip on Route 66"