Bending you own lines

E

eric.henning

New member
Jan 31, 2000
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Please excuse my glut of newby questions, but I figured I'd ask you experienced
GMC'ers. Any big deal bending and flaring your
own oil lines, tranny lines, etc... I was thinking of buying a stainless steel
falring tool, stainless steel line, and replacing my tranny lines, oil cooler
lines, etc...

Also plan on adding the vacuum booster pump (detailes in Eugene Fisher's site).
Not quite sure where this ties into the engine vacuum.
Don't want to put it inline with the brake booster, but rather as suggested as a
supplemental engine vacuum boost. Where does it tee in? And does the pressure
switch tee in seperately to monitor engine vacuum?

One more question, for peace of mind I may have the radiator re-done. I know
you have to raise the front to get the clearance to drop the radiator out, but
does it come out in front or behind the shelf it sits on?

I do plan on getting the factory manuals.

Eric Henning
73 Sequoia (owned one week now and loving it)
Chalfont, PA
 
Hi-- IMO
It is better to put the vacuum booster in between the engine and the brake
booster. This way if either source fails, the other will take over. This
is the way it was designed to work. If you T into the vac line, you have
to add a check valve so that the engine will not drain the vacuum if it
stops.

The easy way to do this is to remove the vac line from the brake booster
and run it to the booster pump, then run a new line from the booster pump
to the Brake booster.

I also recommend buying a new booster pump rather than using a used one.
This is the most valuable safety feature you can add to your GMC. The
Tranny vent drain might be the next most valuable. ( See GMCMM march issue
about how fast GMCs' burn up.)

gene

>
>
>Please excuse my glut of newby questions, but I figured I'd ask you
experienced
>GMC'ers. Any big deal bending and flaring your
>own oil lines, tranny lines, etc... I was thinking of buying a stainless
steel
>falring tool, stainless steel line, and replacing my tranny lines, oil cooler
>lines, etc...
>
>Also plan on adding the vacuum booster pump (detailes in Eugene Fisher's
site).
>Not quite sure where this ties into the engine vacuum.
>Don't want to put it inline with the brake booster, but rather as
suggested as a
>supplemental engine vacuum boost. Where does it tee in? And does the
pressure
>switch tee in seperately to monitor engine vacuum?
>
>One more question, for peace of mind I may have the radiator re-done. I know
>you have to raise the front to get the clearance to drop the radiator out,
but
>does it come out in front or behind the shelf it sits on?
>
>I do plan on getting the factory manuals.
>
>Eric Henning
>73 Sequoia (owned one week now and loving it)
>Chalfont, PA
>
>
>
Genef -- 77PB/ore/ca
GMC MOTORHOME INFORMATION
mr.erf
http://www.california.com/~eagle/
 
.
.
.
> One more question, for peace of mind I may have the radiator re-done. I know
> you have to raise the front to get the clearance to drop the radiator out, but
> does it come out in front or behind the shelf it sits on?

When I did my radiator, I took it out along with the frame that it mounts in.
I removed the transmission and oil cooler lines, the water hoses, and the
lead for the low coolant sensor. I then detached the A/C condensor and hung it
on wires in front of the radiator. The radiator frame itself has two 'ears'
on which it mounts to the body, with (as I recall) 3 bolts each. I put a floor
jack under the frame, removed the bolts, and lowered/tilted the whole thing
out the bottom. I did this with no jacking of the front end at all, if my
memory serves me correctly. Oh, and I had the fan and shroud off, since the
primary task was to change the fan clutch (I saw some radiator problems and
decided to 'go all the way' since I was half way there anyhow.) Once out
of the coach, you can separate the frame and remove the radiator for rebuild.

Reinstallation was the reverse of the above - jockey the radiator in under the
front end and get it vertical. Get the floor jack under it, and lift until the
holes align, insert the bolts, reattach lines and A/C condensor and away you go.No cutting, modifications, or other unnatural acts, and this went pretty
quickly too - about an hour in both directions, with two people (althogh the
second is really only needed when you physically remove and replace the
radiator - one drives the jack, the other guides the radiator and manages the
bolts.)

- - Tim

- --
================================================================================
Tim Dawson (tadawson) Owner/Engineer
TPC Services Bellnet: (972)-221-7385
Lewisville, Texas 75067 FAXnet: (972)-221-0393
"The world is complex. Sendmail.cf reflects this...."
 
there is a section on stainless on my web site

gene

>As for bending your own brake lines in SS, there are already kits out
there for the GMC and unless your buying large volume of stainless tubing
the kits will be cheaper. As for your oil and tranny lines JR Slaten who is
a member of the GMCnet sells a bullet proof set for a very reasonalbe price
and is cheaper than doing it yourself and his fit the first time.
>
>I have the electric vaccum pump and it is connected to the brake booster
on a secondary port. If you have only one line going to the brake booster,
tee into the line just before the booster.
>
>There are several ways to remove the radiator from the coach. You do have
to raise it up about 2 feet to get it out for either method. I did mine by
cutting the bracket that holds the radiator. See my web site at:
>http://members.tm.net/powerjon/GMCproto.html It is a little dark but I
used a hinge and welded it back together so in the future I could remove it
without taking the grill and other pieces out. I will defer to any of the
netter to descibe the other method because I have not done it that way.

>>
>>
>> Please excuse my glut of newby questions, but I figured I'd ask you
>> experienced GMC'ers. Any big deal bending and flaring your
>> own oil lines, tranny lines, etc... I was thinking of buying a stainless
>> steel falring tool, stainless steel line, and replacing my tranny lines,
>> oil cooler lines, etc...
>>
>> Also plan on adding the vacuum booster pump (detailes in Eugene Fisher's
>> site). Not quite sure where this ties into the engine vacuum.
>> Don't want to put it inline with the brake booster, but rather as suggested
>> as a supplemental engine vacuum boost. Where does it tee in? And does the
>> pressure switch tee in seperately to monitor engine vacuum?
>>
>> One more question, for peace of mind I may have the radiator re-done. I
>> know you have to raise the front to get the clearance to drop the radiator
>> out, but does it come out in front or behind the shelf it sits on?
>>
>> I do plan on getting the factory manuals.
>>
>> Eric Henning
>> 73 Sequoia (owned one week now and loving it)
>> Chalfont, PA
>
>
>
>
Genef -- 77PB/ore/ca
GMC MOTORHOME INFORMATION
mr.erf
http://www.california.com/~eagle/
 
>
> Any big deal bending and flaring your
> own oil lines, tranny lines, etc... I was thinking of buying a stainless steel
> falring tool, stainless steel line, and replacing my tranny lines, oil cooler
> lines, etc...

I paid Classic Tube $200 to do a set of tranny lines in SS, thinking
that they would at least enter the coordinates into a CNC program -
wrong!, they only did a one-off. Last money I'll spend with them. Buy
the time you buy the tooling and supplies, you'll have more in yours
than I do! JR Slaten can probably sell you a set if you ask nice.

> One more question, for peace of mind I may have the radiator re-done. I know
> you have to raise the front to get the clearance to drop the radiator out, but
> does it come out in front or behind the shelf it sits on?

It comes out the front. I only raised my coach about 16". As you lower
the radiator you slide the bottom progressively farther out until you
clear the gravel screen. No need to cut anything or take out the frame
unless you want to clean up any rust on it.

> I do plan on getting the factory manuals.

Best investment you can make in the coach is the factory manual.

Patrick
- --
Patrick Flowers
Mailto:patrick

The GMC Motorhome Page
http://www.gmcmotorhome.com
 
I chatted with JR Slaten this week (ordered a set of oil
cooler lines from him), and asked about the transmission
lines and whether he would/could do those. Not to speak
for him, but he indicated that he'd not quite gotten into
those yet, but was seriously contemplating it. He
mentioned that he was going out of town for a few days,
and would be "off-line", so to speak, so it might be a while
before one might ask him about it.

To those who haven't spoken to him before, when you get
a chance, call him up. He's a great guy to chat with, and
really loves GMCs.

Toby Maki
'73 Glacier230

Date sent: Fri, 10 Mar 2000 22:10:08 -0500
From: Patrick Flowers
Organization: http://www.gmcmotorhome.com
To: gmcmotorhome
Subject: Re: GMC: Bending you own lines
Send reply to: gmcmotorhome

> >
> > Any big deal bending and flaring your
> > own oil lines, tranny lines, etc... I was thinking of buying a stainless steel
> > falring tool, stainless steel line, and replacing my tranny lines, oil cooler
> > lines, etc...
>
> I paid Classic Tube $200 to do a set of tranny lines in SS, thinking
> that they would at least enter the coordinates into a CNC program -
> wrong!, they only did a one-off. Last money I'll spend with them. Buy
> the time you buy the tooling and supplies, you'll have more in yours
> than I do! JR Slaten can probably sell you a set if you ask nice.
>
> > One more question, for peace of mind I may have the radiator re-done. I know
> > you have to raise the front to get the clearance to drop the radiator out, but
> > does it come out in front or behind the shelf it sits on?
>
> It comes out the front. I only raised my coach about 16". As you lower
> the radiator you slide the bottom progressively farther out until you
> clear the gravel screen. No need to cut anything or take out the frame
> unless you want to clean up any rust on it.
>
> > I do plan on getting the factory manuals.
>
> Best investment you can make in the coach is the factory manual.
>
> Patrick
> --
> Patrick Flowers
> Mailto:patrick
>
> The GMC Motorhome Page
> http://www.gmcmotorhome.com
>
 
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