Good morning, good afternoon, good evening or good night from Oklahoma City

[Wade]

In our quest to find a reasonably priced recreational vehicle for my wife and our pup, we stumbled upon THE GMC Motorhome. This was the perfect solution for our needs, luckily this particular RV had a cult following. We searched and looked at them in all price ranges but we had a limit. With my job it's very difficult to have the time for a full gut and rebuild no matter how cheap we could find a core. So we settled on a survivor and set out to find one.

So many good ones out there on the loose, so far away...

With our budget we knew we had to be able to drive this back home. We searched and found the perfectish one, I had it right off the bat but lollygagged. A 1973 GMC Painted Desert, repainted grey in Tulsa, OK only 130 miles away. Called days later and someone put a deposit and was flying hundreds of miles to pick it up.

Lost but not forgotten.

Then another peach, to date still available. '78 decent shape 4 hours away. We planned the trip and were going to head out that weekend. Then early in the morning we get a call that the people backed out of the deal on the '73 painted desert. So we dropped what we were doing and went and picked it up. Photos are from the day we bought it. It was a peach that just needed a bit of tinkering inside and out. I'm doing a full Stage 0 (replace fluids/filters/hoses) and ironing out the years of fiddling from previous owners. I'll post that info in another thread.

We filled it up with gas and I believe that was my first mistake, the maiden voyage was a bit nerve racking. Put 87 with ethanol, I know it shouldn't be in there but its the pump I pulled up at and I topped the tank... ? Getting up to speed on the highway had my pedal to the metal then started to get a surging sensation. Let off the pedal and let it get up to speed and everything was everything. We made it to the toll at the halfway point sat at idle behind a few cars, paid and made it through. Pulling up to speed again I had the pedal to the metal and felt the surge again and died rolling. Pulled over put it in park and it started right up, made it all the way to the neighborhood without a hitch. After a stop we pulled forward again up a slight incline and it died again, but back in park it started right up and made it home! Success! Its got its quirks but we are proud. I will share this journey the best I can, wish me luck!

 

[JSanford]

Congrats and welcome! Great colors and interior. Looks like it was well cared for by its previous owners.

Regular 87 octane unleaded with 10% ethanol is what most every GMC is running on, anything fancier is really a waste of money.

The GMC is no jack rabbit, about the only thing you can beat in a drag race is a loaded 18 wheeler. That being said, you should be able to safely merge onto an expressway or climb a steep grade without it dying. Sounds like you might have a fuel starvation issue caused by a clogged fuel filter.

 

[tmsnyder]

Wow what a beauty! And with a well preserved interior. Hope you enjoy it as is for a while and not in a big hurry to gut it, lots of people do that and end up discouraged and then sell it.

definitely check the fuel filter at the front of the carb but don't kink your fuel line in the process

 

[Christo]

Welcome to the forum, Wade, and to the asylum. Nice-looking coach! I'm sure that PO mods will haunt you for years to come ?

 

[MarkR]

Great find Wade! Now find some new friends at a local GMC rally. They’ll be happy to talk Endlessly about your coach and their coach and their first coach and their parts coach and... In fact, I’ve Just found there’s a support group for people who can’t stop talking about their GMCs. It’s called On Anon Anon.

 

[Wade]

Congrats and welcome! Great colors and interior. Looks like it was well cared for by its previous owners.

Regular 87 octane unleaded with 10% ethanol is what most every GMC is running on, anything fancier is really a waste of money.

The GMC is no jack rabbit, about the only thing you can beat in a drag race is a loaded 18 wheeler. That being said, you should be able to safely merge onto an expressway or climb a steep grade without it dying. Sounds like you might have a fuel starvation issue caused by a clogged fuel filter.

I will go ahead and replace the fuel filter on the carb. PO state’s the fuel lines were replaced and the fuel tanks were dropped and cleaned. Also said they replaced the radiator but it was full of rust water. So who knows really!

 

[Wade]

Welcome to the forum, Wade, and to the asylum. Nice-looking coach! I'm sure that PO mods will haunt you for years to come ?

Best asylum I’ve been in to date! 5 stars!
luckily/unluckily there isn’t much done to it. Looks like they added some inlinefans to cool the engine and a mounted fan on the transmission cooler/ac coil? (The smaller radiator attached on the front of the engine radiator).
They also added a PSI gage and a hard switch to power the air pump. There is an air leak at the PSI gage and I have an inkling that is part of the air loss issue on the air bags. Going to removed that and maybe replace the hard switch with a pressure regulator of some sort.

 

[Wade]

Great find Wade! Now find some new friends at a local GMC rally. They’ll be happy to talk Endlessly about your coach and their coach and their first coach and their parts coach and... In fact, I’ve Just found there’s a support group for people who can’t stop talking about their GMCs. It’s called On Anon Anon.

I’m already turning into one of those, I swear every neighbor on the block has come by to oogle this classic. Still haven’t felt a minute of regret, no matter what happens probably never will... it’s all apart of the adventure, right? Right!?

 

[Wade]

Wow what a beauty! And with a well preserved interior. Hope you enjoy it as is for a while and not in a big hurry to gut it, lots of people do that and end up discouraged and then sell it.

definitely check the fuel filter at the front of the carb but don't kink your fuel line in the process

Absolutely, I should reiterate the “gut” would be a simple restoration, not necessarily an actual gut. We want to preserve the layout and feel, but clean it up really good. This also won’t be for a long time.

 

[6cuda6]

Nice find and welcome!! Get it running right and get it on the road. As long as its safe to drive, go have fun with it.....tinker in your down time.....i think to many people get one of these, gut it and before you know it 3 years are gone by and it still hasnt turned a mile....then the obvious happens, they sell it do to lack of interest, funds or simply inter-couple tension.

 

[Matt Colie]

Wade,

Welcome to the group, family, cult, asylum......

You will quickly find that your coach is more than just a big new toy. A lot of it's real value is the community it connects you with. This is only part of it. This is the "New Forum" and it sure does have its virtues, but many of the older and more experienced owners only read and write over at GMCnet. This isn't just because they are old, it is that this is a 30yo ex-mailing list that has had the forum capability added to it. About half there still write to it as email. I suggest that you make your entry there as well. One thing that makes both forums valuable is the sigfile. This tells us who Wade is (we all like to know who we are helping) and you should add a short about the coach (they changed a lot through the production), and a geographic location because you might well have a brand new old friend right near by and a native guide is always good to have.

Next, and at the risk of sounding "catty", there are several pages on Facebook for GMC (TZE) owners. They are interesting social venues. Be very cautious of technical advice provided there. FB is more about talking and less about listening and I have seen wrong advice taken at least twice and both salvageable coaches got sold off as scrap.

Speaking of things to not do....
Gutting the coach should be at the top of that list. The interiors were not thrown in. The were laid out and carefully designed. Most were first done as full scale and surveyed. MY75 and later GM coaches had a lot of particle board and so are very prone to water damage. Repairing any of that is a good idea. The OE fabric was all Herculon and the stitching will wear out before the fabric. When introduced, it was commonly know that these coaches were assembled for a 15 year working life. That was half again more than any of the others in the class.

If you do not a have a complete set of the service documentation, that can all be downloaded at the GMCMI site. Speaking of, I think you said that your coach is a 73? Be aware that these early coaches (like mine) have some important differences that need to be accommodated. Mine is a 73-23 possibly the real old one.

Regular and preventive maintenance is a key piece of having a reliable coach. Start a maintenance log today. If you do this correctly, all of that will be a blur in less time than you can imagine. (Is the house bank REALLY 10 years old already??) If you do not have a good grease gun, you will want one. Good grease is expensive, but it is still cheaper than replacing parts. There are a lot of grease fittings on the front end, and at least four in the back. They all need a lot of attention.

You would do well to discover and connect with your local chapter, but I am not sure which that is. But collecting those friends will serve you well. Be ready for next spring, the international is scheduled to be in Paterson LA and that is real near to NOLA. That is not a long haul for you. It will be well worth you while to get there. When you do, be ready to deal with the GMC-Overload. I have been told (mine so long ago that it is just a memory) being at our first international was a lot like trying to get a sip of water from a fire hose. Most of the veterans there will understand if you put you hand up and ask them to re-wind and start over......

Now, this is a community of supportive and helping people that may be unlike anything you know, be ready. There are stories of helping that you might not believe. They are true and still happening. The only other community that I know of that is much like this is that of the watermen that are my world. For this reason, I like to greet new owners here much as a new owner or vessel would be there. So,

May the Good Lord bless this coach and all those that set forth within her.

Welcome Wade and family

Matt

 

[Wade]

Thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate all the support! Have already been in contact with some local owners that are extremely helpful and extreme fanatics (one has THREE coaches I believe).

We believe we are in the zone of the classics and the flatlanders but I’m not 100% yet.

I need to backtrack the “Gutting” statement. We plan to restore this beautiful coach, keeping the layout but updating materials. We are currently just going to put lipstick on the pig in the interior and keep the updating simple... led upgrades, carpet and some painting. Mechanical is where our first attention will lie. We have definitely done our homework but surprises are surprises!

 

[Matt Colie]

Wade,

You have THE PLAN. You will find that you have much more interest in doing what she needs after you fully appreciate what she can mean in your life.
I am vary glad that you have connected with the local community.
"The places you'll go to, the the sights you will see" to paraphrase Theodor Seuss Geisel aka Dr Suess

Matt