New Ownership, New member, Long road ahead.

[GURR]

Well, if you haven't heard, it has been found. Looks like I only responded to all of the facebook posts! We got it back on 6/17 after it was recovered
from being stolen. It was quite a fiasco to get it to a storage lot, but I got it all figured out with the help of Dean Hanson. My partner and I also
decided to move right after that, so I haven't had much time to go work on it. Tomorrow is the first day we're going back to start once again.

If the certain individual just painted over the paint, it would have been easy to remove that outer layer and possibly restore the beauty underneath.
Unfortunately, they did quite a hack job of scraping off the stripe on the front. Sad days, not sure what our plans will be for that, but it's more of
an aesthetic and can be figured out down the road.

Another unfortunate mishap is that it got a little damaged while coming out of the impound yard after the recovery...Long story short the radiator
support got damaged a bit and may have crunched the radiator a little bit. Not sure what's recommended for this. I'll probably drain the system, pull
it all out and see if it could be bent back to usable shape. Maybe the radiator can be salvaged, maybe this is an upgrade opportunity.

Those are more or less the new items added to the "Needed Now" and "Waiting" list. We're still going to be doing all the other things mentioned
previously, I'll give another update tomorrow and beg for advice.

Glad to be back!

Also, I've been naughty. I haven't joined the registry yet! Mainly because I haven't seen the model name yet. I'll figure that out tomorrow as well.

Best,
Alex

--
1973 GMC Motorhome. Obtained from the brink of destruction 05/15/2020 in the middle of the night.

Berkeley, CA

 

[Ken H.]

Alex,

Congratulations on getting your coach back into your possession -- even if
it is a "little the worse for wear".

Just want to make a suggestion about the radiator damage: The radiator
support you're probably talking about is a 3" wide channel shaped into a
rectangular "U". Across the top is a straight, bolted-on section to
completely surround the radiator. After removing the fan shrouds on the
back side of the radiator, and disconnecting all the plumbing from it, it's
fairly easy to remove the radiator (see the service manual for
instructions).

This note is to suggest a modification many of us have done for
convenience: Make the bottom of the surround quickly removable. Use a
pair of 3" door butts (hinges) with removable pins. The radiator
surround extends "working space" below everything else under the coach. A
couple of inches up the vertical sides of the frame from the 90* bends,
position a butt on each side. Mark the mounting holes and drill 2-4 of
them to accept 5/16" x 3/4" bolts. Be careful not to drill too deeply --
into the side of the radiator -- I protect it with a steel plate. Mark the
frame where the butts halves meet. Put a support under the center of the
radiator frame, because the support is the only thing holding the radiator
up.

Cut the frame at the marks you made in line with the pins, preferably using
a hand grinder with a cutting wheel. Since your frame is bent at the
bottom, you should now be able to straighten it more easily. Bolt the butt
halves in place using the holes you drilled earlier (those with welding
skills tend to use those). After re-installing the radiator and the
now-removeable support bottom, install bolts with self-locking nuts in
place of the pins. The next time you need to R&R the radiator, you'll be
really glad you did the mod -- just remove those pins and drop the radiator
out the bottom.

Regarding the radiator: If it's damaged, I personally wouldn't even
consider repair -- I'd replace it with one of the now available aluminum
replacements. While aluminum's not really as good a material as the brass,
the current designs and cleanliness of new provide MUCH better cooling.

JMHO,

Ken "GMCWiperman" H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven
www.gmcwipersetc.com

On Sat, Aug 8, 2020 at 2:06 AM Alex Gurr via Gmclist <

> Well, if you haven't heard, it has been found. Looks like I only responded
> to all of the facebook posts! We got it back on 6/17 after it was recovered
> from being stolen. It was quite a fiasco to get it to a storage lot, but I
> got it all figured out with the help of Dean Hanson. My partner and I also
> decided to move right after that, so I haven't had much time to go work on
> it. Tomorrow is the first day we're going back to start once again.
>
> If the certain individual just painted over the paint, it would have been
> easy to remove that outer layer and possibly restore the beauty underneath.
> Unfortunately, they did quite a hack job of scraping off the stripe on the
> front. Sad days, not sure what our plans will be for that, but it's more of
> an aesthetic and can be figured out down the road.
>
> Another unfortunate mishap is that it got a little damaged while coming
> out of the impound yard after the recovery...Long story short the radiator
> support got damaged a bit and may have crunched the radiator a little bit.
> Not sure what's recommended for this. I'll probably drain the system, pull
> it all out and see if it could be bent back to usable shape. Maybe the
> radiator can be salvaged, maybe this is an upgrade opportunity.
>
> Those are more or less the new items added to the "Needed Now" and
> "Waiting" list. We're still going to be doing all the other things mentioned
> previously, I'll give another update tomorrow and beg for advice.
>
> Glad to be back!
>
> Also, I've been naughty. I haven't joined the registry yet! Mainly because
> I haven't seen the model name yet. I'll figure that out tomorrow as well.
>
> Best,
> Alex
>
>
> --
> 1973 GMC Motorhome. Obtained from the brink of destruction 05/15/2020 in
> the middle of the night.
>
> Berkeley, CA
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>

 

[powwerjon]

Alex,
Here are some pictures on how I modified the radiator cage simular to how Ken explained. One of the first mods I did on the first coach that we got 1998, in fact the first week since we needed to record the radiator.

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g3850-radiator-support-bracket-modification.html

Be sure to look for captions under the pictures.

JR Wright
Michigan

>
> Alex,
>
> Congratulations on getting your coach back into your possession -- even if
> it is a "little the worse for wear".
>
> Just want to make a suggestion about the radiator damage: The radiator
> support you're probably talking about is a 3" wide channel shaped into a
> rectangular "U". Across the top is a straight, bolted-on section to
> completely surround the radiator. After removing the fan shrouds on the
> back side of the radiator, and disconnecting all the plumbing from it, it's
> fairly easy to remove the radiator (see the service manual for
> instructions).
>
> This note is to suggest a modification many of us have done for
> convenience: Make the bottom of the surround quickly removable. Use a
> pair of 3" door butts (hinges) with removable pins. The radiator
> surround extends "working space" below everything else under the coach. A
> couple of inches up the vertical sides of the frame from the 90* bends,
> position a butt on each side. Mark the mounting holes and drill 2-4 of
> them to accept 5/16" x 3/4" bolts. Be careful not to drill too deeply --
> into the side of the radiator -- I protect it with a steel plate. Mark the
> frame where the butts halves meet. Put a support under the center of the
> radiator frame, because the support is the only thing holding the radiator
> up.
>
> Cut the frame at the marks you made in line with the pins, preferably using
> a hand grinder with a cutting wheel. Since your frame is bent at the
> bottom, you should now be able to straighten it more easily. Bolt the butt
> halves in place using the holes you drilled earlier (those with welding
> skills tend to use those). After re-installing the radiator and the
> now-removeable support bottom, install bolts with self-locking nuts in
> place of the pins. The next time you need to R&R the radiator, you'll be
> really glad you did the mod -- just remove those pins and drop the radiator
> out the bottom.
>
> Regarding the radiator: If it's damaged, I personally wouldn't even
> consider repair -- I'd replace it with one of the now available aluminum
> replacements. While aluminum's not really as good a material as the brass,
> the current designs and cleanliness of new provide MUCH better cooling.
>
> JMHO,
>
> Ken "GMCWiperman" H.
> Americus, GA
> '76 X-Birchaven
> www.gmcwipersetc.com
>
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 8, 2020 at 2:06 AM Alex Gurr via Gmclist <

>
>> Well, if you haven't heard, it has been found. Looks like I only responded
>> to all of the facebook posts! We got it back on 6/17 after it was recovered
>> from being stolen. It was quite a fiasco to get it to a storage lot, but I
>> got it all figured out with the help of Dean Hanson. My partner and I also
>> decided to move right after that, so I haven't had much time to go work on
>> it. Tomorrow is the first day we're going back to start once again.
>>
>> If the certain individual just painted over the paint, it would have been
>> easy to remove that outer layer and possibly restore the beauty underneath.
>> Unfortunately, they did quite a hack job of scraping off the stripe on the
>> front. Sad days, not sure what our plans will be for that, but it's more of
>> an aesthetic and can be figured out down the road.
>>
>> Another unfortunate mishap is that it got a little damaged while coming
>> out of the impound yard after the recovery...Long story short the radiator
>> support got damaged a bit and may have crunched the radiator a little bit.
>> Not sure what's recommended for this. I'll probably drain the system, pull
>> it all out and see if it could be bent back to usable shape. Maybe the
>> radiator can be salvaged, maybe this is an upgrade opportunity.
>>
>> Those are more or less the new items added to the "Needed Now" and
>> "Waiting" list. We're still going to be doing all the other things mentioned
>> previously, I'll give another update tomorrow and beg for advice.
>>
>> Glad to be back!
>>
>> Also, I've been naughty. I haven't joined the registry yet! Mainly because
>> I haven't seen the model name yet. I'll figure that out tomorrow as well.
>>
>> Best,
>> Alex
>>
>>
>> --
>> 1973 GMC Motorhome. Obtained from the brink of destruction 05/15/2020 in
>> the middle of the night.
>>
>> Berkeley, CA
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> GMCnet mailing list
>> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
>> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org