nwgs motorhome addiction and therapy thread

Not sure on the length.
Drum brakes, mighty Mopar 318. Half the wheels have been converted to modular from split rim.

New Fridge, heater. Water system converted from pressure tank to modern high quality pump.

Mechanically sound, just needs the usual coach work.

Every time I try to sell, her I get all sentimental.

Fun project if you are handy. Cheap to tinker with but, lets not talk mpg.
I imagined a Isuzu diesel conversion then run bio fuel

I names it the "Millenium Falcon" because when I punched the gas to the floor, nothing happened.

Cruises nice at 60, tows a bike-sized U-Haul trailer
That's how I got it home from Arizona.

There's a 1972 Minnie Winnie [18 ft] for sale locally, they also express mixed emotions about selling it. All the pictures are on the beach..

Just like the OP here, I got a weakness for older MHs. I've presently have a 20+ year old model and I love the floor plan and looks of it. There are some parks that will limit the age of coaches using their facilites. Personally, it hasn't been an issue for me so far but mine does look pretty good. If it were to come to a park telling me that, I'll be down the road. I can understand their point to a degree but only to a very slight degree and if I owned a park, I wouldn't want to exclude paying customers based on an arbritrary number. Yes there are some that do. My opinion is to not spend my $$ there if I know they have a policy like that . It's a semi free country and my business will be taken elsewhere. Way too many truly great looking old classics out on the road that look better than some of the newer ones.

My 98 Trek is a 2002 when i register over the phone or internet.

I think it recently became a 2003...

You lucky bum!

Yeah, that's me, lucky. Lucky to be alive. The only way I can afford this thing is because I fell from a truck while on the job, landing on my head. With the cash settlement from that, we bought this.
The sale of the house and SSDI will hopefully cover our living expenses.
I'm sitting here looking at 6 prescription bottles, some for pain, a couple for some of the other issues that have arisen from my brain bouncing around inside my skull.
But hey, I'm here, and my wife isn't going through the selling or donating of just about everything we own all alone. So yeah I'm lucky. It could be worse, I might have had to stop riding.
Oh Wait! I have had to. Ahhh well, I'll save a few thousand not buying an Overlift for the coach . I'd wish you luck, but you might end up with mine.......:huh

When my wife & I flew down to GA from VA to look at what did become our '85 BlueBird...same thing! We agreed to buy it and then the husband & wife had one last talk about "do we really want to sell it"...talk about a little bit of heart stopping drama :eek1

Looking on the bright side ...

Hang in there Amigo!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

No, no. I'm good. Thanks.




Here's to hoping things improve for your health.

Pulled the furnace, everything was dirty and crusty as expected;


The picture doesn't do justice to the amount of built up crud on the fan;


Tested the sail switch and sure enough it was bad (very intermittent continuity);


New switch on top, old one on bottom. You could feel the difference in the two switches, old one felt "crunchy" and only achieved continuity if held shut, new one was smooth and continuity was achieved at about 66% closeure of sail arm.


Just to be safe, went ahead and replaced limit switch (it's 27 years old);


Spent some time cleaning out all the nooks and crannys with compressed air and also gave the fan a good cleaning;


Reassembled and back in the hole;


Outside exhaust before and after;




Hooked everything up, turned on the gas, switched on the thermostat and everything worked as it should. After fan ran about 10 seconds, burner lit up and we had heat!

Performed a leak test with soapy water in a spray bottle and the compression fitting at gas shut off valve was leaking, took it apart and found a couple tiny burrs on the compression joint. Cleaned it all up, reassembled and still had a minor leak. Pulled it apart and will look for new parts today. Will reassemble and if it passes leak test will consider job completed.

Also decided it would be a good idea to install a gas alarm and the motor home had one in the spare parts, so began installation;



After getting it partially installed, hooked up power and ground and the alarm came on and stayed on. We even took it out to the battery and tried it direct, same result. Must be a bad alarm and may be why it was found in the spares. Will look for another one, any recommendations for a gas alarm (or a combo gas and smoke alarm) that will run primarily off of 12 volts?

Thanks again to all who chimed in with good solid advice.

Nice work on the furnace!

As an owner of an older MH also...I think it is critically important to enhance the OEM onboard systems for fire/smoke/co and gas detection. You don't want to bet your life on 20+ year old stuff. I leave the OEM stuff there...it still tests "ok"...but have added modern smoke/fire/co and gas detectors.

Not mine, friend in the bay area showed me last night.

1957 Cadillac ambulance/camper

Interesting frankenstein.

only $1900...















http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/3678934602.html

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One of a kind, Cadillac ambulance with El Dorado frame mounted camper that was installed by the El Dorado factory. Of interest to someone restoring old Cadillacs, lots of good parts, or perhaps someone might care to bring it back to life? Currently listing at $1900 or best offer. Has been non-op since 1997 sitting on side of home. I purchased this rig in 1965 and have owned it ever since, pro mechanic for many years and this rig was like a hobby as well as living in it. Currently does not run but nothing terminal on what was a low milage short block some years ago. Have records of maintenance performed over the years and I know the history of all that has been done. I know there is value in this rig so if you are serious contact me with any questions you may have and I can provide detailed answers. Need to sell to vacate driveway for new RV to be purchased in near future so I am serious about selling, contact me if you are as well, all offers considered.

Would you consider renting it to an inmate for burning man?

When buying and owning an older motorhome you need to replace the gas and CO2 detectors, as those have only a 5-7 year life span. The "spare" you tried to hook up, might have a date code on the back.

I would suggest you also add mud dabber screens to the outlet flue and intake flue before you have them build nests in the nice clean rehabed unit. I have had nests in the furnace pipes, and the squirrel cage fan.

12 volt detectors are available at Camping World, any camping RV supply store, or on line at many places. Older coaches might have a system that the detector also powers the propane off/on valve switch near the tank. My valve was leaking, and I removed it. New building codes do not require the electric valve and the cost of a replacement has skyrocketed as the demand crashed. If you need a electric shut off, West Marine sell them for yacht use, where the tanks are on deck, but the stoves are down low inside. There you sure do not want to fill the boat with propane gas.

Hear you loud and clear, I prefer to error on the side of safety!

At lunch time yesterday, went out to Ace hardware and bought new valve and fittings to replace the leaky stuff. Also found a little mom and pop RV shop near where I work that had a proper 12v propane detector;



Old valve and fittings removed;



New valve was physically larger, so had to make room with an extra nipple and coupler;



New valve installed, no leaks found with soapy water test.



Closeure panel installed, note newly drilled access hole to turn valve on and off. In the past you had to unscrew the panel if you needed to shut the valve off, kind of scary! :eek1



New propane detector;



Will need to find the little screens for the outside vents, that is a really good idea. Next projects are to rebuild carb, reinforce the rear ladder and install an old CB radio that my dad had in his semi.

http://www.aol.com/video/the-rv-the-cuthbert-family-built/517686699/?ncid=webmail40

That is a great link. More than just a home built, but a engineering marvel. His other videos I found, show a tour of the RV by his son, and there are a couple more as well worth looking for with a Google search.

Got the washer/Dryer combo out of the coach today, as well as the T.V. over the cockpit. The space that the T.V. used will be utilized as lightweight storage, or as a display case for some of our rare and autographed books. Right now, Stella, one of our black cats thinks it's a new bed, just for her.....
The space where the washer/dryer used to be is going to do double duty. The lower half as storage, the upper will be a negative air pressure space for the electric cat box, with a low speed silent fan pushing air out through the former dryer vent. It will also help keep the humidity down in the coach . We bought a universally pivoting mount for the 46 inch flat screen, it will mount on a small Oak bookshelf I am currently designing, which will itself be secured to the passenger side wall behind the seat. Things are designed to still allow the seat to recline, although the T.V. will eclipse the window a bit, when the set is stowed for travel.

Here is a really well done write up of Shachagra by the builder.
What a great way to educate your children.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/68719-Shachagra-Family-of-5-traveles-Europe-and-Turkey-International-7500