My 1978 GMC motorhome

I don't think so, just a Dorman replacement.

When I worked at a RV shop we did a lot of them. Either broken bolts or cracked manifolds and about the time I was changing jobs they came out with a version that had the bellows that was supposed to cure this. But looking now I don't see any with that. So maybe it didn't fix the problem.
 
When I worked at a RV shop we did a lot of them. Either broken bolts or cracked manifolds and about the time I was changing jobs they came out with a version that had the bellows that was supposed to cure this. But looking now I don't see any with that. So maybe it didn't fix the problem.

My biggest fear was breaking studs off in the head. Thankfully, they all broke loose without busting. But then I had to put it all back together so I could move the coach and wait for the correct one. Sorry for the derail Mike.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike_H and Wildman
Mike makes us all look bad with the amount of work he's done to his. I think me fixing the decals will be a long time off as there are a lot of other things I'd rather spend that money on.

Cracked exhaust manifolds are NO FUN.

I had to do the work...I'm a cheap bastard. I didn't want to drop close to 6 figures to get something ready to go and only use it 5-6 times a year (if I'm lucky). So, instead I bought something inexpensive that needed a TON of work...

@bobthetj03

I feel your pain on the exhaust manifolds...mine were like 400 EACH because they are a motorhome only version.

1660854971948.png


Cleaning them up didn't go well...I figured they were already cracked...maybe I could "fix" them. I fixed em all right!

1660877606082.png


Cinnabar to the Rescue. Its a company on the East side of Michigan that bought all the rights to the unique motorhome parts, so they own all the mfg rights for these parts...Its nice they are available, but they gotcha over a barrel too.

At least they are High quality, made in USA parts...

1660877733404.png
 
I had to do the work...I'm a cheap bastard. I didn't want to drop close to 6 figures to get something ready to go and only use it 5-6 times a year (if I'm lucky). So, instead I bought something inexpensive that needed a TON of work...

@bobthetj03

I feel your pain on the exhaust manifolds...mine were like 400 EACH because they are a motorhome only version.

View attachment 352182

Cleaning them up didn't go well...I figured they were already cracked...maybe I could "fix" them. I fixed em all right!

View attachment 352346

Cinnabar to the Rescue. Its a company on the East side of Michigan that bought all the rights to the unique motorhome parts, so they own all the mfg rights for these parts...Its nice they are available, but they gotcha over a barrel too.

At least they are High quality, made in USA parts...

View attachment 352349

I didn't get as cheap but I'm already feeling like all I do is repair shit. I wish I had a shop or carport with a concrete pad big enough to park my MH on. Would make it easier to work on at least.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Irun
I didn't get as cheap but I'm already feeling like all I do is repair shit. I wish I had a shop or carport with a concrete pad big enough to park my MH on. Would make it easier to work on at least.

I have to take mine to work to do stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wildman
Drove about an hour, one way, today to pick up some “new” seats from a Mazda minivan. My pilot and co pilot seats in the motorhome aren’t great. 45 years and 100,000 miles takes its toll on foam. They are clean, but not comfortable beyond a couple hours. I’ve been watching eBay and marketplace for a while now and found something about a week ago. I sat my butt in them, just on the floor, and could immediately tell they were more supportive than the ones we have.

This picture is from the advertisement

5C9B7C7C-882C-44C2-A3CC-27177A5F4BEC.png


I’d say they are a solid 7.5 out of 10 on condition. The leather hasn’t started to crack and they don’t show much wear. They are a bit dirty, my wife will be able to make them look nice. I’ll have to figure out the mounting situation. These have tangs on them like the rear seat of a wrangler, and were easily removed from the minivan. I’ll have to figure out how the bases are attached and probably weld up some brackets to adapt to the motorhome.

Not bad for 100 bucks.
 
Drove about an hour, one way, today to pick up some “new” seats from a Mazda minivan. My pilot and co pilot seats in the motorhome aren’t great. 45 years and 100,000 miles takes its toll on foam. They are clean, but not comfortable beyond a couple hours. I’ve been watching eBay and marketplace for a while now and found something about a week ago. I sat my butt in them, just on the floor, and could immediately tell they were more supportive than the ones we have.

This picture is from the advertisement

View attachment 394896

I’d say they are a solid 7.5 out of 10 on condition. The leather hasn’t started to crack and they don’t show much wear. They are a bit dirty, my wife will be able to make them look nice. I’ll have to figure out the mounting situation. These have tangs on them like the rear seat of a wrangler, and were easily removed from the minivan. I’ll have to figure out how the bases are attached and probably weld up some brackets to adapt to the motorhome.

Not bad for 100 bucks.

Not bad for $100. I’m jealous, lots of work but a sweet classic RV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike_H
Drove about an hour, one way, today to pick up some “new” seats from a Mazda minivan. My pilot and co pilot seats in the motorhome aren’t great. 45 years and 100,000 miles takes its toll on foam. They are clean, but not comfortable beyond a couple hours. I’ve been watching eBay and marketplace for a while now and found something about a week ago. I sat my butt in them, just on the floor, and could immediately tell they were more supportive than the ones we have.

This picture is from the advertisement

View attachment 394896

I’d say they are a solid 7.5 out of 10 on condition. The leather hasn’t started to crack and they don’t show much wear. They are a bit dirty, my wife will be able to make them look nice. I’ll have to figure out the mounting situation. These have tangs on them like the rear seat of a wrangler, and were easily removed from the minivan. I’ll have to figure out how the bases are attached and probably weld up some brackets to adapt to the motorhome.

Not bad for 100 bucks.

I've spent a good number of hours with my backside parked in some Mazda MPV (minivan) seats, and have found them to be quite comfortable. Comfort is, of course, subjective, but I wouldn't be surprised if you found yourself happy with your investment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike_H
Started the headliner replacement today. This is going to be a big project, but hopefully it goes quickly. This is after removing the upper cabinets.
B1DAE8E2-CAC1-473D-9745-753DBB8D598F.jpeg


9484706B-06FA-4128-AAFD-C381B06CE7A5.jpeg

Here it is with the first section of ceiling down
DDD362AC-4652-45E3-8D24-8B53E4094DD4.jpeg


10729234-6D41-4AA9-9ECA-3DEE6636F32B.jpeg


I also have the rear plastic cap off, which is cracked into two pieces. Going to have to plastic weld it back together, then paint or cover it. More to come on that later.
 
Finished the most of the ceiling removal on Sunday. What a mess! I still need to pull the front cap for paint and the Bathroom ceiling...its rotten and small. I knew I didn't have the patience for that after 5 hours in the coach.

1678747434757.png


1678747454323.png



Couple thin spots in the insulation I need to address.

1678747482022.png



And...Mice/Rats can suck it! Little bastards. Thankfully we caught them before they did too much damage.

1678747534697.png



Now, what's next? First, I need to repair the rear cap. I'll Vee out the crack on the backside, then use some heat and wire to hold the plastic together across the crack. Once its solid and one piece again, I'll fill the crack in on the Vee and melt some wire mesh (like aluminum window screen) into the plastic. Finally, it will be painted and we may so some sort of vinyl fabric on the wall part. This is in our "bedroom" so having a soft touch surface will be nice.

1678747701282.png


The walls will probably need to come out as well. I plan on installing some small, recessed LED lights in the ceiling, controlled by a switch near the door. The current lights were all individually controlled, on the fixture itself...it was a pain at night. I'd like to wire up a three way switch to have the lights able to be controlled from by the door and from the bedroom.
 
Crack is fixed and the "extra" holes are filled. I sprayed some rustoleum bedliner over it to retexture the surface where I used filler to smooth out where I plastic welded the crack together. Tomorrow, I'll go back over it with White Paint. I experimented with this method on the back of this piece, so I know it will cover completely.

1679795337751.png


1679795357126.png


1679795381514.png
 
Spent a whole bunch of money today and bought new rooftop units. Two 13.5K high efficiency A/C's. I bought them with optional heat strips to help lower my reliance on Propane. We don't camp when it is REALLY cold, so having something electric to take the chill out of those spring and fall mornings will be nice. Also bought the fancy multi-zone Thermostat and automatic air distribution units for the interior.

1680142582437.png


These should be pretty nice units. They only pull 11.4 amps at full cooling so I can run both of them off my 30 amp supply. I can't do that with my current rooftops. They are also pretty quiet, at 60 dB inside and <80 dB outside. I've never measured, but my current 45 year old units are LOUD. I can't wait to get them off my roof. Its crazy to me that the still work though. I hope the new ones are as durable as the old ones.

The other thing going on is I'm continuing the work on my interior refresh. I have my materials now. I need to finish getting the walls opened up so I can mask every thing off. I am going to touch up my insulation with some closed cell spray foam. It was spray foamed originally, but it was done in a US automobile factory in the late 70's...so the consistency of application leaves something to be desired. I will fill in the thin spots.

I'm also going to add a couple lighting circuits and a couple extra radio speakers near our dinette. The walls are open, so now is the perfect time.

OH...here is the rear cap I've been working on restoring. It came out REALLY well, considering where I started.
1680143112852.png


This is the repair area

1680143147873.png


And the original Texture.

1680143167362.png


As you can see, its not perfect...but its DAMN close. Its close enough that unless you know to look for it, you won't know its there. It reflects light very similarly and you can't feel the difference with your fingers, either. A few hours experimenting saved me 1000 dollars and a trip to Florida to pick up replacement pieces.
 
This project keeps getting deeper. I want to add lighting circuits and pulling wires in this thing, behind the walls is next to impossible. Plus, I keep finding little brown critter nests. So, my wife and I talked about it, and we decided that opening the the walls up was the right thing to do. Still working through the pros and cons of the kitchen wall though. I would like to do this once. I figure if I open it up though, it will be a year in renovation. I have a new floor plan in mind that will work better for us (I think, lol) so I’m actually pushing for the full gut. She’s holding out because we already have some camping trips planned. I told her I’ll throw a hammock in the Jeep and she can sleep with our camping friends in their trailer!

7D58C142-93F1-4741-B8CA-8148DFC54E85.jpeg


CA0A3C44-3F14-4FFE-89E8-EE8C9C351DF6.jpeg


Little bastards!
DD9BDAAC-2AF1-46A7-89CB-FA1B8996E9D8.jpeg
 
Spent a whole bunch of money today and bought new rooftop units. Two 13.5K high efficiency A/C's. I bought them with optional heat strips to help lower my reliance on Propane. We don't camp when it is REALLY cold, so having something electric to take the chill out of those spring and fall mornings will be nice. Also bought the fancy multi-zone Thermostat and automatic air distribution units for the interior.

View attachment 411593

These should be pretty nice units. They only pull 11.4 amps at full cooling so I can run both of them off my 30 amp supply. I can't do that with my current rooftops. They are also pretty quiet, at 60 dB inside and <80 dB outside. I've never measured, but my current 45 year old units are LOUD. I can't wait to get them off my roof. Its crazy to me that the still work though. I hope the new ones are as durable as the old ones.

The other thing going on is I'm continuing the work on my interior refresh. I have my materials now. I need to finish getting the walls opened up so I can mask every thing off. I am going to touch up my insulation with some closed cell spray foam. It was spray foamed originally, but it was done in a US automobile factory in the late 70's...so the consistency of application leaves something to be desired. I will fill in the thin spots.

I'm also going to add a couple lighting circuits and a couple extra radio speakers near our dinette. The walls are open, so now is the perfect time.

OH...here is the rear cap I've been working on restoring. It came out REALLY well, considering where I started.
View attachment 411594

This is the repair area

View attachment 411595

And the original Texture.

View attachment 411600

As you can see, its not perfect...but its DAMN close. Its close enough that unless you know to look for it, you won't know its there. It reflects light very similarly and you can't feel the difference with your fingers, either. A few hours experimenting saved me 1000 dollars and a trip to Florida to pick up replacement pieces.

Those are some nice A/C units. Comparable to the ones I got installed on my coach.

Great job as usual.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mike_H
This is something I've been working on in my 'free time" off and on. I found old engineering drawings of the coach (from stuff people have scanned and posted) and worked backwards into a CAD model.
1680962662403.png


This is (was) the layout that my GMC had. It's one of three floorplans offered by Jimmy (which was a division of Coachman). The previous owners had modified it a bit already. The two flat planes in the rear are twin size beds. They were fold down couches in the original floor plan. The shorter "table" looking cabinet by the door used to be a full size liquor cabinet (it WAS build in the late 70s!). The upper cabinet had been removed when we got it (the liquor storage). So...the only place for us to sit and relax (like if its raining, or when we visit family and just need to get away) is the dinette. We would put a small TV on the old liquor cabinet...but there was never a good place to store the TV, the dinette, even though it folds into a bed / chaise lounge, isn't very comfortable, and it's just not working for us. Plus, the kitchen cabinet does not use the space it takes up efficiently at all.

My wife and I have has some pretty long discussions and have spent a LOT of time looking at different things people have done with their GMC's We have an idea of what we want now...but before I go crazy building cabinets and removing more stuff, I want to make sure we can make it all fit. The model I built is close...like I won't be able to make prints or anything off it, but it will let me throw some new layouts in and check to see what it will "look" like before I make any sawdust. Its also representative. I don't have all the details in it, more of a sketch than anything else, but its the most efficient way I know of to get my wife (who can't "see" things in her mind like I can) to see it and be able to add her ideas.

Interestingly enough...I can see a bumper pull trailer design here too, if a person were to get a couple coaches and cut them up...I have the exterior walls in the model, just have them show as transparent above. Here they are, not transparent. I also don't have the front and rear caps drawn, because those are a low value use of my time (tough to model and won't really help with the overall floorplan design). But two rear endcaps and some framework for the tongue would make for a VERY nice, 23'ish foot long travel trailer.

1680963933109.png
 
Last edited: