Daily Pose

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The Co-op is proud to be a member of the elite new force of bloggers bearing their soul at the same time offering you an inside look at the things in their world through the WWW.  Before a "blog" was called one, the "Daily Pose" had been here pumping out GMC owners and enthusiasts a dose of what its like hanging around our shop, seeing what we do and maybe picking up a tip or something that can maybe improve your GMC experience.  Heck, I didn't know what a "blog" was, I was just having a good time showing you guys what we were doing.  We certainly did not invent the blog but I will say it's good other people figured out doing it was an interesting thing to do.  So here is our "blog" and for what thats worth I hope there is something here that helps you.  I am most interested in your comments and suggestions. 

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7.3.09

Sorry, got caught up in Emails this morning.  I only have so many hours I can devote to plunking on this keyboard  I have several interesting things to talk about today, I hope I can get through them all.

Hey, no one lives by bread alone and once in a while we will take in a job just because.   Actually Janie tells me I do that way too much but hey, what are we here for anyway.

A good friend, GMC owner and SS club member proposed an idea to me that was just too cool to pass up!  Ralph is a purveyor of many things mechanical, most things automotive and certainly everything unusual and interesting.  If you think us GMCers are a tight nit group, think about the Rolls Royce community which Ralph happens to be a member and actually has 2 of those august machines.  One of his Rolls is a seriously vintage, seriously valuable one, it is a 1936 Rolls called a 25/30.  It was hand build for Woolf "Babe" Barnato.  Talk about cool, this is nothing but-- has those huge bugeyed headlights , that "big Daddy Got Rocks" grill and it all.  A very neat machine but it has a cracked head.  Oh, lets run right down to Auto Zone for one of those!  What should he do?  He purchased a complete frame through Ebay -- Wow, what a find!  Now he needs it checked out then broken down, parts harvested and espeially a head for his car.  So here is the deal, Ralp brought the chassis over to the shop yesterday , the guys helped it off the trailer (man, do you think he got a few looks towing that thing?)   and we set out on waking up the carcus   Hey, this critter certainly is not rocket science-- heck, Buck Rogers was a hot thing back then!  We need fuel, fire and the parts only need to be in the right place and she'll fire.  Have you ever thought about the term "fire it up", where it came from?  I'm guessing stoking up a train or something, "Fire it Up".  Well, we were trying to fire it up and man what a thrill!    What a classic style, basic, primal, historic, an overhead in line 6 cyl. hunk of steel with a downdraft carb.  Beautiful!!!  OK, so check out my newest You Tube video  http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks  What an awesome job we have!

Oops, ran out of time, I knew I would.  I need to get out there and get stuff done.  Have a great 4th holiday.

7.2.09

First this morning, I would like to say goodbye to a dear friend who succumbed to the inevitable which someday we all will face.    For some time he has been by my side supporting my efforts of communicating ideas both victories and failures.  He has given myself as well as you guys a look at some of the things we have gotten into, has supported my efforts documented it all and even helped and defended my in legal litigation.  Yes, I am talking about my trusted Nikon digital camera Yes, through thick and thin, I have carried this camera taking pics of all sorts of stuff.  When I was sailing across the big flat desert of Texas, he was there preserving everything I saw.  When no one else could help, he gave me 20 pics of that ridiculous trailer and how screwed up it was when it came to me and that everything that guy tried to say I did was already a mess.  I take pics of everything and my Nikon has really been invaluable.  Being a 2nd generation, I had a Nikon digital camera before this one which also served me well.  Back "in the day" when 35mm was the picture king, I had always wanted a Nikon camera-- had to settle for first a Petri then a Chinon andat the time felt I had reached my nervana when I got a Canon EA1.  Time passed and the digital age came upon us and I was in the market for a small digital camera to start a funky page I for some reason called the "Daily Pose".  Walked into Comp USA and there was my dream camera, a Nikon and it was sooooo cheap!  I bought it and leaving the place felt I had stepped up a rung in my becoming realized-- heck I owned a Nikon!

As I said, my first Nikon did well and when it crapped out from just so much hard use I could do nothing but seek another Nikon.  I know it probably did not mean as much to flash that name as it once did but hey, it did to me.  So this little silver camera became my friend.  I served me well until this wheek when once in a while I would get a white screen and the report "lens error".  The lens would simply not come out.  I had heard that motor drive lens assembly crank in and out a thousand times and though I have no doubt the guts ole "silver sides" is still spy, it's always the mechanical issues that kills things.  If it's in this world of physics eventually mother nature will claim her own and thats what put down my camera. 

So yesterday after work Janie agreed that I needed a new camera.  Thats just the validation to plunk down money I needed.  So with my sweaty uniform on, I jumped in the Suzuki and started my mission.  I headed over to electronics row where all the places that might have a suitable replacement would be.  I passed up Comp USA where the first Nikon came, don't know why.  Next Best Buy came into view but in that they were my dreaded adversary  in the past when I was working with Circuit City back when they really did care and the fact that I got Nikon 2, "ole Silversides" there I figured I would first try the young buck on the street-- H.H. Gregg.  They had done me well providing me that cool new Toshiba flat screen for Raymonds Duramax bedroom and the guys seems to be at least better than a bump on a log.  I parked right up front, rolled up the windows and left my Suzuki to guard the door for me.  Walked up to their camera department and there is was, a bright shiny new Nikon camera!  it looked just like ole silversides but in red.  Had a larger, in fact huge monitor screen compared to my recent fallon hero.  Was the same size, took the same SD card and ran on again 2 AA batteries!  The cost I felt was stupid cheap, I mean where can you get class for $127.00!  I told they sales guy who had come up to me and seeing the name label on my shirt, stretched out his hand and said "Hi Jim, can I help you".  It told him this would be the easiest sale of the day for him.  I wanted that camera and I wanted their maximum protection plan.  He smiled, I probably made his quota for the day-- little does he know that like the old dudy in the flivver on the Midus Muffler commercial his company would rue the day I signed up for they anydamage replacement warranty!  I now have a new Nikon digital camera and I have a personal guaranty from Mr. Gregg that it will be with me to 1095 days!  I left the store with my new bundle of joy, popped out my batteries from Ole Silversides, plugged in the 4Gig SD card and threw the thing to my face and snapped my first pic of the delivery hospital where my new child was birthed   Ewwwww, a nice pic!  Took it home and Janie christened it by making another rather difficult shot of the TV ,  what you don't watch ET!  And so my new little friend "big red" was found and I'm off to see what trouble we can get into.

It does everything Ole Silversides did but maybe I can understand it better.  It has some new tricks--- look, I can get a picture that shows the indirect lighting on the remote controlled pleated shades and I think it does a great job on picking up the colors in auto mode .  s is the second driver side overhead clamshell cabinet up.  Just behind the driver seat, it contained the KVH satellite receiver , I'll install the 110 outlet today.  You can see the passive crossover for the 6.5" seperates speaker mounted in the front of the cabinet over at the right of the pic.  That interior is coming together and I'm having a good time fitting the pieces that until now had only been in my minds eye. 

Yep, it rained good yesterday, well enough to dampen our enthusiasm.  Like I said I don't know what is worse the depression you get when it's cold down here or wet.  I mean being a "fair weather shop" when it is raining there is no way to keep from getting wet, when it's cold you are cold and when it's hot guess what-- you sweat!  I do not mind the sweating part in fact I guess I'm like the other reptiles down here cause when it's hot I seem to have the energy I need, when it's cold I move slow and when it's wet I feel like simply standing under some cover and watch the wet stuff fall.  Yesterday did have progress but not in the way I hoped.  Steve had some binding to do elsewhere, the wet had sabotaged Craigs van and killed his brake lights so we spent half the day getting him where he could get to work.  The rains came but Jason braved holding onto the welder and finished up the repair work on Kashi's frame.  Buster is poised to drive Richard's coach north to him but after a call where we found out he and his family would be taking the 4th weekend away (pesky holidays) he stood down and would probably bug out Sunday.  The afternoon socked us in with the rain so the day died with a wimper which is why I figured it was the best time for me to go camera hunting.  At least that job came out AAA!

So, I've got a new Nikon buddy and I'll do my best to get use from my warranty.  I'm not holding back and will promise to keep big red by my side to capture everything I can.  Thanks for todays visit, I know there was not as much GMC content as usual but hey, man cannot live by GMC's alone!  Over and out for now.  Oh, how bout this-- proof positive that the GMC is always seen at important places with important people.  Did you know there is a GMC representing us at the Neverland Ranch?    Can't tell who the pics on the side are of, looks like Larry, Curly & Moe!  Looks like is has had some care though from the report I watched last night most everything on the Neverland Ranch was let turn to seed when it was closed up a couple of years ago.  Wonder what will happen to it and where it will go next?  Would be an interesting coach tro have with it's "provenance" of being blonged to the King of Pop when he died!  Whats my bid?

Thanks again for the visit, the support and your interest in the GMC-- we all appreciate your attention.

7.1.08

BTW guys, the CMW password protected pages are back up, I had my entire "IT" department (that would be John working his 2 best fingers to the bone) to find and correct the problem.  So have no fear, all is good again!  We're into each afternoon rain right now and it's about as hard getting a full days work in as when it's cold around here!  Hey, we'll just "endeavor to persevere"!

Another milestone in the build up of the 26' Duramax, got 2 more headliner panels up yesterday as well as hung, another clamshell overhead cabinet   This one is special in that it will hold the KVH satellite dish reciever, thats what all of those wires are there for.  We will feed that signal both to the forward 32" flat screen, the 7" in dash LCD motorized screen in the head unit radio and back to the bedroom to the funky 15" "plop up" TV in the rear overhead.  The unit runs on 12 volts so we need a good feed power wire, good 8 ga. ground and I'm putting an inverter controlled 110 volt outlet in the cabinet-- I mean you just never know!  This overhead will be right next to the one holding the 2 6.5" 2 way speakers and will have a 6.5" seperates speaker in it so that cabinet has much more going on than holding a jacket!  Oh yea, and it needs to move up and down at the push of a button and has the 2 LED utility light fixtures in the bottom.  The interior is really starting to look like something        Still don't have the 110 glass top stove in, the plumbing to the galley is taking a little more than I had bargained for.  The lower doors are on the bench now but I wanted the AV system to move forward so to do that I have to get the overheads up.  Of course there is a national B/O on the spiffy LED utility lights I'm embedding in the overheads so that causes another slowdown.  Heck, I should be used to this stuff by now!

Had a question as to what computer equipment I had to work with around here.  Here is the command center for the world headquarters of the Co-op yesterday just before shutting down.  The company computer needs the help of the lap top to the right, we have so much data that everything starts moving at a snails pace if I try to do it with only one CPU.  I staple stuff up on the wall, hey-- it's hard staring at a blank wall all the time!  So thats it,

The rains stopped Jason from completing the rust/ frame repair on the lift.  He did take the frame from this mess to breaking out all of the rust to this and then using the bottle jacks you see pressing the main rails back up tight to the subframe   where he will hopefully today actually MIG weld the 2 frame rails together.  There is no "rust through" and with the integrity of the rails still there we can prolong the inevitable and we all know what someday will have to happen.  Hey, it's just the way of it all.  I'll hope we can get this done today between raindrops, stay tuned.

So thats it, Craig is here, his van lights blew a fuse so we'll see what gives with that, probably has something to do with the deluge of water or something.  I'll work on the Duramax, it's inside and the guys will do what they can.  Have a great day, if your're in the sunny south, carry an umbrella!  See ya later

6.30.09

First and foremost, I would like to thank all who sent Emails and calls in support.  Guys, I really appreciate your input and interest, support and comments.  It makes me feel good to know the reflecting sounds I hear are more than what bounces off the backwall!  Also and next I would like to thank the support of those about my recent uncontrolled rant on the net about paint work on the GMC.  Hey look, there are many ways and reasons for the manner folks do things.  There is sometimes not the need for a higher quality work and I dig that.  But, when the different levels of quality get mixed up and all of a sudden acceptible work is compared to quality work and the line of what it costs for them is blurred I feel it is important to redefine those lines.  I am not saying there is no place for a scuff-n-shoot paint job, just that those the seek and produce a better quality finish should not be looked over as charging too much for their services.  Likewise to say that if someone is discriminating enough in what they seek is not wasting their money in looking for a better detail in the work they pay for.  In more ways that work is actually more cost effective because in the end you will get a return for the investment in a better looking   that will attract more "gawkers" and potential buyers if you end up ever wanting to sell it and that is what is a real investment, to add value. 

A business like us, a "brick and mortar" specialty house as they call us dedicated to a narrow niche business lik we are only having a total customer base who owns only one specific vehicle is a very difficult business to have.  I annot wear a sandwich board, walk up and down the street to drum up business-- no, we must cast a wide net, nation and worldwide and we must do everything we can to support our customers because frankly there just "ain't" that many of you.  So having owners support us is most important to our survival and having us support you is the way we keep alive.  If the specialty dealer network that the GMC motorhome has cannot survive, the real loosers will the GMC community.  Who wants to buy a machine you cannot get the special parts for?  This is what many other specialty vehicles face right now.  Ask someone who has a Revcon what they greatest fear is-- I bet hands down it will be locating specialty parts.  Ask someone who has a Brit car where they would be without Moss Motors or someone with a VW what they would do without West Coast Metric.  The GMC community has a mission to stay out of the ranks of the unsupported vehicles and supporting the specialty dealers is the way to do that.  I gotta tell ya you do not pay a premium buying parts and things from myself or others dedicated to the GMC.  We work on a very tight margin to keep our parts reasonable.  When you buy something you know it will work and if there is a problem you have someone with a vested interest to stand behind whatever the part is and the problem you are having.  The last thing we need is to have unhappy campers so in reality buying from us is both a support for yourself as well as us.

I started off todays pose by saying thanks and this is what I am thanking you for.  Thanks for understanding and participating in the GMC community, thanks for supporting us and thanks for giving us the chance to support you.  It all plays in to the name I came up with for this business-- "Cooperative Motor Works".  Like it or not, we are inexplicably tied together with a common thread-- the GMC motorhome so like it or not we have eachother to keep us safe.  Personally I like it, I enjoy doing the right thing at each turn and I appreciate those that appreciate that.  Yes, I am a bit protective of the system -- that being we all need to work together so when someone says to buy stuff from some phone booth guy who does not know the GMC from the man in the moon I have to ask where his head is.  Sorry but it just not makes sense to cut off your left hand with your right!  If someone does you wrong then they deserve whatever happens to them so this is what ties us all together and assures you always will get a fair shake. 

The ritual of the "handshake" I feel is a very important thing.  It started by showing you have no weapon or malice toward someone by extending the right hand open faced to show you did not have a weapon.  In turn the person extended their right hand a clasp your to show they reciprocated  that offering.  I do not shake hands with someone I do not trust and when I put out my hand it is done as a genuine gesture that I have no ulterior motive toward the upcoming interraction and I seek the same from those I shake hands with.  I think if we all make that commitment to those we meet and read that into the action, our dealings with others would benifit.  So, give someone you trust a good, hardy handshake, my grandad said to give a good eye contact and a smile along with the shake and make it mean something. 

Yesterday, we kept on the unloading of Mark's coach, we are deep into his breakdown now and the interior is going away.    Craig & his son Eric heaped the original frig out of the coach.  Sorry, no we did not keep that lunk-- no parts for ya.  I just heard the dumpster truck empty the container complete with this puppy going off to be ground up into a Toyota!  After pulling off Marks's bumper, it revealed what I would call a "Pershing missile trailer hitch"!  There is some train track somewhere that has a rail section missing!    We'll build the coach around this fixture, I think it would cost too much to try and take it off!  Obviously someone did a stress study and had gussets supporting gussets on this thing.  Hey, if the shuttle crawler breaks down, I think we could step in!

The headliner in this Coachman interior is all but out revieling the then state of the art in insulation technology   We will keep this stuff and add to it a foil mylar bubble foil sheet, this puppy will live in north Canada so insulation from cold will be a key feature.  Under the sofa, next to the water heater we found something that was hidden from view until everything came apart.  This is the copper LP line coming into the coach from underneath.  As you can see we have some serious corrosion to take care of.  the entire LP gas line system will be replaced    This system was actually under pressure when I took this pic, If we would have moved the line there would have been a good chance that it would have ruptured.  Have no fear mark, thats outahere!

Anyone know what this is?    This is whats left of the original body pad that was coming out of here   Please note how the body was resting solid onto the frame in this pic   This condition is not only bad for the smooth ride we seek but also for the brake, air and fuel lines that rely upon the gap between the body and frame they need to run.  Here is one of our new body pads glued in place   If it took 30 years for the soft, non glued in body pad to fail, this puppy will do it's job long after you and I will care!  The "derometer" or density of the rubber pad is the key to good support for the body and these body pads will not fail!

Whats wrong here   Yep, rust has formed between the sub frame and main rail of the frame, rust is very strong and it pushed apart the rails weakening the frame.  There was also some rust through issues on this coach so stay tuned & I'll show you how we fix this. 

So it's now 9:30, I gotta get to work. Craig and the guys should be here soon.  As expected I did not have time to play over there on the net so you guys please monitor that mess and let me know if someone is throwing spears at me so I can duck!  Have a great day, because this is what you ahve been given, rejoyce in it and remember if you think you have it bad think of Bernie and know there is retribution here as well as in the future!

2.29.09

We're turning to on Mark's coach getting it ready for paint  The "troll" is outa there and the home is getting ready to the new Honda power plant .  We're going to do something a little different on this one.  In that the Honda is built kinda like a flounder fish with every part needed for servicing on the outer side, we have always "hard mounted" the generator in the compartment.  Recently though, I had a coach come in with it's Honda on a slide mechanism and hey, not wanting to be outdone, we're installing Mark's generator on a slide mechanism.  What they heck, if it can be done, why not!  Stay tuned for more on this project.

Mark's suspension is pretty much done and as soon as the Q bag system arrives it will go on.   We're gong after exterior and interior breakdown right now, Craig, Eric & Logan crawl over the outside   while Steve heads up the interior take apart project  The overheads are down, upholstry out, carpet in the dumpster, personal stuff boxed and well on the way to it's "root mean"   Hey, Mark, you remember what it looked like before?    Take a last look!

Took a "day trip" this weekend for pleasure and work.  Thats one nice thing about living in Florida, no matter where you go you run into people having a good time and you can see exciting scenery  .  Saturday, we were in Cocoa at the right time to see this   Look close & you will see your tax dollars at work.  It's a rocket launch from KSC of a communications satellite   From there we saddled up the truck, no I left JayGee at home to make way to Melbourne to take a look at an upcoming project.  Ralph,along with being an avid GMC owner, also collects and appreciate many othrer cool things.  He has a 1936 Rolls Royce   that you just have to appreciate.  He has a small problem of a cracked head.  You say "small" problem but heck, where do you get a replacement head and who is nuts enough to mess with such a machine.  OK, heck I will!  Ralph took care also of the "where do I get a head" recently buying a complete running chassis from another 1936 Rolls-- man what an awesome sight !  .  I gotta tell you I can't help it and please do not think I am jumping ship but I just have to do this!    This is such a needy and awesome project, it fits right into what we love to do-- different stuff.  We are going to dismantle the entire chassis, tag & bag each part so the Rolls clubs worldwide will now have some on shelf spares to keep these puppies on the road and running.  Ralph will get his head and will be again able to drive his baby.  Look out Al Capone, we're comin for ya!

2.27.09

Pete, Amy-- when you read this please give me a call     , it's important.

6.26.09

I usually stay away from politics and current affair here because it always seems I get crossed with someone I mean I'm not one who remembers or feels obligated to remember people, places and things of interest to others, I feel that if that stuff is so important to so many people I'll let them take stock in it all without me but yesterday the current event of the passing of Farah Faucet and Michael Jackson both on the same day left a certain impression on me that I feel compelled to talk a bit about.  If you are tired of hearing about this and the press has a way of flogging stuff like this to death, pass over the blue print and go on to the rest of the post.

Henry Ford said "bump is as good as a knock" to me means if you are in the limelight wether that love you or hate you, you are still on the top and of course being there attects everyone to pay attention to ya.  Thus was the life of both people who passed on to their next reward.   Man, that poster of Farah coming on the scene when it did caused man young men at the time a reason to look hard for a girlfriend!  Then seeing that real live Barbie doll actually walk and talk on TV on Charlies Angels brought to home that fact that there really was someone out there that awesome and there was hope to have someone like that for your very own!  She was the brunt of so many "dumb Blond" jokes but when all the snickering was done I always said to myself "yea, but what about Farah".  She come off to me as someone pretty who could kick my ass so look out for that pretty leg with that stileeo healed shoe!  It was hard to see the recent special catching us all up on the reality and ravages time had put on her kind like what time had also done to Patrick Swazy, I mean I still see him tossing that big lunk out of the bar!  It kinda makes you think about your own humanity and what will eventially happen it us all.  In the end I think life was kind to Farrah letting her go, it did not look like the recent years had been good for her, I only hope it will be that way for me.

And then came the news of Michael Jackson.  Oh come on, I know the first words out of everyones lips when that new hit was "no way".  I never thought about life without someone occupying the slot of where Michael Jackson stood.  I think you need a person or at least some figure representing different mind sets.  Like "grasshopper" or "The Duke", Michael Jackson was on the shelf filling a space everyone has and wether you loved him as so many people did or thought he was eccentric or out of touch everyone had to admitt he really was a genious.  I mean to come up with some of the sounds bites and concepts as he did with music was nothing short of brilliant.  Being directly involved in the consumer electronics and sound industry in the 80's the music Michael Jackson came up with really showed off some of the stuff we were selling.  Man, when the song "Thriller" came on the stereo, you could crank that mother up with thar first couple of bars and blow peoples socks off!  The bass licks were awesome, stuff we could really use and to think of the guy who put that stuff together-- well, that stuff was genious!

Then came into play his personal life, with him really caring about this world and wanting to somehow make a difference but being misread by some really hurt him and is persona.  That video he made flying around in that make believe airplane looking very mad and saying leave me alone was reaching out big time.  He had a problem with his popularity wanting to be treated like anyone else-- heck he wasn't anyone else he was Michael Jackson which meant he had to be treated and looked at differently and that manufactured the problem that ate him alive!  "Billy Jean is not my Lover" just brings chills to my neck and wether you look at his music as pop or something critically acclaimed the stuff had punch to it.

All that crap about "neverland", kids being whatever, facelifts, sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber with a monkey and all of that -- you really don't know if it all was true or not and really was no ones business.  I don't sleep with a monkey or live in neverland but if I did I would not like to think someone would judge me on that if I did.  And it did which troubled him to no end.  I think in the end all of that stuff is what killed him, if he just wasn't so damn popular...

So stripping all of that away now should leave us with gratitude for what he did give us.  I certainly appreciate his music, the dancing he did-- heck I couldn't do that stuff-- I have to believe God will be kind to him and he will reap his manna from heaven as all of us who try and do the right thing strive for.  See ya man, good luck and thanks for all that stuff.  Farrah, I appreciate the testosterone you brought us and I'll always remember that one piece bathing suit and how you filled it out.  I think history will put both of these people on a pedestal in their respective field and I think that is a good thing.

OK, through with that, I hope no one was offended though it and everyone appreciated it all.  I have little doubt that in the upcoming days and weeks we will get our share of press on these 2 people so lets let them talk for us and lets go on with some other things.

 We have some things happening on some new fronts, I turned Steve loose on Mark's interior yesterday

6.25.09

OK boys & girls, another "BIg Jim's Bus Hole Show" is posted  Go to http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks I think this will get you there.  The bedroom TV project in the huge Duramax project is just another small win but I take victories where I find them so take a looksee.  Hey, and for the "You Tube Challenged" which I was until my son John drug me into this century, the overhead looks like this , it opens down with a push of the button and with the push of another button-- wham bam thank ya Mam we have this   There was no room to spare-- we were extremely lucky on this one!  Thanks to Toshiba for making a flat screen with DVD less than 12" tall and super shallow!

Here was another battle victory that came together yesterday, my son finally completed hammering the copper panel for the frig front  and with getting the wiring ready to close in all that was left was to put the frig in place.  Now you know that could not be just a slam/dunk.  The measurements of the hall had to be where they were.  The opening was determined months ago by the max depth needed to hold the frig and the bath mold made the other wall so it was what it was and as it was we were 1/2 shy of getting the frig down the hall into it's custom cabinet!  OK, so what do we do?  You only can play the cards you are given---- right?  Wait, maybe we can cheat and use mirrors to see the other guys hand!  OK, lets take the front off the frig and try and gain the 1/2" needed   We all stood back when it was in and were simply amazed on the final look of the thing-- it exceeded any vision I had previously had on how cool a simple frig could look     I mean check out the "patina" of the door and how the colored black framing looked all together-- man that is perfect!  The unit fired up on AC (no gas system in the coach yet) and now that project was a win.

OK, so while I was batting well I figured lets go after something else-- the galley overhead cabinet.  We had been building and measuring, finishing, sanding, buffing, wiring and doing all the steps going toward a completed overhead.  You must have a vision to put something together from scratch like that.  Again, it was form first then function-- how did we do   The microwave fitted in like a glove.  The cabinet and doors have that seriously hand rubbed rugged look-- I hope thats what Raymond wanted , thats what I got from the vision and thats what we have.  .  With one look, there is no doubt that this is NOT a simple laminate finish!  There is blood in the red color of that wood!  My blood!  I have to again say it is everything I had dreamed of for this cabinet and more!  Hidden is a 110 outlet in the bottom of the cabinet for Raymonds coffee pot, a 2 tube fluorescent light over the sink and with all of the walls and countertop the custom real (not machine done) hammered copper sheet, man this galley is right out of Disney!  Another win, can I take this much success!

Now we go after the sound system--- oh man, lets make our ears bleed!  Craig and his son Eric are heading this one up and they are on track.  Maybe another victory this week-- we'll have to see!

Gonna be another hot one here, no rain maybe so we might have a good day.  Accomplishing goals turns me on and we are really going good on the 26' Duramax.  Had another interest in doing one, I have to feel that when people see this coach they will better understand the capabilities of the GMC and more will want this.  We already have a derivitive of the look in process on Mark's coach.  For those that say this is altering the GMC too much--- what is "too much" AND HEY, WHY NOT!  I have a cartoon on the wall of my garage at home-- it shows a perfectly restored model T passing on the road a vlown T bucket with fat tires and a chrome chain steering wheel-- the caption reads "Stupid purist, lousey butcher".  There is room on the road for both and they both appreciate and are proud of their vehicle so why can't we!  Please remember this when the Duramax coaches show up at a rally near you and appreciate them for what they are.

I'm off to the trenches, over and out for now

6.24.09

Yesterday ended up being one of those basic blurrrrrrs  Had some pics downloaded but after doing that, fielding some Email questions and trying to catch up a bit on the GMC Net the day started running and I never caught up.

We're getting into the AV system on the Duramaqx 26'.  After the extensive "prewiring" done in the past, it is now time to put the thing together.  The speakers have been patiently waiting for their time to get mounted to thier box.    This is one of the 12" sub drivers, a serious sound machine .  Don't just slam these puppies in, the enclosure makes the sound and the 12" sub enclosure is a serious machine indeed .  2 layers of MDF laminated together, this is a serious paperweight!  It will need all of it!  The 8" drivers are little baby versions of the 12" drivers , their cabinets can be a single MDF layer enclosure but still the box makes the speaker so great care and design was taken there as well   So let me introduce you to the band   We have 2x 12", 4x 8" , 2x 6.5 seperates and 4x 6.5 2 way drivers.  This is what will make the noise but the amps and wiring give them the power and we have an abundance of that stuff .  Remember the amp panel and the 8500 watts RMS of power that  been just hanging out waiting for it's chance to rock.  "For those about to rock, we salute you"!  So stay tuned and keep your ear plugs handy!

Raymond challenged me to first set the form then function.  This means that we need to first make the interior look marvelous then adapt the function to fit that form.  This is a very difficult way to design a coach in that you limit yourself by the design when you go back in to make things work.  I do understand his direction and as far as this project has come from it's start we certainly do not want to cheapen up any phase of it so with the bedroom form set, I went about trying to hade a flat screen TV in the area.  Another aspect needed to be convenience and on this project motorized stuff is the norm.  OK, so where DO you hide a flat screen TV and a DVD player in there!  Also, can we make it available at the push of a button.

I can't hold back, I was here last night pretty late but I go it working.  I'll do a video about it this morning and post it on the you tube site-- come back later for that.  Oh and Raymond, yes-- I figured it out!  We have a hidden 15" flat screen with DVD included in the bedroom. 

Whats that tapping sound?  Yesterday Ray finished the hammered copper door insert for Raymond's frig so we'll fit that today.  We're close enough on the interior outfitting to maybe install the frig soon, hey thats a big step so stay tuned.

Craig I Steve spent some time building another transmission crate yesterday for one heading to Fredricksburg Va. .  We normally have a crate ready to go but with one already waiting at a shop in the panhandle of Florida, we had to make another crate to get this one out.  Having production built "Manny Trannys" right here in Florida has become a great help.

So that's it, today is supposed to be dry, yesterday the rains came in the afternoon which made the shop pretty soggy.  It's just something you have to get used to, it still effects me though.  each time someone drops by, a parts rep visits or and one comes over for that matter the question always comes up, "How are you doing"?  I guess that is the $50K question for everyone right now in this economic climate.  It is a simple fact that this is a strange and scary time for any small business and if you cannot be honest and admit that then you are only trying to fool yourself because everyone knows this is a number one issue-- I mean why do you think they asked!  So when someone asks me "the question" I first do not insult them by going the way of denial-- I've never been one to do that.  Sure, things are tighter this year than it was last year.  There is a large stable of coaches available and less people working on their coach as well as less people seeking restorations-- hey, that what has created the economic climate!  But are we dead, is our business plan a failure and are we looking for lifeboats because the ship is sinking?  I have to answer that by saying no, the GMC is the "cheapest toy in the box" meaning we all need to have something to occupy our time and energy.  We just can't roll up the sidewalk at our place and stay under the mattress.  We can't stop living because of all of this and dollar for dollar, there is a great return from investing a relatively speaking small amount to outfit a GMC for personal use.  No, they are not "cheap" but compared to other forms of activity you can experience life on a scale much less with a GMC than most any other form of fun.  You do not have to get wrapped up in long payment schedules, expensive repair programs, expensive parts and all of that.  A GMC is an easy fix compared to the computer driven vehicle of today.  Parts are easily available and heck, you can turn a wrench or 2 and do so much yourself or at a nominal fee from most any repair shop that putting time and money into a GMC really makes good sense if you think about it.  This is the reality of our business and why I feel and and will be OK through all of this.  Yes, it has effected us but no, I do not see our business in the same light many other automotive related industries do-- we are here and hope to be here in the future.  If you have a GMC I feel you have one of the best values out there, keep it and if you feel the need to get a GMC right now is a great time to buy.  Had a realator friend say when asked about his business that right now "everything was on sale" and it was a great time to be a realator!  What an attitude and you know he was right.  It is a great time to buy being an open market with many awesome deals.  We need to keep this in mind and know theat America is a wonderful place to be from.  In vest in your future and in fun, mess with your GMC and hey, we're here to help.  Take small vacations near to home, use your coach and you will get joy from it.  I think of Bob Heller, it seems he and Donna are out about every weekend using their coach-- what an awesome investment he has made in the pleasure of his time off.  You can do this too.  Jim Galbavy too has wrapped his coach into the life of his family and he too has a great investment in his fun.  The GMC is much more than a hold to drop money--- if you will just use it.  So if you are sitting there trying to figure out how to stretch your dollar, get out there in your GMC, your return will be worth the investment and isn't that called successful investing?

Have a great day, the sun is out, I can feel ther heat coming in through the window.  "Time to make the donuts".  YTime to break a sweat and keep it so we'll see ya soon.  Stay tuned for the rear TV video on you tube, I'll get it soon

6.22.09

It's 8:30 and the sun has already been up for over an hour!  Hot---- man are you kidding!  Triple digit numbers today with stupid humidity-- this is NOT the times we look forward too here in paradise!  Hey, but you make due with what you have.

Been trying to catch up with monitoring the net both for the CJ and the GMC-- looks like enthusiasm is alive and well on both fronts.  Am getting many posts with specific questions about things-- thanks it's fun being in those loops.  Hope the page here is a fun stop of your day & I'll keep trying to make it interesting.

Check out the interesting paint job on this coach that blew through the shop last week,      This beauty came in complaining of fresh water system troubles and being a 73 had an interesting time getting going again.  The 73 models were plumbing with sweated copper lines Now it may sound like the thing to do but this was only done in the first year coaches and changed to all plastic for good reason.  They found out right away that sweated fittings do not like the stress of bouncing down the road and winterizing the system is a (*&^%!  Plus as you see, repairing the system creats all sorts of issues so it all came out.  The bracket they made to hold the water heater was "Mondo which ended up being cut out with a plasma cutter!  3 days of work got the new water heater in only to find out after the fresh water system got doing it's thing that the gate valve and holding tank leaked about as fast as water flowed into it!  Bummer dude, guess we know what the next job will be!   Crag & his son Eric came in on Saturday to finish up this rig to keep those folks on a tight holiday schedule-- thanks guys for the hard work!

Got Raymond's 8" sub boxes ready for Steve to bind carpet today   Just one step closer!

Hey, I think I found it!  Roaming through an AV store like I do just looking for new stuff I found this machine .  A all new Toshiba LCD/DVD combo flat screen TV-- a 15" unit measuring overall less than 12" tall & 3" deep!  This is a super small unit that just might fit into the overhead in Raymond's 26' Duramax bedroom!  Sure there are a couple of "impossibilities" to overcome but hey "we that have done so much with so little for so long now attempt the impossible with nothing at all"!  This has possibilities so stay tuned!  If you are interested in the unit yourself, it is a Toshiba (15LV505), check it out somewhere.  The big deal here is not only the size but also the fact that the unit has a DVD player built in!  This solves many wiring and space issues of which is a huge help on this project.  In that I will have to modify the unit to build a bracket, I'm "burning" the unit in making sure it works before I dig into it   Hey, nice picture!  OK, so I get off on new electronics like this and I'm stoked about this project-- should be interesting.  The first criteria for the interior on Raymond's interior was "form" which means the look must be always the first consideration.  After the form is perfect the "function" must be investigated.  This is a very different discovery process than many people are willing to go.  It takes more creativity to come up with options because above all, it must look good-- thats a hard way to go if you want it to work superior as well.  There is much more "trial and error" doing things this way which means more time, more $ and more work.  In the end though when you succeed you really succeed!

Have a great day, it looks like a hot one for us here!  Just walked outside to open the bays and worked up a sweat!  Thanks for the visit, we'll talk again later

June 20.09

I'm trying as much as possible to not have the guys come in on weekends, it just goes to burn them out and I need them to be as fresh as I can but today we need to have them here.  We started a water heater replacement on a 1973 coach that really has turned into a huge project.  In 73, GM was still trying to figure out how to put these puppies together and may not even at that time needed to replace a water heater.  The bath module seems to have been put in after the water heater which made it , how do I say "difficult" to get to.  The mounting bracket on those first year coaches for the water heater resmbled a launching platform for a Scud Missle!  It was in there and it has to come out to get the water heater out.  Step one needs to be (Remove the rear bath wall) for this water heater replacement-- but wait, think about all that has to come out to do that!  I could take my "sawsall" as Wayne did to his toilet that would not come out and hack it in half but hey, the coach is too nice for that Rambo stuff!  So we make up new words, move this, trim that, and just make it happen.  Craig & Eric are going "diver down" on this project & I have to hand it to them they are doing an awesome job.  Hang in there guys!  Now for you later coaches, I think someone woke up and redesigned the brackets and mounting for the water heater and though it is still a *&^%$ to replace at least it is doable-- you guys with 73 models stand ready when your water heater goes out!

I occupied my waking time yesterday on the speaker install on the overhead cabinets for the 26' Duramax.    Each needed a custom made then covered adapter then wired and mounted.  We have 2 pair of 2 way plastic cone woofer/dome tweeter 6.5 " speakers and one set of 6.5" seperates with aluminum spun woofers and again dome tweeters.  The seperates have passive crossover networks mounted in the cabinets with the speakers for easy repair or replacement  .  Why think about that?  Hey, this system is a performance driven rig which I have no doubt that this system will be driven past it's limit on a regular basis-- hey, thats why it's here and making allowance for easy repair & maintenance is a good thing!  As soon as my second shipment of LED utility lights arrive I will be able to finish up the cabinets and hang them.  Another important part of these cabinets is they are easy to remove and service and have a "failure safe" component that if need be the cabinets can be accessed even with drive motor failure and repaired easily and cheaply.  So many time I see units like this built with no reguard for maintenance or repair and usually being the poor dude that has to fix them I really want to make that guys job a good one.  These are some of the things you must consider when building custom components.

The rebuiling of marks coach mechanically continues, waiting for the Q bag system to arrive, Jason was putting together the rear brakes and found this poor puppy   Looking like some tool found in a Mayan tomb, the adjuster was dead, dead!  Froze in place, rusted to the end and well-- just ugly!  It had to go so we brought in new adjuster kits to replace the old stuff complete , you can see the old adjuster laying there just above the open plastic bag full of all those new pieces/parts.  Mr. Troll is "outa there"!  with the new water cooled Honda on the slate to install soon.  Hey sorry but I want a generator that can be depended on and so does Mark! 

Here's an interesting idea for storage.  How bout "window storage"!    Don't need no stinkin window at my head, lets make a storage compartment!  The window is hinged at the top with 2 locks at the bottom, the glass is blacked out and ":vwala" we have a place for the spare tire cleaning up the rear of the coach, tolls are in there, a light, jack and other stuff .  A really nice coach with this mod actrually this coach is for sale in the $35K range.  Give me a call & I'll set you up with Jerry if you are interested .

Finally and yes finally, Ken's 23' Duramax is peeping at us through it's scrubs getting ready for some new color   I can't get mad at the guys in that they are taking upon themselves to excell at bringing the coach to a quality finish so keep going guys!  This really is going to be one of those unique machines, just wait & see.

So Happy Fathers Day for those that have take on the job.  This day has some very important significance to in that my Dad that I grew up with finding out later in life that he was my "Step Father" who raised me better than I felt I deserved waited for me on that Fathers Day in 1996 til I was at his side to pass away.  As you can imagine It was an emotional time for me but I was one who did get the chance to tell him all those things you want to before he was no longerb here, I am just so happy I had that time so Fathers Day is always good for a few tears of joy for me.  My real father too was a good man in the end caring and interested in my life and how I came to be what I was.  It was a real blessing to know him before his death, to know more about myself and where I came from and why I was the way I was.  yep, we was a out of the box kinda guy, probably as tough to get along with as me but I bet he knew more in his life that many others and I did look up to him in that way.  I feel these are the legacies we should seek from our parents and I feel what they seek to give us.  My "fathers" were the best and I am really happy it all worked out as it did.  I will drive to Jax. this evening to celebrate this time with my Mom, visit Ray's grave and remember what it's all about to be the Dad someone looks for.  I certainly hope your Dad was half as good to you as mine and if so please honor him wether he's still here with you or not.  Remember, you only have one, in my case 2 but still our Mom's and dad's need to be special people and this Sunday is the day to let them know and remember how special there are to us.  I'll be doing something I enjoy, driving my Samauri with the top down, you guys think of something special and just do it!

Talk to ya again soon

June 19.09

Sorry, no I have not started the account of last weeks incredible journey it has take about every ounce of energy to get this rock at the shop rolling again up the hill to spend time writing.  It will however get me attention soo, I have gobbs of pics and many important things I learned along the way I want to remember so stay tuned I get to it soon.  Oh and no, I'm not quitting my day job to start cleaning pools, Cal has that job hands down, I mean when one of his movie producer customers come out to talk to him about their pool, Cal introduces me and the customer says hey Cal is the best-- I mean how can you do better than that!  Now maybe if I followed him around a couple of years..... naaaa, the work is too hard-- my shoulders were aching after just a day of it!

So, back at the shop where I can do "easy stuff", yesterday got many thiings accomplished.  Kevin was over at paint sanding on the 23' Duramax wheel opening.  We had both agreed that it needed to be more round so he went at it.  Yep, they were supposed to get this stuff done why ile I was away but you must understand they too had their issues so we work with what we have.   Kevin and Tank also started in on repairing the molds for Mark's exterior ground effects project , can you pick out which one is "tank".  Hey, I'm pleased I have Tank with our team, I find bringing in talent for many industries helps with the unique machines we work with.  Tank does this stuff   "Low Riders", he has many trophies and has been singled out as awesome in his field.  He is a great asset and with Kevin bring us quality talent.  The ground effects molds were all but destroyed from the last pull for Ken's Duramax.  The idiot fiberglass mold guy cut a corner and used sanding resin over the mold resin which is the standard.  I took that one on the chin but thats what happens when someone lets you down.  Won't make that mistake again!  So our first goal will be to fix the molds for at least another pull for Mark.   That trigger was pulled yesterday so stay tuned for more on this project.

Finally got cracking on the 8" "stelth" sub enclosures in Raymond's Duramax.  Had a question as to the shape of the actual enclosures so here they are from the back   As you can see under that odd shaped cabinet you have a cube built of MDF while the rest of the cabinet is plywood.  You cannot make a resonating vessel out of plywood, it must be out of a denser material.  The top concave panel is of "bendboard", a material designed to allow radiused curves such as we have.  The cabinet shape is nonstandard being actually fabricated in place then removed to be covered.  There was a great deal of work put into this box, doesn't look like much but it was.  The front is now partially covered first with a high density 1/4" foam pad then the copper Kettle Majilite for a nice feel.  These cabinets will place next to the rear seats.  Another question was what the opened area on the side of the enclosure was for, it is to frame in the fuel fill hoses to the 2 saddle tanks on either side of the coach.  Eventually, we invision having one of the tanks dedicated to vegy oil fuel and the other biodiesel.

The rest of the enclosure will be covered in the awesome carpet that raymond & LM chose for the floor.  The end look will be something like this   This is the samply we used to perfect the binding process we will use   the binder and stitching will match the gold swirles in the carpet-- hey, these small things are important!  Steve should be in today and this will be his project.

Yesterday Jeff came in to help me fab the cruved spacers needed to mount the speakers to the front of the overhead cabinets.  The radius of the cabinets mating up to the flat baskets of the speakers made special adapters necessary   Hey, it's just one of those little things.  Here is the finished look   can you pick out the speaker and the adapter-- yep, thats the general idea!

The rain yesterday put a damper on our productivity a bit, the rain with it's wind blew the water sideways under the closed bay door and Craig had to fight the waters with the broom to keep it out   I mean sometimes there are things you have to put up with to live in paradise!  They say today will be again hot and maybe not as much wet stuff, wish us luck on that.  Have a great day yourself, hope Mother Nature does well for you.  We will be here doing our best so have fun and we'll talk again.

BTW, would like to say Hi to my Mom, she's got that lap top running again.  I'll see ya soon and I love ya.

June 18.09

Another beautiful day and another delivery day to boot  This is Sandra & Greg's baby, we had finished it up some 3 years ago, they had brought it in for some maintenance and today it goes back out on the streets-- man what a beautiful machine       Talk about lines, this thing has gotem.  A really smooth, clean, classic tasteful machine everyone can appreciate.  As the first CLASCO renovation back in the early 90's was named, this is the "Phoenix" listed on my gallery page.  "Out from the ashes rose the pheonix" I think the story goes so did this awesome motorhome from what was a proud coach of the 70's is not a look for today.  I gotta tell ya this is what a GMC can do and can look like today.  Almost hate to see it go, I gave it a last test drive and could let go of thin "Big Boy" 18" leather wrapped steering wheel the alignment and suspension was so nice .  I tell ya, this puppy has it all!  I found the LF brake caliper dragging a bit so we had the Phoenix open wide to fix the problem   Hey, Sandra is the primary driver of the rig and the direction was to make it safe.  Out came both front calipers and we replaced them, the pads and installed our hot shot new teflon lined stainless braided hoses then power bled it all out.  Hey, this had to happen, I mean no matter how pretty it is it also has to work as good as it looks .  Just like I named Wayne's coach "Gold Standard" , I really am proud of this styling and feel it's something we have brought to the GMC that will last.  Now, I get the supreme please of going out to wash up the Phoenix before Sandra & Greg come to collect their bundle of joy.  Thanks guys got having the faith in me to create such a masterpiece and thanks for caring about a 30 year old pile of bolts to creat such a machine.  This is the vision and the direction of the future of our classic coach!

Mark's totally rebuilt rear suspension bogy ssytem is going on now and waiting for the Q bag system to come in   Everything new, this resoration started from the ground up and will be an awesome ride when done.  Keep watching for more on this one.

Had to order in the high density foam to pad the tops of Raymond's 8" forward woofer boxes which slowed me down a bit but it came in and was laminated on , the second box was unbolted and brought in for it's covering   these will end up much more than a "pretty face".  The sub enclosures are designed with the proper cubic dimensions needed to optimize the driver efficiency.  The enclosures are made of high density "MDF" board, screwed and glued to an airtight perfect enclosure.  Not just a box holding the speaker, these are sonically correct and now they will be made to look as awesome as they will sound.  Hey, you guys on "Unique Whips" eat your hearts out!  These boxes will whale!!!!  I hope to get the covering on them today, stay tuned.

OK, the sun is up and I can't wait to soap up the Phoenix.  Have a great day yourself, make the most of it.  We'll see ya later

June 17.09

So the Shuttle washed out again, don't get me wrong the shuttle program here in Central Florida is a big deal but you have to remember that the shuttle design is about the vintage of our GMC!  Yep, it's been "renovated" to new technologies, controls and those pesky "O rings" but it is still just as our GMC when renovated of a vintage design and things must be taken into account.  This morning the news folks said the problem was with a fitting that until recently had been very reliable but has lately failed 3 times.  Sounds like rebuilt steering boxes and alternators on our coaches!  You spare no expense to have component parts reworked only to find something happens.  We always blame this situation on "Murphy" or say "stuff" happens--- hey but why?  It's human nature to want to know why this is so, why did the wheel pop off after wheel bearings were replaced-- why did a Delco remanufactured dash AC compressor shoot it's clutch off into the front grill and why did a brand new fitting on a brand new hose just start leaking!  Enquiring minds want to know and I betcha there are rocket engineers who didn't get any sleep last night that are asking that same thing about the hydrogen line fitting on the shuttle tower-- hey man, I feel your pain!

Working with "old iron" these things happen and the way I have found to make it through all of that is to "shake down".  A new part or something that has been refinished must prove to me through use that it will take and work as expected and if something does happen (an unexpected result) the best that can be done is to fix it better and keep going-- this is I know frustrating but it's just the way it is.

Last week, another very frustrating happened to me while traveling in the coach "Gold Standard", the alternator failed first night out.  Yes, I had our "combiner switch" and all I had to do is fire up the awesome Honda generator and I had charge but pulling into John R. place there in Niceville (yes, that is the name of the town) John ended up carting me around to 4 different parts houses before we could find a 100 alternator replacement and it had to be brought to us from some other place.  I tell ya I feel for you  guys trying to find parts out there in the frontier.  Then in Bakersfield, Wayne wanted me to install a new cruise transducer in that the one that brought me cross country was not holding speed well.  Again, we bounced around from parts stores looking for the elusive 36-102 rebuilt unit.  2 parts places didn't even know what we were looking for, one had a listing but could not get it and the 4th had it in their main warehouse which we paid for then went there to pick it up.  Turned out it was the model without the light indicator terminal-- oh well, if it works it will have to do.  Heck man, I can have the exact part in 30 minutes brought to me in Orlando!  Again I felt the pain of trying to find parts out there.  Hey guys, don't waste the gas, the time and have the frustration over your heads on procuring parts.  Anticipate what you need and just call me, the parts we had were about the same cost as the parts places and one call will put it in your UPS drivers hands at your doorstep in a couple of days.  I tell ya it's getting to the point that you need to look to the specialty parts dealers for these parts for your coach.  Too bad there are no Shuttle specialty parts dealers around for those boys-- they have to pull out the prints and make every part they need!  Jim G. knows about procuring specialty parts for aircraft, just be pleased they made 12,971 GMC in comparison to less that 10 shuttles-- now those are machine that really need a parts guy local!

So yesterday was a good one, we have several repair coaches preparing to hit the road, Steve got several component parts on the Duramax framed up for me to now cover.  The forward 8" sub woofer boxes are now framed in and the first one has been removed for covering.  There is the driver side custom box   The forward section of the box covers the fuel inlet hose to the driver side saddle diesel tank.  The first step is to smooth out the edges with body filler which was started last thing yesterday evening .  Today I will sand that our smooth then apply the copper Kettle Majilite covering to the top then Steve will wrap the sides in carpet.  Oh, a good test yesterday by Steve-- he found his machine able to stitch the heavy carpet that Raymond & LM picked out for the floor   The pile was mondo thick and the jute backing is stiffer than anything we had ever worked with.  Steve chucked up a piece to see if he could actually bind the edges of this stuff and happy day he could!  So the plan to cover the sides of this box in this awesome carpet will work, just another impossible job found out overcome.  Good show Ole Bean!  Today I should be able to finish off covering this box and get into the other side one as well-- stay tuned.

On the 23' Duramax front, stand ready for some renagotiation on the paint scheme.  Sometime all the planning comes down to stepping back and actually seeing the real thing to show the reality of everything and as far as the paint lay out on the 23' Duramax project this was the reality.  The ground effects creates lines on the coach that is a radical departure so there is no model to follow on the color layout.  After stepping back and looking at the paint, Ken and I agreed that there needed to be some suttle changes and it's the small things that make the big difference when it comes to stuff like this.  Currently, the 23' rocket is back in the paint hanger getting prepped for some stripe changes     The lower side inserts will go blackout to blend in with the forward lower grill opening and the black wheels.  We're loosing the front ribbon stripe that extended down to the insert opting for a complete one color front nose.  They should be doing the color change today or tomorrow so stay tuned.

Jason is continuing the build up on Mark's rear suspension, we'll be installing the Quad bag system when it shows up so stand by for that.  BTW, this deal has changed from what I used to call an "excotic" performance modification part to just about a no brainer upgrade with Firestone discontinuing our original 8301 air bags.  Yes, there is an interim of the "4 bag" system for $750 which is now actually less money than paying the extortion those that still offer the original ending inventory of the original air bags.  This system uses the same actual bags as the "Quad Bag" system and installing it will get you on the road for less bucks out of pocket.  When you do save up enough coke bottle to go full bore for the Quad bag system you will not have wasted any money or time and the stationary member of the Qbag system can be added without throwing away major expensive parts.  Yes, times they are a changin as the song goes, gone is the original 2 bag rear suspension and on goes the world on 4 bags.  Give me a call if you want more info.

OK, so the sun is up, looks like another cooker of a day down here complete with the afternoon rain showers.  Last night lightening took out power to the house for over 2 hours--- welcome to the rainy season and yes, we are one of the lightening capitals of the world down here!  Have a great day, we are on duty and doing what we can to rid the world of boring motorhomes.  Thanks for the visit, we'll see ya again soon

June 16.09

Looks like most of you guys hung in there and are back, thanks  I'm starting to get back in a groove of sorts around here.  Sam is coming in this morninh to repair a broken return spring in the ignition system in a coach, Harry is driving in to fix a leak in his tranny and Jeff is coming in to work more on Raymond's Duramax dash.  Craig, Eric, Steve and I will also be working on the Duramax project.

Yesterday, another overhead cabinet came together and went in the Duramax interior.  More than just a pretty face, these cabinets are loaded with hidden wiring Prewiring for the LED lights, the servos and the speaker in the cabinet are glued down with RTV and covered over with the gold "Ozite" carpet material.  The the cabinet is hung, the servos attached to the "breakaway" ceiling brackets and the wiring is connected .  Then, with a push of the rocker switch the cabinet comes to life and pulls itself up into position-- very cool!  .  The finish is just what I wanted, hand rubbed dark red burlwood that shows it's grain and flavor as you get closer and closer and closer till really the grain of the wood takes over and thats what you have   , a really unique character and a hand made look for both the galley as well as the clamshell overheads.  There is no doubt that these are "one of a kind"!

Like I said I'm getting back in my groove so thanks for the visit and come back tomorrow for more.

June 15.09
 

Back in the saddle again....  Yes, the world headquarters for Cooperative Motor Works, inc. is back open taking your calls and doing the work.  Some may have thought it was nuts to shut down for a week but hey, what happened needed to happen--- it's done and the world is again safe from boring motorhomes!

Yea right, now we need to get back to our work and there is much to do and many exciting things ahead for us so stay tuned.  I have a story in my head of the past week that I want to put together for you.  It had many trials and tribulations that I think would be interesting to many.  Many of the things I have told you guys for years came into first person use, I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt how unique the GMC is, how reliable it can be and how well it can do it's job----IF that is--- IF you do a few right things.  It is a very forgiving machine unlike many-- you can rely upon it to do your bidding--- the one I drove cross country after sitting for many years made me proud.  Here it is at the end of it's journey to it's new life in Bakersfield     with it's new owner or should I say "keeper".  These pieces of history will no doubt be here long after you and I have no cares so our job is to do our best with the time we have with them.  This is but a space in time, our space and our time to enjoy the things that make us happy.  This GMC made me happy the time I was with it, I only hope you guys get the chance in your life to work with a machine such as I did.

I must thank so many who made the past week such a memorable time for me-- so many looked after me and made the time all it could be.  Along the way, John Richardson was most gracious to help me in a time of need.  Robert Foust and his family gave me a great stop off in Baton Rouge  , some good ole "Coonass" food and a nice relaxing time watching a movie before off to the road again.  And then there was the end of a 23 hour, 1000 mile run to Steve and Nancy Ferguson in Sierra Vista-- I looked like a homeless guy and I'm sure smelled like one too!  Not only did they open up their place as a port in the storm but actually lead me with their coach to the end of my trail in Bakersfield-- man what a help.  I mean how much confidence would you have following Steve!  Pulling the Cajon Pass and another mondo hill I cannot think of the name and all following Steve & Nancy's yellow towd-- what a time.  Made it through the Mohave Desert and other like places that you just don't see in Florida--- you just don't know about places like that until you drive one and even afterwards your mind has a wonderful way of blocking trauma.  Maybe I wanted to remember every laboring moment!  Oh well, I will have to do with writing it all down before I forget it all so that's what I'll do.  The couple of days I spend with Cal & Roberta In Receda   was nothing short of relaxing and fun, fun, fun.  You just don't know sometimes how much you needed a change of pace til you have it and boy howdy I needed that.  I was a "pool boy" assistant up in the hills overlooking LA and you just cannot have a better work environment   !  Cal has one of those "sorry about your problems but I'm loving life" jobs!  Thanks man for giving me a small taste of it all.

I did the "red eye" to Orlando from LA getting in Sunday morning which made Sunday a blurrrrrrr for me.  Slept many hours and when I woke up it was all behind me, the trauma was gone and all I now remember was all of the good stuff-- yes, our minds are really good on that point!  Today, I'm getting back in my saddle looking over all that is the Co-op here.  It's going to be hot and humid today-- same as it always is here, I'll sweat 5 gallons off and feel like I could drink a water tower this evening-- same as it always is around here.  My lips are almost out of their chapped stages so at least that is gone, got some calls already thing morning from friends telling me to get back to work-- thanks for that, heck I need a little direction today to get going.

I'll get back on the stick and give you guys updates tonight or tomorrow morning, right now I have thise huge bolder to get moving, we'll talk later, thanks for the visit, thanks to all who have gotten me back here and we'll get going right away.  See ya later

June 10.09

Thanks to Nancy Ferguson for getting my computer up on the WiFi , I spent the night at Augie's RV Park at Gila Bend Arizona-- not next to the desert but IN THE DESERT!  It's amazing what life is like witrhout water anywhere!  Here is the park   Nancy & Steve Ferguson is letting me tag along this leg of the trip.  They are heading to a Pacific Cruisers rally in Lone Pine which happens to be in the same general direction I'm hoping to end up in Bakersfield.

The "Gold Standard" has been an awesome ride.  Used only 1 qt of oil since Orlando.  I'm averaging @ 8.5 MPG with as much as 12 MPG on flat land.  The thing is running great.  Stay tuned, I'll try and give you mor report soon.  Right now we gotta go-- hit the road and this is the sort of road we are hitting-- see ya soon-- giddy up. 

OK, a half pack of cigarettes (not really), a full tank of gas, it's dark and we're wearing sun glasses-- we're on a mission from God-- right, hit it!  It's been frantic the past couple of days around here what with keeping all of the projects moving plus getting Wayne's new baby ready for it's cross country run, getting my head around what I am getting ready to self impose upon myself yesterday was such a blurr I didn't even get my computer truned on till Janie came in and the invoice program needed to be accessed. 

First thing yesterday I was truing the tire/rim set I will be blowing out of here on this evening    Just so those that don't know what I'm talking about catch up, there are no "round" tires.  The molding process that is used to manufacture tires inherently produce a "high" and a "low" point on the product.  In the case of the GMC with it's tandem rear wheel arrangement and a suspension which allows the tires to "talk" to each other, this out of round condition many times will create an oscillating vibration at 55-65 MPH.  You can go to my "you tube" page and see how it is done but a tire truing machine is basically a "tire lathe" which cuts the tire to an exact round condition on the rime it will actually run on.  Here are the tires I will be on getting trued then static balanced.       .  After making the tire/rim assembly exactly round, a static balance uses gravity and the laws of physics (which BTW you cannot break, bend or cheat on) to force the tire/rim be "perfect".  You can actually take a bad, damaged or even cheap tire and make it ride like glass with this process of after doing this to all 6 tires , I should have a silk smooth ride cross country.  Hey, if you ask does this work let me say this, "You cannot ever break the natural laws of physics and ever think you won-- just can't happen!".

So with the tires set up and on the coach we pulled it into the metal building for the final exterior assembly and check out for the run.  Hey, I'm driving this puppy so I'm double checking everything just like it was my life riding--- hey wait-- it is MY life riding on this!  Not a total rebuild motor but we went over it with a fine tooth comb tuned to the t's, reman carb, Thorley headers with the singlele muffler exhaust, new plugs and wires, "combine" switch on the batteries, the Honda genny blowing out that life giving 110 VAC, new brakes, tires, rims, fuel system, dash AC, hey what else-- got the final punch list in front of me right now and I'm checking it twice!

For those of you wondering about this coach and it's assets, let me tell you this is and will eventually turn into a really nice ride--  The project started by George F. who did things right but ultimatly decided to end his involvement, Wayne H. picked up the ball and already having a coach that will end up being a "core donor"--  it's an early 77 model GM floorplan Palm Beach which means it is equipped with the EL suspension system with the Quad bagger system BTW, it has one of the last 455 motor set ups (I would call this beast about a  "best of the best" machine, the type 3 dash AC system totally rebuilt, it has the new Eagle wheels and some really nice slippers laced up tight, the water cooled Honda generator, a spiffy base clear paint job with our "raccoon" look lay out, nice new 1/2 aluminum micro mini blinds with our padded valence system.  It has the original dash right now but Wayne has already got a "Mac Daddy" dash kit for it, 2 low profile roof AC units, our console scissors sofa, 4 of our captains seats-- I tell ya this will be a nice puppy soon!  I am pleased and honored to be able to bring this thing cross country to it's new home and pleased to be a part of it's awakening.

I've contacted several of you guys along my route as support so watch the skies for my con trail!  I hope to make Sierra Vista and dinner with Steve Ferguson on Monday evening, maybe before that break bread with Marcel and Gary in El Paso, maybe call Scott S. and Robert F. in Baton Rouge, Rob( our Aussi contact) Mueller right nowin Humble Tx. among others.  This should be a great run if I can fight off sleep.   I look to "leap frog" from rest area to rest area doing 300 miles at a jump.  Come on baby, do me right!

So while I'm doing all of this, I'll still have a crew at the shop doing paint and mechanical stuff, no the office will not be open but I'll be on my cell phone (1-321-299-5707) if you need something.  Steve and Craig are making headway on the work in the 26' Duramax while Keven, Jeff and Tank fret over the "23 D" at Ken calls it.  Mark H. suspension is going back together and though Buster is on Vaca in the Keys with his family Jason is on duty. So there you are, we're caught up.  I'm trying to get the ducks lined up to bug out on this odyssey .  Hey, I love this stuff and don't get the chance much so I'm going to make the best of it!  I hope to find WiFi access along the way so I'll catch you guys up as I can.

BTW, think about this-- how unusual.  Here I am hailing from Orlando where the "Magic" reighn supreme going to end up in LA where the Lakers kicked out butt last night!  I'll be in the "belly of the beast" next week, pray for me and the team-- no I don't really follow basketball that much but like the "Super Bowl" and all, you always are interested in number 1 so I'm off to support our team.  Cal, don't meet me with a basketball!

S

Update

And one other thought  Take a look at this   This is GM's concept vehicle named "POD", a lifestyle concept vehicle tageted to outline a future mobile lifestyle     and how not just "motorhomers" but many people might live.  This is the "look" Mark H. wants us to use as a template to build up his Coachman to.  Yep, we take the ambitious ideas and go for it so stay tuned for more on this project.

6.3.09

Yesterday was one of those defining days everyone was here and working through projects, everyone was happy to be doing what they were and things were getting done.  I want to tell you about a bunch of it at the same time I don't want to miss the morning so I won't spell check todays post (like I ever do anyway) and working with 2 computers at the same time right now I hope to while doing this post answer Emails so the thoughts i put down may start and stop a  bit.

Had yet another question about the carpet going in Raymonds 26' Duramax, I mean what makes up a quality carpet to use.  Well forst thing the pile must be thick to bend 90 deg on the step-- look at this stuff look how tight the pile is.  The jute back is so tight Steve is scared to break his commercial needle!  I tell ya this stuff is awesome I have no doubt it will feel like a putting green on bare feet!  No, you do not have to go this far, I told Raymond & LM what we needed and they took it to the limit, you just need to bend the carpet 90 deg. by hand and not see the backing.  I usually tell people you need a 12x20 section of carpet to cover the floor plus make some throw rugs and stuff.  Yes, we will use a 1/2" rebond pad under this stuff though it probably will not need it, most carpet does.

OK, for me yesterday it was "buff day".  I had the final buff on cabinet doors and the overheads while Jeff wired and built them up for install.  Let me give you a sense of the labor involved in building these and bringing them to a finished state.  He is the days completed work   In that we were not going simply for a shiny finish, we wanted that hand rubbed look, the only way to get that is to do that!  After all the time had been spent in fabricating the doors and cabinets out of plywood, they got their rear burlwood vineer outer skin.  They were then stained to a red dye shade to match the red burlwood steering wheel then fine sanded.  Then 5 coats of clear were sprayed onto the finish letting each one dry and wet sand before the next.  Now we come to this finish   The doors on the left are the last sprayed on clear, the one on the right is sanded to 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  Now I go for the 3" air buffer and the Finesse" fine polish compound on each .  This takes the 1000 grit sanding marks out and brings up the deep finish   There will be one more step of using the 20 pound orbital buffer and a cleaner wax like you would on a car but the final sand and high speed polish I did yesterday take @ 45 minutes per item (cabinets more, doors less).  At that I spend 6 3/4 hours to bring these 5 doors and 4 overheads to this finish state with like I said there is still one more level of finish.  At out labor rate that is over $500 worth of sanding and buffing AFTER the fab, color and clear process!  So understand to have a finish like this is big bucks, big labor and a big deal.  Just can't wait to see each go up-- my hands will be happy too!  The 3" air powered high speed buffer made the process whaqt can be called quick though over 6 hours of work is still nothing to sneeze at!

Speaking of labor intensive stuff-- remember we had decided to make a hammered copper frig insert for the Norcold unit I had colored black?  My son Ray took on the task and was a "happy hammerer" at his job yesterday   I'm very pleased that he took on and has perfected the hammer process.  Being in the hallway, this frig panel will be very visible and prominent, even moreso that the galley walls, galley counter or the low table at the entry door he has already done.  This is day 3 of the frig door panel project.  We fabricated the wood frame to hold the panel rigid while he processed the finish.  He is hammering "bricks" in the copper to keep the deforming down then will link each brick for the final uniform finish.  This is "mondo" work.  Yes, you can buy prehammered copper sheet but it would not have that "hand made" look that we are getting-- like I said we are sparing no expense and labor to make this machine not only one of a kind but custom-- hand made and awesome!  Raymond, I need to autographs for Ray for this work!

The guys were at the point yesterday of the first fit of the forward sofa that Omar had covered .  Steve was foreman on this one bringing in the "young bucks" to heave this piece into place.  Still not finished this was the first fit which Omar is scheduled to come back today to discuss the additional mods it will need but check out the fit as a bed   It fits to my "wire chase" padded panel to an interferance fit .  Did I say bed?  It is short so this will be more like a "lounging" fixture/ sofa to watch the 32" flat screen or whatever.  I think this will be a very unique and useful thing for Raymond, stay tuned for more on this.

This morning I came in with anticipation in another direction, we're coming up on Friday and my solo run to Bakersfield in Wayne's "new" machine.  Looking at it sitting in the lot this morning  I could swear it spoke to me. This usually does not happen until a coach is near completion and this coach still has much interior work left.  Yes, we had done the paint work, the Honda water cooled generator, the headliner, walls and window treatment but Wayne picked this puppy up from a customer who stopped the work and offered it up as unfinished.  I think though after processing the coach mechanically for the trip out west, it was awake and aware and I guess thats what triggered the character outflow.  This is one of those subliminal ties I get with machine we work on here and I was delighted as while I stood there chebrought this machine to it's perfection.  cking the coach out that it started conjuring up names.    Sitting there bellied up to it's paint layout template "Phoenix" as it is listed on the gallery page Phoenix , the "racoon" look both with forward and reclining vertical inserts has been a very popular paint scheme for us-- Wayne's Gold coach seems to me to be the "Gold Standard" for this look.  There it is-- the Gold Standard-- it may sound a bit silly but really, the lines of this coach is a standard of which others coming before have perfected .  Wayne's, being gold/black is a fitting "gold standard" with the Phoenix being a "silver standard".  Actually the coach build for Scott S. "Might fine from behind" Mighty Fine brought the design started by "Full tilt buggy" Full Tilt from the back flow look to the forward look.  See this is one of the exciting parts of this job-- bringing to life design and style accents-- not just paint stripes and lines but style statements and now being at the "Gold Standard" I feel we have arrived & I'm excited that this machine will end up living on the west coach showing our friends first person out there just what a style statement the GMC is and can be.  Before Friday I hope to do some "glamour" pics of Gold Standard with and without it's predecessors not only to document the style statement but also to show off the unique style of the machine itself so stay tuned for that.

Gold Standard has a morning appointment for it's exterior makeup then at noon it comes back here for it's new shoes , a warm up of the tires then a true and balance.  BTW, these are the rim/tire set that may be available to you over on the west coast when I get there next week.  I'm putting these slippers on to make sure my trip cross country is uneventful on tire issues-- besides you know how cool Gold Stanard will look sliding along I-10!  Hey, we gotta look good as the comedian says "You Look Marvelous" and Gold Standard will!

Can you tell I'm getting pumped up for this run west?  Hey, I need to be to do this.  I'm stopping by my doctor to be sure I'm good to go for the sleep deprivation, the case of Rd Bull I'll be sucking on, the crashing at rest areas and all it will take to do the white knuckle drive west.  We'll have a non stop to Sierra Vista to Steve Fergusons to drop off A arms and to visit my son John.  Can't wait to check out his motorized bike and maybe check out his work at Ft. Wachuka (spelling is off for sure) and the UAV stuff he's doing before making it on up to Bakersfield and where Gold Standard will make it's new home with Wayne.  This is exciting stuff, at least for me it is and I feel honored to make this all happen.  Cal is going to figure in to this move and will get me to the plane on time to LA next Friday, thanks man for that help.  Heck, that will be another cool thing-- he just got his coach back from having one of our crate roller 455 motors installed from his worn out 403!  I'll get to break bread with that beast too!  This is just going to be too much fun! 

So today is a good day, yesterday was good and TODAY SHOULD BE A LITTLE BETTER AND THATS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE!  Eney your new day, it was made and is here just for you, at least you need to treat it that way.  Come back tomorrow and see what messes we get into.  Ken, the paint guys are going at your coach, the wheel wells are going in, the forward stripes are coming off and be thinking about turning the lower insert to a "blackout".  I'll talk with you later about that.  Hey guys, these are the things you just can't plan until you see what you have-- we're being proactive on our work so stay tuned.  Thanks for the visit, have a great day...

 6.2.09

And just about the time I say use this, something goes wrong Yep, "Murphy" lives here too!  Yesterday I talked up Delco stuff soo you know I had to be shot down-- hey, we just live in that "imperfect world" and most anything should be expected at most any given time we put in all those new Delco parts in Wayne's dash AC system, we drew it down and we just started pumping out ice cubes and it stopped!  Yep, on looking at things, the high dollar Delco expansion valve froze up and that as they say was it!  Gonna replace it with another one and this time will also replace the thermostat as well!  Maybe we sould also replace the goopenpucky on the heater core, the knob on the blower switch and how bout that screw holding the radiator overflow tank!  hey, whatever we don't replace and even something we do might cause the next problem--- it's just the way of the world so don't look so perplexed and start thinking "conspiracy theories" next time something happens to you.  Wish you could still buy one of those "(*&^ happens" Tshirts!

Now don't get all excited when I start talking about carpet in Raymond's 26' Duramax.  Just because carpet is usually the last part of the job here Steve is covering the custom sofa bases .  This is some serious material, Steve is not sure his binding machine needle will pierce the backing and the thickness of the pile but like he said, " he'll get it done"!  This is without a doubt THE thickest carpet I have ever seen!  Just about the time you have seen it all you see this stuff and it all changes!  Quality out the wazoo, this stuff is going to look great!

So I'm off for another day, we're putting Wayne's coach in shape for my cross country solo run.  Going to stop in Sierra Vista to see my son John and to drop off A arms for S

6.1.09

Got a bit of a late start this morning last week was a bit of a mental drain so this weekend I needed to perform some "refurbishment" for the soul.  Yesterday Janie & I hitched up the bike trailer to the Suzuki, loaded up the CJ, dropped the top on the beast and did a winded run to the beach for a day away from the world.  Saturday saw several issues I have been dreaming about come together and when you get the chance you need to recognize and let those small victories set in and looking into this week I see so many things that are huge steps I just needed to get a handle on myself before it all started pushing, I needed a fresh mind.eveFerguson, anyone else over on the left coast need anything brought over?  Don't forget about the aluminum rims laced with Kuhmo tires I'll be "testing out" on the trip-- hey they could be yours!

Moving forward in Raymonds 26' it was time to start dressing up our wiring.  There is consideranble runs of wire and getting the front 32" TV operational it was time to start adding in the ideas of the wire chase covering.  Let me explain what I mean by this-- a mistake I see all too often is folks will run wiring properly but improper in that if anything ever needs to be accessed, rewired or added to it is next to impossible to go back in.  You need to be able to access every part of any wiring and this concept must be thought through in the prewiring and design of the interior.  With the "mondo" amount of prewiring we did on thos coach, we had gobbes of wires to run then know how we were going to trim out those "chases".  For the lower part of the coach, we created a lower front to rear chase-- here it is covered   This red velvet stitched pad is removeable and covers a pile of very important wire runs.  I think it will also tie in nicely with the red velvet sofa that will go in front of it-- stay tuned to see how that goes. 

Hey, I'm still plunking away on the lap top so please excuse my spelling errors and stuff-- just no time to go back!

We're also trying to capture storage and use as much space as possible in these Duramax designs, Raymond now has a "basement" in the back of his coach.  The riser needed for the proper demensions from the rear seats to the floor doubles as basement storage which will all be carpeted, I have another little feature I am adding to this -- stay tuned.

I wish I could just blow on Raymond

s coach but there are also other projects needing attantion and here is one that has come up and will be a biggies here quickly.  Wayne H. has picked up a project he had started for another customer.  You have probably been seeing this and that happening on this coach   Let me put this project all together and tell you whats getting ready to happen.   As you can see, this is one of those "racoon" paint jobs we have been doing.  This project had stopped when the customer passed away.  Wayne, needing a coach after his that he had been working on was totaled from a mechanical fire purchased the "in process" project and we then set about bringing the coach up to road ready to get it to Wayne in Bakersfield Ca.  We did brakes, bearings, fuel system and as you can see by the white frig side vent are doing the exterior detailing needed to finish off the paint work.  Last week Jason went into the dash AC system-- hey, if I am going to drive this puppy cross country next week I sure want the AC to work and really Wayne put it best when he said "better for yo guys to fix something like that".  Trying to charge the system we fond a clooged line somewhere.  Pulling it apart, we first fond some good and some bad.  There had been some hose repla cement, the big hose had been done but the 2 smalller hoses were original so they got replaced.  Pulling apart the air box to replace the expansion valve we found we were going to have to upset someones homestead -- sorry man but you did not pay your taxes!  Cleaning out all of that, installing the new parts to includ a new drier we found we still could not get proper head pressure which meant the compressor was also wasted-- what can I say, any system is only as good as it's weakest part!  So Jason went back in to replace the compressor .  Hey, let me give you some personal experience and recommendation here-- this will be a very timely lesson I think for another recent issue--- Here is the overall statement---- "Only use Delco parts on the dash AS systems".  I have been around the horn on this and have been bitten so many times-- let me give you an examplr:

As you know we just about exclusively work on the GMC, it's not that we can't do other stuff it's just I try and stay with this because it's what we know bestt.  Once in a while we get weak and someone we know needs something done so hey, why not.  Steve's wife needed some dash AC work on her GM car so last week we brought it in, they picked up the parts and Jason slammed in a new compressor among some other parts.  Now look, I don't know what they engineer was thinking (maybe he wasn't) about servicing these vehicles) but the compressor was burried in the bowles of the engine compartment so Jason had to go "diver down" to get to it .  That was insane!  So he got it all done and the car went home.  Last week, the compressor spazzed out and the clutch only half released when it was told to.  Was Auto Zone unit with a lifetime warranty.  Jason should have installed wing nuts on the compressor because now he had to go back in and replace the &^$%$@$%$%@$@ thing.  I tell ya, it's just not cost effective going with any AC part on any GM car than a genuine Delco reman compressor!  Yes, the part has an awesome warranty but now they are faced with pulling it out, pumping in more freon and that stuff is not covered by the warranty.  I know it's hard but you just gotta bite that bullet!  So in went a Delso compressor into Wayne's new toy.

The paint shop will have the exterior parts done this week and after some new rims and tires to get me there, I will be bugging out of here on Fri. for a white knuckle drive to Bakersfield Ca. to bring this puppy to it's new home.  But of course to get there (and that entails a cross country run) this thing has to work and I mean really work!  I'll be ordering in new tires today--

BTW, remember last week I put in a blurp about someone on the west coast couls have a new set of rims and tires on a good deal?  Let me bring this up again:

As you saw from that pic before, the  coach has the 16.5 steel rims and actually one of the tires blew out just sitting here!  Wayne already has Alco rims on his "burn unit" so the 16" rims and tires I will put on will need a home when I get there.  Now if you are looking at new 16" rims and tires soon, let me give you this option.  We will run on these tires from here to Califoirnia, they will be trued & balances and you will know when I get there that the rim/tire compliment will be good-- so, are you interested?  You can get a reall deal on the rims, on the tires and a free true & balance thrown in no charge.  We need your help, Wayne does not need 2 sets of aluminum rims and you could be the victor on this deal! Call me if you are interested.

Oh, and   this trip is going to be interesting, I'm hoping to stop off in Sierra Vista to break bread with my son John, maybe hook up with Steve Ferguson bringing him some A arms to play with and I found out this weekend there is a Pacific Cruiser rally that weekend near Bakersfield-- heck, I might be able to make that!  Of course now ist all falls back on the coach and can "the chick hold the smoke"!  Been sitting for a couple of years, we have done our best to get it in shape doing needed stuff yes for Wayne for him to have a nice machine but also for me to get there!  We're down to the wire on all that so stay tuned!

Here are a few posts with some comments I thought you might be interested in:

Sorry-- the day is on me-- gotta go-- I'll try and pick this up tonight

5.29.09

So the question was how did the Duramax drive?  Thought more than one person may wonder that, I know 2 people that wonder that question.  It is soliforniarta difficult to answer that in that all I have done is drive a short distance not even getting past 2nd gear and many perameters must be recalibrated but there are some statements I can make at this time so I'll give the question a stab.

The first time we drove the 26' Duramax, my driver was a young guy who really felt at home on a 1000cc Vtwin Yamaha "crotch rocket".  He was still at that age where he was invincible and would push anything he drove past what was safe just to see what would happen.  Following him over to Walters for what I not have to call the most awesome paint job I have ever seen jumped out of the coach when arriving-- I asked him that question then because of course all Enquiring want an answer to that question and his remarks was "scary fast".  At that time it was in safe mode where it would not run over 30 MPH (for in shop use before a dash was connected to the OBDII computer) but he still managed to bring it up to 30 MPH right now.  The acceleration from a standing stop to it's governed speed at that time was right now.  He said when he touched the pedal, the turbo spun up and he was gone.  That was an exciting debriefing but I was on the recieving end of the report.  Next, Craig drove the 23' Duramax to it's metting with paint, I again followed him the 1 1/2 mile run in my Suzuki I think like a mother duck stays close to it's hatchlings as they cross the street.  I could not figure out why the brake lights were staying on as we drove along at @ 30 MPH.  This time we had the dash cluster (all fly by wire).  When we got there I again jumped up to the door for a debriefing, Craig said (mainly because he was sitting on a steel milk crate) that when it hit 2nd gear at 30 MPH he had to keep his foot on the brake to keep the coach from running off.  This was especially distressing in that he never touched the accelerator  pedal!  OK, so driving back the 23' he got in it a little more and there was no way my Suzuki could keep up and I tried.  He took off, passing people in the left lane like they were standing still.  Again off the line it was gone like a shot.  I was too chicken to drive, maybe still wanting to protect the machine from others on the road but I knew at some point my time would come.  Both coaches went right inside the bay upon arrival at the shop because the next phase had little to do with motion, the considerable work on the interiors had to start and in that there is so much impossible stuff never tried I knew it would be a bit before I could even try to drive either coach again.  Well, this week the time came to take the 23' coach back over to paint for some final stuff.  The huge amount of work needed to secure and smooth out the grond effects had cut into their normal work flow so badly that I had to give them time to recover plus the fact that they moved into my old paint facility right behind my shop was great.  It was only a scoot around the building to get it to them now but I still call that driving.  We cleared a path out from the bay and after getting the mirrors mounted so I felt at least a little safer, I fired that mother up for the run.  Sitting back some 8" from the original drivers position did feel a bit like driving from the back seat but I could tell with a little time behind the wheel it would be OK but it still did feel like back seat driving or maybe a very small kid driving a very big car!  The turning radius is super tight the chassis being designed as an in town shuttle bus, it seemed like I could just about make a 90 deg. turn on a dime.  There was no overhang so I kept wathing for the tail to come around as I made the turn out the bay but it never came-- it just turned.  As I let off the brake to move, I felt the torque converter lock in and each time this happened the coach lurched both up and forward at the same time.  I have no doubt there was surface rust on the rotors and that probably helped to make the brakes grab a bit but man did it have bralkes!  Touching the accelerator pedal I had to slip the brake because when the converter linked the motor to the drive shaft we went forward with gusto!  Instand motion with no laws of physics involved is what I felt, kinda like some huge tractor trying to link up with it's trailer.  As I got square to the gate with a little open space I let off the brake an nudged the gas (what do you call the "gas" pedal on a diesel motor) the coach just stepped out and went.  It scared me and I again reached for the safety of the brakes.  The coach stopped forward motion and everything inside moved forward a bit.  Wow, the first move was no more than 50 feet but it scared me!  The rest of the way I let the brake slip to allow the coach to move, once I hit the gas for a vrief moment on the straight in front of the building but in my mind I used the excuse that there were too many loose things inside to do any more.  Good, I was off the hook and could just let the coach slip around the corner to paint.  There would need to be some training to harness what I would call unusable power and braking.  I hope we can recalibrate the brakes down a bit in pressure (with the Wabco-Meritor computer controlled braking system you actually can dial in each wheels pressure), I also hope there is some adjustment on the "gas" pedal because it feels like off then on with nothing in between.  I think this is what it must feel like to drive a top fuel funny car-- you are on the start line and when the tree goes green you are gone!  Ok, now with the 23' Duramax safe in the paint bay, it was time to pull out the 26' coach to get it washed off then spin it around and stab it into the bay where the other coach had resided to get it away from all of that saw dust in the trim shop bay.  Again, I braved up and sat on the milk crate and fired that mother up too.  Pushing the "D" button on the eletronic shift pad, the coach dropped into drive but with the brake firmly down the coach did not move forward, it just went up!  With no where for the torque to go with the wheels help firm the pressure had to go somewhere so ir went to stress out the suspension components and the coach went up @ an inch.  The is a very weird sensation, it's kinda like having a rope tied to an oak tree and stressing out the hemp as the machine tried to rip the trees roots from the ground.  everyone was standing around watching the bay door to besure I did not rip off a mirror or drag the tail as I turned out of the bay.  There was no way I was going to take that chance and I could mark my forward progress in inches-- my I was wimping out just letting her fly. Lurch, forward, then stop was how I came out of the bay.  Again the response of the gas pedal was off then on and the turning made me feel like we could swing the front end 90 deg. on a dime.  I turned out of the tight outside the bay in a way that would have been impossible with out backing and restabbing.  The chassis just turns so dang tight!.   Effortless motion forward is all I can say, I never touched the gas, just slipped the brake and it was all I needed to make the thing move.  We will really need to try and reprogram something because the on them off feel of the coach is all but extreme!  On a straight line like I drove on the drag strip there is just no telling what this thing will do!  Oh and you know when we get the chance I'm gonna do that!  I needed to pull into the bay to havre the door on the proper side to work, good thing because I think backing the coach into the bay with the response it has would probably look like a 16 year old figuring out how to drive a stick shift in drivers ed.  I had again one person on each side watching the mirrors-- for some reason everything just felt bigger.  When they said I was in position, I pushed "P" on the shifter pod and the coach settled down the inch or so to a relaxed condition and I really felt like the "Eagle had landed"!  My first experience "behind the wheel" may have seemed like a wimp ride but for me it was enough.  I mean after bleeding over this machine for "how long" I just did not feel like flapping the leather to say "giddy up", walking arounf the paddock was just fine for me!

So I think my report to you would have to ring the same words that I heard first from Jesse--- "Scary Fast" and I didn't need to actually go fast to feel it!  This really is not just a strong GMC, this is a kin to lighting I think an SRB because I think when I do have the chance to let her go it will be something like "holy &^%$"!  Betcha the sriver of that top fuel rail knows what I mean, I thought I would never get the chance to feel the " almighty mother of acceleration" but just maybe I will so there ya go, this is what I feel about how the Duramax drives.  These chassis were set up for 20,000 pounds + and with somewhere around 10,000 pounds on their back they really have a difficult time to be compared with anything I've ever driven, it's sorta like the time I asked the operator on the dyne who spun up the first Koba motor we build for Arches coach.  I asked what he thought and he said I have no idea, no one has ever asked me to pull numbers just off idle befor and rolling off just over 3K, most motors are just starting to spool up!  He said this "pump motor" has nads in places we never looked so if it fits what you want I would call it great-- and they are.

I know this was a very unscientific driver report, these machines were built in the time honored process of "do it and lets see what we've got".  It's kinda like the high school days when my best friend decided to buy everything in the catalog to fit his 340 Duster, wre started bolting that stuff in and when we were finished we had no idea how to make that thing run!  We've grown up from there and now we can make it run but I still remember when that 340 motor first fired up, I felt it would suck the watch off my arm if I got too close to the carb-- I think we have had the same feeling again!  Stay tuned for more, the coaches are shuttled around for some more work, the blankets are covering the horses again so lets call this a wrap and keep working on the interior and exterior finishes.  I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have some serious equipemnt under the hoods of these machines and I think thats enough for now.  Hope this answered the question.

Moving on, Mark's coach is in full hover mode right now with no sign of any suspension save the 4 jack stands holding to to the surface of the earth! 

5.28.09

Still on the little keyboard so hang with me, not as much fun for me either!

Anything worth doing takes work, I think this must be a universal saying and if you don't have a few choice words to go with a great end to a project I kinda think you must not be done-- at least it seems like that to me!  Yesterday Raymond Cruz called up and we talked about the recent progress and what his ideas were from here.  On the frig cabinet I explained how we were pretty "dense packed" cramming as much as we could into the confined area trying to do it all with what we had.  Now every Norcold frig I have ever put in had always come in black.  As Henry Ford said, black is a good color and with all the black on the outside of the coach, the systems panel in black with other interior accents in black-- hey a black faced frig would work.  The option was to go after the copper kettle majilite color but with the frig already black hey, I get to have a "gimme".  Oh no, that won't do and when I thought it I immediatly thought I would not suffer enough to make this project look good-- and I was right.  Now every Norcold frig I had ever installed was black faced--- except for this one!  I opened the crate and found a tan faced frig smiling at me!    Unbelievable-- well sorry but a tan frig will not go into this coach so with a few of the cuss words I knew I would need to make up, I set about dismantling the frig to change it to the black I was accustomed to.     Wham, bam, Alakazam and now we have black   Black is a great color, I have to agree with Henry, I think I need to call Norcold and thank them for the opportunity to spill a little more blood, sweat & tears on their &^^%%#$**R$*(Y)&)*) frig!

OK, you asked and it was time for it's first bath anyway so behold, Raymond's 26' Duramax in the light of day, out of it's cocoon for a looksee on what we have.  We had a fine layer of sawdust after the coach sitting next to all the saws and things while the interior has gone in   The roof was the worst cating all that flying dust so Eric went up there and did the job while Jeff manned the hose   The decision of black roof warts I think was a good one, the lines of the coach stand out without all that infrastructure up there   Man, long, low and fat is what we have .  This sure ain't your Grandaddy's GMC     You know when folks see this critter coming they'll get the kids off the sidewalk! Just like one of those pool parties at Hugh Heffner's mansion, soaping up this baby and watching the suds run down that shapely figure, you know this is a good looking body!   All washed up and moved to the bay next door where the dust level will be less, we all just had to stop and take it in, you just don't see something like this every day!

That is of course unless Ken's 23' Duramax pulls up and yesterday let me get behind the wheel of not only the 26' Duramax to move it in and out but I actually ran Ken's 23' Duramax around the building over to Kenin, Jeff and Tank for some finish touches on it's exterior.  Oh dang, was that fun!  .  A different look but still one of those things you just don't see.  Yes, it's a GMC and your mind triggers on that but then the second glance says wait a minute-- holy crap, this think is twisted!    Sick to the bone, how can this be, an awesome trip taker coming together!        It has been delivered to the guys now and it's their turn to finish up their end of this special machine   The promise is it will not sit & we'll get back a finished exterior soon it's in it's recovery bay getting ready for "Mr. Demil's" closeup .

OK, so now THAT'S what I'm talking about!  These machines represent so much time and effort, so many new and untried ideas and what I would call all out creativity there are some and I understand that will shake their heads and say, "are your kidding".  My answer to that is "you betcha".  Please don't think this is all we do, please understand if we can think through this, we can certainly take care of a "mere mortal" GMC.  Hey, this is way too far out there for most, me included.  We cut our teeth and still pay our taxes on supporting the GMC community so come on over or call when you need something, I think we will be able to handle it.

Speaking of "mere mortal" GMC's, we went after Wayne's dash AC system yesterday to wake it up after a long sleep to see what we had   Now here is a paint design we have made pretty popular, the "racoon" look with the forward slant vertical I hope to deliver this baby to Bakersfield very soon.  Craig went in to the dash AC system only to find a clogged expansion valve .  OK, so what does this mean to an original dash AC system? It means it's time for a rehab and to throw the baby out with the bathwater to bring the unit back to a reliable condition.  New, drier, expansion valve, hoses, seals and all.  We'll clean out the heater box and inspect it all before recharging it with the Freeze 12 .  His compressor seems OK and we'll take that chance for now I think so follow with us on this work.

OK, just when you calmed down from the awesome Duramax stuff, Mark H. has his coach in process for a full restoration and first things first we're doing the mechanicals on his.  Can't cheat or say "goot nuff" when it comes to the suspension, Mark has 3 of his 4 rear suspension pins loose with one having a good wobble so off comes the bogy and now yes, we have no suspension .  While Buster went after that, Jason was in the shop pressing bearings , we had one loose front wheel, and getting juggy with the rest of the suspension bench work .  The control arm bushings showed their age so they are now gone   so the guys are going at this project with gusto

Don't wanna spoil the excitement but we have a few interesting twists on the renovation of this Coachman Royale, stay tuned for that fun.  I know Mark will be glued to his screen!

Hey and it's only Thursday, proof positive that even though you plod along not thinking anything will ever get done when it all comes together you see just how far you have gone!  I remember going to Philmont with the Scouts some years ago with my sons-- you plod along that 63 mile trek, stump your toes on every rock sticking up, slip on every slope you walk, stop at every watering hole and open latrine along the way.  Eat stew mixed with dirt for flavor, hunker down to do what you can to keep the lightning from turning you to a crispy critter and then on the last day standing on top of the tooth of time looking down at base camp knowing you have, in the words of Bilbo Baggens ""Gone and Back Again" you see just how far you have come and felt the good pain of the adventure-- it's just so damn worth it!

I hope right now you gays are saying "Hell Yes" because this is the way I feel about this.  No, much of it may not make perfect sense on the surface but deep down I know I would not have it any other way so thanks for the visit, thanks for the support and thanks for making this trip more complete.  We're way down our yellow brick road now and the tin man has his stride!

Finally, Cal sent me this pic and I just had to share it with ya.  Just about the time you think the deep end of the gene pool is clearing out, you find a few strands still stuck to the bottom, Guys-- trust me, you really do not need to take this risk and if you have an idea that this is OK, move away from the beer!   Trust me, it is not cool to float a power strip in your kiddy pool with a pair of rubber flippers, they will not insulate you!  Proof positive that there will always be someone below you on the food chain!  BTW, Cal is a pool maintenance guy in LA-- hope this was not taken at one of his customers places!

5.27.09

I'm still using the program of the lap top here so if I have typo errors it's because of the smaller keyboard  I think John figured out the problem with the slow moving office puter but I am still staying with this program for the time being so bear with me please.

Hey thanks for the posts on opinions on the Duramax projects, I got maybe a bit carried away yesterday but I field so many times the same questions on the projects I thought I would wack at several of your birds with that stone.  One comment was it did not look like a cost effective venture for either party and I have to say to that -- you got it!  Thats right, I cam makew a nicew looking machine for far less than it is taking to invent this wheel and slap a GMC body on a Workhorse frame, this is true but wait-- am I just doing this for the heck of it?  Well, maybe in a way because we can , I think, but also there are interesting possibilities and outcomes.  Everyone has always said a GMC with an engineered turbo diesel, state of the art would be something awesome-- well then OK, you can talk about that all day long but Raymond, Ken and I are doing something about that!  We always talk that a diesel with it's torque curve could pull a GMC much more efficiently, maybe get fantastic mileage-- OK then, lets see.  With this Allison electronic transmoission, if we can get into "top cog" the numbers say our performance should be awesome but no onw will really know until it's done and we will be doing it with a 26 and a 23' coach.  All of the modifications all come down to seeing if all of that will really come to pass and that my friend is why it is being done.  And of course the fact of building an awesome, really cool, one of a kind machine and hey, isn't that what makes people choose one vehicle over another.  I mean if it were all down to the simple fact of which vehicle is more overall cost effective, why in God's name would a Hummer or a Cady ever end up in anyones driveway!  I will guaranty you when either of these Duramax machine show up at a rally, a car show or any place where car lovers that appreciuate something unusual gather, they will be all over these machines!  I mean come on, it my not be your cup of tea but dang if they won't command a crowd.  And as the word passes through the crowd that it is a Duramax turbo diesel with and Allisoin transmission, still front wheel drive the natives will turn restless!

And there will be Ken or Raymond cracking a smill that will wiggle their ears.  We may need to increase the width of the doors so they can get back in their coach after a session like that!  That really is a serious factor on many things we do, we do them because the customer wants it hey and thats good enough for me.  Use any criteria you choose on looking at these coaches and at some point you will have to stand back and say they are pretty cool.  Actually, we are looking to mold in the ground effects kit on the next restoration so the look will be there even if the turbo diesel isn't.  I thinbk that this is great and we're preepared to do that mod for Mark H.  OK, so I've blown a few more verbs talking about this, it's only because of the Emails I got showing you guys and having a good time following this.  I feel you understand I have no preconceived notions that this sort of thing is wanted by everyone but most of you are interested in it's outcome and thats enough for me.  As long as we continue with this and you guys understand the insanity I think we can all have fun with it and when these puppies do start to roam the world you can say "I was there" when they were built will be all worthwhile.

Here are a couple more pics of the 23' while it was outside:

The graphics package on the coach contrasts Raymonds 26' Duramax.  I think they both have their place and thier direction.  Millions of bucks were spent when Boyd Cottington was alive on his "resto rod" stylings and that is what Raymond picked up on with the 26' coach.  Ken wanted another direction wanting a fresh new look, one that while retaining the lines of the coach picked up on the new style of motion and "blown by unseen winds" styling.  The color of the coach is very light and hi tech.  I think it would look sherp sitting in front of the Guggenheim Museum.  .  Man, talk about clean, as the details get added, the coach really comes alive with style.  We're trying another LED side marker style on Ken's 23' coach.  I think we need a little bling to go with the huge 19.5 aluminum rims it will sport so I chose a chrome ringed LED light for the sides ..  As I said yesterday, we are taking it over to paint again for some more buffing and finishes hopefully today so I'll do pics of it there for ya.

On another subject on the 23' Duramax, Steve has followed through with the design and the basic structure of the galley cabinet has taken form .  AS I explained before, we need access to the generator sitting under the cabinet so the center section will remove from the front so with the top off the generator will be totally accessible.  Stay tuned for more on this.

Oh look, a new present came in the mail today   Oh, Daddy, daddy can I open it.  Is it for me, can I have it now!  Hey, thing like this make it all worthwhile, it's the unbelievable custom grill for Raymond's 26' Duramax .  Guy's don't even ask what it took to make a solid polished stainless steel horizontal bar grill to exact for our GMC!  This part truly falls under, "if you have to ask the price it's too much"!  Much more that we could ever come up with, the movie industry and the awesome fabricators they have and the talent that goes into their stuff made this part.  There will never be another one like it and dang Raymond you had better not run into anything with this grill!  I'll be finishing it off today so stay tuned for that and the refinishing I will be doing on the frig and frig cabinet for Raymonds 26' Duramax.

So thats it for today, I need to get out there and work before the rains come in which they will now every afternoon.  Thanks for the visit, we are ejoying all of this and I hope you are too.  Ken & Raymond both are biting at the bit to have their puppies off the sidewalk, we want that too but I'm not going to do anything half way so everyone calm those jets and stay tuned, good thinga are happening and the soup will be done when the water boils!  Thanks all for the visit, the Emails, the calls and the support.  Don't worry, I'll tell ya when it's enough, in the meantime lets let the good times roll.

Update

BTW if there is anyone out there on the left coast interested in getting new aluminum rims and tires, I've got a deal for ya.  The 5th of next month I am delivering a coach out to Bakersfield, driving it from here there is no way I am going to trust the old 16.5" rims or the tires on it so I am mounting and truing a new set and will run them west but when they get there they will need a home.  I'll give you the truing (1 $180 value) if you will pick up the  brand new Eagle rims for the $210 each and the price of the tires.  Get with me by tomorrow and I'll buy whatever tire you want!  Help me out with this and you get a bonus to boot.

I know Ken will enjoy seeing his baby outside, we pulled it out to clean it and the bay up      It goes back to paint (which now is @ 100 yards away to fix the top of the windshield and install the hoods and side rails.  Stay tuned.  Does that think look cool or what!

5.26.09

Just got a post from a friend, hope I can link this properly for you

5.22.09

"Rain rain go away, come again some other day"  Hey, we've got over 12" in 4 days-- what the &^%%!!!!!  Stop it already!  Dodging raindrops is not conducive to work around here! 

Between showers we needed to do something about the water leaks in Wayne L. coach so Craig and Steve tackled the problem   There are 2 overlaps in the body at the windshield gasket that channels any leaks on the front cap directly into the steering wheel horn button on the driver side and right onto the passenger foot on that side.  Usually everyone cusses the windshield and says it's leaking-- while that may be true actually something like the clearance lights might also be letting in the juice and it's running to those 2 body seams so first Craig went after the top clearance lights.  The lens were all wet inside which means water is getting in there and from there it's not far to the interior of the coach.  We replaced the original clearance lights with the new sealed 17 element LED ones.  Hey, for $12.50 each, they are as cheap as the old ones and look-- well, cool!

Next Steve joined in and the top lock bead was pulled out to allow them to squeeze new sealant down under the gasket to that body seam I was talking about   After the sealant was under the gasket, the lock bead was reinstalled and they added sealant in the valley just above the gasket partially to try and assure no water got in but also cosmetically so the gobbed up old sealant they could not get out was covered and not visible.   We had already sealed the side "A frame" windows when we did the racoon paint work so with the work the guys did, just about all the bases to put water dripping from the windshield is gone-- fingers crossed hopefully we got it.

So after yesterday's post here and some phone calls and such I got out on Raymond's 26' Duramax for the big fit.  Using 2 computers makes the mornings stuff go faster-- thank goodness, I hate loosing daylight messing in the office but hey, somebody has to do it and I see updating to you guys whats happening as pretty important!  I know it is to the guys with their coach in here so there we go.

Pieces/parts are coming together on the 26' Duramax, I had a post asking the usual questions -- how is it going, what mods are you doing and when will it be done--- it's funny maybe but less funny than the reality of it but I had to answer all of the guys questions as open ended.  I really can't say it's all going fine cause it has become so much more than anyone ever imagined-- the list of modifications is dizzying and really I do not have the time or want to write down all the stuff we did so far and as far as when will they be done-- heck, throw up the bones and see where they land because everytime we get into one project we find another one waiting!  It's just the nature of the best and along with trying to stay solvent with our business working on these projects takes up every waking and spare moment we have.  I could tell by the questions that the guy had not followed our daily blood, sweat and tears on these things and I ended up telling him if he were considering to do something like this himself to not try at all.  This level of modification is not for someone looking for a budget restoration-- far from it-- this is a job for insne people who want something "because they can"!

Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest, you guys know more than most anyone how insane these machine are and how insane the journey has been, I have had to rethink my roll and the roll of us in this project.  They are not a "money maker" job in that so much time is put into design work that no one can afford to pay for.  This is one of those project you take a picture of and set on the mantle as a crowning achievement.  Here we are doing 2 of them at the same time-- I figured the second coach would take less time and together it would be a cost effective project-- wrong-- each one took on a life of their own and the differences in a 23 and 26" coach made most of the mod project just different enough that massive amounts or work had to be custom fitted for each.  I mean the rear suspension on the 26' used the original bogy system while the 23' used the 2 wheel suspension on the frame.  The floorplan because of the door placement was all weird, the front platform was all different and the awesome ground effects had to be so altered that it was a very involved process to fit a set designed for the 26' coach to fit the 23' unit.  Hey and this is just what comes to mind right now.  My guess is no one would be crazy enough to try this at home less even trying it at a shop-- it's just that unusual.  Hey, there may only be 2 of these machines ever produced--- but I will have 2 pics on my mantle that says :I did them both" and maybe thats what this is all about in the end.  The owners will have a seriously one of a kind monster and I will have the scars and the memories and "at the end of the day" as a really smart and good friend on mine always says, that may just be the best reason to do it.

So after a couple of hours of fitting and employing some of what I learned fitting the pass. side bedroom seat in, with my camera on my side I had to stop and take this pic What you are looking at are the 2 bedroom seats coming together at the middle--- it worked!  With all but no clearance on the sides (driver side)   and (pass. side) the 2 seats came together right on at the middle to make a red velvet, double stitched diamond bed.  One might say hey, it was in there before why would I be worried it would not fit but hey, the coach was not fitted with these seats when it came in, the back area while having some basic demisions the same had bee modified and while making many measurement no one actually knew it would all go together with the mods we did until now!  My greatest expectations were realized, it works!  Now, I may need to do some adjusting but just to know all the numbers line up is a huge thing-- so there it is.  The bedroom takes another big step forward.

So while I was at it and had some good "Juju" on my side, I fitted something else just to see if we were doing good.  Behold, the look of the galley   All hammered copper with a single sink costing more than I ever figured a sink could , this certainly is a departure design on anything I have ever done before   I say that about the sink but hey, the designer has a look she is projecting so we must follow.  The cut out to the left of the sink will be a glass top single burner electric cooktop.  The overhead cabinet doors are being cleared as we speak.  The opening at the bottom left in the overhead will be a microwave.  It fits great and looks cool.  Next I'm on the frig cabinet, the wiring of the systems panel and the beat goes on!

5.21.09

Couldn't find the time to finish yesterday post,  I fell asleep in my chair and the next thing I knew it was time to get up!  The rain down here has been relentless-- hey, the weather man and forest service guys did their rain dance now they are passing our waterwings!  61 roads are closed because of flooding, schools are closed so I hope they are all happy!  This rain has really screwed us-- we have to work inside for sure and in that our roof had dried out and shrunk so badly, we now have leaks aplenty in our building!  Plastic sheets & buckets are strategically placed to keep our ship floating.  Steve brought in some roof patch goo he was using on the roof at his house (he's scheduled to have a new roof for his place put in next week and is trying to stay afloat till then.  Bail faster man, the water is rising!

Anyway, yesterday between rain and flooding, I got a chance for some quality time in the bedroom of the 26' Duramax.  After so much work, measuring, dreaming, planning and the time it has taken to get to this point-- it was time to put the rubber to the road and fit then install some of the awesome features we have been working on.  Doing such expensive custom work, there is little room for those "unexpected results" that always comes with such work.  It is a scary proposition at this point but it is time and it has to be done.

Rob Mueller called in yesterday to check in, he's back in the states from Australia and he gave me the moral support I needed to just go for it so that what I did.  I'm in the bedroom now, putting in the finish materials and fitting the actual convertible seating.  Anyone who has these seat/bed arrangements in the back know they sometimes are not the most comfortable.  I mean they are really nice in that they pull duoble duty as 2 seats or a bed but if left as original you will usually have a sore back in the morning.  Hey, we can't have Raymond show up on set like an old man holding himself straight up-- don't care if his production company is named "Crooked", I'm not looking to validate that title!

Omar has gone to great lengths with new higher derometer foam and other stuff to make these seats as comfortable as he could.  I now need to adjust them on installation to fit, operate and sit well as a bed and as a seat-- like I said if you have these you know what I mean!

OK, The procrastination factor has brought me to the point where all of the predetails are done and nothing is left but to put it in.  I mean all the wiring (and there was a pile) is done, all the lighting (LED, twinkies) are in-- the overheads are operational, the wall ands ceiling materials are in so it's time.  The problem now is to fit and adjust the overstuffed, refinished 2 seats into the bedroom.  We have all sorts of dimensions to consider.  When something is to move and fit superior in both positions, there is much to consider.  I started in and really forgot to mess around with my camera-- it was one of those "stay on task" things.  So after everyone had left, the sun was gone and I was the only one in the shop I looked up as I walked into the coach and snapped this pic coming down the hall .  The pass. side seat is in-- man, was that a struggle and there was a certain amount of luck  (maybe you could call it preplanned variables manipulation) but the seat cleared the rear window valence by "microns"    So you may not like the red velvet look but you have to admit that the vivid colors and textures makes for an impressive finish   That majilite wall covering looks "electric" and I am just so proud of the burlwood finish I don't really care what anyone else thinks-- I am impressed!  The selection of the double stitched diamond pattern red velvet by LM and Raymond was a calculated decision going against the grain that has come out with an awesome look-- very refined, very special and very unique.    The overhead burlwood/embossed paper & velvet-- the lower back wall velvet pad hitting the velvet seat material in the down position really makes the bedroom look plush.  In the seat position you can't see all the *&^^ I went through of the side blanket locker   but see I know it's there and looking back behind the seat is a pleasurable experience-- even behind the seat looks really spiffy!  So here we are, the pass. side seat is in, the walls are covered and it all fits and works     it has been %$## to get it to this point but it all worked and fitted.  Now today is going to be awesome, the driver side seat goes here , I need to preserve the ability to use the generator access below it which really has never been tried and both seats must come together to make that superior sleeping experience-- another "mission impossible" but I'm getting used to that phrase on these Duramax projects!  Stay tuned, I know Raymond is pressed agianst his flat screen watching whats happening, isn't it fun to be able to look over his shoulder?  Thanks for the input you all are giving me, the support and motivation and all.  These Duramax machines have both taken on a life of their own, there is just so much stuff no one has ever tried but hey, it's the nature of this sort of beast and you have no idea what it will take to finish on awesome till you get into it.

ran out of time, more tomorrow

5.20.09

How about that   After a couple of days thinking about it, fitting and trying this and that-------------------it fits

5.18.09

Here is a pic of leaving the shop last week with my Suzuki tied to the back of Marylin's coach  I was checking out the lights before leaving   I hope to have a little more time to catch you guys up on all of that but for now I need to move on.  I really look like a computer nut here with 3 computers fired up, talking here on the lap top while dealing with Emails and all on the other computer is helping.

First off, Ken's 23' Duramax is getting the bulk structure of the interior cabinets installed.  Not just any structure, we must build around, over, under the unique floorplan making sure access and the ability to route wiring and plumbing is not compromised.   Here is the basic galley counter structure   Let me explain what you are looking at, remember the 2 cylinder diesel Kubota Marine generator is located under this structure.  The countertop will be on top and will of course sport a double sink and stove top-- this counter will be a fixed top.  The top of the box below will remove giving access from the top to the generator.  This compartment is lined with our leaded foam for heat and sound rejection.  There are air vents to the outside under the ground effects kit and will probably also get 1 or maybe 2 visible above the ground effects to the outside as well.  When the generator is closed up, there will be a slide out cabinet sitting inside of the opening you see that will have 2 drawers and a cabinet just like any other galley enclosure so when all together the galley will look pretty much normal but still allowing access to the generator. 

A question was asked about finishing the base structures, we build the structure then finish them off with laminate or whatever material thats called for, this way we can focus on building the design and worry about the finish later-- works well for me.

OK, I tried taking pics in stages on Raymond's bedroom install but found I just could not remember to stop often to take the shots.  Between work myself, keeping everyone else going, answering their questions, ordering parts, explaining stuff on the phone and taking orders taking pics took a sort of back seat but I was able to do a few.  This is what I started with yesterday morning.   Let me tell you a little about what you are looking at.  We knew early on that there would be some sort of designer covering on the back panel so I did not worry about coloring the center section of the rear panel.  This saved a bit of dye color.  I was not sure how it would go in but I just needed to install the panel and figured I would worry about that later.  The rest of the bedroom interior is built up on that panel and well, I just needed to move forward so it went in unfinished.  Now we know more about what it would get so step one was to remove it   We had of course wiring and plumbing to move and in that the panel was under the corner panels it was a tricky move to pull it out but hey, tricky stuff is what we do best!  This panel was decided to get some of the double stitched diamond red velvet padded material  right up to the window.  So here is the panel, covered and wiggled back into place   You can see the electrical compartment in the middle at the bottom with the transfer switch easy to access, below that is the 110 AC breakers and the power converter.  You can see that the newly padded panel is now under the side panels which I feel gives it a finished look.  The panel covering the water tank on the pass. side gets it's black covering and is fitted   This panel will be screwed down but still able to be removed to access the water pump, tank and other related plumbing features.  On top of it the fold down rear seat also red velvet padded will be attached.  The colors are coming together here as before I do need to dust everything off but I think you can get the picture-- the redwood Walnut burlood, the Copper Kettle Majilite, the red diamond stitched and padded velvet, oh yes, and the Camel electric shades are coming to a finished level.  Yes, the upper panel had been covered with that Majilite  but the decision was made to also cover this and part of the headliner with the red velvet material so it came back out .  I had specified Omar to make exact sized padded velvet panels to cover this as well as the rear headliner cap.  I covered that cap in place in that there was no way to remove it as I did the lower rear panel .  Here is the finished look   The front edge of the velvet is tucked around an aluminum trim which brings the padded stuff right up to the embossed headliner panels.  The rear upper panel closes in the top to make a red velvet start of the headliner from the top of the rear window on up.  A really impressive thing to see as you enter the bedroom To continue with the idea of making a maximum amount of access to components as we are also doing in Ken's 23' Duramax, the 5500 watt Kubota diesel generator while having conventional access through the exterior original generator door also has access through the top here   Man I hate to play contortionist working on things.  This compartment as well as the lid are double lead foam insulated to drop both heat and sound .These are the type of things we must think through and build into these unique machines-- there are no "blueprints" or previous designs to follow-- it's all up to us.  I like to put myself into the shoes of the poor dude that will someday need to service or repair the systems-- hey, it could be me so I want to not paint myself into corners.  Doing this is one of the things that takes the thought and build time to do it well!  So dark 30 came & I was preparing the last 3 wood panels for clear coating, this is the top cover for the rear 110 utility compartment under the rear window.  Thought  I would try something fancy and do the panel in to different woods then clear over it.  Lets see how this comes out.  Tomorrow if the stain dries well enough we'll mix up some more clear and start the multi-layer clear finishing process on them-- stay tuned for that and stay tuned cause I intend on installing the bedroom seating today-- wish me luck.

5.17.09

I hope the page loads a little faster now I had to figure out a low tech solution to what looks to me like a high tech problem.  Yes, my work computer is spazzing out a bit.  I mean I go in early to work just to sit there now and watch the liittle red button on the box like it was regurgitating digits to get going.  It's Sunday night & I'm on the lap top, like I said, a simple solution to a big problem!

Like I said, Janie & I just got home from another awesome rally.  The Sunshine Statemen 2209 rally schedule is over looking for next year.  So while I am at the house catching up on CBS Sunday morning with Charles Osgood the lap top is acting as my second level of multitasking.  This weekend was good but next week at the shop just might be even better.

Working in my mind how the bedroom in Raymonds Duramax bedroom, I thought I might do a pic an hour or something like that putting the interior panels together.  Might be interesting, stay tuned.

It has been a great couple of days and I would really like to tell you about it but first I must get on task.  Tomorrow wants to be a creative day on the Duramax coaches, both of them.  I have been working toward several defining moments I guess and several come together tomorrow.  This is the part of all of this thats the most fun, bringing things together so lets see what happens.

We have rain today, our plan is to finish the punch list on Marylin's coach and deliver it to here in New Port Richey tonight, wish us luck on that.  Rain I know is good for our forest services with this fire threat and I guess I should be thankful for the many days of clear skies but hey, the water from the sky has us at a disadvantage right now.  Oh well, as Ben Franklin used to say, "When it rains it pours"

  See ya then

5.15.09

A sight for sore eyes, Omar pulled up today with something I've been waiting for.  Things always must be built in sequence and to finish up the next step in the 26' Duramax bedroom I needed some red velvet stitched.  He brought in my care package today Foam padded and double stitch diamond pattern red velvet-- very nice stuff!  .Monday, the bedroom comes together, stay tuned.

Man, it was a real pleasure working with this nice pair   Marylin's coach gets "pickin" the small punch list  before I load it up for the ride to Jacksonville early tomorrow morning for the last Sunshine Statesmen rally of the year   Lights check out so I guess we are ready to go.

Wayne is off too with his refinished exterior so while Craig finished up his new alarm system Jeff was finishing up with the buffing 

    If you will notice, the sides of the vertical band has a light radius to give depth   it's a small thing but needed.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.  Bob H. will probably have the club "WiFi" rig at the rally if he makes it so If that works out I'll post to you tomorrow.  The last rally of the season, it's really been difficult to make each but being first violin this year I felt it was important.  This is the last one, it's where Ed J. will take over and man was it a year!  The club went to see the Blue Angels in Pensacola, went to the 1st annual winter Palatka Bluegrass Festival, had the 3rd annual Drag Race rally, did Ormond Beach and a ride up the Intercoastal, Caravanned from Alachua to Dothan Alabama and helped the GMCMI convention with our tent, Christmas in Kissimmee at Old Town yes-- it has been a great season.  I hope you are supporting your local GMC club, it takes people to make them go.  I've been pleased to serve and everyone made it all work -- and yes, we were pretty lucky , ity never hurts!

By the time you read this I will have made to run from Orlando to Jacksonville in Marylins beautiful coach.  I hope as good for you.  Talk to ya soon

  5.14.09

Man, when it rains, it pours!  We have things going on all over the place and now my computer is doing weird things! I come in to work early to mess with this thing and then it takes me 30 minutes of watching the little red button flashing spasmodically before the thing will do something!  Yea, yea  I know my web site is big, I know my invoicing program is being pushed farther than it was supposed to go and all that but hey, aren't these machines supposed to help you do your best?  What does it mean when you run down your computer-- does it mean you need a new one, am I asking too much of it-- what gives!  Bear with me while I figure out what the monster needs!

So between making up new words for this keyboard and that red flashing light, with all thats going on sometimes we have to break and push out a coach or two, it's delivery day and Marylin's coach is one up for takeoff.

Yea, I know I talk too much about paint quality and adding to the investment of your coach by doing good by it but look, I really feel strongly about this.  Paint is the first thing someone sees when they look at your coach and though you may not call yourself an "exhibitionist" I know you want folks to admire your GMC and the best way to get that going is with paint.  I have been struggling trying to get our new paint system organized.  Why is that such a struggle?  I guess I am just a bit picky and swithching to a new way means adding in everything possible to do the best job we can.  So here is the first coach to put out a foot saying "I'm ready".

  Why am I in such a weird position with my camera?  Why is my face soooo red (not just my neck) and why am I showing this pick when I'm supposed to be showing you a picture of our paint work?  Well, I am    Jeff has finished his magic and that pic is me bending down taking a pic of the reflection in this .

Pick the 2 that pertain to this job:  price--- quality---- speed

I'll tell ya now this job took way more time that we wanted, we were able to bring the cost of such a job down and the quality-- well take a look at these pics and tell me what ya think:        When I walked up to Jeff yesterday afternoon to see him sitting there fussing with the black finish the way you see folks picking at their antique car I knew we had a quality level we were searching for.   Thats when I snapped my reflection picture. The new chrome bumper fits perfectly It has all come together and we are growing just that much better, getting more of that last 1% and thats where I want to be.   You don't find this in a production paint shop but thats what we seek.  I certainly hope Marylin feels the wait was worth it.  I appreciate her giving us the time to do our best and for her reward-- her coach went from this to this   Yep, these are the same coach!  Do you think this coach will sell for more if it were for sale?  BTW, I don't think you can buy this puppy -- no way, it is too loved and enjoyed.  And a great thing this weekend, Janie & I will be doing a "shakedown" with this puppy to the last Sunshine Statesmen rally driving it up to Jacksonville.  Now brother this is what my job is all about!  This coach in all it's finery may belong to Marylin but this weekend it's all mine!!  We're riding in style, JayGee is over there in the corner probably mad at me but hey, this opportunity does not come along often.  Thanks Marylin for offering the coach to us, you know I'll be checking out all the systems, and everyone on the road will be checking us out as well!  One problem though, it takes more time to get to your destination in a coach like this.  You must figure in "gawking time" each time you stop!  What is this?  Are they making them again?  My Dad had one of these way back.  What year is it? Do you want to sell it?  and the questions roll on.  You guys have dealt with this I am sure and doesn't it feel great! 

The last rally of the season, in my home town, turning over the gavel to someone else and doing it all in this coach-- we will enjoy this!

One of the new features we are now using are new LED exterior lighting.  The new LED side marker lights are $14.50 each and I feel have a really nice look on the coach   1/3 the cost of buying new original lens, this makes for a good look on a fresh exterior   .  Marylin's coach is not sporting any body molding strip, the 2" aluminum flat stock replaced the original style 1 stainless body mold system.  We went for the "blackout" look.  If you do switch to these lights and want a body mold strip, we can cut for it, let us know when you order both.  We also went with the new sealed LED top marker lights, the original look but thats it, these puppies say "new"     17 super bright LED's sealed in an exact replica of the original "cat's eye" design light-- very nice!  These are only $12.50 each and are in stock.  Hey, it's the small things that make a coach stand out!

Not wanting the others with coaches here to feel left out, here is a report on other projects around here.

Steve took off today but progress on Ken's awesome 23' Duramax is coming along well.  After getting the swapped side headboard/blanket locker completed in the bedroom  , the unique galley cabinet has started.    Ken knows about this but let me explain what you are looking at.  Under this removable top compartment, there is the 3500 watt Kubota marine diesel generator.  Access to the generator will be through the top from the inside.  Presiding over the generator compartment will be a removable drawer cabinet to allow access.  The galley countertop though with the stove top and sink will stay in place.  Bet you've never seen something like this!  The compartment will be vented out under and probably on top of the ground effects kit on the exterior to allow the generator to breath-- looks like it will work, these are the kind of things you just have to figure out in a machine such as this.  Stay tuned for more on this coach.

Raymond's 26' Duramax is getting more overhead cabinets built and installed  installed .  Kinda tricky to build up then hang, I'm working today on the servo strut covers-- I mean we can't have those things no matter how cool they look visible.  I'll be doing these things today myself so stay tuned.

Wayne L. coach got new body mount pads yesterday ready to go him today

Gotta go right now-- more to come

5.12.09

I think part of our load problem is the size of this page.  I'm trying to load much of it over to the Archives but that too is going slow so please bear with me. 

Steve is still building Ken's galley cabinet and other interior issues on the 23' Duramax.  He stopped to make the galley doors for the 26' Duramax yesterday but for the most part he is doing a great job at staying on task with Ken's interior.  I on the other hand, have not been carrying my camera to show you guys pics-- shame on me, I'll do that today.

The big deal for us and the push right now is getting Marylin's paint job to completion.  As I have said before, the actual "painting" is not that big of a deal, it's all of the before prep details and after the paint is on the finish details that make a paint job what you see.  Before walking out of the gate yesterday, here is a pic of where we were   The coach came off the ground for us to install the flare kit.    These are the open flares without a center "T" skirt.  Marylin had this on her previous 23' coach and wanted to go back to them.  Lining up then securing these puppies is not an easy job.  Matter of fact the guys waited and left that tricky job to me as soon as I could get off the phone that is!  Craig was parts scrounger and holder while I had the business end of the screw gun , one slip and.... well you get the idea and the guys knew how picky I am with this stuff   You can see where Tank & Jeff are still buffing areas on the paint, They will have the coach this afternoon to finish all of that before the Wed. delivery.  Yesterday we had so many details to work out on the body.  I refinished then sealed all of the side windows which is another one of those things I prefer to do myself if I can get the time.  Ray & Eric went after the sealing and reinstall of the painted side rails .  These rails are removed, the sealant dug out before the coach is painted.  The coach is painted with these off of the coach, the rails are painted separately then they are reinstalled.  This way, if they ever need to come off they can.  New stainless steel machine thread screws are drilled, tapped, sealed and installed-- this is a big-- very important job.    Our new awesome chromed bumpers went on with all new solid stainless carriage bolts, bezels backpainted, a new grill fitted.  If you will remember, the front of the coach took a hit just before it came in -- how did we do?   Sorry but no more green-- no more "customized" front bumper or grill-- no more old and all new   There may be some who prefer other but this is what we do here.  We take the old, keep the retro look but turn it new, I feel this is what will keep the GMC on the road and folks singling them out as something special     Like I said-- good looking--- and this is how we see the GMC.  It's not just the paint, it's not just the new bumper, or the refinished and sealed window frames, it's not just the wheel flares or the red stripe on the side of the coach-- it is the whole package.  That's what we have worked so hard here at the Co-op to try and put together-- the whole package.  Thats the hard part, you can find a painter, you can find a glass guy, you might even find a company that can do chrome-- but do they know what a GMC is, do they know how to take one apart or put one back together.  Do they have access to all the parts.  Tell ya something else about this coach.  Not only is it now a pretty face-- it had our new roller cam motor, a Manny tranny, Honda water cooled generator, it's a Golby twin bed modified to twin "J" sofas and a huge master bed     .  This coach is fitted with a seperate shower and "toy box" storage under the bed   This coach does not sit, in fact we are late getting it out and Marylin is biting at the bit ready to go so if you see this coach out there on the street, go take a look.  This coach has it all, is a real flyer, good looking and ready for the road!  Follow us today as the final touches go onto "Red Racer".

They have done it again, Hot Wheels just loves to keep bringing out retro designs for the GMC.  Tank was at Wal-Mart last weekend and found this actually on the shelf   "Holiday Rot Rods" with "St. Nic" under the windshield, has gold wheels and some really nice stripes.  So run out to your nearest Wally World and see if you too can score one!

I get Emails like this often and I gotta tell ya it does my heart good to hear I have helped out even if it is in a small way.  Here is a post I got this morning:

So we have 40% chance of rain today, great for the forest fire we have going on, bad for our finish work on Red Racer.  The sky is clear right now so I need to get outy there and get some work done.  Man, I wish we could get more room to work!  Hey, anyone out there want to invest in a commercial building in Florida?  It's a great investment, you can't go wrong owning commercial property in Floris and hey, you will have a fantastic tenant---- me!  Be a part of the Co-op and help us help others, our business needs a bigger place and we sure need your help with this.  No "handouts" here, just a sound investment strategy!

Check it out-- there was a GMC at the end of the last episode of Breaking bad!  .  It was on AMC network, thanks to John ,my son, for sending me this pic.  Don't know if Raymond had anything to do with having it written in but whoever did it--- thanks!

Hi-ho,hi-ho-- it's off to work I go--- don't step in oil, look down for screws, be sure to wear a hat -- the sun is hot and you'll bake your brain but I'm sure you knew bout that hi-ho, hi ho hi ho hi ho!!

5.11.09

Good Morning, for some reason this program is running very slow so it's going to take a little time to get caught up here  Hope your Mothers Day went well.  Janie & I spent it away from it all at the beach.  Time is the one most expensive thing I have to offer so the weekend went to those persuits.  We made the most of that time and I'm here this morning ready to go.

We have the big push to "birth" Marylin's paint job outa here.   All the little things that always seem to come back and bite you has to be done today.  We're to that wire so stay tuned for that.

Ken's driver window seems to be cured so the next step in it's installation can go forward

Raymond's galley overhead went in Friday so I'll do some prewire cleanup and start loading the galley   Wiring the lights, install of the microwave and doors and this puppy will be done.  Next will come the galley counter install.   Also, the huge bath door with it's red stained walnut burlwood finish will get it's buff out   This will be a very interesting finish out.

Waiting now for the rest of the crew to come in, the sun is up and the heat is coming with it.  Hey, it's better than that cold stuff!  We'll get going soon and see what can be done. 

When Marylin dropped by the other day to check on progress, she brought a few pics of the last time I drove her coach to her.  Janie & I towed the Suzuki to drive home and made an evening of the event   Getting there before dark, I still have "work" energy in me-- she showed me the "Hess Van" model she had and of course it wouldn't do that the headlights would not work!  A little diagnostic investigation and I had it working great   It was just like work, couldn't find the right tool so a pair of scissors had to do-- now thats what you call stuck in work mode!  hey, the energy was worth it, the Hess lights work now so she's good to go with that coach at least!

Went over to update myself on where the paint shop was, I mean the pressure is on those guys!

Hey, have a great day and if you see something that needs doing-- do it.  Could be a small thing or a big one, it's all the same-- it's gotta be done so get in there and do it!  Talk to ya later

5.8.09

First let me get a few issues out of the way and give some quick updates before I get into something I think is extremely important

Ken, Steve has really been diligent in building up your interior.  He is now turning his attentions to the galley cabinet.  I will do my best to give you pics maybe this weekend but we have some critical issues that I need to pay attention to so hang with me.

Wayne H. and Wayne L., we have had to turn to another project for the last couple of days to get it out of the way,  Please bear with us, hey -- there are only so many hands here.

Mark, the guys have your frame processed to an undercoating level, the Ospho is on , the rust is arrested and now they have the undercoating on, the tanks are back from being refinished so I think they will get them back in today.  Pics of that will come maybe tomorrow.

We have some parts B/O but things are going OK there so you guys with them stand by.

OK, I'm ready to blow a little time talking about something here that has been way up front on my minds eye for a bit.  I use a great deal of laminate material when refinishing interiors, some ask my "Jim, what have you got against (real wood) finishing?".  I mean our direction has been to simplyfy interiors and use laminate for many reasons one large one being the cost factor in the labor that it takes to actually do a proper job on real woord.  I see coaches at rallies that retired or hobby woodworkers have done to their coach that is beautiful but if you ask them they will all have to admitt that they could not charge a person for all the labor it took them to do such a job-- thats the reality of stuff like that.  It's not that I hate or cannot understand real wood finishes-- in fact my Grandfather and family was raised in Marion NC and he was in charge of the finish wood dept at Broyhill-- heck wood is in my blood!  My house is all wood interior   but it is just simply not cost effective to do this sort of thing inside the GMC and keep the final cost off the moon!  That is until Raymond Cruz came along.  He challenged me to pull out all of the stops-- to basically go where I had never been before and to "do it all".  Hey, you know how I yearn for those words, how I stay up late at night looking for those impossible never done things and I gotta tell ys guys, the interior of the 26; Duramax has become not just a project of on the edge stuff but also one that has set my laid up creations free. 

Specifically the aspect of wood finishing has grown to the point of working with to me the most expensive materials in the most labor intesnsive way doing stuff I have never seen except in my mind and he has said to me to go for it!  While it is true and there is little someone can change the fact that on custom work there are 3 goals of which you can only pick and have 2, namely (quality--- speed-- price) Raymond has directed me that Form must come first, function is second and then the time that it takes to do that is just what it takes -- this list of priority is something I rarely get a chance to follow-- yesterday I think it is all starting to come together & what it took has all come together to any outstanding level of finish.

One ingrediant that made this direction is when Raymond chose LM Pagano and her design ideas for the interio.  She came up with an interior direction that challenged us all.  Specifically on the wood and it's finish is red Walnut burlwood-- hey, thats is not made, you have to make that yourself!  Burlwoord materials of that size is un-natural!  You have to seek that finish and go hard to get it.  Thats where we wanted to go and thats where we went.  Yesterday, I pulled out the 3" air powered buffer and went after the galley overhead cabinet.  After days of design, building, fitting, covering, sanding, veneering, sanding, clearings, sanding, clearing, sanding... we were are this level and the buffer was bringing me home   You can see the 1500 grit finish and the first buff out level of the finish.  Each finer level of the process brings the finish to it's hopeful conclusion.  With the buffing finished, we made it to this and as the sun was low in the sky before setting, I brought the cabinet out to the light and snapped this shot .  I feel we have reached the level of our journey's end.  The finish is deep and rich, it has the finish of hand craftsmanship, not perfect but with the signature of the worker I do not feel conceited in saying it is like the finish of a hand painting .  I stepped bach and took another pic and choked up a but.  The interior of this machine should be stunning past the level of mere quality work-- it is hand crafted, personalized to the point of critical admiration which to me is better than perfection and in my mind harder to achieve. This overhead cabinet is ready to go in, the recessed florescent light and hinges are mounted and that could happen today.

Yesterday, Jeff stayed on task and worked with the buffed and ready to go in second bedroom clamshell overhead and the end of yesterday found me just wanting to sit in the bedroom and stare at what we had achieved .  The LED lights at the bottom of the cabinet is perfect, man now thats some light!  All of the colors and textures that LM was looking for and Raymond challenged me to do I think are all there   We have first the red walut burlwood cabinets, the embossed headliner, the "copper kettle" majilite, the double stitched diamond pattern padded red velvet, the Camel blackout large cell pleated electric shade -- this pic I hope says it all.  Now I, you and all of us must understand that this is the first spot where everything is starting to come together and until this point the disjointed parts maybe made less sense but through it all-- here it is and I gotta tell ya I like it.  Not just to be a "yes man", I like it.  I really like it and I have never been at this door before.  Raymond, it's all I can do & I am pleased with the outcome, I hope you and LM are too.  This is our goal to make the rest of the coach to this level, cleaned and polished I think people cannot but feel impressed with this.

BTW, go take a look at the You Tube site, I brought in a light and reshot the operation of the motorized overheads-- it's a little better http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks  Our focus today must be Marylin's coach paint punched out but maybe today I can get that galley overhead hung-- we'll see.  Hey, everyone involved, thanks for helping me do my best, I hope it's what you wanted-- we have reached that level of hand craftsmanship I have been pushing for!

Gotta go, the day is upon us and great things are coming.  Thanks for the visit, we'll talk again

5.7.09

Walking over to the paint shop this morning  it's great to be able to say that-- I mean having again my paint shop just behind us-- a great sight came as I got closer    We're doing the "raccoon" window wrap on Waynes coach.  Actually, it is a copy of several paint schemes we have done  that seems to flow well on the GMC   Eric and Ray are now on the window frames refinishing and sealing them   Tomorrow afternoon you should be able to see a real metamorphosis!

Steve is narrowing in on Ken's 23' Duramax bedroom area   The main "U" sofa base is in and we find out measurements were pretty close.  The redesigned plumbing to the bathroom is within 1/2 " of clearance   Thats fine, we can work with that. 

We had first figured we would spray on the Ospho on Marks frame but to assure we had strong coverage Buster decided to brush on the rust killer to be sure it was all dead Stay tuned for more on this project.

OK, so here it is, I have dreamed and thought about this one till my thinker was sore.  The overhead cabinets for the 26' Duranax  has to be something special and here it is.  To my knowledge, this is the first electric opening overhead clamshell cabinet-- certainly in a GMC but maybe anywhere.  Here it is closed   and here it is open      and now if 've pushed the right buttons (sorry, I still need to get better lighting) here is a videp of the overhead opening and closing with a touch of a button.  Go to http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks and take a look.  I'll do some better video tomorrow.  Jeff will be in tomorrow and will be excited that the project he & I have been battling actually works-- BTW, we will be covering the servos with a black bellows affair- sorry, no "techno look" for this form.  Jeff will work today on other cabinets while I dress this one up-- stay tuned for more.

Gotta tell ya guys that you just can't duplicate fun like this!  Motorized oberhead red stained walnut burlwood clamshell cabinets-- I mean where can you see something like this!

Gotta go, we have so much happening right now that I can't wait to hit the shop.  More to come so stay tuned and thanks for the visit and support/

  5.6.09

He's gone home  Yep, I got Manny to the airport early this morning for his flight back to California where he says he has 2 transmissions waiting to go out.  I tell ya there is not a harder working man out there!  Yesterday eveing Manny was cleaning out the bay where the magic was done packing up the pistons he will have machined back in California.  He hates pictures of him so I got him so I guess this pic will be OK with him.  The tables were cleaned off where piles of transmission parts were all lined up, all thats left are the labels of the stacks.  Oh BTW yes, those are Trolls acting as table legs-- they make up a really strong table.  Hey, who says old "troll" Onans don't have any value!  Manny put together 10 transmissions for the communities use here on the east coast.  It's sorta like stacked "Care" packages waiting for the next catastrophe! He found a custom converter shop here in Florida where he had his special roller bearing, brazed torque converters built up to his spec to go along with his special transmissions all boxed and ready to mate up.  So another 10 out of the 500 he has committed to building for us is complete, thank you Manny for your hard work-- now, come get'm while they are fresh.  As soon as these are gone he'll come and build more.  He hopes thats after the heat breaks down here, California has such a great climate he doesn't want to come down here when it's hot.  Can't make any promises man, we'll try and hold out though!

Ray come in to help me with the final buffing of the overheads for the Duramax 26' coach .  First there was the final 1500 grit sanding with the electric "jutterbug" then by hand.  Next was the course then fine grit sanding with the 20 pound orbital buffer   next was the hand buffing with the fisnish "Finesse" compound and the raw surface is done .  Now I hope you can see why I say doing real wood finishing is so labor intensive!  Now my fun begins, each overhead has to be wired with it's LED lights , switches and servos .  Of course this is an overhead cabinet to put stuff in so all of that has to be moved out of the way to make room for the luggage and trimmed out so here it is covered .  You'd never know about the piles of wires under that Ozite padding!  I am hoping today I will get the first cabinets in the bedroom up and operational-- stay tuned.

I'm driving Craig and his son Eric nuts with Mark's undercarriage   See, when you drop holding tanks there is always some "stuff" or as we professionals call it (Dooty) left in the bottom  .  Mark's tanks were shot and had to come out and to access the complete frame now was the time.  Thanks Craig for hanging in there and thanks Eric for doing what Dad said!  It's a nasty job but somebody HAS to do it-- better them than Buster who has categorically refused such work!

Buster and Jason though will go "diver down" on the frame and where after a serious pressure wash, they are replacing the crushed frame pads .  Just before this, Jason went after the rusted sub frame straightening the "C" channel then welding them to the main frame rail .  You can see how clean they got the undercarriage-- you can still see some of the original black rail paint .  With the subframe welded to the main rail, the chassis should again be a good rigid support for the body.  next they will coat the frame with "Ospho" which will kill the surface rust left and then they will completely undercoat the frame and bottom side of the body.  Hey, it's gotta be done, this is why Craig & Eric had to suffer with the 2 holding tanks and the old funky plumbing.  But it's all done now and we can move on.

Jeff helped me set the glass in Ken's expanded driver window .  He's the meticulous one here and is perfect for this job.  We hope to install the frame and glass this week.  Steve is also on Ken's interior plodding away and the interior framework.  Not much to see, I'll maybe do some pics for ya today.  Of course Ken is hanging on every word of his progress--- wouldn't you!  Hey, we're getting there so stay tuned for more.

So thats it, I'm sitting here just after 8AM, the sun is up and the temps are on the rise.  He've been hitting 90 every day so far, looks like the blow drier is getting ready to switch to Hi around here!  Hey, better that than the cold stuff.  I like it hot and it looks like with a 5" drop in our rainfall as of today I'm going to get my wish.  It will be nice to get me Suzuki back for a bit.  Manny has had it since he got here & I've had the side car bike for transport.  It was fine and I had a great time but hey, too much of a good thing is not good!  I'll do some pics for ya on Wayne L. and Marylin's paint work, Jeff is pulling his hair out there. 

We'll be in contact later

5.4.09

My weekend was filled with sanding while Manny was over in the "back 40" building transmissions  You really must understand the importance and complexity of the work he is doing for the community.  Probably more so  thanmost any component needed to keep our classic coaches on the road, the transmission is one of those parts that there simply is no substitute!  We can make other parts fit in application but the GMC can use only the front wheel drive 425 Turbo Hydomatic transmission-- and guess what, there are parts for this transmission that are no longer available!   Yep and when you need one of these internal component parts for your transmission-- as in the words of a good friend of mine from Canada, "You are hooped"!  See the great thing with the units Manny builds is that he has those parts!      Not just new bolts and modulator valves but new bushings, new cogs and new chains, your local transmission builder cannot find these parts.  These transmissions are getting old and parts are wearing out, parts that just taking a unit apart, cleaning it well and replacing gaskets and friction plates does not renew.  These transmissions are unbelievably inexpensive when you think about what he is doing, he is actually "remanufacturing" these transmissions for you and I-- a great distinction from just replacing clutches and gaskets!  Manny has committed to do this service for the community he figures for 10 years or 500 transmission.  When you look at it that way, this is a great gift to the community.  Manny will be here finishing up this batch of transmission through Tuesday only so if you are in the area, please come by and meet and thank him personally.

So while Manny is elbow deep in transmissions, I was over in the metal building as I said sanding my butt off!  Had a post ask why the sanded finish looked so white and nasty.  This is the dust from the clearcoat I am sanding loose.  Here, let me whipe it away with a damp cloth , now you can see the grain of the wood that is under the clear left on the surface .  Yes, it looks milky still and thats fine.  We are doing this to "float" out the high spots and the dust particles while giving a rough "bite finish" for the next layer of clear.  I finally got all the cabinets sanded 220 grit then 400 which is to give the finish a smoother surface (the higher the grit the finer the finish).  400 is very fine to an unfinished surface and it's goal is to give a smooth surface so maybe the next layer of clear sprayed on has the chance of being the last layer-- you just don't know until you wet sand it.

Kevin stopped by to run the gun , which BTW is a real art.  Oh sure, I can spray out paint but the clear must be very carefully sprayed and I look to others for such a quality finish.  Air pressure, mix, gun settings and spray direction all go into the shoot, along with air borne mist even with the "HVLP" gun he is using .  It has been great weather for this, the humidity is low-- bad for forest fires but good for us.  The pollen count has been down to keep particulates out of the air and the temps have been all in the 70's and 80's-- perfect for this process.  So after Kevin parties with the clear-- you have this   .  From a distance the finish looks like nothing special, maybe a little dark-- get closer and you can see what the fuss is all about       This is getting close to the look we seek.  Today I will try first an orbital sander with 2 grits of buffing compound, maybe we will have what we seek.  It may take a high speed buffer or even maybe another coat of clear-- lets see!

Wayne L. coach should peek it's head out from the paint shop with it's new stripes and Marylin is dropping by to inspect the progress on her coaches exterior refinish.  Sam C. left his coach at the shop for the weekend and will be driving in for some work on his and Steve goes back down with the 23' Duramax interior.  This looks to be another great week of work.  Hang with us and see how it goes.  Thanks for the visit and we'll see ya soon.  Call if I can help and hey, go give your coach a hug for me-- everyone needs a little love!

5.2.09

There's Manny, explaining how his transmissions are different from others   Paul B., an engineer and Russ K. a commercial pilot both were really into what Manny was showing off.

Had a post asking what was going on with the Duramax projects-- realized I had not posted anything lately, sorry bout that guys-- been doing some "grunt" work that really does not show a finished spiffy looking produce but hey, it all goes into the finished product.  Waiting today for Jeff to mix up the 3rd pot of clear and shoot it on Raymonds overheads.  I've been a sanding fool lately , after the first clear coat layer I sanded using 220 grit using a 4x4 block.  This gets all the "nubs" out and helps flatten off the finish.  Then hand sand the 220 grit to smooth out , then we switch to 400 grit hands sanding to take out the 220 scratches which really gives a smooth surface ready for the next clear layer     This finish has been a long journey but one that should look awesome.  After this next clear layer sprays on, we'll 100 grit then 1400 grit wet sand then go after it with a buffer and finess compound.  This final gloss should be just that-- wish us luck.

Ken's 23' Duramax dash plate is in and the inspection inserts fitted   With the structure of the frig/closet cabinet in, Steve went into the bedroom to build up the "U: shaped sofa/bed      We will pick up some storage to the left and we'll have the water tank on the rear wall.  Stay tuned for more on this.

After being in "Hover Mode"  to check the bearings and suspension, we pulled him up on the lift for a check of that soft underbelly   Well, looks like we have a little work to do.  The coach has been up north and looks like the roads have done some damage.  We have a healthy amount of scale and rust that will need to be attended to.  No rust through but we do have some rail damage   The seperated "C" channel is from rust forming between them and pushing them apart .  We'll need to extract the rust, kill the rust from further damage with Ospho weld back together the rails and paint and undercoat the steel to stabilize the frame.  Hey, don't freak out, this is not grievous, it just needs to be attended to.

We do have a fuel residue trace on the bottom of the fuel tanks which means there is some level of leaking   looks to me as if the inlet hose is the culprit here so we'll drop the tanks and sort it all out.  While the tanks are down, we'll have a great opportunity to get to the entire frame for refinishing.  Also-- we've talked before about frame rubbers and how we see now mant coach with troubles, Mark's coach is no exception,  Many of the rubbers are still there though they have crushed and moved   This pad has moved off it's mount to the left and now the body is on the frame-- Bad "Juju"!  Others are similar , you can see how the vent pipe is being crushed between the body and frame-- we'll fix all of that with new 1/2 thick bushings.  One of his holding tanks has been fixed till the fix has been fixed and needs something-- maybe a new tank, what do you think   Hey, none of this is unusual-- it's what 30+ years does to a coach-- it can all be fixed so stay tuned.  The control arm bushings are original and deteriorated  , again thats not unexpected or a big deal, we just replace them along with some other suspension issues then align it all up   Shocks have seen their better days too!  The original air bag had one mounting nut stripped out, no problem cause we'll be installing a Quad bag system on it soon.valuation to Mark we'll get started resurrecting this center galley Coachman Royale.

Wayne L. coach is getting a new "racoon" stripe today   which will hopefully straighten up the front stripes .  Stay tuned for how it comes out. 

And last but not least, Wayne H. coach gets it's original Palm Beach sofa and dinette seating out   hey, anyone looking for some beautiful pea green plad upholstery?  Don't you dare tell me you want that stuff!  Wayne already has one of our new sofa's and some captains chairs that will definitely do a better job than this Laugh In era stuff!

The "Motley Crew said farewell to Russ as he pulled away Friday with his new Manny Tranny, reworked Diff, tanks and hoses, frame rubbers, working generator, dash and roof AC.  Thanks for the fun and good luck with your coach.  We all enjoyed working for you.

BTW, I know many of you guys come here to see what we're up to but this daily Pose was originally put here to give folks like Mark, Wayne, Rick and others who have their coaches in here a view as to how we're doing with their coach.  Raymond uses this pace to check out colors and all for the Duramax, Ken and I have had many design decisions made with pics here on the 23' Duramax, Mark is seeing how his baby will shape up and thats what this page does.  I appreciate and have no problem with you guys watching it all and invite your comments and suggestions.  This page also gives me an outlet so hold on sometimes cause my soap box comes out and there we go.  it all comes together as a win-win for all so thanks for being a part of it.

Talk to ya later

5.1.09

Even though we were trying to keep the cost down and BTW, thats what everyone wants to do, while we were on the lift, Russ wanted us to look over his fuel system.  Seems that his generator stopped running one day and there had been times when he thought his tanks filled slowly.  We dropped his tanks and there is was again-- crushed hoses!  Yep, the body pads had crushed and the hoses were caught in the "squeeze play" between the bottom of the body and the frame rails.  So even though we really didn't want to run up the bill, those hoses needed to be replaced and new body pads had to go in.  We found out his generator electric fuel pump was bad-- why-- could have burned up because of not getting fuel-- maybe so that was replaced.  Now when Russ pulls out today, he will have a Manny Tranny, a new diff, a fuel system that really does work, a generator that is more than a boat anchor , heck he's got a real motorhome now!

Took a day to download pics from Craig's Olympus camera, his memory card would not fit, his cable was different, it's amazing how you have to have everything just right to play with this new technology---ah, but when you do it's just a breeze.  Wayne, here is more on your exhaust system.  This is something I had on the "dumpster", way back.  The dumpster was the first Co-op flagship and it got it's name for good reason.  We brought that ex production studio back from the brink of disaster for trying new things and the single muffler exhaust system was one.

The problem as I see it with out original 2 muffler system was many fold, first the mufflers were too close to the motor for the length of pipe to the rear of the coach.  If the motor backfired it was sure to blow up one of the mufflers.  Plus with that length of pipe, backpressure to the mufflers caused them to burn out, blow out or for whatever reason go out.  A low RPM, high torque motor creates a great deal of backpressure and I think it is important to get rid of it in a different way than the original system does.  So here is where the single muffler system comes in.  First, you certainly do want to load up the exhaust when creating a high torque, low RPM motor of course but lets do it another way.  Lets remove the mufflers and bring the "Y" pipe together to help balance the motor.  Oh yea, lets also get those pipes to hug the coach and not be down in harms way.  An important feature of any exhaust system should be to help "balance" the motor.  In other words have both heads come together in the exhaust system so balance their outputs.  Check out most any factory system and you will find this feature before the mufflers just after the headers.  Our GMC exhaust system comes together after the mufflers and I see this as a place for improvement.

Now, with the exhaust balanced, lets use that long pipe to the back to load the exhaust pressure.  Lets expand the pipe to 3" for the long run back .  After the crossmember opening, each opening back will accomodate a 3" pipe so we expand the pipes out and use those openings to their fullest.  Now, we have the the exhaust to the rear of the coach , it has cooled down somewhat on it's travels but is still got noise so lets get rid of that with a free flow muffler.  A one in, 2 out single muffler suspended right at the sweep up.  This brings it up where it first does not hang low to mess with your ground clearance and then gives out the cool option of 2 oulet pipes.  Hey, it looks great plus gives a fast way for that cool quiet exhaust to exit Elvis and give you this ominous look for your coach   Big Daddy Don would have to admit having twin pipes is one of those custom things that scream "I'm Bad"!  Hey, and when you show up to a rally sporting a nice pair like that, the first thing those rodders do is cram themselves up under your coach to find out how you got "duals" to the back!

The noise is in the back, not in the front.  The heat is no longer under the floor and the looks are just under your bumper-- hey, it's all good!  Wayne lives in Bakersfield and look man, you now HAVE to go the a hot rod show because you will be the biggest, baddest hot rod on your planet!

No, we do not sell this system, better than that I'll help your local muffler man build it up for ya, he needs to be a little creative, know his pipe bender machine and be willing to listen but if he is-- brother you too have have a set of pipes to die for!

Look, these are the small things, the details I feel are important when putting together the classic 26' hot rod.  Don't need no stinken chrome to be bad.  Don't need to throw money against the wall to see what sticks, you just need to go back to basics, figure out what's needed and do it.  Sure, we build in original exhaust systems, I'll do anything someone wants and hey, the original design has served us well but that does not mean you must close your mind to ideas.  This single muffler system was not done to save bucks, in fact Ben spent a great deal of time hugging the exhaust pipes up to keep good ground clearance but thats the details that you always want to have, the things that is worth paying a man to do for you and the things that makes the job stand out.

Thanks Wayne for telling me to "go for it", he's good that way.

Today is Friday, we have coaches leaving, some coming, I have overheads to sand and clear, Jeff and paint to sand and buff and the world keeps turning.  You guys are out there working on your coach and thats a good thing, healthy for you and your coach-- keep it up and we will do the same.  Viva La GMC!

update

Wayne,  the pics I had for you would not connect out of Craigs camera, I'll have them tomorrow.  Here is something to wet your whistle! 

4.29.09

OK guy, you're going to have to hear me rant a little about paint first this morning.  I say that to try and get those who do not understand why "real" paint work is not really found cheap and cannot be done fast.  We have been putting together a new paint crew which is a very important part of our work.  I man if it runs great but looks like crap--- I mean all you have is a fast turd, pardon the expression but it's true.  Another thing thats true about the GMC is if you paint it the way they do a commercial truck--- thats what you will have and most paint shops that are willing to paint a "billboard" as large as out coaches paint in that way-- it's just a simple fact.   This is the stuff that takes the time , Jeff is out there wet sanding and buffing small sections at a time.  In fact he has his son out there too sanding and buffing, sanding and buffing-- well you got the idea.  It's the labor and the care thats put into a paint finish-- it has less to do with the actual paint and more to do with the care--- and brother, no one gives away care like this!  The black on Marylin's coach is much more than just black   Compare the black paint above her body mold and below.  Below you might first say it has blotches and runs, it does not look all "black".  Look closer, thats the reflection of the pavement!  If I would have taken off the compound dust, you would not have known this was a reflection in black paint .  Now THATS what I'm talking about!  You just do not get this level of paint work at a truck stop!  Our GMC has the lines and style that makes detailing paint like this.  This is "mirror black", you say -- Oh, I don't need this kinda paint but why not!  Why not add value to your coach, why not have it stand out in a crowd, why not give your GMC something that is as valuable as what the coach represents!  Guys, you put crappy paint on your coach and you have a crappy coach!  Sorry but thats the truth!

Hey, and the details make the difference---- oh yea man, now thats a nice pair!   This is something you ALSO can't get just anywhere and this is something that until now I could not offer.  We have found a suppliers that can do this sort of work , this is high quality 3 process chrome (copper, nickel, chrome) and their buffing finish is superior.    Another "mirror" finish!  And now always the next question comes "how much".  I guess that always comes after you see something really nice, you know they never ask how much crap costs!  I know the reason for asking is to see if you can afford what it would cost to have something really nice-- but can you afford to not have something nice?  What is it worth to pull up to a gas pump, look down and see if your shoe is tied in the bumper reflection or have someone stand next to your coach and say, "Man, those are nice bumpers!".  Hey, thats what it's all about and don't tell me it's anything different!  OK, I'm working on that price, it's not an easy one to answer but this quality is at the level I look for so if you are interested in "real chrome" bumpers, give me a call.  I hope to know more on the cost today.  OK, just got word--- $350 a half-- done in 3 process, polished and ready to go.  Gimme a call if you want some of this perfection.

OK, back to the fun, the prez of Zip Dee loves to come by when he's in town, yesterday he and his partner dropped by to gawk a little at the 26' Duramax , we had a small adjustment the auto awning needed and hey, who better to get to do it that the 2 guys that designed the system!  BTW Raymond, they are really excited about having their awning on this coach--- they wanted me to thank you for selecting them.  Heck, you KNOW I would select them for this project!  Here is the awning now partially out

Gotta go right now to pick up Waynes coach at the muffler man "Ben's" place.  Wait til you see this masterpiece-- a rear mounted single muffler design-- transverse mounted one in-2 out free flow system-- all the noise if any is at the back of the coach, no floor heat-- very nice.  I'll show ya later today.  We have Wayne's blind/valence system ready to go in and his suspension went from a old nasty steering box to this puppy .

Finally, we got Russ tranny out and Manny found the problem , man is it nice to have Manny here!  Hey you'all, looky here   The broken gov. gear was only a result of the problem   As you can see, the cog sticking out of the tranny broke-- what caused that--- the diff thrust bearing went away over years of wear pushing the pinion into the cog breaking it.  Bummer man, so now he needs a diff., his tranny core is junk AND his gov. gear is gone.  Gonna be OK though, we have the techhnology-- we can make it go again!  Stay tuned for the outcome, he should be on the road again this evening.

OK, gotta go, it's going nuts around here today, Sam C. came in last night from Cocoa, he's my designated steering column repair tech-- you know how some tilt mechanisms get loose, he's here to fix several coaches.  Hey Tim S. in the UK-- your machine is getting fixed along with mine, the flat bed and anyone else around here that needs this.  Hey, we all get by with a little help from our friends and here is a prime example-- thanks Sam, you are the one!

Thanks guys for the visit, we'll see ya again soon

 4.28.09

Do you have an extra one of these in your coach   This is a plastic part in your transmission called a gov. gear.  It is a "fail safe" link part that connects the gear shifting governor to the output shaft of the transmission.  It is designed to strip out when there is too much torque mainly from a speedometer or speedo cable problem to keep that issue from damaging the interior components of the transmission--- but---- we are now after 30+ years seeing these little plastic gears stripping out for no aparent reason other than they are just old.  What happens when this happens?  Well, expect to count the cracks in the road because the only 2 gears you will have is 1st forward and reverse!  What does that mean, well it means you really need to pull over and replace the gear and find the issue surrounding it's demise because driving for any length of time in 1st gear is really bad "juju" for your transmission.

Why am I bringing this up this morning?  Got a call yesterday just after lunch, a fellow was leaving the "sun-n-fun" fly in aircraft show in Lakeland and found his coach not shifting.  He said just before that started he noticed his speedometer stopped.  I talked him through pulling out his governor to check his plastic gear and sure enough he had a flat spot chewed out of his old gear .  The decision was made that he was going to follow snails heading toward us and would call me when he got close.  Now he was @ 40 miles out, had directions to us and knew the problem and how to drive.  He is a commercial pilot trained in "working his assets" so we foamed the runway, got emergency vehicles lined up and waited for the call to clear all runways.  About an hour later a call came in but not the one we wanted to hear.  The report was he was making headway blocking traffic, was probably mistakened for the ice cream man blowing along at 15 MPH on a 4 lane back road, pulled over to let traffic by and that was it.  Trying to pull back out on the road for more clock hour hand racing there came as he said "some really expensive sounding noises" and the coach would not move.

You guessed it, the transmission went home to Stovocore!  Sometimes your best option is still not good enough.  He really needed to replace his gov. gear when it went out, first gear was not made to run for long periods--- and it didn't!  The option was not to drive it but without a tow service ti was all he could do-- rolling the dice did not give him a win.  I waited and just after dark Kpt. Hook came in toting the dead soldier with a tired puppy in the passenger seat .  Hey, there is a silver lining to this, not what he wanted but remember that Manny flew in yesterday to build up our stock of transmissions --- and we had one left from the last batch he built!  Guess now we know where that transmission will go!  Hey and it all started with that pesky little Gov. gear-- so let me ask you that question again-- Do you have one of these?    Follow this, we need to get Russ out today and back on the road.

4.27.09

This weekend was full of moving around, cleaning and organizing Yes, there comes a time when you just have to stop and clean up!  Our lot is just too small for what we do, playing "musical chairs" with these coaches in this small lot is not the fun part of this place.  I have several coaches here that just sit here in the way and it just complicates things.  I am making an effort to clean the place up and move things around so please bear with me.    Saturday morning was great, am riding the side car bike.  This is our "dry season", you've probably heard about the fires down here lately.  That's too bad but it is great riding weather for bikers right now.  The Suzuki Jeep is a real help in moving around the lot.  It really didn't like me hooking him up to my 63 Tradewind Airstream trailer pulling it out from under the treesbut hey, life sucks then you deal with it!  I'm going to wake that project back up and do something with that beast!  Stay tuned for that.

Picked up Manny this morning @ 1AM at the airport, he's resting in JayGee as we speak.  He's here to build up an assembly of transmissions.  We all are most fortunate that Manny is willing to go through all this for us to have quality transmissions here for us on the east coast.  Watch this week as he builds transmissions.

We're pulling Marylin's coach over to the paint shop for it's wet sand & buff process.  Good news-- our paint crew sighned a lease on our old paint shop just behind us and now I am close enough to yell at them.  The landlord fixed up the building (those that have been here know that was badly needed)   The place looks much nicer, but don't let the paint and some new doors fool ya, it's still the same old pole barn underneath   I'll do pics of the wet sand today.

Buster is hard at work on Wayne's "new" coach.  I'm going to drive it out to Bakersfield to him but before that he's getting the benifit of having it here to get some critical things done.  Buster is elbow deep up in the motor making sude we get a good seal onto the heads by surfacing the heads with a sanding wheel   It's nice that they look great but more important, we want them to work well   Adding these headers to the GMC is not as much the "go fast" option you thing of and it's not done to add "bling" to the engine compartment because that shiny look will burn away in short order.  No, we suggest adding these headers  mainly because the original cast metal exhaust manifolds are warping and cracking -- they are dropping like flies I guess because of their age and the fact that they have a 5 bolt mounting pattern and not having that 6th bolt gives them a weak spot which seems like they are warping badly.  Header like this do not improve performance as much as after they are properly torques down they will not blow gaskets and leak.  Hey, nasty sounding big blocks have a cool sound but it's not a desirable thing in a motorhome.  Our fire breathing monsters want to be felt but no heard so the exhaust system gets a real pick-up in it's integrity with these headers.  Wayne is getting the new headers installed then we will drive to coach over to get his new single muffler exhaust system installed by our famous "muffler Man" Ben.  Stay tuned for that.

Pulled The carb filter on a coach in for service, the coach was running fine but look at what we found   Cutting the small filter open you can see how much stuff it had collected while still not showing signs of clog.  Listen, go down to your local parts house, pick up a couple of these filters (WIX  33052) and keep them in the coach.  When this filter clogs you stop, it's simple as that!

Got another coat going on to the overheads in Raymonds Duramax today.  Found we have to let each coat cure well befor I can sand on it.  Have the bedroom are about ready to go together, waiting on Omar to bring the stitched red velvet to build the last panels.  man, you gotta hang around for this one!

The day is here, the sun is up and I'm giving Manny another 5 minutes before a wakeup call.  Have a great day

4.24.09

Thanks to Bob Heller, our club "IT" support Guru I think I have successfully downloaded a loose edit of the Motorhome Drag Races from last weekend.  Go to http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks and see if it's there.  It may take a couple of hours for it to show up so if it's not there try again later.  My ears smoke from all this new technology, hope it came out OK. 

It's another Friday and we have piles of stuff going on around here.  We're trying to seal up Marylin's coach exterior before the wet stuff hits us.  I'm sanding my fingerprints off on Raymonds overhead cabinet clearcoat layers and Wayne's fuel tank job is ending so now the guys will jump on updating the motor and all that.  The weatherman says we have clear skies so thats good.  Just tried the Bus Hole Shw and the video has not downloaded yet, give is some time.  Have a great day and thanks for the visit.

4.23.09

As you say in the update bringing a coach home from the trauma of paint is a big deal so now we are on it like ants to a twinkie sealing it up before Mother Nature decided to bring in the rain.  man we need a larger place!    First thing I'll reinstall the Ramco mirrors so I can back the coach around, go play musical chairs like I do in our cramped lot without a set of mirrors!  The rechromed bumper should be here maybe today, lets see so we're into assembly on Marylin's coach.  Thanks for the posts and comments on the paint, yes-- it does look as good in person as the pics do and when it's buffed out man, it is going to be nice!  Look, I'm not trying to be cute or anything but really, laying hands on the exterior of a GMC like tis really adds so much to the value, it's not just another motorhome when it has colors like this!  Pull up to a gas pump and I guaranty you are the talk-- no eyes leave the property without scanning your coach!

Speaking of finishes, I walked over yesterday evening to lock up the metal building and man did something jump out!    Remember I've been building, covering, coloring and prepping our butts off on an idea for Raymonds Duramax overhead cabinets.  Our decorator "LM" had given us a challenge to go for a finish like this , a counter top in Johnny Depp's yacht.  The problem with this is that counter top is reasonably small, flat and being "burlwood" is pretty expensive.  We are going for a huge amount of the stuff, curved and we're going for seriously slick and resilient.  "I had a dream" so I've been following it-- here are the cabinets with just the first coating of clear .  Yes, we're going for a darker red color, even the bathroom door gets the treatment and man, thats a big piece   We still have 3-4 coats to go sanding each but I think you can see where we are going with this       , and here is the underside of the bedroom blanket locker door .  Sand and clear, sand and clear, sand and clear and I think we'll have something!  So finish this project off and hang them in this and I think you can get the picture.  Fancy-- well, you could say that.  Over the top--- I think we'll fall off the other side!  Stay tuned, things are coming together!

So the sun is up, no one is here yet so I get the chance to hang those mirrors and move around the lot before the day starts-- perfect!  Have a great day, you can see how mine will be.  And really, thanks for the posts and calls, it all helps me keep it together.  Don, take your time on that wiring, it's probably something silly, Scott-- let me know how those torsion bars work out, hope you can find another "porkchop".  Oliver, glad the shipping folks over there in Germany found that body mold package.  Janie really did not want to ship it again.  Hey Joff, can you believe both bolts on your fuel pump came loose and until the fuel line broke that dang thing was keeping you going!  Yea guys, the nut fell off the mechanical fuel pump, the bolt was loose and until the metal line fatigued and sprang a leak the motor kept going-- just a small oil leak and hey, who doesn't have one of those!  Further proof that these things will run broken!  The rest of you have fun, hug your coach cause everyone needs a little love.

Update

So in rides Elvis      in the gate and now we put her back together.   And if ya like this finish wait till we wet sand and buff it out!  For those on the GMC Net who saw me jump up on the soap box about paint quality, this is what I'm talking about-- No-- this is not a $4000 paint job!  There is piles more work in it than that!  But if you want the coach to have "value added", this is what it takes.  Follow us now as we assemble the exterior.

4.22.09

OK so it's probably not on the top of most of our minds, but today is "Earth Day" so you need to at least do something to say you just don't want to mow down all the trees, suck all the oil out of the ground and melt all of the icebergs.  It's not much but I pulled out my bike and rode it home and to work this morning.  .  Yea, I know it's not ALL eco whatever with having to plug it in to it's "mother ship" to recharge the batteries   Most of you guys know about "sparky" my bike but for the new guys, this custom made "Phat" brand bike is a heavy duty all steel, extended fork cruiser fitted with a 36 volt front wheel hub, 3 lawn tractor batteries and a hand grip control system, complete with a 7 speed "Nexus" hub for pedaling.  This puppy when the batteries are properly conditioned will pull me up to 14 miles at somewhere around 20 MPH depending on the road incline, wind, etc.  Pedaling in 7th gear I can reach 25 MPH without too much strain--- it's a great thing getting exercise at these break neck speeds.  And I will say that the term "break neck" is probably the best definition of this because if I were to hit a pothole or something at 25 MPH on this rig I betcha more that my neck would break!  Hey, you just have to be careful, it's dangerous trying to save the world!

Speaking of danger and stepping out of the box, let me show you what my son John came up with all by himself-- if there is any question as to wether he hatched from this nest or not, I think this will put it all to rest!  Over the years, he has seen some of the transportation rigs I have come up with, he observing and actually seeing what the outcome of many of them have been has a unique position but still I think sometimes these ideas must have been to interesting to totally discount because a couple of weeks ago he sent us these pics of something he has picked up out there in Sierra Vista working for General Dynamics   Sorry, it's a small pic and if I could figure out how to post it I have videos but he has hooked up with a company in Busby "Spooky Tooth Motorized Bikes" yes that has a sharp looking motor to turn a mild mannered bike into a fire breathing one cylinder killer transpo devise!    Sure, it runs on gas but many of the vehicle engineers say the best way to produce an efficient means of low cost transportation right now is to "optimize" fueled vehicles.  I am sure this motorized bike will get some stupid MPG spec but more than that it will do it's energy saving thing at 26 MPH!  I know how scary fast that is on 2 skinny bike tires-- last weekend while I was covering the bleachers at the drag strip with smoke with JayGee, John was burning up a race track in Arizona with his motorized bike!  Like I said, he sent us videos, I'll try and figure out how to show them to ya but in the meantime do a search for "Spooky Tooth Motorized Bikes" and check those folks out-- what an interesting thing!  Like I said, if there were any question as to where John's genetic heritage was hatched from, now there is little doubt!  Sorry man, I know where that tendency came from, you could actually call it an affliction!  Leaning in to the turn at 26 MPH, thats insane!  Regulations and permitting to motivate on the roads with this sort of rig vary by state so I need to look into if I can have one of these things in Florida but I think I want one.  Can you imagine a set up like that with my front hub electric motor as an afterburner?  Sparky would be a lethal weapon!

So do something today for Earth Day and it does not have to be just wearing a green T shirt.

Progress is happening on the 26' Duramax headliner with the bubble foil in I can finally build up the embossed headliner.  You have never seen a GMC ceiling look like this!    Let me point out how the emblems from panel to panel are lined up on each panel-- was not a simple matter to translate where each pattern needed to be to New York where each panel was sent for it's embossing process.  Now that it is coming together, you can see more of what we ate building up , there is still dust pick up on the panels but the end of the day yesterday had the second florescent light in and wired, it felt good to see this and the colors and textures coming together.  You will not see anything like this and of that I feel secure in saying!  My thanks to Raymond and LM our decorator for saying lets just do this-- you must agree we are way outside of that box, maybe passing Saturn getting ready to enter the atmosphere of Pluto with this one!

On to a similar project, Ken's 23' Duramax is at the point of the dash build up and bringing to the table the process used on the 26' Duramax Jeff, our electronic engineer par excellence it fitting the "leaded foam" to the prefitted and cut aluminum dash structure   In that we have done a great deal of "homework" to bring this part of the Duramax projects to this point, let me explain a bit what you are looking at.  First, the aircraft grade aluminum sheet was tight fitted to our dash structure with openings to access the huge Duramax turbo diesel motor.  Cover panels were fitted to the opening.  Then with research we wanted to reject both heat and sound with the aluminum sheet to it's maximum ability so we became dealers for "Lizard Skin" for both their sound and heat rejection processes.  Then taking this concept further, we added the "leaded foam" product we have used for years on the coach in the generator compartment to reject the sound and head in our generator compartments-- this material is a composite material of chrome covered mylar layer, 2 foam layers with a layer of lead/ nylon -- one square foot of this product has a weight of 1 pound, the density and heat plus sound rejection is pretty intense.  so laminating all of this we hope to achieve our goal of a quiet, cool forward interior compartment on these monster machines.  After building this panel up into the coach we cover this with a vinyl covered wood skin.  It looks good so lets see how we did, stay tuned.

Wayne's coach takes possession of the lift    after getting his B&B (bearings and brakes) along with the new Qbag system outfitted     The next phase of the "reclamation" process of the coach will take place on the lift going after the white underbelly of the beast, namely the fuel tanks, body pads and inspection of system underneath.  As you can see, the frame carries only surface rust but the exhaust system is gone.  The body pad here is still in there though squished a bit but the body pads in other areas are missing altogether .  Jason goes after the fuel tanks by himself, Buster was out yesterday he found some soft spots in the tanks so off they will go to the radiator shop for cleaning and lining .  Hey, I'm driving this puppy myself to Bakersfield and I'm not going to deal with this fuel stuff we're seeing!  Though the coach does have a maserator system we will make sure it is up to par while the coach is in hover mode.

OK, so there ya go, I'm working hard to get back in the pocket on the Daily Pose along with the workload and Email pile.  Hope there was something in today's post that interested you.  We have Marylin's coach coming home this morning, Jeff has already called telling me to "foam the runway", this will be some excitement for the day.  We have Burke coming in with a punch list and one of our dual dash AC system coming in for service.  The rest of our projects will also hopefully keep moving and so on the beat goes.  Thanks for the visit and the support you guys give us here, it's a good feeling and believe me I feel it! 

Over and out for this day-- Earth Day 2009 

4.21.09

This morning I'm trying to catch up on Emails bear with me, I may not have much time here.

Have had several Emails asking questions and all about the Drag Race Rally-- I would tell you the best outcome was that it was just plan fun!

Bob Heller, the club "IT" man I think said it best with this pic   No shoes with the only problem being balancing that paper plate while he tries to eat a flapjack!  I love it-- and Bob walked away without shoes with the title of fastest motorhome on the planet (I mean is there anyone out there to challenge the record) .  He blistered 21.417 @ 62 MPH putting me second at my 22.791 @ 57.88 MPH.  It was simply an awesome time, you just had to be there.  As soon as I can figure out how to post we have video of it all so stay tuned.  Been able to pull out a couple of pics from the pile, you can see the smoke from the burnout, there were jokes & smiles till Bob & I both "lit'em up" in the water

Tomorrow we have Matylin's coach coming out of paint for us to start putting back together.  It has taken more time that we figured hey, but what doesn't anymore.  Stay tuned for that.  All I can tell you is we are more concerned that everything is right than the time it is taking, sometimes it's tough to stay on focus but thats just what you have to do.  Her coach is an interesting mix of a 23'machine she had before and these are some pics of what we have on her new paint work on the 26' she now has

     We're going after those horizontal lines, back out around the windows and metallic colors so stay tuned for more pics on this project.

Steve is closing in on the frig cabinet on Ken's 23' Duramax, will do pics on it today and Craig has figured out the dash on the 26' Duramax, pics coming on that too.  Raymond is taking the interior of the entry door to a new level, he's having the black entry handle I showed you earlier wrapped with the red leather and having the chrome interior latch possible brass or copper covered.  man, I've never seen anything like that-- have you?

It's all just becoming too much fun and then on top of that-- Mark blew in last Friday for a new project we will get into next.  Remember I told you about Mark blowing in after a non stop run from the northern ..

Gotta go, more later

4.20.09

Here it is Monday and I feel like I need a rest!  That's when you know you had a good weekend -- when you feel you need to get back on the job to relax!  I could say I missed the shop and all that goes on here and maybe I did but this weekend was one for the record books in many ways.  Have not even pulled up the pile of Emails to see if something blew up, I wanted to come here first and just give you a first report on what happened at the 3rd Annual Sunshine Statesmen GMC Drag Race rally.  I'll get to the rest of it all in a minute, right now let me just first say thanks to all who made the Drag Race Rally what it was.  We had 13 coaches come and dry camp at the Orlando Speedway for 2 nights of fun and crazyness.  There are just so many stories, so much stuff happened , so many "Hey you'all, watch this" stuff it will take me a while to put it all together.

Morning looking south (cut-n-patste) then hold it up to your face and you can see a panoramic pic. Yea, I know it's a bit nuts in itself but it does work!

So how did we do?  Yes, we have racers and though I did not make it there with the flat bed (thats another story) I did get out there with JayGee and we turned some heads and some tires!  Rear it a weep boys , beat my time before by .32 sec. and the speed by .94 MPH-- hey and that was with a carb not the high end direct port injection I used before!  And the better news is I came in second!  Bob Heller blisters the track at 62 MPH to my 58.76!  His time was under 20 sec., smoken man!  We have a new record on the 1/4 for Motorhomes.  I'll give you his ticket specs when I get'm.  Was it a blast?  What do you think?  In a word-- YeeeeHaaaaa!  The guys in the staging lanes had a laugh on the old guys out there with the motohomes till we laid out some hefty layers of smoke in the burn out before running-- things got pretty quiet and the smiles turned to amazement after that!  I have some pics and video that you just will not believe, let me get it processed.

Let me tell you this quick story of Mark, driving in non stop from Ft. McMurry Canada-- yep thats NW Canada about as far away from Florida as you can get.  Mark drove in landing at the shop about the time we were heading out to the drag strip.  I told him to turn his rig around and follow us.  I think us southern boys impressed the Canadian with what we do at our club rallies because the other times listed on my ticket was him running me!  His wife called to see if he made it to Florida and what he was doing, when he told her he was in the staging lanes with their motorhome waiting to see what 1/4 time he could turn--- there was a long pause on the line!  Yesterday taking him to the airport he said he would never had thought of such a GMC rally or how to have such an awesome time.  His 403 turned a respectable number and he said it was certainly a first time for him. 

Like I said, I need to get back to work to settle down.  So Eugene just pulled out to get some new rear blinds in his coach.  Good, it will get me past all this and back in the saddle again.  Have no fear, I'll put together more pics and the videos in time for ya.  Let this pic of a couple of tired puppies tall the story   We were all spent from just the best time we could possibly have had!  Like I said thanks to all who came, it was "all good" and we definitely will do the 4th annual next year.  Just can't wait to start cutting insulation panels for the Duramax coaches and building walls and all.

Let me go for now, I'll catch up on all the Emails and all tonight.  Bear with me and have a great day!

4.17.09

Had a great day at the shop yesterday  Got both coaches ready for pick up to make it to the drag race rally here at the speedway.  Got the flat bed down to a short punch list getting it ready to race.  We've installed a line lock on the rear wheels which should be good for an entertaining burn out!  Hey, it's all for fun so why not.

Steve was hard at work on Ken's 23' Duramax, Craig & I went at the 26' Duramax and the rest did the deal on the rest of the pile in the lot.

Today, we will be closing early heading out to the drag strip for this weekend's festivities.  Sure with I could have had one of these fire breathing Duramax coaches there, that would have been a sight!  Sure with Larry was running, he was built for a rally such as this but I'll be bunking with john Norrie with the flat bed carrying the Co-op flag.  This will be the first time that machine is out there doing it's job so think kindly of it as the Q-Jet carb opens it's secondaries when the green light flashes on the tree.  You betcha I'll have pics in fact we're doing some video so you will see some of the fun.

Gotta go, it's race time fans, I hope you have half as much fun as we'll have, if not hang in there I'll show you how it went for us.  Doubt I'll have any WiFi at the track, we'll see

4.16.09

Yesterday and pretty much today  was and will be filled with making design decisions, doing up details on the Duramax projects and preparing ourselves for the weekend's drag race rally.  Ken and his wife are doing the "decorator fret" on color-- not something for sissies because when it's in it's extremely hard and expensive to turn back.  That's also what we are doing with Raymonds 26' Duramax.  With the interior door panel covered, next is the handle selection.  That may sound immaterial but the further you take form over function, the more important each decision is.  Let me explain:

The interior panel needs a pull handle. The original one was pretty limpy and you know how I hate to do something just because.  Here is a steel reinforced textured rubberized handle we have used in the past that has proven itself to be an ultimate in function   Being steel reinforced on the inside, you can hang 14 midgets off it.  I found this handle through designing ambulance interiors-- it's called the "Oh S&^%" handle when placed in them.  The guy sitting in the back needs something to hold on to and this is it!  It is black in color while the rest of Raymonds interior is not.  Yes, we have much black on the exterior and it might be good to have a black handle even though it does not match the interior to help it stand out so it can be found.  If will have many hands on it so black is a good color to not show dirt.  Whatever handle we install must be through bolted solid before the latch panel is installed so we must agree on it's selection before we move forward.  Small things like this must be agreed upon by all before we can move forward.  These are the things that matter at this level of manufacture and this is what we are doing.  If it were sole function it would be an easy decision but there is more to consider than that.  Stay tuned, I'll let you know where we are going with this. 

We have different issues on the 23' Duramax which concern living space which we are working through.  Stay tuned for that.

We have 2 coaches here for weeks that are going to the drag race rally, we have only one full day left to solve their issues.  Yesterday, while truing John's new tires, we looked around at his suspension.  I noticed a pile of grease on the inside of his RF wheel while truing it Hey, thats not a good sign!  Looking at the outer boot, we found the problem .  Jon's outer CV boot had split!  Oh yea, "cap com" we have an issue , so while replacing the boot with our new "sticky boot" with double bands we found his sway bar end link bushings trashed so that got replaced too

Another coach looking to bust-a-move on the track this weekend had a complaint that when filling the fuel tanks, some of that liquid gold was spilling so the coach went up on the rack for a looksee   With the tanks out   we got a good view of the issues .  As you can see, the aluminum under panel had bowed down from the pressure of the foam insert.  Look closely and you will also see the crushed body pads       If you look at most coaches, you will see this-- the derometer of the rubber pads has been compromised.  What that does is crush the hoses on top of the tanks between the top of the tanks and the bottom of the body .  Thus, the tanks are hard to finnll, the hoses also deteriorate and cracks caused the leaks so all of the fuel lines and body pads needed to be replaced if we were to try and have the tanks not leak and fill well.  Also, we found original brake hoses-- a "no-no", those too came out.  So as you can see, we have our work cut out to get these puppies out before race time!

Today will be stressful, we also have Marylins coach coming out of paint, I promised pics for her so stay tuned for that.  I imaging Raymond will help is with decisions on his entry door handle and Ken will start to narrow in on interior colors. All is good and we are having a great time here in paradise.  The weather is clear and the race looks like to be on.

Thanks for dropping by this morning, thanks for the support and I hope we are entertaining and informative.  See ya tomorrow

4.15.09

A good clear morning and it looks like a clear weekend to boot for the upcoming Drag Race Rally here in Orlando.  I know I've talked about this before, this will be the 3rd annual Sunshine Statesmen rally at the Orlando Speedway where we will have whoever comes given the opportunity to run their motorhome on the 1/4 track and get a speed and time for $5.  We'll be doing footage for RV Buddies for them to edit and use in one of their episodes-- yes, really!  I've got the flat bed running pretty good so I may be batching it in that thing the weekend-- Janie is not nuts enough to stay in it with me and I understand that!  So if you are close and have a mind to do so, come on down.  I'll do my best to do pics for you guys so don't feel like you'll miss it-- should be a blast.

I came in early this morning to get Tom's agreed evaluation completed .  He lives in Murfeesboro Tenn. where that heavy weather moved through last week.  He called and said there was destruction only 3 doors down from his place.  We had procrastinated since he picked up his coach last month getting his evaluation out so he could get the proper insurance on his coach-- I just thank those really lucky stars that my busyness did not cost him dearly!  Listen guys, this insurance thing is probably THE most important issue with your coach.  "Full Coverage" is nothing when it comes to any vintage machine.  The "book value" means nothing, it is what has been done "value added" to your coach that gives it value and a full coverage policy does not take any of that into consideration.  Please, learn from others mistakes, check to see what form of coverage you have, if you are not sure what you have call these folks-- they are specialists at agreed value coverage on RV's-- they can help you.  This is not a "paid commercial message" , I just do not want to see any of you in trouble if something happens to your coach after all of the work you have put into it!

Miller Insurance  1-800-622-6347  talk with Cheryl or Marlene

The policy you have may be perfect and if so great, but if your policy is something other than an "agreed statesvalue" policy, look into what you have.  OK, I've done my part-- good luck.  Tell them I told you to call, they know all about our GMC, it's special things and what you need.

So I was not sure if I could do it-- but there have been and are still so many things like that (you always have that stuff when you do things that have never been done).  I'm talking about covering the interior door latch panel on Raymonds 26' Duramax.  As I have said before, we are going for the "gold" on this coach so each piece has to be at it's best.  The original interior metal latch panel is a pretty interesting piece   You really cannot replace it with any other thing, it is a stamped specialty shape that does not lend itself to being replaced so the option is to cover or refinish it.  I have tried many things to do this, I usually stretch our "pleather" vinyl over it but in the case of the 26' Duramax, we are not using our "merely mortal" material.  In place we are using what I call "exotic" materials which have different reactions to working forms.  The sculpted microfiber Majilite material is what we are using on the walls which would traditionally be used on this panel but I was not sure if the material would work and stretch the same as our other material.  Well, the only way to find out is to try so pulling out the thermoplastic welder, I went at it.  I can't show you how I did it ( a national secret) but here ya go-- a coper kettle covered interior latch plate .  With a little heat, the microfiber gave in and whopty, we were there .  Can't wait to start in on the build up of the door today.  The entry door is the first thing you see when entering the coach so it needs to be something special-- stay tuned for how that job goes.

We now have our "bubble foil" insulation in for both Duramax coaches so now the walls and headliners can keep going in .  This stuff increases the "R" factor of the ceiling and wall panels to help hold in heat and cold.  We're now working with Ken stepping out the floorplan in the 23' Duramax.  Even moreso than the 26' model, space is a premium and keeping things dimensionally accurate is a challenge.  .  You need "gut space" , Don't measure tight or your friends will get stuck!    You need an open view if possible front to back, we have that where the new frig wall is placed. 

I've had folks ask me why interior work, specifically laminate work is expensive so I though I would use this opportunity to explain the steps in laminating even something simple as a cabinet door.  You need to think about it like this-- to build a double door for an opening you of course need 2 exact cut pieces of wood, you also need a cut piece of laminate for each edge, thats 4 per door or 8 strips and 2 laminate faces which makes 1 pieces of cut laminate and the 2 cut wood panels.  Each piece must be glue laminated to the panels then each edge of them routed to shape and sanded flush to the wood  This means that all 8 strips get this work, each one at a time     Wax is put on the laminate face to keep the router bit from marking the surface   Now that the edges are laminated, the face is laminated last.  Each edge must be totally flush and flat to the wood for the face to line up with is done with a belt sander.   Now, with the faces on, the edges need to be routed   then hand filed to be exact.  The only way I know to do this is by hand, in the vice one edge at a time     then cleaned up with laquer thinner   OK, so there you are, you have 2 identical custom made and laminated cabinet doors   Each door has 5 cut, laminated, sanded and filed pieces-- thats 20 finished edges and 40 edges in all.  Each door takes @ 45 minutes to one hour tops which means each door costs in labor alone between $60-80, materials adds maybe $10 to the total.  Now think of the interior of your coach, how many

BTW, if you look at your air bags and see something like this , move away slowly-- put a block under the bogy and let the air out of it right now!  As you can see, the outer rubber skin has a cord layer just like a tire under then there is an "innertube" just like a tire but without the cord to holt the tube together you really do not have anything reliable.  This can officially be called a bad air bag so inspect what you have-- compare it to this and know where you are-- this is very important!

4.14.09

I really should not chant "Rain, rain go away-- come again some other day"  because we need the wet stuff around here but it's calling  for some serious thunder/ boomers so we will I  guess have to live with it.  Watching the clouds on TV this morning during my Cheerios the rain was just north of us but I think we are in it's path sometime today.  Isn't it amazing how those weather people can pinpoint all that.

Yesterday was good, got several things done, Craig figured out some pretty weird things on the Duramax dash issues.  It's the "figuring" that really takes the time on stuff like we are doing on those projects.  Give you an example"  We're wrestling with the floorplan on the 23' Duramax.  We need a 64" cabinet to be "king" on the frig and closet enclosure-- we have 48".  What to do, how to solve this and what effect that will have on the rest of the coach is a $99,000 question right now.  Another good one is the AV system on the 26' Duramax.  Raymond is challenging me to really "go for the gold".  Which is more important -- function or form?  In the case of the 26' Duramax those points are equal in importance if not form taking the lead.  We just need to make that machine outstanding and standing out so now the challenge will be to have all of the goodies in the bedroom but hide it all, keep the style in the front while making the bedroom all it can be--- a pretty tall order but thats the level we want to reach here.  I have some ideas so hang with me while we do the impossible.

Jason and Buster are going after yet another Q bag system     What the guys do is double team the job, one takes one side and the other busts a move on the other.  Now that the Quad bag system has gone from an exotic suspension mod to just about the best option for a replacement air bag we are doing many more installs.  Hey look, I know the initial retrofit takes a few bucks but look at it as an investment in the future of your coach. It is a super selling feature because whoever is looking to buy a coach must deal with the rear suspension issue sooner or later-- your coach would already be done!  If you have no plans to sell any time soon, then the Q bag system is a must to keep you on the road, safe and prepared fully for whatever happens.  Yea, I know the dollars is the holdback and hey, I appreciate that but just start saving those aluminum cans now, you will need to do this sooner or later!

We pulled out the mondo crate that brought us the nice replacement rear wheel wells for Mark's 32' stretch yesterday   Ma, they really packed those puppies well!    Took some work to get them out.  We're putting together all the pieces/parts of the project to get a handle on what comes next. Stay tuned for more.

The lightning is raging and the weather man is saying "hunker down".  Janie just called and told me to turn off the computer so I guess it's over and out for now.  Have a great day, we'll see ya on the other side.

I think a pinched nerve is natures way of telling you "I told you that you would hurt yourself if you didn't slow down-- now you HAVE to slow down"  I tried to step up into the coach this morning and couldn't do it!  Been strapped to my chair all day--  man, I hate this!  It does give me a little time to think and thats a good thing so you just do what you can.

I've taken the overhead cabinet in the bedroom through several revision, I think it was useful, we'll see.  I also had time to think through the 23' Duramax floorplan.  We defenetly need to get into the "dual use" mode to make that flooplan work out.  Ken has posted me with several ideas.  He said he took the 23' coach he has at home and taped out the floorplan-- thats good thinking.  Hey, we all get by with a little help from our friends and I gotta tell ya it's exciting to have all of you supporting our efforts.

Sometimes I feel like that duck swimming along-- you know, looking at him he looks all calm just moving along checking out the weed while under the water he's paddling his butt off!  Thanks Scott C. for that analogy, it's a good one!  Yep, thats the trick to look calm and collected while you aqre gong nuts behind the scenes.  Restoring a motorhome with all of the considerations is a great deal like that.  So many things to consider and if you miss one everything is effected, I think thats the challenge of it and probably why not many people are crazy enough to try it.

Anyway, the down time today I think was good, lets see if I can get it together tomorrow and build some stuff.  Talk to ya later

4.12.09

Happy Easter--  A great holiday that actually stands for something important, that didn't stop me though, my back was working so I was too. 

Got all of the burlwood cabinets ready for the clear , stained the inside of the doors and cabinets as well as covered the last 2 pieces for the bedroom  

OK here comes the new plan for the bedroom AV system-- we have planned a clamshell overhead for each side but with them there is no room for the 17" LCD/ DVD.  So now we loose the driver side overhead which would be at the feet if you were laying in the bed.  The flip down TV goes in place of the cabinet and we build up this wall panel for a nice AV presentation --- wait, before I show the look, let me tell you how I got to this point. 

The picture is only part of a movie, you need sound.  Most everything today is at least in stereo so speaker type and placement is very important.  The sound needs to be from each side of the screen and that is difficult to do.  Speaker type is first to decide.  The big problem in speaker design is surface area.  The more cone area the more air you can move so we need to use that largest speakers possible-- thats not easy in the limited space bedroom and getting them on either side of the screen is a must.  Think about speakers in cars, the best way to get a larger cone area in a car is to use "ovel" cone speakers-- as in 6x9 speakers in the rear of a car.  6x9 speakers is way too large for this application-- but there are other oval speaker designs.  In this application I chose 4x6, dual come, very efficient OEM style speakers.  The output of the flat screen has a common ground output which means it is less than 3 watts.  Hey, thats OK, it's not how much power but what you do with the power.  The OEM speakers I am using is very high efficiency which means they will give out a loud sound with a small signal input.  Thats how the factory radios can sound loud with the crappy small output amps      We may not have a "crappy" amp but it is small so we need to think about efficiency.  Nexy, you know you just can't hold a speaker up in the air and expect it to sound good, you need to mount it into some enclosure.  Have you ever heard the term "ordered enclosure".   Order means how many frequency tuned features are associated with the speaker.  In other words, a second order enclosure is a speaker mounted on a panel in a box.  Here we do not have space for a speaker box so we are designing a 1st order enclosure which means the speakers are mounted to a panel.  Sounds a bit silly but it all goes to the sound quality.  .  OK, we now have the speakers, now we need the power for the video game, I Pod or whatever.  On the left of the speaker I'm mounting a 110 AC outlet to be connected to the inverter and a 12 VDC plug.  This will give Raymond the ability to plug in direct to  the TV with his game boy or whatever.  So here it is, the TV mounted on the ceiling     Here it is with the panel behind it   and here it is with the screen down and working   The speakers are properly placed and the screen fits in the opening.  Here is the panel covered with the walnut burlwood covering Where we are now is the panel has had the second color stain and as we speak is curing ready for it's clearcoat tomorrow.  You can see the power outlets to the left of the left speaker.  Clearing the burlwood is a real biggy, stay tuned for some cool stuff.  AS I said, today was a good one, lets see what happens tomorrow.

4.11.09

Again, thanks for all the input having to do with Raymonds bedroom video set up.  I am again today in pain from my *&^%$&*%%)% pinched nerve in my back so sitting here talking to you is about all I can do to keep from hurting myself further and do what Janie says and "give it a rest"!

Since several of you are showing interest, let me go over all the issues involved in making the decisions as to how to proceed, you may enjoy that.

Parameters:  The unit in the bedroom needs to be in a position comfortable to watch while laying down as well as useable when the room is set up with seating.  Since we are limited with space and a DVD is required, the DVD player needs to be incorportated in the unit.  This also makes operating the system simple.  We need good sound and stereo imaging is important in today's movies so we need a good speaker system to place sounds where they need to be.  We have a satellite system on the coach so the unit needs AV inputs for that signal and of course there MUST be a remote!  WE are limited in space one because of the size of the bedroom and 2 because of all the "stuff" already in the bedroom.  The system needs to look hi-tech and good.

The unit:  We have a 17" wide screen ceiling mounted flip down unit.  To date the largest screen I have found space for in the bedroom is a 15".  The unit has a built in DVD player and inputs on the front for both video and USB inputs.  It has speaker outputs for remote mounted speakers and has a couple of lights built into the case that can be used as room lights when the unit is folded away.  It has a remote with a billion buttons (looks like it) and has a hi-tech finish. 

The challenge:  To bring the unit into the bedroom in a manner that it does not detract from the decorator image our decorator (LM) has for the coach.  To place the unit where it has the maximum value as an entertainment center and draw Raymond to just lay there and enjoy the show!  Laying down watching TV is an Olympic sport not to be taken lightly.  Twisting your head to watch TV in bed can be most annoying  so great care needs to be made to make this sport a winner for the players.  Oh yes. we also need DVD storage built in for those must have movies, CD's and video game data!

So there ya go, sounds simple--- right?  Well, these are the things I go through to put in stuff in these coaches.  It's how you need to look at any custom build.  Anything worth doing is worth spending time to figure out-- it's what makes some of the work move at a pace of "stampeeding turtles" but I think it can only be done this way.  I risk pushing timetable doing this stuff but hey, the outcome usually makes it all worthwhile.  If you have any suggestion as I put this together, let me know.  I already do have the unit installed but the pics look weird.  I need to bring it more to fruition before I try and show it off.  Stand by for more.

4.10.09

OK, so it's "Good Friday" , a time to remember what was done for us.  I let the guys off for the day and hopr you to do something to remember what being here on this planet is about.

Yesterday was a good day, got good work done.  First I want to thank all who have posted recently with comments and suggestions on things I have been talking about here.  Sometimes I plunk here and wonder if it's really meaning anything to anyone.  When I get Emails it makes me feel all this just may be worth it. 

One post chided me a bit about the replacing of the fusable link with a fuse saying he did that and the fuse blew putting him on the side of the road and that my suggestion was a dangerous one.  I first want to say I appreciate both good and bad comments, I look at them as constructive criticism.  I would like to spens a minute and give a come back to that comment.  If this is not interesting to you skip the following blue text:

If you have over 40 amps of current flowing through the 12 and 14 ga. engine electrical harness be afraid, be very afraid indeed!  Hi current can be very damaging and you can arc weld with 40 amps!  In this application, if you have a 40 amp fuse heating up in the application of this fuable link, this means as a "fail safe" that fuse blew and you need to stop and check things out.  Our GMC electrical system does have a few excessive current draws that a regular car electrical system does not have.  First and foremost is the air ride compressor.  On power level systems, the full load of the compressor which could excees 30 amps at times goes directly through the ignition circuit.  One suggestion I give is to reroute the current drain of the compressor to it's own "home run" fuse to the engine battery.  It should have it's own 30 amp fuse and it it blows a 30 amp fuse by itself under heavy load you may want to replace that power sucking pig! 

The Dash AC blower can pull in excess of 30 amps on it's own on hi blow.  Now how many of you ever move the fan control off of hi?  My bet is not many, so it would stand to reason to relieve the engine electrical harness from this massive current load and run a fuse from the hi blow relay to the center terminal of the battery isolator with a 30 amp fuse there and if this fuse blows often you may find a new blower motor in your future!

Just pulling these 2 circuits from the fusable link will go miles to giving it a fighting chance to do it's job protecting you from the catastrophic electrical failure it was designed to protect you from.  Hey look, the GMC was the only motorhome the GM designers ever built, they learned a great deal from the 1973 to 1978 models.  It stands to reason that using sound electrical theory we could further improve on the design.  Another good one is the Alternator trigger circuit.  So the big question on that one is why does the GMC suffer from the affliction this nichrome wire melting the harness to a pile of ooze when most all of the GM electrical harnesses of the day were wired in a similar fashion?  I feel my answer to this question is the fact that a motorhome has different requirement of it's harness than a car does and somewhere in the electrons of the system there is an anomaly that causes this circuit to melt down.  Some feel that installing a diode in line will fix the problem, I feel that I am not smart enough to know the fix only that I do know there is an issue and to me the way to render the harness safe is to turn off and install a completely new circuit for the job that is totally safe.  See, we live in America but if you use your noggin for something and think through issues, a remedy for problems usually can be found that will work.  I do not follow that path of least resistance or that herd of lemmings.  I want to think I investigate a problem as much as possible and do my best to do the right thing no matter how unpopular that may be.

So everyone, along with changing out your fusable link, do some other good things for your coaches electrical system, isolate the current from the air compressor and the one to the dash blower motor.  Insulate that 2 ga. cable on the front crossmember of your coach.  Turn off that nichrome trigger wire to the alternator (this procedure is explained on my "information" page).  Do these things and your coach will thank you for it.  Just heard from Wayne in Bakersfield about his motor that caught fire, looks maybe the wire harness around the dist. got hot, melted and he had a good ole fashion smoke test!  Look at the wiring on your motor carefully, look for heat damage and route them away from heat sources.  Hey, that intake at the middle gets hot as a firecracker!  Years of hanging around, these wires are not covered with asbestos, keep them from harm, use your noggin, be safe and you have a better chance of being.

OK, thats covered I think and thanks for prompting me to clear that up, L _ _ _ _.  now, on to more fun.  Had a post asking where I had the 23 Duramax at the shop, here ya go   The coach is in the alignment bay, with the big driver window not in and still details to finish on the exterior, it needs to be inside.  If you are in town, come on by and take a look at the critter in person.  Steve and I are in the interior working on walls but you won't bother us.

I have more people come by, look at these Duramax coaches and ask why.  Hey, it's a good question cause I sure could build up an original 455 drive train for much less. I guess my best answer is if no one pushed the limits of what was accepted, cost effective and resonable, Roger Banister may have never broken the 4 min. mile.  Hey, I was pulled through a 4 minute mile behind the pickup of my coach in college-- me shoes were burning me feet!  If Joe Kittinger had never jumped out of a plane at some stupid altitude and did a freefall we may never had kown some valuable information about decompression and weightlessness, if the Challenger had not flown that fateful day, NASA would have never taken a serious look at their safety procedures and if we had never tried to really install a completely engineered turbo diesel drive train in a GMC then we would never know what it would take to really have a state of the art GMC of today.  I'm not putting this project in the same category as that other stuff but I will say that it is a totally out of the box concept, a truly "throw the baby out with the bath water", take out the bathroom along with the south side of the house and the dirt it sits on way to build a better mousetrap!  When completed, these coaches will truly be maintained at any Workhorse repair facility.  All components will be recognizable by any up to date mechanic with all parts off shelf, no custom drive train components.   No "morphodite" here, an OBDII computer diagnostic procedure will tell any mechanic the problem just as they diagnose your new car.  This is a huge step forward for the GMC!  This is the concept and the goal, to make a currently state of the art coach and this is the goal.  Sure, these things are going to be rocket sleds with a toilet-- a 22,000 GVW chassis with @ 10,000 on it's back the power to weight ratio looks to be a stupid number, one of the perks of the project.  Us motorheads glisten with an inner glow thinking of the possibilities there but it's not the reason we are doing it-- though it's a good one!  We have gone to great lengths to keep all components in the same position as Workhorse put them and accessible for easy repair-- this feat in itself was touchy. 

So where do these project end, what do they culminate to and why were they proposed and done?  These babies will push the limit of how far you can take a GMC into the future.  I would like to try other things like this with a GMC, ok I'm nuts but it's what wakes me each day!  I have a great appreciation for those that are standing with me on these projects and for those who are helping with their suggestions and comments-- they only make things better.  Oh and when these things are unleashed onto the road and you hear they will be at a rally near you, just get in your coach or even your car and come to see them, I guaranty you will enjoy checking them out.  So are we nuts?  You betcha but watch out, they call the Wright Brothers nuts too!

OK, so here's something interesting we did yesterday.  Remember I said the Raymond challenged me to hide the over the window lights.  Looking at the issue, there were several way to go.  One of the criteria is I wanted the twinkies to be visible at times from the outside giving the exterior of the coach a look at night so with this in mind here is what I did.

With the blind up, the lights are hardly visible from the inside ey are visible from the outside.  Now, bring the blinds down just a bit and the light reflects off the folds and gives a great effect .  The lights go out on the outside so that effect can be turned off while the interior of the coach gets the benefit.  Bring the blinds down all the way and here is what you have .  I like it and here is the rear window open and with the shade down a bit .  Another benifit of this window treatment is the entire window will be visible, not covered with the overhead cabinets. Our new "clamshell" overheads will connect just above the top window valence.  These issues were all considered when building up this system and I like the push Raymond gave to make it better, thanks man.

Now we have a big delima, we have so many cool things in Raymonds bedroom, we can't find room for his TV!  We have  ceiling mounted 17" wide screen LCD with a DVD player that just has to go in there.  Come back later for our idea of how to do it.

4.8.09

The day started out clear but a little chilly for us, in the 50's  Everyone came in and it looked like a good day was coming.  Had appointments for checking out 2 coaches, John showed up first then Tony right after   They had several pesky issues, John had a poor running motor, fuel leaking from somewhere below and his dash AC was acting weird.   Jason went "diver down" on John's coach while Craig & I dove into Tony's machine .  The plan on Tony's coach in that he had just purchased it was to get it stable and at least safe.  The place where he got it had done his "B&B's (thats bearings and brakes) but had neglected to mention that the living area electrical system was disconnected, air ride system -- disconnected, fresh water system-- disconnected, boost circuit-- disconnected and all for good reason.  One look and you could see that the same cross cable I had told you about yesterday was shorted, the isolator was burned out and bypassed, the boost solenoid was burned out and the switch actually unpluged-- why-- well the crosscable would have created a smoke test if it had power!    I brought Tony over and while showing him things about his coach got deeper into his electrical system.    Wow, the main fuse link was looking bad .  This is what it is supposed to look like.  His was really heat damaged and as Rick found out with his coach several month ago, when this wire fails in that it supplies everything to the fuse box in the gloxe box-- your coach basically stops cold!  Here is the fix   Replacing that worn out fuse link with a heavy dury fuse holed and a 40 amp fuse does the trick.e tell you a bit of useless trivia about this pic of Craig & I working together on Tony's coach   Craig & I met in 1977 in Jacksonville where we both were in the consumer electronics sales business.  Craig was an engineer just out from working at Bose and I was a buyer at a catalog showroom chain.  We both went to work at McDuff selling stereo gear together and have bumped into eachother here and there since.  When Craig came to me several month ago saying we outa get together again and do something-- you betcha I saw a great team-- and that it is.  He understands my electric giberish, not only that he's been there and back as the account of Bilbo Baggens says-- it is a pleasure to have Craig with me now-- what a help .  Tony appreciated Craig knowledge and picked his brain while we worked on his coach.

Janie went out and picked up 3 pizzas and we made a party out of the day .  Buster & I were not shy and attacked our booty with vigor .  Jason wanted to get John's dash AC system sealed up to keep out the humidity and hit the plank late.  John stayed with him and I think Jason wished he had eaten his share before it got cold .  He survived and got John's coach back together well.

Listen, here is something I want everyone to go out and check on your motor.  The Olds 455 motor uses a "ported" vacuum system.  The vacuum to the dist. comes from the ported output on the carb not from the intake.  If your dist is connected directly to the intake, it is plumbed wrong and the dist will actually detune your motor when it needs to create power.  John had a general mechanical shop tune his motor recently and after that he felt it was not running well-- kinda slow.  If your dist is connected directly to the intake manifold please call me and lets talk on how to replumb that-- this is very important!

So leter in the evening Tony first got done first then after replacing the brake hoses, flushing the system, replacing the clogged AC expansion valve, replumbing the vacuum on John's motor and all he took out and we all licked our wounds from a Daytona pit crew action on those to machines.

All this time Steve was on his own mission.  He and I had been laboring over the sequence on where to get going on Ken's 23' Duramax interior.  Here is the floorplan sketch we had decided to follow:

.  The monster Duramax turbo diesel, Allison 6 speed transmission with the huge transfer case shooting a drive shaft to the front wheels requires a massive relocation of front floorplan assets.  The "riser" forward is at the height of the driver front area so accommodating for all of the needs of the motorhome, we had to get particular.  The Kubota marine commercial generator will be forward under the galley sink and will be accessed from inside while being vented out under the exterior ground effects kit.  The driver side original wet bath module will stay the same as will the rear bedroom with the original folding seats.  This area will double as the sit down dining area as well.  The Frig will end up in the same place as the original Birchaven floorplan with a single closet beside.  Our challenge still will be to have a comfortable passenger seat because of the forward 23' entry door but I think we can do it.  I think though the challenges of adapting the rocket Workhorse chassis to this 23' coach will be a worthwhile project.  It will be a first and thats for sure but being such a powerful drive train with such a light payload it should be like strapping Shuttle SRB's to a Yugo!  Hold on Nelly, this will really be a road rocket!  It will look sharp, be comfortable too and hey, isn't that what we all want-- what a package.  Like the 26' Duramax, this project too has found a life of it's own.  I mean when you start something like this, an untried idea, you just never know where it will lead.  The only way to do it is to start at the beginning and stop when you're done-- and thats what we're doing.

Steve laid the "cornerstone" yesterday dropping the first support board in place   This is the forward wall location for the frig wall, and then came the frig and closet wall face board --- and guys, from here he will be building history!

Speaking of making history, I love it when folks give me challenges, Raymond was checking out the Twinkies on his new electric blinds and asked if I could hide the lights somehow   He wanted a "lit by unseen lights" effect.  Hey, I like that idea and I like the challenge so stay tuned to see how that works out.  I know you guys are wondering where the 26' Duramax will end up-- lets just say it will be unlike anything you have ever seen-- with hidden lights to boot so I know you'll stay tuned for this!

OK, so thats enough, I could sit here all day telling you about all of the goings on around here, we are having a blast -- an awesome time doing something we feel is worthwhile, hey and isn't that what it's all about!  Have a great day today yourself, find something to do worthy of the time you have-- do it with all you have and make something with saying "I did that".  You'll sleep just that much better tonight.  Over and out for now

4.7.09

Jeff was a busy boy today      The maroon is on, all 3 colors are now on    some wet sanding is already started   The clear coat goes on as soon as we have all the "nubbies" gone.  Our long wait is bearing fruit.

Wayne's coach is coming together, we have the rear brakes apart   shoes and cylinders checked, actually the cylinders needed replacing-- good thing we checked it out .  Tomorrow the Quadrabag system should come in, stay tuned for the install.

BTW, here is what those nasty fuel senders are supposed to look like   As you can see these are the same type units.  We'll get the tanks back first thing in the morning and they go right in.

So here's something else you might want to check on your coach.  On all GM floorplan coaches (not 1973 models) there is a 2 gauge cable running from the boost solenoid under the pass. front hood which runs all the way back to the generator compartment.  It runs down to the front crossmember of the frame, across to the driver side and then goes into the firewall and on inside the coach to the back,  This cable is well insulated--- except up front   The wire was not originally white, it was red   Years of weather has turned the insulation sleeve to crust.  This cable in Rick's coach was in really bad shape , we pulled out the entire length-- and good thing the cable was not connected!  .  There would have been a "smoke test" if it had.  Wayne's coach did not have such a bad wire   so we split some 3/4" heater hose as an insulator, wrapped it and tie wrapped it back in place .  Check your cable, how does the insulation look, take care of it if it needs help .

Last but you know not in the least this remote is very special   this is the 5 channel blind remote.  It takes the windows from this   to this and of course all the way down.  Oh and you know I couldn't let the windows go without "twinkies"   These are super low current 12 volt rope lights.  With the blinds up or down this lighting really sets the mood and from outside the coach they make a pretty cool statement   All sire windows get this lighting. 

Anyway, much happened yesterday, much should happen today.  We're watching the road for our bubble foil shipment, maybe tomorrow is the day.  We will start building cabinets on the 23' Duramax.  See ya later, call if I can help

Update

Finally got over to the paint shop and a looksee at the progress on Marylyn's coach

The gold (driftwood) base is on, the black went on yesterday so now they are bogging off for the 3rd color red     man, there is a pile of paper!  Hey, it's how ya do it though.  The work looks great, stay tuned!

4.7.09

Much of my day yesterday was in a chair  I'm getting better but man when your back hurts, everything hurts!  I feel pretty good this morning so I'm going to venture out, slow but out there. 

Jeff & Kevin came by to double check on the striping lay out for Marylins coach, come back at lunch & I'll have a full report on that progress.

Wayne has picked up George's coach that was under construction here and we'll be finishing detains, getting it road ready and we'll then drive it to him in Bakersfield.  Interesting-- Greg brought in the "Phoenix" featured on our "gallery" page which is actually the coach we copied when we did the lay out on now Wayne's coach .  I'll do some more "twins" pics but it was neat to see these 2 coaches chumming side by side.  One of the few perks of this business is seeing coaches we have built in the past come in for service.  It's a thrill to see how they are holding up and how the owners like them.  Hey, this may be one of the more exciting parts of this business!  We're into the B&B's of Wayne's coach now.  Thats "bearings and brakes), whenver a coach is purchased the new owner always needs to assure himself that at least the wheels will not pop off and the brakes will allow him to ride that puppy to the side of the road if something happens-- this is a minimum check out.   We will also be going through the motor, servicing the new Honda generator and generally getting the coach ready for a cross country trip. Ray set about replacing the rusty rear panel screws and got them all but 3.  We have a tool ordered in from the Matco Man to attack those 3 on Wednesday. 

I've left Craig & Steve alone working on the Duramax interiors yesterday.  I'm waiting on some bubble foil insulation for the ceiling and walls while in the meantime they are working on infrastructure issues.  I'll give you a report on progress there later.  It seems like progress on small issues is never ending.  We had to relocate the remote transmission fluid dip stick to run the dash AC vents.  Whoda thunk there would be a problem there, thats the sort of stuff we are dealing with now.  Hey, it's all nothin but a thing but it all has to be done.

Ok, now here is something important for all of you who still burn gas (most all of us) in your coach.  There has been much debate on the new fluids now available.  Oils and fuel formulations are on the change and what that all means to us seems to be covered by a healthy layer of smoke.  Well guys, check this out!

1 1/2 years ago, Richard put his coach up in covered storage here in Orlando , before that he had stored it for some 4 years.  We pulled it out of storage then, replaced all the fuel system hoses, had both tanks boiled out and installed new senders, seals-- basically he had a completely new fuel delivery system.  He used it for a vacation with the Grandkids at Fort Wilderness then parked it for the 1 1/2 year storage.  Again we pulled it out of storage, checked the coach over, replaced some stuff including all new filters for the fuel system we had installed new before -- just because.  The coach was driven what 25 miles to Disney and then coming back to our shop Richard got @ 2 miles from the shop when the coach shut down.  It had started to run slower and slower then simply turned off.  Jason and Buster drove over to the coach not far away.  it was fuel starvation, they messed with it a while, ran a hose to a boat tank and drove the coach on is where we put it up on the lift for a check out. 

Totally filled with fuel, Richard was going to take me up on the offer to drive the coach back north for him so he had filled the tanks.  Draining the fuel out and dropping the tanks , we found our new senders had a problem Check this out, these were completely new senders not more than 1 1/2 years ago!  Looking in the tanks, we saw bad things   .  Now guys remember, this fuel system was completely rehabilitated less than 2 years ago!  This was a new sender back then     Hey, whats going on!  No, we did not drop the tanks after the 1 1/2 year storage, the filters we had replaced though were totally clogged up and they WERE replaced!  All I can say is way to go Ethanol!  Richard had @ 1/2 tank full of regular 10% ethanol gas from here in Orlando in his tanks while it was in covered storage.  We are having the tanks again boiled out at the same place that did the clean work before and maybe they will give us an idea as to what happened.  I'll tell ya this, I think if you are going to not use your coach for most any length of time, you have better add some sta-bil or something like that.  I would also put in high test fuel, seems it does not degrade quite as much! 

Just called the radiator shop where he's eyeball deep in the tanks (BTW, those are NEW fuel tanks, not original ones), he agrees with me that it has to be the ethanol.  I'm no chemist but something is going on here in the Florida fuel supply!  If you have had your coach in storage for a while I think you really need to have your tanks investigated!  I told my guy that I have several sets of tanks to check out, Wayne-- this is some of the stuff we will be checking on your coach.  Guys, this "ain't no joke", it's past April Fools and really, this was a new fuel sender 1 1/2 years ago no foolin!  Any comments or input on this issue would b greatly appreciated.  I'm paranoid about sending someone out of the shop now without really looking into their fuel system!  No matter how much fuel you have on board, if it is contaminated like this you will not go far.  Spread the word on this, we all need to heed this warning.

OK, it's daylight now, it's in the 50's here today, looks like someone left the back door open!  It's a clear day so I hope to get stuff done, just a little twinge in my back, I think I'm good to go-- at least for a while.  Thanks for the visit, hope it was worth coming and we'll see ya later.

4.6.09

Hey, I'm here not worth as much as I usually am, those muscle relaxer pills turns me a bit loopy after taking them but if the guys all show up I can get them doing stuff while I count stars or whatever those things that are spinning around just above me!  I think lying flat most of the day yesterday helped, of course we'll have to see how much better I actually am when the pills wear off.  Right now, the song for the day could be "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"! 

I've got the bubble foil on the way today for insulation in the 23' Duramax.  Thought we had enough here on hand but we're short.

Jeff came over to double check on the stripe lay out on Marylin's coach

4.5.09

Sorry I have not posted is a couple of days We have had many challenges around here, I have obviously pinched a nerve or something in my back and am now walking around with the help of Aleve gel caps and weather and materials issues have hampered our progress as of late.

We do have progress and I'll get into that on tomorrows post but right now I wanted to remind you about the Sunshine Statesmen 3rd annual "Drag Race" rally coming up.  Go to http://www.gmcss.com/drag_race_09.htm for details.  Guys, I promise this stuff will not effect our workload but it is a planned annual event and we must support the club here.  Will probably not be able to have either of the Duramax coaches there so you have a chance to by "low ET" if you come.  Besides the thrill of the run, there is the thrill of watching and thats what the club hopes will bring out the crowd, so if you are in the Central Florida area on the dates, you just need to stop by.  Hope to see ya there.

4.2.09

Well, we made it through "April Fools", no virus eating my computer--- I think--- and no pranks though I hoped someone would have so I could deposit some of my misplaced aggression!  No, just another work day filled with fun stuff.

Omar came in and backed his van up to the bay which is always good for something exciting and this time was no exception!    Steve came over to help him bring out his bundle of joy.  Oh man, check this out   It's the bedroom seating for the 26 Duramax!  And he brought over the sofa for the living area too!  .  Red velvet, diamond stitched to match the new red leather front seats   The sofa is custom cut to fit, Omar pulled his hair out figuring how to build that thing!  Thanks for the effort man.

The 23' Duramax is having "grunt" work done, fitting panels and all, not much to see, Ken of course is keenly interested so I'll do some pics for him today.

I have been lax at getting over to the paint shop to take pics for Marylin on her paint work, bear with me-- I'll get over there today on that.

Had a post from Billy about the interchange manual and if there had been any changes in parts sourcing that I could help him with.  Billy is doing a super job helping GMCMI with all the paper flow and internet stuff, he is asking the specialty suppliers to help him with the interchange book as he did when he reset the format.  I fielded his question and when I was done (you know how I am when I get rolling) I think my answer to him may also help many of you as well.  Here is what I posted to Billy:

4.1.09

I'm updating here tonight not waiting for the morning, I have Eugene here today getting new tires and a couple other things.  I need to get his needs handled while keeping the pressures up on the Duramax coaches.  Tomorrow morning I'll true his new tires and he'll be handled.

Oh looky Mommy, it's a present-- what is it!!    Oh man, it's the custom built grill for the rear opening on the 26 Duramax.    Designed entirely long distance, it fit's great!    Eugene got the story on what is in store for the coach and hung with me while I fitted the grill .

On the inside of the coach, I got 2 more headliner panels fitted and now you can get more of a feel what the coach is looking like   Check out the alignment of the lined up embossed pattern.   From this to this   Tomorrow is really going to be exciting.

On the 23' Duramax, we are coming forward on the headliner and walls starting from the bedroom as we did in the 26' coach , the bedroom walls are cut, tomorrow I'll cover and install them   Had a question as to what the front compartment of the 23' Duramax looked like   I think we have found a way to increase the foot space for the passenger seat, stand by for that.

This really is an exciting time for me, after literally years of planning and dreaming about how these machines would come together, so many things considered, so many impossible issues solved-- we are seeing fruits of our labor.  It has been a serious struggle.  I'm typing this while watching the SiFi channel with the intro to Interprise playing-- "I've got faith, faith of the heart"  how appropriate!  I only wish you guys could be here and experience some of this--- awesome!  It's all coming together-- maybe at the speed of those spempeeding turtles-- but we're getting there and after all of this do you think I'm going to rush thus--- not a chance!  Stay with me, stay tuned and as they say down here, "Hey you'all, watch this"!

3.31.09

As promised the seats arrived and what nice crates they are.  They look like twin arc of the covenant boxes from the Raiders movie!  Now this is the way to ship something and valuable they are.  I started off the day by fitting the first headliner panel in the 26 Duramax   Marking where the support streamer is, the first panel is most important because it sets up the lines for the rest of the headliner.  Stepping back I saw a problem though.  The "H" mold dividers were color leyed to the custom embossed panels but the color needed to run to the inside of the trim so it came back down to recolor the inside of the "H" molds    So working with the headliner the end of the day found the first 2 panels in and the rear AC wired, together and working .  The bedroom headliner is not in and I can move on to bring the 23 Duramax to this level.  The switches for operating the electis overhead cabinets came in today and the side blind folks are coming in to help us link up the blinds and that's pretty exciting.

There's something about using big tools to do impossible small jobs.  In cleaning out my SD drive in the camera, I found a couple of pics that did not get into the Dothan story.  OK so here is the questions:  How many guys does it take to remove the vertical bar on the front driver/pass. windows and what kind of hammer do you use?      Oh, I love it when someone says "Can I help"!  Dan's vertical bar would not come off which means I just need to use a bigger hammer   Hey no problem, we'll get it off!  And it did come off of course.  I just don't know why people are squeemish about using superior force on glass. This was Sam's coach, he had the same problem and after seeing that Dans windows didn't explode he wanted the treatment..  Anyway, we had a great time down at the end of the row working on things and I hope this again sets a trend for more services offered at rallies.

had some comments on the Thomas Paine video I linked to last week.  If you will remember your history from high school, emotions ran high back in those days of how to deal with the Crown's taxation and the treatment they were under.  There were those who wanted to work within the framework and other that wanted to throw it all out in favor of something, anything --- many just wanted to be free.  They had no idea what it meant, how to do it or what the future would bring -- they just know something had to change.  I see us at that point again.  I know we should probably not mingle politics into this page if I am going to call this entertainment and for those that also feel this way I apologize for bringing that stuff in, it's just the economy of today weighs in so heavy on us small business people, us middle of the road citizens, those of us who do not have any sort of political agenda that I just get upset when politics brought on by others effects our very existence.  Yes, I want to give this economy support, no I am not looking for insurrection, I just want to be free.  I worry about our country every day, I hope the president can get this thing going again not like it was maybe but going in a direction that solves some of the problems we all know we were headed toward.  If it takes slowing the economy down, redirecting efforts, reshaping things like the Federal Reserve or the banking system or big business I just hope someone up there does not forget us down here.  Hey, I did not see the GMC specialty dealers listed on the bailout and maybe we don't need it-- maybe we just need everyone to relax and take all of this in.  We are busy, we have work and we have dedicated customers interested in keeping us here doing the things we do so maybe that is out version of a "stimulus package".  Thanks for your continued support, we are here for you so keep remembering us. 

Keep remembering that the GMC is the cheapest way to get away-- there are no security searches, no terrorist threat inside of your GMC and other than adding fuel, you are not adding to the huge over budget and manufacturing problems the economy is facing today.  Our coaches were manufactured decades ago, in that we do not contribute to overpopulation of our streets, heck we've been here for years-- it's all this other foreign made cars that are doing that.  We are an American classic.  In a very real way we are "green".  There is no vehicle of it's size that gets better fuel economy or costs less to run than a well maintained GMC and there is no way cheaper to live than in a motorhome, you leave the smallest carbon footprint compared to a house or even an apartment.  So when someone looks at your coach and scoffs that you are wasteful just ask them what their power bill was last month!

OK, that's enough, I need to get to work.  The weather is great down here, a bit of rain maybe today but we need it.  Marylin's coach should finally be in primer, I'll make pics today and Ken's headliner gets attention today.  Talk to ya later

Update

Oh and Marylin we'll have your paint job back from the guys--- and Mark, it's time for the side wall action.  Heck, does a one armed paper hanger in a wind storm sound familiar?  Have no fear, I'm felling better now, the weather is holding and a friend gave me a bottle of "Mona.Vie for my health.  Hey, I'm game, I'll take help from anywhere!  I do have my camera on me so you guys can help me by just being there-- do your part and come on down from the cheap seats and get involved.  Any questions, any comments on what you see all go to help motivate me so don't by shy!  I'm off to the trenches, we'll see ya later 

3.29.09

OK-- and this is a BIG OK-- we've popped out the other side of the tunnel now, a little worse for wear but we have made it.  Larry is down for his sleep and I have the flat bed hosed off.  Commitments and responsibilities are over and now I have but one mission-- well, really 2--- I have the 23 and the 25 Duramax coaches poised and ready for me to get to work.  No more stopping for this or that, no more anything--- these projects have grown as they progressed into the most involved projects I have ever been involved with-- they have taken on a life of their own.  I took the bit so now I am on the down hill stretch on both and we are picking up speed.  No more games, we're on the job.  I will probably start posting here in the evening because the mornings are the best for me and I want that time to be all Duramax!

Thanks to all who worked hard at helping me relax while I was away, my appreciation will now come out in some serious work.  Call if you need something of course but make a list, hit the points quickly and know that I am counting minutes.  We have those awesome distressed red all leather seats hitting our door tomorrow, the headliners in both coaches go in tomorrow, everything is here and now it's "my chicken"!

No pics this time but I will make sure I have my camera on what is coming, Ken & Raymond will be glued to their monitors to see their babies come together, the rest of you are also welcome to see this.  I'm rested now, I'm focused and now I am on the job.  Wish me luck and definitely stay tuned.

As Lynard Skinnard said it best "Gimme back my bullets"!

Update

So at home now and there maybe is time to tell you about the journey to Dothan and back  sounds like the journey of Bilbo Baggens but it wasn't that earth shaking, maybe not to you but maybe to me-- matbe not but it was an event and in that it was something to do.  GMCMI is a community that really is vital to the future of the GMC not because it is like the former leaders used to think but becaudse of the people who make it up, because of the people who lead it understand this and because the members of the club understand why we are together.  It's the motorhome, not the social event but the motorhome itself.  This is where the GMC motorhome differs from most every other motorhome group in the FMCA community-- it's the machine, not the people.  I think thats the way is should and needs to be.  OK, enough of all that, how was the Dothan rally?  Follow the Sunshine Statesmen trip to the rally and my view at the rally, go to On to Dothan for more.

3.27.09

You know you have done something important when you have the realization you are on the other side looking back.  Looking back at something automatically means there was something to look back at, in other words so today I'm siting here on a Friday saying I'm on the other side and boy wasn't that interesting!

The guys will not be back until Monday and though I have a great team here today will feel like a Saturday-- heck-- I'll have 2 of them in a row!  I've got Email coming up on the lap top while I'm writing this, it's dueling computers here this morning trying to catch up on all this communications stuff.  If you have sent me a post, please bear with me I'll get to them all shortly.

Dang it-- this &^%$# computer dropped a pile of stuff just now.  I'll try and type it in again but the way I just spew stuff out-- that will be tough!

As I was saying:

I am answering Emails as I post this and it is refreshing to have so much support-- so many newbees asking questions looking for coaches, so many with machines supporting what we are doing here and just the fact of being in so many "loops" hey, it's why I do this and if you think I'm in this for the money-- you just gotta be kidding!  As soon as I finish the Email returns, I'll pull them up on this computer and post some for ya-- you just gotta see how exciting it is from here to see whats going on with the GMC.  I know many of you are sitting there is a small town probably having the only GMC in town, having people think of you as that kook with that old 6 wheeled thing.  I feel that but really, there is so much interest going on right now you must understand this!  Yes, the economy sucks and you can buy a nice coach right now cheap!  It's not a good time right now to sell a coach and get a good price but it is a good time to buy one and get a good deal.  There are people interested, we just all need to pull together!  See, I don't have a problem talking about the state of affairs right now, for some it is tough while for others it is an opportunity.  In say that though, there is no need to look at it like you are being screwed or you are screwing someone-- understand that it is simply supply and demand and it's all how you treat eachother.  Know that things are tough, support those that support you, do your best to uplift others and treat folks with dignity  and they will support and appreciate you.  Be a jerk, push people down with your thumb and you will be part of the problem.  Don't recognize there is a problem right now and blame everyone around you for it and -- boom, you are part of that problem yourself!  Chill out, take it easy and don't get all upset cause in the big scheme of things it won't help!

Boy, am I sounding like some soothsayer or what!  Hey, I don't have any answers and thats for sure, I just believe in what I am doing and believe that we all get by with a little help from our friends so how can I help you and how can you help me--- thats how it should be.

So I'm bouncing back and forth between the 2 computers trying to keep one from locking up-- this sure is a challenge.  Hope I don't get mixed up.  Just talked to Michael Bozardt on Email-- he was talking about being bummed about not making the Dothan thing-- I told him to buck up, we all still loved him and all the work he is doing to support us with a GMC bone yard.  Hey, ya need to call him and say he's doing a good job, buy something from him so he knows someone cares.  It is critical for us to have a place to turn to for some funky old part that no one has-- I call on him often to help me in time of need.

It is so refreshing to have the support I have in times where there are so many loosing everything.  I took a drive last night with the top off the Suzuki, filled up the gas tank with $12 and just got out there with the breeze in my hair and felt good knowing I was getting over 30 MPG while I was relaxing.  Life was good.  This morning I am blowing through all of this interest with the goal of getting this out of the way so I could focus on some really interesting stuff with the Duramax coaches, Marylin's paint job among other things.

Just answered a post saying the electric servos are in.  One of the problems doing things for the first time is accessing the special components needed to do those things.  We have been waiting on customs to clear a container shipment to get them.  Oh happy day, now lets see if UPS can find me!

Gimma a minute, I'm watching a you tube video thats really good.  I'll try and post it for ya, stay tuned:

OK, I say the "Daily Pose" is here for GMC content and I know you guys come here for that.  I work hard at giving you that and I think probably thats the reason you come here.  We want to keep that just that way.  We get so much  red tape doom and gloom, politics, finances and all other sorts of stuff that I know we are all (at least I am) fed up with it all that this blog is somewhere I go (kinda like watching cartoons ) that all that other stuff just cannot go--- but--- here is something I really think you should watch and after this I will get back to the other stuff you have come here for and you can go to those other places for the mind numbing stuff they shovel out at you.  Here, watch this and I'll be right back:

OK, I just realized in checking out to see if the link worked that I have rambled on here for a bit, sorry but I guess I've had just so much pinned up inside that I had to let some of this out.  Let me get out in the shop and get some stuff going.  Janie is still over in Arizona visiting our Son so I'll have some time a bit later to post more.  Let me say that here now I have a renewed vigor and sense of direction.  Maybe it was my birthday haircut from one of my Eagle Scouts turned barber, maybe it was the wonderful inexpensive birthday dinner at Taco Bell I had, maybe it was a full nights sleep and time today to do what I want at the shop-- I'm not sure but I do feel good, I feel like I do have a purpose and I feel there are folks out there wanting my best and willing to help me do just that.  Man, thats just so much to be thankful for that I just need to be.  Have a great day, you've been here long enough.  Thanks to all at the rally who made me not only feel welcome but also needed.  I'll still tell the rest of you how all that went and a story it will be for ya!  See ya later, call if you need something and please lets keep us all, collectively and together in our prayers.

3.26.09

And I could not make the WiFi work at all at the National Peanut Festival grounds in Dothan!  So yes, I am back in Orlando-- no, I'm not at the shop--- Larry came in on Mr. Hook giving up the ghost @ 30 miles east of Tallahassee at 2:30 this morning -- oh and say happy Birthday to me!  Yea, it's gonna be that type of day, Fed-Ex wants to charge me extra to redeliver a huge box and I want something to eat, I'm hungry!  I'll be in tomorrow for any more darts but today, it's a beautiful blue sky and I'm going to go out and do something in it!  No problems for this day.  I'll tell ya about the run to Dothan and all later, it was a good time but for now it's over and out.

3.22.09

"On to Dothan" continues, go to On to Dothan for todays details

Update

OK, we have access, go to On to Dothan for a report on day one

3.20.09

Well my bags are packed, I'm ready to go  Hit the shop early to get some last minute stuff in place before I leave to the GMCMI convention.    Left the kitchen sink but I have most everything else , got a call from a gentleman who found that when he arrived at Dothan yesterday from North Dakota that his transmission was shot.  We loaded up one of Manny's transmissions and all the jacks and stuff needed to swap out the tranny there.  My guess there will be at least one person really happy to see me at the rally!  Checked out Larry to be sure he would make the run, .  We have a little valve train noise but I've done much more with much less so we'll put him into the wind today and give the run a stab!

You can follow the "On to Dothan" story.  If I have internet access out there I will post here daily.  When you pull up the page, scroll down to the latest entry.  On to Dothan

Jason and Ray will stay behind though they will not be answering the phones and the gates will be locked.  Jason is building up the trailer hitch for Ken's 23' Duramax .  Jason is not much for me running around with my camera .  Very low key he just stays in the back doing his thing.  My hopes are the hitch metal will be cut and maybe in by the time I'm back. 

Ray is tinking out another hammered copper countertop for Raymonds 26' Duramax .  He's got the process down now so it's just a matter of building squares and connecting them.  The radius corner was a treat, looks good!

Mark has a week to figure out our direction on reskinning the 32' stretch.  We'll get into that job when we get back.  Many have marveled about the potential of this machine. Stay tuned for more.

Marylin's paint job is happening while I am gone, I'll try and run over for some pics this morning on it before I leave.  Paint has been a real problem for us getting our new crew up to speed.  Please bear with us while we get things wired.   Her coach is prepped and ready for paint, when I get back we should see the primered moth turn into a beautiful butterfly-- thats the plan anyway!  Stay tuned for that too!

BTW, Bill's motor fired yesterday, sounds sweet.  Buster said it stepped right out on the test drive.  Like I told you guys before, the whole problem was not changing the oil on a regular basis and not having proper levels of ZDDP in the oil.  Bill and I both along with you should take this lesson and not waste it.  Take care of your motor, just because you cannot see a problem does not mean it's not there! 

Got in the glass for the amp panel yesterday for the 26 Duramax, what do ya think   Had to remove the maroon trim for now, too thick-- let me think about this a bit.  The painter will start the gloss process on the burlwood cabinets.  It will take many coats of clear wet sanding each as they go.  So with the amount of cabinets we have, this is going to be a bit involved.  Good news though, I Emailed pics of the burlwoon color to LM and she said it was perfect-- I like that!  Hey, we aim to please!  So lets see if we can impress her with the finished product!

So there we are, I'm off.  Not the best time to be leaving the shop, I mean with all thats happening I sure don't need to be doing this but hey, getting away for a little might be good for me.  The pressures around here can be debilitating and it will be great hubbing shoulders with the many friends I've made messing with these coaches.  I'll do piles of pics, got a 4 gig SD card for the camera so if I fill that up we'll be in trouble!  I'll be on my cell phone if you guys need to call 321-299-5707.  We'll be arriving sometime Sunday afternoon at Dothan so if you'll be there come on by-- I'll be in the vendor area, look for the only motorhome there with no windows and an awning on both sides!  Hey, buy something from me while you're there, I need new shoes!

You guys that are home bound, check in here-- if I can get internet access I'll report how things are going.  Have a great day, a greater weekend and an awesome week.  Call if I can help.  Cal, I betcha Miguel will have your babby kicking next week, lets keep him on his horse!

3.19.09

First, I want to say thanks to all who have sent posts and called supporting our efforts here at the Co-op lately  I tell ya in this economic situation it really feels good to know there are those out there supporting us, I tell you now it means everything!

I'm packing for the rally today while working on the Duramax projects and other things, I wanted to show you a faid amount of stuff today, not sure if I will have internet access out there next week so I will give you many things to consider here to give you something to do.

First, all of the comments coming back about the 23' Duramax have been positive, Ken was worried some of you might not like the decision to have only 2 rear wheels but I think Don said it best when he said we nailed the design on the 26 and the 23' coach have benefit of the rag twisting we did on the design work.  Heck Raymond had a design team in Hollyword work with his!

Talking about design, check out the final burlwood design and color tint of Raymonds cabinets   This is $1200 worth of custom burlwood vineer for 6 tilt overhead cabinets, one galley cabinet and the bath door all radius styled custom     Next we start laying on the clearcoat then wet sanding and buff to a mirror finish.  These "ain't" your daddies cabinets!

The bathroom color is in   This is a single stage paint with a hardening agent introduced.  I laid this stuff out thick, next we will wet sand and buff this to a slick finish.  Yes, this is the original GM floorplan bath module.

Richard came in to pick up hiss machine late yesterday .  He had his coach here in storage for 1 1/2 years.  Re put on new tires, fixed a few of the problems that came up while it sat there so he's off to Disney, Fort Wilderness and his grandkids for a week of "fun"   Good luck on that Richard!

OK, for you guys who says all this "hoopra" about ZDDP and oil lubricity is stupid--- I gotta say "you are stupid" if you do not listen to me now!  We built and installed a motor in March of 04.  It was a flat tappet motor and only went 4000 miles since then.  The motor developed a knock.  We heard some excessive valve train noise as well so replacing the lifters and added adjustible push rods we got that quietened down but we still had a knock when the motor warmed up-- no noise cold!  Pulled the motor and I tell ya guys, the inside of that motor was eaten up!      Buster and Jason broke the motor completely down, we found one spun main bearing, 3 rod bearings will no material left, tolerance issues on the crank that said it was wasted and metal filings everywhere!  This motor was toast and hey, I know it was built well!  It had good parts, the owner said he had only changed the opil once since breakin and I think that was the problem.  He put the oil change in a year ago and was not sure about the type.  The motor had not yet broken in even though it had been several years.  The acids that build up in oil even sitting linked with I betcha an oil that did not have ZDDP in descent levels simply ate this motor!    It's all back together now and today the guys will fire it up.  This critter will get serious levels of ZDDP!  This work should have never needed doing and if you do not listen to me your motor will be tapping your wallet soon!  OK, lesson over, enough said and now it's all up to you!

OK, I'm out there packing for the rally, the guys are showing up so the day is upon us.  If you're headed to the rally I hope to see ya there.  Come hang out each evening at the SS tent.  Come buy something, I need new shoes!

Thanks for the visit and the support, it is critical to our survival.  Talk to you hopefully soon

Update 2

Just got this post from Don

Update

Hey Ken, look what's in my mirror!   Extracted out of the paint shop and on the way to the shop the dust blows off .  Rounding the turn and we're home free .  More pics to come but yes, Elvis HAS entered the building!

3.17.09

They tell me tomorrow at noon Yep, I will get to get behind the wheel of the 23' Duramax for a 1.5 mile ride back to the shop.  You know I'll be driving!

So it came, I drove over and picked up the walnut burlwood vineer for the Duramax 26 overhead cabinets.  A little working with the materials and by sundown I had 2 overheads covered    This is a walnut color, next we will add a red tint to it then finish them off with a high gloss finish   Stay tuned.  While Steve prepared the galley overhead for covering Ray started connecting the boxes to finish off the galley sidewall   Stay tuned for this too.

I'm updating this tonight, I'll hit the shop in the morning before dawn and will be out there in the shop, I've got materials so it's time to work!  Call if you need something please, we're here to help.  We'll talk to ya later.

3.16.09

I missed a chance at a real "keeper" picture yesterday evening.  After going in to the shop early to try and get something done, I came home and crashed on the sofa waking myself up once or twice snoring.  After blowing part of my day in a coma state, Janie was determined to get me out of the house so we went down to a little place we know to have a drink and watch the shuttle take off.  No, we cannot feel the ground shake in Orlando but it is a very cool visual thing watching all that power and our tax dollars light up the sky on a night launch like happened last night.  Julies Waterfront has an east facing outside area and you can see the bright light come out from behind the trees on the other side of the lake and man, last night's launch was awesome!  The little eatery was packed with locals doing the same thing we were, a cheap entertainment thing, watching the shuttle go up.  It's another one of those Central Florida perks.  So the time came and from Julies porch you could already see the landing pattern for Orlando Intl. airport and the plane lined up to land and than from behind them came a bright yellow and white cylinder of light and there was a collective "WOW" come from everyone there.  You can see the smoke pushing away from the huge plume of flame.  The "Con trail" is thick and you just know there is some serious combustion taking place.

Remember this, the space shuttle and the idea of strapping to roman candles to the side of it and a huge fuel tank for the on board engines was designed at the same time as our GMC!  Yes, certainly updated, just like we update our GMC, the space shuttle is still the best space craft for going up and coming down in the world.  Still, there is no one who has surpassed its usefullness and I'm talking about the shuttle as well as the GMC!  There are motorhomes out there that seem to do the same thing, the Russian rockets do take stuff to the International Space Station but they are spent when they come back and are probably ground up into Toyotas shortly after they return.  The Shuttle is refitted and goes right back up as soon as it is ready, our GMC goes right back out there on the roads and kicks butt again right after a fresh motor, wheels, paint job and new steering wheel.  Both machines were engineered for the ages and have not been duplicated.  Here they are trying to retire the shuttle saying it's too old.  Heck, it is old, a 30+ year old design, 30 year old technology and a grand idea to strap everything they could find together to punch a hole in the sky and get up there.  The GMC took every idea of the day, put all that off shelf technology and some wild idea to power the front wheels not the back, build an aircraft fusilage onto wheels and punch a hole in the air and burn up the road.  OK, I'm getting a little too hooked up about this but really, as I looked up and watched that critter get it, blowing smoke out the back and proving it was the baddest rocket on the pad once again I just could not get out of my head that our GMC really does the same thing.  You have to respect the shuttle, it had problems and still does but it really flies, it is an awesome machine, the best and still doing it's thing.  There it is-- the GMC is still the best and still doing it's thing!  I choke up a bit every time I watch a rocket launch, it just took some damn may people andf so much flipped money to make that happen.  It is a testament  to our society when we can put together a spectacle such as pushing a chunk of humanity free of gravity.  Up until recently they said it could not be done, the engineers involved said, "yes we can" and there it is.  I have to put the GMC in that same bucket.  Over 30 years ago, a machine was designed that they are still trying to duplicate and up until we lost out minds and put a GMC body on a front wheel drive, turbo diesel chassis it was the best-- and it is again! 

Technology marches on, the shuttle that took off last night had electronics updates, new technology on the foam covered fuel tank, better "O" ring seals on the SRB's, more seating, more payload capacity, better everything-- does all of this sound familiar?  OK, I've burned up many words here but last night really, I missed a great photo op, seeing that shuttle blow through the sky, I wondered where I would be when the last one went up.  I sure hope I don't see the last GMC pull to the side of the road and maybe thats why we do what we do here.  There is a tight group of enthusiasts that keep the GMC on the road.  We believe in this engineer designed shuttle, I mean motorhome and we want to keep it on the launch pad, I mean road.  We don't care that it's older than anything out there in space, I mean on the road and we certainly do not think it's time to put it in a museum-- either machine that is!

This weekend, as a bit of a bust, Ken's Duramax is still getting it's rub out, Marylins coach is still waiting for it's colors and I ran out of 1x1 aluminum "L" channel or I would have had these custom valences I made these on Saturday , this first 2 color valences for the Duramax but could not hang them without the bracket material.  I also used up the last of the copper kettle material, I'll need more of that to finish up the interior walls.  Getting to the end of jobe means finding out if you got enough material, sometimes you do and sometimes you are short-- hey, no big deal, they have more or at least can grow it!

Ray it getting to the end of his tinking on the 20 ga. copper sheet walls now connecting the blocks he has to keep the wall panel from curling up.

I'll go over and once again rub the shoulders of the painters -- come on guys, lets get her done!  I tell ya, with the economy slow down, when things are on the depressing side, it seems like works go slower.  I guess it's human nature to probably do that but guys, it's not depressing around here!  We have work going on, we have stuff happening and we really need to get this stuff done.  Around us suppliers are laying off, cutting back-- heck our GM parts supplier has told me their dealership is dead in the water!  Their parts prices are on the rise even moreso than they were before but I guess because of our niche market, we still have work.  There are still people who understand that the GMC is the cheapest toy in the box and spending money to keep their machine up or getting one of these is still the best way to spend their dollar!   Yes, our business has slowed like everyone else but you are watching us every day and you see the work we have, you see how interesting these machines are and how they are a good deal at whatever level you have yours.

Buying parts and fixing up your GMC is still far cheaper than buying a new motorhome, even at their give away prices and remember, a piece of crap is no deal at any cost so they are trying top get folks to buy the RV machines at a lower cost, remember they are thill the same boxes!  An outfitted GMC is still a better buy, hands down!

I hope you watched the shuttle take off last night, I hope you thought of your GMC taking off with it.  They are both time tested winners.  Have a great day, go sit down in a lawn chair and take a good long look at your GMC, you are looking at history-- and it's all yours!

Update

<<<<<<  Important Message  >>>>>>>>>>>>>

IF YOUT ARE TRAVELING IN YOUR COACH AND HAVE A Q-JET CARB., CARRY A CARB FUEL FILTER OR 2! 

WIX #33052

Coaches coming out of Florida are not going far!  Trust me on this one!

Thanks Dave for this info, good to see this is not our only choice.   Hey Nerl, maybe they haven't given in ALL away yet!

Jim, If you need good tires in a 16.5" size, check out Firestone Transforce H/T. The 16.5" tires are only $125 to $136 bucks. I'm running the 16" version of that tire on the back of my coach, and they ride very well. I think they only come in E rating, so weight is not a problem. In the summer I run them on the front too, and traction is pretty good even in the wet. (winter I run Revo's on the front)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?make=Firestone&model=Transforce+HT
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Firestone&model=Transforce+HT&tirePageLocQty=
But of course the most important is they have a 106 mph speed rating :).
hecx

BTW guys, Raymond Cruz -- our Duramax owner is on Breaking Bad as Tuco, the drug lord.  Check him out on the AMC channel.      I know you are watching the Closer too--- right?  Hey, this is homework!  Thanks Gary for reminding me to let everyone know.

 

3.14.09

Another Saturday hey, we lived through another Friday the 13th!  It really wasn't that bad and I had faith we'd make it.

They say you can't rush someone who's trying to do a good job so I guess I'll have to continue to be content that things are happening.  Ken's 23' Duramax "ain't soup yet"!  Went by there yesterday to find that yes, the clear is on and now Jeff and his son are pouring over the coach wet sanding it to death!    This is the step many paint shops simply do not do or if they do it's just to fix runs or other problems.  Lay on enough clear and you cat cut it down to a really smooth finish so I can't fault the guys for doing it right.  Maybe today, we'll see.

On putting new tires on Richard's coach yesterday then truing them up, I found something very interesting about his new tires.  You know tires are really getting expensive, Michelins or Bridgestone E rated 16" tires are over $200 each and if you can find 16.5" tires well, the price for those puppies are getting steep!  Richard does not use his coach much, it has sat at his storage facility since we got her running 1 1/2 years ago.  He'd love to sell it but in the meantime it needed tires.  Sitting, one of his old 16.5" tires blew out and he did not want to even take the risk of dropping down the spare to get it to us.  Jason and Buster made it over to the storage building, replaced his tires and brought it on it to the shop.  All that said, Richard really did not want to put out the expense of aluminum 16" rims so we went on the search for a reasonable set of 16.5" tires.  In our search our creative tire supplier found some "Deestone" tires, rated "E" and all had 08 date codes.  This is a tire from Thailand, an import to be sure.  Hey, at @ 1/2 the cost of anything else out there we decided to give it a shot.  I mean Richard does not drive this puppy far and if he is successful in selling it in the next couple of years the new owner can invest in the 16" aluminum rims.  So we got them and while truing them is where I found out something interesting These puppies have an ancient tread profile!    And look, they are "regroovable which means they have a seriously thick tread.  With the balloon tire profile I think these are 40+ old style truck tires!  Betcha someone sold the stamps of an old tire to the overseas tire manufacturer and they are making tires like they used to be.  Is that good or bad?  My truing machine was made to surface tires like this, they were not as round as many over tires I have run into lately but in truing them static balancing them with my machine I betcha these sneakers will give good smooth service.  Don't know about the mileage they will give but hey, most tires on motorhomes rot off!  With a price so low, maybe this low tech tire is for the future?  Forget the high tech super-dooper rain, snow, mud profile-- forget the big dollar gold plated tires for certain applications, maybe in this economy today there is room for just a set of rubber things to hold up the thing!  I'll go for a ride in the coach today and see how they run but hey, if you have a coach that really does not see much over the road use, this might be an option.  Hey, today it's a world market and if the American tire manufacturers are looking to strangle us with really expensive stuff leaving off the resonable end of the price spectum-- what can you do!  It's getting increasingly harder to find 16.5" tires and this may be one of our last stops!  How about that, a new old design tire.  Looks like we have stepped back into our future!

My son Ray has learned much in working copper sheet, here you see the pattern he has found to attack with to keep the sheet from deforming-- chink, chink, chink, chink and so it goes.  This final product is awesome but to get there takes a bit of work!

Today I am building valences and hanging the electric blinds-- fun, fun, fun!  I love doing stuff like this-- adapt and overcome is the key.  Have a great weekend, we're going to go after that ourselves.

3.13.09

Was pointed out to me this morning in my Emails that the daily pose page was 99 pages long.  Sorry bout that guys, I keep forgetting to dump the older pages over to the archives.  Funny though I did a dump yesterday so let me know if the page is short enough to download better.

Was sent this Q about the LP rant a\I got into yesterday.  It is a very good question, one I think I would like to field with you all:

Update,

Finally got the you tube video up  go to www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks and take a look.  Going over first thing in the morning to hopefully collect the 23' Duramax-- wish us luck.

3.12.09

One more day!  Went over to paint to check on the 23' Duramax and they were hovering like ants on a jelly bean working.  The clear is coming out nice   They have most of the body covered, cleaning up problem areas and as soon as that is done (were shooting for yesterday, they will wet sand and buff the entire coach before it leaves their shop .  Hey, that is the best way and since I can see work happening how can I not agree with that.  We have come this far-- lets see how the beast looks today!  This is one of the things that I've had to learn to deal with doing so many unique things.  What can I say, it's what it is.  Hey, but today could be the day-- stay tuned!

Last night ended with the ability to take a great pic   The "amp panel" got it's colors yesterday.  Here is it with power   In my book, this critter qualifies for the "LPD" award, thats (lights per dollar).  The top left has a starburst display that will confirm that sound is happening (like your ears bleeding won't tell ya that but hey, we need visual recognition!).  We have a push/pull air ventilation system with the 2 muffin fans with blue LED lights making them look as cool as they are trying to make the monster amps.  Below the starburst display we have an MA Audio parametric active crossover to control signal input to the amps, this will halp professionally balance the system.  To the upper right is a real power 800 watt per channel high current amp to be used for mid and high range sounds.  The 2 small Bosch relays turn on and off this pile.  Now for the big boys, we have 2 (countem) MA Audio 3500 watt serious current amplifiers.  One will run the 4 x 8" mid bass drivers and the other one will be strapped to 2 x12" monster drivers for that ground pounding effect.  Below them are 2 x 4 Farad neon digital capacitors to supply peak power for each amp.  Those of you who have background in consumer electronics will recognize a bunch of this stuff and know we have some serious power hanging out here!  Ordered in a bronze smoked plate glass to keep pesky hands out of the workings, should look sharp.  Still more to go of course but I've been "figuring" on the finish of this panel for a while.

Cleaning off the table late last night I found a handiework of my son, I like the creativity!   We need as much of that as we can get around here!

Didn't get all I wanted done yesterday but hey, when is that not the case.  You have to shoot for Mars if you want to get to the moon so every day is a challenge to get as much done as possible.  Thats just the way I do it, creates the motivation for me.

Speaking of motivation, I'm going to start looking at another idea that I feel is timely and extremely important. Right now it seems like the 2 big issues on everyones mind is the economy and energy.  OK, there's not as much for us "little people" to do about the economy other than hold on and this energy thing seems to be more a matter of convenience for than anything else for us soft Americans.  When the fuel price drops a bit we act like there is no problem and keep on sucking off that gas pump.  Seems like we just don't care!  We all know that sooner or later we will reach a point that our extravagant lifestyle will be forced to change but in the meantime we just keep doing what we want.  Here, T. Boone Pickens is spending millions and more to try and change a fundamental concept of the American life by pushing to get us off the foreign gas thing-- how's that doing?  I think writing congressmen will not effect things short term and it will take some catastrophic thing to get us to wake up. 

OK, so I'm wanting to do something more than making sure my newspaper gets recycled but what can I do?  What can a small business in a down economy do other than just hunker down?  Well here is something I think I can do.  For the past year or so, we have been investigating all sorts of alternative fuels to be used as motor-fuel.   Our government and out new prez sez this alternative fuels concept is an investment in the future of our great nation and that powering vehicles with natural gas is a key.  OK, we've done that , we have a GMC running on dual fuel (gas or LP).  In a word, it runs "perfect".  The coach has pep, the motor runs cleaner with the stuff and having the option of bellying up to the ole gas pump of blowing that off and running on LP gas this I feel is maybe what everyone is talking about.  I think it would be difficult to run a vehicle on LP only, I mean finding an LP tank when you really need one could be difficult but having the choice I think will put whatever vehicle that has the option ready for whatever happens in the future.

When someone starts talking about running a car on something other than gas, they pull out the ole calculator and want to see the payback and the economy specs.  Hey wait---- did you buy that Suburban because you ran the numbers and found it more cost effective than the Toyota 4 banger?  No, you did it cause you wanted it and installing a dual fuel system gives you the opportunity to suck off a pipe other than the gasoline one!  This is why we need to do this, yes it does have economy and if you use the system it will pay you to do it.  The motor creates less green house gases, hey and thats something everyone says they want.  OK then, stop just sitting there and do something about the ecology!  The motor will last longer, this is why local governments use it, they can see a savings.  It's just too bad we are so lazy that we will not change our ways.  Well, I want to do something about this and I've applied to the state for an LP installers certificate to legally install dual fuel systems.  Hey, you can sit there all day and tell me it's great, it's not or you have no idea-- why don't we give it a try?  The word is if we keep doing what we are we're doing bad things to ourselves, our country and our world so what the &^%$$-- lets try something, even if it's less than perfect, even if it may be a bit more work or money or whatever, why don't we try this?

The technology is not new, heck you can power a vehicle on gasses made from burning wood for gosh sakes!  30 years ago there were cars and truck running around with this exact same parts to run them on LP.  The cost of converting a vehicle is still about that of 30 years ago so why aren't we doing something-- I don't