John D. says goobye heading north with his GMC stretch with his “larger than the average bear” Zip Dee awning complete with a 3rd rafter
that along with 2 new roof AC units, a rewired double DIN radio and some other stuff. John spends time with his son here in Florida, a good excuse to drop it by here.
What’s also interesting pertaining to the FiTech fuel injection project is John installed the system in his coach himself. I got to drive his and follow some of his install ideas…. thanks John…. so watch out on the sidewalks, John and his stretch is on the road again.
And what’s more exciting than that is JayGee now TOO has a FiTech system .. Good thing!!!!! Janie & I are driving to the Keys in a couple of hours…. we MADE IT! JayGee lives with his new lung. I’m headed to breakfast so you do the same and come on back and I’ll tell ya all about it. Yep… JAY GEE is now on the launch pad…. bout ready to go…. see ya after breakfast…
How was your meal…. had 2 eggs.. scrambled, a mess of grits and an English muffin with grape jelly of course and all that bounty for like $2.58. Feelin better about things now……
So yeah, this makes it 3 in a row… FiTech installed and fired up on the first turn of the crank…… Wow and while running you could hear the tuning change…. in 1 minute we were idling at 950… vacuum 18.6 in the idle circuit so as far is I know tuning a carb to a motor it’s done. Lets call the rest of this post a “preflight examination”…. here we go:
Now as far as modifications to the coach, there are few. The system still retains a “flat floor” The mod to the engine cover was to cut out the cover similar to the original air cleaner cut out but over to the side a bit, we’ll have a pattern for this cut out in our GMC/ FiTech manual
There was an additional @ $200 expense to purchase the air delivery system. Here it is off the body so you can see the extent. We have a K&N remote filter snorkeled over to the motor from up under the driver seat.
The fi system is “stand alone” not connected in any way to the distributer or ignition system other than a tach connection to the distributer cap
The fuel inlet and return shoot back and route back to the tanks and pump over the back of the bell housing. I tell ya… with connections to a temp sender, an O2 sender, switched power/ground/constant 12 volts and the tach connection and this puppy is in! Jared installed the top of the motor and had the system running and learning just after lunch yesterday! I’m talking @ 6 hours…. and JayGee lives!
We swapped out shocks, a couple of new original air bags …. hey, I’m running mine out before doing what I should and install a quad bag system….. Hey like Red Green says “we all need to stick together”…… so I’ll be blowing out and be down with those ants on the side of the road……. this is sort of like those Bearnstein Bears kids book series based on “do as I say not as I do”……… oh yea, there used to be a TV series too based on that book called “JackAss” until the star of the show killed himself in a mud bog! So this is the American way….. I’m there with ye……. Hey but they ARE new (old stock)!
THIS was the hot set up 20 years ago…. an air shut/fill kit, new bags with aluminum cones, new KYB shocks, new King of the road height control valve, Alcoas and a Teflon lined braided stainless set of brake hoses….. and we’re done! Honestly though guys, knowing the original system WAS failure tested as the Quad bag system was I strongly promote if I could not afford that set up hey, yes it’s 2 times the money as this set up but if I had not pulled the trigger I would stay with the original bag system until I could switch to a safer, more serviceable system…. My backup is if I blow a bag or tire I have another air bag and a block of steel to block up 1 arm to allow me to drive…. slowly to safety. I still do have a backup … but it will take a while to get going again. Until you install a quad bag system this is what you… and I will have to deal with. So the answer is: Don’t do what I’m doing…. get one of these and be smart! And your air suspension worries will be gone
So Janie & I are booking around 3pm, her brother will watch Danzig our cat and we’ll be off to the Keys and a real life test of this new FiTech system. I will be doing tests so when I get back the “debriefing” should be interesting. If you too are going to the GMC Sunshine Statesmen rally on Marathon Key, come over and take a look at the FiTech system…. that is if I make it! The pressure is on….. will she fly Orvil? Hey Wilber, hold my beer and watch this!!!!!!
I’ll see ya on the other side, if I have descent cell service I’ll post from the rally. Thsnks for dropping by … we made it, Bills FiTech system is in, John D. awning and AC’s are done, this evening Jared and Phillip are doing a road trip to rescue Rosses coach with a missing wheel …. and the beat goes on!
See ya later……… .