Daily Pose Archive    

You have found the vault, this is where I put past daily pose posts as to not clog up the main daily pose page giving it faster downloads of the page for you.  Yes, I will update this page dropping older posts but you will have access to some of the older stuff here.  Tips and other instructional things will be assimilated into the main pages of the site over time.

 Thanks for your interest in what we do here, hope it helps you in some way. 

NOTE:  The latest posts are on top.

 Friday, it snuk up on me  It's simply amazing when you have so much to do how fast the clock hands move!  Just finished talking to you guys, unlocked the bays and it was time for the rain!  Oh well, one step at a time.

While Steve was in the trim shop making up drawers and stuff I went over to the 23' Duramax and started in on the entry door.  The interior of the door is a very important part in my mind.  It is the first introduction to the interior of the coach.  The finish of the door needs to be clean, reflect the timber of the rest of the interior and needs to look fresh and together.  First things frirst, the entry door handle needs to look good so that hole needs a new handle.    This is an all new latch assembly, cost has gone up on this part over the last year or so and in that it must be modified to work in our application, you will have the best part of $150 in this part-- what can I say, it's not us making the big bucks!   But the look is good and we move on. We install a new lock mechanism so everything is new.  New key and all.  Next we have to refinish the door frame itself and the jam   In this instance the jam and frame will be satin black, now we start in on the interior of the door.  The metal latch panel needs help fo I cover the panel with the taupe vinyl that is being used on the interior , I'nm using the original strap handle recovered in that Ken expressed interest in the use of a screen door down the road.  The original handle works well with a screen door .  Today I will install this panel and build the upper and lower panels for the door.  This panel for the 26' Duramax will also go on soon, Raymond is having the handle brass coated and our steel reinforced handle stitched with the distressed red leather-- should be pretty interesting looking!

 The "Tin Soldier" with it's 23/350 project is undergoing surgery up on the lift , with the other coaches nearby for support, Jason goes at the under reaches of the coach yanking the entire rusty exhaust system and cleaning up some rust issues with the frame.  Here is the driver side with rust between the sub and main rails , you can see how the main rail has been pushed down and the rust flakes are between the sub frame and rail.  Here is the pass. side that he has knocked out the rust, Ospho treated the rust and has now pushed back together and welded the sub and main rails together for added strength .  When the other side is repaired he will undercoat the area with a rubberized undercoat.

"CapCom, the Eagle has landed", Jason and Buster have the old 455 motor on the ground .  Hanging from the tower inside the coach, we drop the transmission down then turn the motor 90 deg. then drop it out the bottom as well .  Some folks pull the motor out from the top and while it is true you can do this and leave the transmission in place, chances are if the motor needs help the transmission is needy as well.  I mean what is the use in having a spiffy new motor with a worn out rubber band behind it!  9 times out of 10 we are installing a new transmission so dropping both down is no fuss, no musss!  While this was happening, Buster was putting the finishing touches on our runner-- an Olds 350 motor with some interesting goodies built in .  Our intention is to whip this puppy hard telling it to pull this 23' motohome-- a load much heavier than the car it came out of.  We have our Kryptonite cam (which is like a high powered program fed into a smaller lap top computer).  A good way to think about the relationship of a cam to a motor is just that.  By itself a motor does nothing without a cam (the program) to tell it what to do.  If we put too big a cam (program) into the motor (computer) it will lock up and not run or run slowly.  You must match up the capabilities of the motor to the program that will run it.  We have done our best to build up this hunk of metal to withstand our unique cam specs and today we will start the install process fitrst mating this motor to a Manny Tranny.  We'll put the combo in first with the stock 307 gears then swap that chunk out for the 4.11 set up when it gets in.  AS many projects around here as they come together they breath life into themselves, this motor has become a real living breathing entity to me and as such he needs a name.  It is certainly a males figure in that I just can't see someone strapping such a heavy load to a lady-- this motor is "Buster" named after it's technician who has spent so much time fretting over it's build up.  Also as a fitting recognition for his efforts, this will be the last project for Buster with us.  His family up in Ga. has called upon him to help with the family farm where they grow a 1000 acres of beans.  Hey, family must stick together and in these times the family needs his help.  Salute to Buster and thanks for all of the hard work   The make of a man is judged by how he takes his responsibilities and Buster has stayed with us through the build up of this motor and today he will help Jason in placing the motor up in Tin Soldier-- it will be his parting success with us, thanks man for the hard work-- good luck on the tractor.  Keeping quality workers in this most unique, niche business is a serious challenge-- I mean there is nothing easy about what we do, no "cake work".  Everything we touch is old, rusty, grease covered, froze together, worn out and basically big and heavy compared with mechanicing work in a general repair shop.  Most "flat rate" mercenary will take one look at the work load and what needs to be done and not want any part of it so working here singles one out as someone very special.  it's that way about everyone that helps me here & my hat's off to them all.  I think Janie is picking up pizzas for lunch where we hope to have a proper sendoff for Buster.  He has made a positive impact on our business and I certainly wish him happy trails for the future. The Tin Soldier will own it's livelihood to Buster so naming it's power plant "Buster" is only right.  So Buster it is, watch this puppy go!

I'm looking forward to a hot work day today, a good sweating day, no need for a "sweat lodge" to peal away all those troubles, I have my sweat lodge right here!  Lets see how the day goes.  Call if I can help.  Oh-- BTW-- thanks for the Emails on comments and suggestions, it's what keeps my interest up.  I'm not here just for brake jobs, oil changes and frig replacement-- I seek the challenges and thats what we're all about here.  Enjoy the day, come back soon and see how our day goes

Update

One point I was going for on the 23/350 Tin Soldier project is while being drug out of that pig Impala into that K car, I did save money and today with an economy that makes you want to save money at "all cost", maybe today it might be a good thing to save money any way you can and going to a more mild mannered road warrior might just be a bit more welcome than before.  There are many paths to success, going one way with gusto I still think there is merit in another way.  No matter which way you go, the search is part of the journey.  Hey so lets see what happens when we build up performance in another direction-- I think this is the best reason to check things out and maybe thats why we're trying this.  Either way, I feel good about all of this stuff.  Who was it that said with the right lever he could move the earth?  Lets gear this baby up.

8.6.09

Again thanks for all the input on the 23/350 project I like the fact that out of years of speculation we will be able to actually see what will happen.  My guess is it will be the sort of thing that happened back in the early 80's when the electronics manufacturer I was repping took away my company Impala and gave out K-cars.  If we kept our foot out of it (there was no reason to put your foot in it, there was "no go") we could save gas but dude--- what a boring ride!  This "Tin Soldier" will not be a barn burner, it will be specifically set up to bring you up to 60 MPH, set the cruise and go make a ham sandwich, watch the GPS on arrival time and see how close you can get to that time.  It will not torque it's way up a hill, pass everything on the road (hey, it may pass my Suzuki) and if mistreated it will probably be vulnerable to a breakdown.  It will be an underpowered motorhome with a tall gear and as such will be a different running machine.  You always have tradeoffs and thats what I think will happen here.

Today, we want it all, we want a fast motorhome, great mileage and rock solid dependability.  You can effect on of these perameters and automatically effect the others, there's just no way around that.  The "econobox" cars made way to the new technology vehicles that could offer performance and more economy but look at what you gave up to get it.  Forget working on a late model engine, there is little under the hood you can recognize!  Maintenance and repairs will be done at a dealership by a guy in a white jacket, not you and not "Bubba" at a shade tree shop. 

Tin Soldier was coaxed up onto the lift yesterday , he had bad gas and it was tough getting him up there.  I think he knew something was about to happen.  LIfting him up in the air, Jason went in and was surprised to find the alternator perched on the pass. side of the motor .  This 1973 coach was not fitted with a dash AC system so the belts were all different.  We'll be dropping the fuel tanks, cutting out the exh. system along with dropping the motor and trans on this project , I mean whats the use in having a new motor without the rest of it!  Buster has just about gotten the motor together , the double roller, true roller chain and the high volume oil pump show this is not just another build.  Puttin on the big fat Milodon oil pick up tube, he glued on the oil pan getting ready to finish up with the adjustible push roods, new Johnson lifters for out Kryptonite cam.  We'll paint it up with our gun metal grey colors-- I like the "industrial" look of a motor.  I do  not go for chrome-- it won't make it better despite what some people say!  Stay tuned for more on this project.

Still working on finish details on Ken's 23' Duramax.  Yesterday I went after refinishing the "A" frame windows , with the new windshields in, I can refinish the rest of the frames , dig out the worn out steel wire felts from the slider glass and repaint then seal the frames to the body .  Yep, thats the bige driver window getting it's colors.

Craig is closing in on the heated water furnace system, we need to get all the components in place and plumbed in before we can build up the interior.  I'll do pics of that later.  Steve pulled out the bulked in removable galley cabinet section to build in the drawers .  Tis removable cabinet will give access to the Kubota water cooled generator.  It will contain 2 drawers and a lower cabinet under the sink .  This is a rather unconventional galley cabinet but having a marine water cooled diesel generator "midship" under the galley is also rather unconventional too!  Stay tuned for this stuff.

I'm putting the 26' Duramac bedroom back together after routing the new 50 amp AC service in.  We have hopes of firing that generator up maybe today, stay tuned.

So we have "stuff happening" around here today.  Some here, some there and all slowly moving forward.  Thanks for the visit, I hope you picked up something from it.  See ya again soon

8.5.09

Got a late start here this morning, tried to catch up on the Email pile If you sent me a post & I have not responded sorry, I'm wearing my 2 fingers out on the keyboard!

I've been staying awake at nights worrying about the AC power circuits on the 26' Duramax.  Originally, I wanted the coach to be very energy efficient and installed a 30 amp service.  After all the stuff I have been jamming in the coach, all the sound equipement and other electrical things I was just concerned that somewhere down the road someone would turn it all on at the same time and the power supply would not handle the load.  Yesterday, I had Craig run me an 8ga. 4 cond SOW cable back to the breaker box and I wired in a 100 amp box to a 50 amp service, now he can run anything he likes    Overeingineered is good on this point!  I had someone put it perfectly here recently "just the right amount of overkill", thanks Bob H. for that comment, I'll remember that one!  We're back on line now with a 4 prong plug and I feel much better.  With only one roof AC unit, the 23' Duramax will be OK with a 30 Amp service.

On the 23' Duramax, with Jason's help  partially removing some of the rear wheel suspension for access, Craig & Eric got the LP tank lined up in it's hole -- Man, what a bear!  All I can say is if it were easy they would not have brought it to me!  Today we will be closing in the compartment, securing the tank in place and put on the compartment door.

Ken's new windshields got installed yesterday   Don, the installer has done many windows here for us, comparing he too has flat thumbs like mine after doing a GMC rally installing window rubbers   guess it's one of those occupational hazard things!  With the new glass in, I can now refinish the A frame windows.  BTW, if you need new windshields give me a call, I can set you up with the folks I do business with, they are a nationwide concern and can come to your house and install new American made glass, seal and guaranty it.

Betcha Ken is excited to see his tag on the back of his coach-- one more step... .

Thanks for the interest and input on the 23/350 project.  It's one of those project so many people have pondered, talked about and all-- I think it's time to just give it a try.  Yes, I am going to employ  as many of those small economy ideas into the final package, one I think will be a great help with be a variable spark advance.  You'll just have to watch this one!  To start out we are going to keep the carb/dist original, I do not want this to end up looking like Emit Browns Delorian.  After we investigate all the usual economy issues we might go into Mass Air fuel injection but that will be later, I think we can still get good performance and economy to some level with the 4 bbl. carb--- lets see.  Our custom cam is scheduled for delivery today and with that the motor will be ready to go.  We have a "Manny Tranny" scheduled to go in, a set or 4.11 gears in the Diff from Jim K. and a single rear  muffler 3" mandril bent exh system.  There will be many ideas and many people weighing in on this project, thanks for all of your input.  With the cam here, be motor built up we will be ready to start the install, stay tuned.

On another "eye opener", we are looking to put a 41" skylight in Mark's Coachman restoration-- I know you gotta see that one!  Gotta go, the sun is up and the sky is blue, what a great day to be alive!

8.4.09

The build up continues on Ken's 23' Duramax  One of the challenges on the coach was without a rear compartment, where do we put the LP tank!  Moving around the interior floorplan  did not find a place but rooting around outside the coach we found a spot Behind the body just in front of the single rear wheel we have a cavity created by yhr combination of the flare kit and bathroom inside what was the original rear wheel liner.  Had to cut back out the generator compartment wall   but it looks like we will have space for the tank Craig and Eric refinished in that opening   I hate backing up but this was one of the huge issues on Ken's coach.

Raymond's forward sofa was delivered back by Omar (our tent maker upholsterer) .  Man, it fits like a glove this time.  Before, we had the seat back too high which blocked some of the window openings.  We want as much glass opening as possible and the back was too high.  Bad pics but you can see how everything dimensionally now fits   In the sofa position, the bottom hits just right, giving space to tuck the moster 12" sub woofer box under with one of the 4 8" sub boxes to the side.  The seat back comes to the bottom of the window so the view out is unobstructed.  Folded out, you have a really tight, comfortable spot to watch the 32" flat screen from , a sort of "pit lounger".

It fit in perfect   Now the guys can focus on the dash which out fiberglass guys are working on, wish them luck.

We're getting the 350 motor together for "Tin Soldier".  Yes, we are building up the motor in the shop for this one.  It is the lab rat where we document the parts, machining and assembly   Boiling the block locally, new freeze plugs, crank polished and checked, 10.5:1 pistons we're going for using hi test gas.  Why?  Remeber we are looking to pump the most HP and torque we can out of this smaller block, using RPM not brute low end stroking torque.  This motor will run fast with 4.11 gears behind the trans so we want conventional RPM performance.  This is a bit of a departure from what the 403 &455 Olds motors have done for us in the past.  We do not have the power in the 350 so we must make it up somewhere.  We're using the same enhanced cam specs we use in the 455 , will be interesting to see what happens.  I started p a page to document the outcome of this project, bookmark this and follow our progress Tin Soldier

Lou came over once more to finish up a few things on his exterior prep work go to Low cost paint for an update.

Another clear, warm morning here in paradise.  Projects are moving forward as we sweat, hey thats OK, it's good for us!  Got in early to update this page, try and read through all the Emails and prioritize the work for the day.  Give me a call if you need any help with things, thanks for the visit and we'll see ya again soon.

PS.  A final though brought in on an Email from Cal.  Listen, in that I did not solicit his views Cal's view on his new motor I felt his insight right on with our goal.  If you will remember, Cal had a 78 GM floorplan coach originally fitted with a 403 motor.  It crapped out and talking about it for some time, we installed on of our roller cam 455 motors in place of his tired out 402.  Here is what he said on his first good ride on the now power plant:

JB, Well, I just drove the our new Jasper roller cam 455 crate motor 695 miles on a round trip to Lake Tahoe
First the facts:
Drove as high as 8,000 ft. Hwy 50 going into Tahoe has some pretty good grades to pull.
Got 9.9 MPG average. Including a good head wind coming home through Bishop.
Used just about 1 QT oil.
We have a severe duty fan clutch on the motor. It makes a hell of a racquet when in comes on. It came on and stayed on quite a bit.
The temps were easily in the 90's+ in the desert but the engine temp never went over 180dg. Im going to try a less severe clutch and see if it does as well with less noise.

I drove in the 60- 65mph range most of the time and the motor performed flawlessly.
It ran like it could do it all day.  It did do it all day!
The acceleration from say, 50 to 65 is smooth, strong and effortless.
The sweet spot seems to be 62 to 65 mph at 2800 to 3000 rpm. But 70 mph is no problem.

I don't think Ill loose the smile on my face for some time..
The confidence I now have in the coach made the vacation really fun and worry free.

Jim, Roberta and I want to THANK YOU for your dedication, determination, persistence, professionalism and inventiveness in trying to make these old beasts the best they can be.

It was a real thrill driving the coach and seeing what it can really be.
Now on to all the other things the coach needs.

Thanks for everything, Please say hi to Janie, Keep up the good work, We are grateful you are doing it!
Cal & Roberta   

Hey man, it is a real thrill that everything worked well, your outcome is the goal and it's hard to explain-- you just gotta experience it to know!  Cal lives in the LA area and the motor was installed at Miguel's place in Altaloma Ca.  Our crate motor program is designed around having these motors available wherever they need to be, you do not have to trek to Florida to get one of these babies.  Give me a call if you are interested.

8.3.09

This weekend was a practice in ending some things and gearing up others.  Sometimes you have to take stock in where you are, appreciate your accomplishments and set your direction on what is next, this weekend was set aside for such things.

First things first and with Ken's coach we needed to get the exterior sealed up.  Sealing the new frameless side ewindows was first thing sealing between the body and window frame is a critical issue.  Next sealing the rear hatch has to be done.  Some people have this irresisable urge to pull of the rear hatch.  Yes, the coaches were built from the front back through this hatch and when the interior was in the hatch sealed it all up.  Years of bouncing down the road, turns, twists and all have made it to where you really do not want to remove the rear hatch.  The screws will not line back up, the seal will be a bugger to do and really, you do not need to remove it other than taking out the bath module and who is wanting to do that!  No, what we want to do is seal the rear hatch in where it will never leak, and taping it off then adding our RTV sealant does the job very well. New stainless steel screws replaced one at a time and the seal job gives the rear of Ken's "23D" a good look. 

 As usual it rained Fri. afternoon and with the guys  bugging out a bit early, a found myself sitting in the trim shop just taking in all that we did the week and trying to figure where to turn next. Man what a pretty sight A wet lot, the front of the 23D with it's front hoods now on looking good with my CJ bike in the foreground staying dry.  The still unused portion of Raymond's carpet rolled up safe from the water and no one asking me questions, the fan blowing the humidity around where it would not soak you just looking at all that we have done, it is a great way to end a weeks hard work.

After doing some thinking on this project I moved next door to Raymond's 26' Duramax and did some sitting, looking, thinking on that weeks work.  The bedroom is really showing the colors of the coach   , music up loud, lights doing their indirect thing, carpet down and all we're starting to look like something here!  I think today we'll pull the coach out for another more complete looksee.

Sunday my job would be a small perk of having this business.  The plan is to drive Marylin's coach to her in New Port Richey early in the morning.  Go to Stories from the road  for that.

So as I said, that chapter of work at the shop came to a close and new attentions gives us unique things to work with.  Lou's low cost paint job is underway, the 23' 350 project is gaining attention and interest and the 2 Duramax coaches inch their way to completion.  How much fun is all of this!  Stay tuned, I have progress on all front happening so come back again for that.  Hey and thanks for the visit, thanks for coming by to see what we're up to thanks for your support too.  It's why we are here.  From the CLASCO days to today, it has been a extreme pleasure to be first person involved in the GMC community-- it's been a long hard journey but with so much ahead of us it's hard to just let it go by slowly-- headm' up, here we go!

8.2.09

I'm in very early this morning for one of the perks of this business, I'm doing another delivery -- not to Bakersfield or anything as grand as that, no I'll leave that for a more ambitious time-- today I'm taking Matylin's coach to her over in New Port Richey a couple of hours west.  Hey driving a good looking machine towing my Suzuki on a clear Sunday morning-- life could be much worse!  We installed a new Zip Dee awning, new Ragusa screen door, some interior modes, a new TV antenna, flat screen and a nifty new TV stand that does some interesting things.  I'll catch you guys up on all that when I get back.  Right now its time to ride.  So it's on the road again--- I'll take my camera!  Talk to ya later

8.1.09

So as to not clogg up our Dailt Poase page, I have created a seperate "Tin Soldier" project page for those of you to follow if you like  Go to Tin Soldier for that.  I'll be updating this page each day with that progress.

More to come

7.31.09

Boy, where did that energy come from last night!  I usually drop off sharply after I hit the house.  After reading through todays smoke & mirrors please read further yesterdays "update" if you didn't already.  The pics of the Duramax machines and the start of the low cost paint project I think are important.

There are several point we are looking to sharpen in our pencil box here with these projects, I would like to talk about them a bit.  You can pic through this if you like:

On the subject of the "low cost paint" project, I want to get this exercise off on the right foot and be sure all of you understand what the end goal is of doing it.  Being a house that leans toward a more comprehensive exterior refinish I still certainly understand the need for a less involved paint service.  Not everyone has the goal of bringing the renovation level of their GMC to a high point, many just want to have their machine reliable, comfortable and well kept.  This goal can certainly be accomplished with less fanfair than some of the project we have undertaken in the past.  Actually, right now with the Duramax projects, it should be obvious that we understand the upper end of the scale and if that's true we certainly could accomplish less of a job if we wanted to-- so in this day of uncertain economic conditions I feel it is important for a niche business like us to offer whatever our customers are looking for.  If you have a GMC or a vintage RV for that matter, we want to help you with whatever you are looking for.  We want to offer you the best at whatever level of refinment you seek and to that end we are prepared to demonstrate that it's much easier for a quality production house to offer a quality modest paint job than expecting a "scuff and shoot" house to bring their standards up to an acceptable level.  No, we are not a production paint shop, we do not have a "run-em-thru" paint booth with an ocean of people onr group tape off with another group pulling the tape on the other side of the booth.  No, we do not seek to pay our bills in doing volume work and that is a prime distinction of the difference in what we do.  Compare it to a burger pit and a steak house.  A 5 star cook can probably whip up a burger to die for but can that high school kid flipping grease bombs cook a lean ribeye?   Sounds silly but really, that is a great analogy! 

When a GMC owner sits at the table interested in bringing their coach to a standard we want them to understand we are prepared to bring their machine to whatever refinment they are interested in.  Knowing there are many levels of paint service everyone always wants that steak dinner for the price of a burger and actually there are ways for someone who understands the detail needed for quality to bring some of those elements into the project and this is what we can do for you and your coach.  I am truly tired of hearing how someone got a $5000 paint job from a local production house and had to be happy with the outcome--"Yea, there are some problems but the job didn;t cost that much" is no excuse for slopping work.  Likewise, usually going to a production paint shop, they are unaware of basic truths about refinishing a vehicle body of aluminum and SMC (sheet mold compound) construction.  They have work standards that do not worry about paint lines, light body damage, orange peal, runs or blotching.  These are the things your eye is attracted to when you view a paint finish and end up being the things that determine a quality finish.  We know these things, our direction is to attend to these details and that is the difference in our work.  There are ways to cut labor and still have a detailed finish and that is what we offer.  Yes, we need your business and support, we want to paint every GMC that needs paint and we are prepared to do so. 

So watch how Lou comes out with a quality paint job at a low cost.  If this is something you are interested in, do not let distance from us stand in your way.  All roads lead to Florida, we can even have your coach picked up and delivered back to you!  We are not to far away when it comes to the difference in someone who knows how to paint your motorhome. So is this a commercial message, you bet--- with the economy as it is we are out for your business, your paint business, your parts and services business.  We are here only devoting our services to the GMC motorhome and we need your good will to survive.  Watch how this project goes and picture your coach looking fine sliding along the highway, smile while you pull into a rest area or an RV park and every eyeall is on your coach.  Be proud of your machine when folks walk past, stop and ask the inevitable questions "What is this", "Are they making these again", What year is it", "Would you like to sell that motorhome" because you will not get that if the coach looks bad.

Let me give you a good example, I just brought over a coach we did some "tweek" work to.  wayne's coach was a really nice looking coach but the stripe lay out was a bit dated.  We added our "rscoon" design black out window treatment to what he already had, this job cost $900 and tell me this is not a sharp looking machine!       .  If your paint is basically good but you're looking for something to dress it up, here was Wayne's option.  This "racoon" look originated from the early CLASCO designs   which we took further, we have several derivative looks of it:           Scott was instumental in perfecting this look with us actually diagramming it out  on paper with us  , his coach "might fine from behind" actually found Dodge van tail lights fit pretty well onto the GMC .  This is the design we think will go onto Lou's coach so stay tuned for his rendition.

350x23 foot coach  In an effort to cover all of the bases, a desirable goal today in vehicles is economy.  The Duramax projects, along with wanting to build a "road rocket" mondo machine has the chance to produce economy by feathering a huge diesel power plant, blinding torque out of a commercial duty drive train and it looks like that will succeed beyond out dreams.  Another way too economy could be in gearing and frugal economics, this is the direction of the "350x23" project.  We are building up a 350 Olds motor with on of our custom cams in a 10.5: 1 compression ratio pumping into a 4.11:1 diff gear ration custom built for us by Jim Kanomata.  This will be a 1973 23' coach (the lightest coach of all production models) with the interior built up with light materials and energy efficient components.  We will have an aerodynamic shape with no roof components to add to the drag (watch and see how that is accomplished).  We will be able to run modst functions including the AC/heat system using a single 20 amp AC circuit.  We will be using solar array technology, energy efficient insulations, honeycomb wall materials first pioneered by Daren Paget at "TZE Plus" all wrapped up with another low cost exterior finish.  The intent is to have a GMC that will get superior fuel economy at 60 MPH and suck lightly off the grid when in use.  To produce a good looking, energy efficient, reliable useable, economy based RV from a vintage motorhome.  Hey, this is another exciting project in still another direction.  If you are interested in this, stay tuned and give me a call-- maybe you want to be next!  Here is a before shot of the core     

Project like these take experise in not only exterior refinishing but also mechanical and interior specialty GMC knowledge which we posess.  You might say I can invent my own wheel but why would you want to do that?  We have all of it already available in our pocket.  Doing things for the first time is always an expensive proposition, look at the Duramax projects and you can see this.   Hey, thats not a bad thing, it's whats needed to step out but learning from those project builds a knowledge base invaluable in subsequent and I have to say that what we offer.  Yes, I want your business, -- yes, I am saying we can do work for you better and more cost efective on your GMC than anyone-- why, because we know this machine!  I am out for your business, call me if you are interested!  Soup to nuts, we do it all!

OK, that commerciail message was presented by the "US Foundation", thats us looking to help you with your GMC, support use and we in turn will support you.  It's another good looking day here at the Co-op, the morning looks good enough for the shuttle to land here in Florida-- hey maybe those boys have figured out to do stuff here in the AM and leave the PM to the ducks floating in the retention ponds!  We should hear the double "boom" sound barrier noise the shuttle makes as it passes overhead-- hey, your tax dollars at work!  Have a great day-- we will...

Update

That was a big laugh!  Thinking I was going to sit down and add pics to the post during the day.   That was stupid to say!  Too much happening in a day to do that, and now I can't do everything I need to without 2 computers--- I'll never get used to this!  Well, the sun is going down and I found a little down time-- I think I have some pretty good stuff to show you.

Ken has been holding his breath for a couple of days on the exterior look of his "23d" as he calls it.  Walked over to the paint shop this morning to a beautiful sight .  Craig was pulling our bundle of joy out of it's bay    But wait--- you didn;t see what I saw yesterday, here's Kevin doing his thing         The clear was laid out thick and we got our gloss       So now all we had to do is wait.  After sealing up the rails Craig now follows Kevins direction (no mirrors) as he backs out of the paint shop   Caig looks like a kid sitting on the pedestal with no seat   but all he has to so is drive it around the shop to get the machine to the tril shop     The turbo spooled up and he was gone  Next stop was the trim shop, Steve & Eric jumped right out ther to check it out   We've been talking about how to attach the coach when it got to this point.  So here it is, out of paint and back in my hands-- thought this day would never come       

Now THATS what I'm talkin bout! You tell me that isn't an awesome sight!  Don't forget this is a 22,000 GVW chassis with what 8000 pounds sitting on it, a Duramax turbo diesel /Allison front wheel drive train, 19" ABS disc brakes with a 23 foot GMC wrapped around the beast!  Are you kidding, this is really out the top!  Not much more to say, now laets put it on the road!

Hey and thats not all--- Steve got jiggy with the carpet in the 26' Duramax , my carpet mechanic patterned the entire floor and cut what I would call the perfect one piece floor--- how's it look       I'm telling you we're getting it!

You can onlhy see this right here and you guys are the only ones to see it all.  Thanks for being a part.  I was just taking a chance to sit and look at these 2 machines at once and just can't believe we are doing this, what an unbelievable pair of machines!  A life opportunity to do something really unique-- I'm tired but I'm happy.  Now we need to get these things out of the shop and out on the road.  Stay tuned!

As I said yesterday, Lou brought in the low cost paint project    So here is the deal, we will be helping Lou come up with a quality low cost paint job.  Our target is $4200.  Now understand the cost of the job is relative as to what is done and how much labor is used for the project.   Lou has done a pile of prep work himself, I think he told me he had been working on the exterior for several months doing all the things we had discussed would save him money.  Stripes are off (that was fun) bumpers, trim, lights, grill, bezels  -- hey I could have "bagged" all that stuff off but the "sweat equity" will make the finish the best possible   Here is what we have ready for the paint shop          Actually, he still has the tail light to remove (Man don't just bag stuff like that!)  take it all off, reinstall new lights and things with new stainless fastners-- it's the  small things that make the look.!

OK, Lou is done, now we take over.  He has a minimum of 40 hours of prep work.  You need to try it!   If this time is not taken, 5 hours would bag it all off but you and your friends would  easily see the difference.  No, these things have less to do with the paint sticking but more the finished look-- hey and whats important and what is the end goal-- I think it should be to have a good looking coach.  So we'll start our "DA" process, that's Dual Action sanding.  With the stuff out of the way we can spend our time doing what needs to be, thanks Lou for the chance to my your coach really nice,

It's late & I need to get some sleep, it's been a great day, good things have happened and tomorrow looks to be another good day.  I hope yours is, I hope things go your way but remember if not, there is the next day and thats an important thing.  See ya then

7  .30.09

Dangit-- I've gotten to the point I must rely upon having 2 computers with me every morning or I can't function!  I left the lap top at the house this morning & I can't figure out how to pull up my pics with the ole war horse here on the counter!  I'll put in pics on this post later so come back then to see what I'm talking about.

Boy, are we slaves to these computer machines, I vividly remember thinking I had a really nice calculator on my desk and why would I want a computer too!  Talk about not seeing it coming-- where would we be without the ability to go up on the internet!  Guess we'll see what it's like before we could posts pics this morning!  We'll have to communicate only with words-- how primitive!

Duramax 26 :  Yesterday really did get many things accomplished, Steve prevailed and got that awesome carpet cut out for the main floor area in the 26' Duramax.  Man it looks awesome--- wish I could show you-- come back later.  This is a huge step forward, when you look at the interior now you can actually see where it's going.  Hey, I know the you tube video was boring, I had another one but it was REALLY dark.  I need some flood lights!  The action is good now we need to put in a little more interior and see how it all fits together.

Duramax 23  :  Craig, Eric & Logan are working on sealing up the rails and what have you on the coach so we can bring it back over to the trim shop for the interior work.  My guess is it will be to that point today, I'll have pics of the work later.  It looks like the blackout on the side inserts, the black windows and the tires will all bring the overall look together as we hoped, stay tuned for pics.

Man, isn't it tough doing this udate with no pics!

Low cost paint job :  Lou brought in his coach yesterday, yea I know we were supposed to start last week on this but it's a perfect example of how no matter how hard you try and plan something the rest of the world always seems to get in the way.  If you will remember this should be a very interesting project for you guys to watch.  After a rousing thread on the GMC Net about paint and how much quality work costs, I figured I would put my work where my mouth was and unlock the secrets of how to get quality paint on your coach at a more modest price.  Sure there will be a difference but if it's done properly it can be done.  Lou has put much "sweat equity" into his coach pulling off the stripes, removing many of the exterior acc. and I'll be helping him today do some final steps before we turn on the clock for the $4200 paint job.  Thats right, it will not be a "soup to nuts" job like we always have done and for him thats fine because he wants to be part of the restoration process.  If you are that man as well, watch how this is done and hey-- don't just do it like we do-- bring your machine down here to Florida, spend a little time in paradise and work your coach over with us, save a little money, wear your fingers down a bit, who knows you might drop a little weight with the workout!  I know many of you will glue yourselves to your monitor for this project so here we go-- pics will follow.

Tony's restoration saga :  I think you will get a good lesson on this one-- A good friend/ new GMC aowner here in the Orlando area purchased a "core" coach and as something to do is working over his coach doing as much as he can himself (actually I betcha he'll be another good candidate for one of our low cost paint jobs).  He's taken on things like replacing the timing belt, interior strip out and some other less than fun stuff.  Yesterday, he brought in his beast for a few things he didn't want to get involved in, hey thats why we're here.  The person he bought the coach from did not tell him about some basic maintenance issues--- like a rusted frame!  Hey, it can be fixed!  He came in, went up on the lift and Jason started the fishplate and welding of the frame.  Inspecting things under there we found crushed fuel return hoses and other issues there but hey it ran so that would be a project for another day-- we have to do things one step at a time.  He had one worn out rear swing arm busing or pin, mark that down too.  So we got done with the days expenses, we slapped the coach on the butt and it headed home.  30 Min. later the phne rang to tell me Tony was on the side of the road with "Murphy" jumping up and down on his head!  No fuel to the motor--- what happened?  Well, anything not touched can be suspect, I told him to losen the carb line from the pump--- no fuel-- he broke down a block from an auto parts store so he got 8' of 3/8' fuel hose, a clamp, a gas can and sone fuel.  Took loose the inlet to the fuel pump, attached the hose to the pump and dropped the other end into the full gas can--- Vrooom, we had a working motor-- something gave up on all those weathered fuel hoses going to the tanks--- bottom line is we guess wrong on priorities!  Should have spent the bucks on fuel delivery-- hey but who knew.  It's easy to talk about what to do, the hard part is to figure out where to stop and that was our issue here.  He called back triumphantly driving on home, gas can sitting in the pass. floor with a hose winding it's way to the pump-- hey, you gotta do what ya gotta do to go!  Remember, necessity is the mother of invention -- while the father is no where to be found!  Good job man, we'll foam the runway when you save up the aluminum cans for the fuel tank work.

OK, the day is on, Janie is bringing in the lap top so I'll load up the pics during the day.  More stuff to talk about and show so we'll see ya later today.  So get on out there and work-- I'll be right behind ya!

7.29.09

Walking over to the paint shop yesterday early there was a fantastic view of Kevin laying on the clear on the 23' Duramax coach.  All one color I think we'll have a winner here.  He is putting double thickness of clear for a deep gloss         After this he was doing the front hoods and the rails which Craig & his sons will install and seal today.  As soon as the coach is sealed up it will come back to my shop for the interior work. 

Got in a cute little box yesterday   What could it be?  Santa is not making his rounds right now, we must had ordered it!   Boy Ragusa sure has solved the shipping issues on their screen door for the GMC!  It's a very compact shipping box.  Crag & Eric assembled the door and with a little first hand help (I've installed my share of these puppies) mounted the door on Marylin's coach   It still needs the "tweeks" to get it to fit and let the original door shut around it but after installing several of these I think the 2 hours spent on it was a pretty fast job   I do like the black color they have on the unit and the cast aluminum center section look very classy.  We'll have to deal with the blind that was on the door, no room for that now but I think it will fit OK in the frame of the window, stay tuned for that.  I'm driving the coach to Marylin this weekend so we have a little time to deal with the blind issue.

So I spent most of the day working through issues with Raymond's electric drape project .  Hey, it's hard to get stuff to move on command!  Finally, the end of the day saw the drapes in and working   I'm hopefully downloading a video next of it moving, take a look here  http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks  I'll try and download it when I get off this page.  One more step, Steve is laying the carpet in the main area today-- yep, one more step.

We're starting up on a new idea, a hi performance 350 pushing a light 23' coach, lets see what happens.  The opinions are all over the board on this one, bottom line is we need to do it and see-- so here we go!  The "Tin Soldier" will be the lab rat for this one so stay tuned and give me your take on what you think will happen!

Finally, leaving yesterday eveing I was pushing buttons on Raymond's coach making sure things were working and I popped this shot of the awesome Zip Dee electric awning partially out   The remote is now working the awning-- very cool!  Just one more step.

Hey and I got a post from our buddy Arch.  Good to hear from him, he wanted me to spread the word he is a Grandpa:

7.28.09

Thought you guys might be interested in the answer I did to a question so here goes

 Finishing up the post I found that I had fielded that question several times and figured I could throw it out here, maybe other had wondered about it.  Hope this helps.

Yesterday was a day of hopeful results, tests and learning which means it worked but still needs more.  The electric windshield drapes were ready and they got a test in operation.    Good job in that they workd, still needing work we have some challenges.  I look at this as probably Howard Hughs did that plane he flew, crashed and made it better.  The drape material is too delicate for the hanging eyelets, we'll have to do something about that and we need to do a better job of bringing the 2 drapes together at the center--- that can also be adjusted-- hey, but they did move!  I wish I had someone to hold the camera as I pushed a button and the blinds dropped, another switch and they were illuminated then still another button brought the drapes together at the dash and one more dropped the 32" flat screen for viewing.  It was a glorious exercise in automation!  It's great when you get that first glempse of dayling at the end of a project, the drapes will work, we just now need to learn from that first deployment and make it better.  I actually directed Steve to start laying in the carpet on the main floor, we're starting that today-- here we have been looking at awesome walls and counters for how long walking on bare plywood floors and now the floor gets it's treatment-- a sure sign that we are closing in on the end game of this puppy. Oh, we still have many loose ends but the dangling strings are getting thinner.  Hey, how bout that grill!

Hit the shop a bit late this morning and as the sun rose I opened the back door to see Kevin pull up over at the paint shop to do the deed on the 23' Duramax clearcoat.  It's great when things do go as planned, with any luck the beast will be a shiny penny today, a little curing time and we will be able to start putting the exterior together.  I have a proper tag for the critter so I can see a spin around the block coming!  I'll bring the camera!

To add to the intake block off recommendation I talked about above, another option is to really solve the problem and replace the old cast iron intake with a new aluminum copy that actually has no crossover built into it.    The "Rockwell" aluminum intake solves many problems we have with the 455 Olds motor in our motorhome application.  If you ask what the 1/2 life is of an original cast iron intage my answer would have to be somewhere arounf 30 years because almost every intake we deal with on rebuilds has this pesky small crack between the secondary ports.  I mean if the direction is to build up a reliable motor you just must do something about this issue.  Installing block-off plates is a minimum to trying to make this a non issue.  Doing plates with the sand blasting, magnafluxing and then adding the plates add a couple hundred bucks to a motor build, heck with a couple hundred more you can really fix the problem, retire that metal boat anchor and really be set up for the future.  $650 for this intake yes, is more than a $350 Edelbrock but then you will loose your flat floor.  This is a custom built, small production, specialized part which I am so pleased we have as an option.  Really, you need to consider a new intake to solve the cracked intake issue.

So what do you have happening today?  We have Joff picking up his new frig thats wrapped around his  coach.  We also added a full time electric fuel pump to his motor complete with low oil pressure shut down circuit.  If you are going to go to an electric fuel pump as a main fuel delivery this circuit is a must.  Along with his electric fuel pump we also have a second "backup" electric fuel pump on his aux. tank powered by the power going to the AB fuel selector.  This gives him a start up pump that you would not have with the other low oil circuit on the main pump plus it acts a primer pump, a second pump in case of trouble with the other-- I feel having redundant system of main functions as important.  If anyone is interested in the circuit, let me know.

We've had several parts locator calls recently, good to see you guys are keeping up with your coaches needs, I mean letting the coach go is not good-- you know it will not heal itself and waiting only makes the job tougher and possibly more involved.  So let me know if you have a problem with your coach, lets get it going together, we're here to help.

Well, it's 8AM, no one is here yet so it's a good time to break down one of those drapes in the Duramax.  I feel like an engineer at the Johnson Lab breaking down a fuel tank on the shuttle to replace an "O" ring, hey it will work-- have no fear.  And when it deploys properly just hang on for that video!

Wish us fair winds today, they say it will be at least a clear morning, the clouds are gone which means a good time to shoot clear.  Maybe it won't rain and we can work all day-- hope springs eternal!  Have a great day, it looks like we are starting out pretty good down here

7.27.09

Don't worry, nothing is wrong, just been off the computer for a bit banging on this thing takes some of the attention IU sometimes need to put into work, hey something has to suffer when things get tight!

Decisions have been made and the 23' Duramax will go from a minimal graphics to no graphics.  We say sometimes less is more and in this case we wanted a clean look that shows off the curves of the original coach with the flare/ground effects so the best thing we could all agree on was one color.  We took the body back down to a base color   where today Kevin will pour on the clear to make a this new penny.  Graphics and striping seem easy when you first think about it but remembering that once it's on-- it's on and there is no way back, opinions on the scheme just could not get together.  When the thoughts went to 3d vinyl graphics (it's amazing what can be done with that stuff today) the direction seemed to be a good choice.  We'll clear the body and acc. parts of the rails, vents , etc. and will start assembly tomorrow when it's tacked up.  Today they say 70% rain-- lets see what Mother nature lets us do.

With the 2 Duramax projects deep into production and Mark's custom machine starting to take shape, it looks like our shop is leaning more toward the unusual.  In some ways that may be true but we still are replacing friges like in Joff's case, brake jobs and other maintenance related issues come and go as we work on all this other stuff so don't stay away thinking we're just here for the heavy mods.  We have all sorts of repairs happening.

And then I show something like this!  There was recently a thread on custom grills on the GMC net, at that time I was not ready to show this and we still have final issues having to do with the headlight bezels and their tieing to the grill but feast your eyes on the 26' Duramax custom grill made in Hollywood by master fabricators   You know how the auto industry makes grills "look like" the real thing , it's gotten to the point that we forgot that grills that look like stainless steel but are really plated plastic really are NOT the real thing.  Heck, I can't think of a "real" grill that really is metal!  Well, boys, this baby is the real thing!  Custom jigged , this is made of real stainless steel tubing, cut, bent, welded and polished do not ask what this one off grill cost and also do not ask how you can have one because this truly is a custom one off hand made one of a kind fitted grill.  So here is the coach looking like it's still on the assembly line parts being installed and fitted   if you don't see much in there recognizable don't feel bad because remember this is a turbo diesel airport shuttle bus chassis, now look what happens when the "grill" is fitted   Man, now thats a clean look!  Next we color and fit the headling bezels which BTW, we have made a new mold for.  Stay tuned for more on this.

Saturday, I was sitting in the office sorting this and that and a motorcycle pulled into the lot.  No big deal but I just could not place who it was all wrapped up about as safe as one cold be on a pair of wheels , with my "Attila" in the background you might think this was a motorcycle shop!  As the protective layers pealed off, emerged there was a familiar face   Bill B. lost his mind (along with the rest of us) and bought a motorcycle!  Hey, and what a good choice, ot's a 1979 "Moto Guzzi clone"  a Honda CX500 V2 transverse mounted , water cooled, shaft drive this was a real groundbreaking machine in it's day!  Like my 75  Gold Wing, in the 70's Honda was on the cutting edge of bike design with the GL1000 "Pancake" motor knock off, the offroad Elsanor mono shock rear end and this V twin put together like the classic Italian Moto Guzzi machines did it.  And this puppy had to be kept under someones bed, it is in beautiful condition!  Hey, if you're going to start regressing, might as well do it with a classic motorbike!  Good choice Bill, be careful and I can see from all of your safety gear you read that chapter on staying alive on 2 wheels!  Smart Man.  Makes me want to break out the "Old Gold" from the dust covering it and get it back out on the road!

Well this weekend I was deep in thought in the 26' Duramax working through the electric windshield drapes.  Got the driver side in now covering that huge driver full slider window.  We have motion  and with a few more tweeks I hope to do the video of both sides operating today, stay tuned for that.  The sound system is coming together nicely, you can see the head unit in place over the steering wheel in the drape pic. 

Each day I turn on the system and let it "cook" to find any possible issues.  We do know that we will need more power supply than the one yard battery that has kept the coach alive sitting in the bay during it's build up.  My guess is it will end up with some yellow top AGM batteries.  We have forward positions for 4 with more space in the rear LP compartment.  Figuring current draws we knew we had an opportunity here.  Hi current amps get their name from being "current pigs" , thats what give us the "thumper" sound.  Ah, you say what about the time Raymond will just want to listen to a ball game?  Will he have to crank up all of that geer just to hear the weather report?  Au, come on guys, you gotta know I thought through that one!  We actually have2 sound systems in the coach.  The first one you have seen the earthquake results but the second system has a totally different mission.  We have a pair of 4x10" speakers in the bedroom, a pair of 2 way 5.6" spks in the front and a pair of 4" spks outside which run off the "in radio" smaller amplifiers.  This system does not pull the mondo current so "dry camping" say in a parking lot or off the grid somewhere, Raymond will still have a good sound system throughout the coach.  This plan really give total flexibility to the AV system in Raymond's coach.  Also, we have a "purpose built" inverter system that will also run the flat screen TV's without a generator running or beoing plugged in for that special time that may be needed.  Yes, I tried to build up a system truly complimenting the many uses needed.  Riding down the road, no generator on, Raymond will still be able to "bust-a-move" with all of his AV gear, listen for his bass at a traffic light near you!

Supposed to rain big time today, hope it won't put a damper on our fun.  We have some indoor sports to keep us busy so it's won't be a wasted day.  Have a great one yourself, do something you have always wanted to-- or at least get started on it.  Who knows what the future will bring so there is no better time than now to get going.  See ya later

7.24.09

First of all-- Ken, we have the art director for one of the major attractions here in Orlando coming by tomorrow morning for a looksee, stay tuned

Next, I have had several inquiries about the Zip Dee awnings I have talked about.  Here are the guys measuring out and installing Marylin's awning yesterday The "scaffold" set up gives the guys free movement up high on the side of the coach which is very important.  The rail must be installed exactly and stright above the rail.  We use "blind rivets" rather than screws to secure the rail, I feel the seal is tighter.  With the arms on and the case/fabric/roller assembly mounted, it's time to find the recoil spring and try out the action of the awning   Eric mounts the entry door wheel to help the door to open agianst the fabric   and the job is done.  Coming in this morning, Marylin's coach greeted me after it's first night with it's new feature   looks good but more important works really smooth.  As Will Smith said in the movie "Independence day"--- "I gotta get me one of these". Today, the cost of this awning was $1385.00 with $188.00 shipping.  Costs vary by shipping location, we can have a Zip Dee drop shipped to your place if you like.  Wesley C. was installing his Zip Dee we had shipped to him yesterday, betcha he'll smile when he sees we installed one the same time he was.  How did yours come out man?  Shipping--- what can I say, with fuel costs, cutbacks, the economy and all-- those boys get their money and probably deserve it.  That was a big, long tube full of a rather delicate part.  The aluminum slap cover surrounding the awning fabric when rolled up is rather delicate until it is in place.  With 4 hours install, the total awning installed ran &1893.00.  Hey, but on all but a bug filled, stormy day, this awning will effectively double the living area of the coach while parked!

There has been talk lately about air compressors and their use in our rear suspension.  Some folks rebuild thier original V2 compressor and go that way while others opt to replace it with a new design unit.  People have asked my opinion of this and just like everyone has one I am not telling you whichever way you went is right or wrong but I will tell you my take on the subject.  In it's day, Hadley was the main compressor manufacturer in the industry.  The produced a single cylinder and a twin cylinder that would produce more CFM and was a longer duty cycle than it's "huffy" named smaller brother.  Sure it was better, it had 2 cylinders but in doing that the belt drive system needed a higher torque motor which of course pulled more-- much more current.  Current is the killer in a DC circuit and what ultimatly doomed the idea Thomas Edison had to electrify the world with DC power.  AC current handles current loads and wire runs much better.  But we have 12 VDC current that runs our rear suspension air ride system and thats what we need to use.  Actually, I tied in an AC driven small compressor to one of my coaches-- sure it went up fast but the sound was defening!  There is a balance and you need an air delivery system that is efficient, powerful, low current AND quiet!  OK, technology marches on and down the road, direct drive air compressors came into their own.  New electric motor designs increased the torque and efficiency of compressors until today, a single cylinder direct drive compressor can supply the same and better CFM pulling less current and do it for an increased duty cycle.  Hey, no one will give you more money for your coach because it has one of those cute original V2 compressors.  I mean sure it looks kinda like a Harley motor but the now compressors (kinda like the new motorcycles) blow the old V2 design out of the box so why shouldn't we embrace new technology and use these new machines in our machine. 

When we work on a customers coach, the goal is to fix it righ, fix it best and fix it to last.  I tried rebuilding the old V2 compressors but as important as having on board air is, the reliability of those older rebuilds just could not stand up to the new technology replacement.  I mean when you run out of air pressure on the road-- brother you have just bought the property where your coach is squatting!  Having the best air pump you can find to me is very important and thats why we install these good looking new design compressors This is a 100% duty cycle unit, pulls 1/3 less current that the original V2 unit , is similar in size so install is not that bad and , like I said before, is all new.  I have reports that this system pumps up the GMC much quicker than the original one, my guess is that the original compressor had been wimping out for so long that the owners were amazed when they could actually see their motohome raise off the ground as this compressor did it's thing!  Whatever the reason they spoke highly of the unit, it does handle the air needs of our rear suspension very well and is a component you as well as I can rely upon and thats the main goal.    The good looking braided hose also will replace the in line check valve that usually goes out in the system so in essence you are replacing 2 components of your air ride system with this new compressor.  On the Power Level as well as Electro-level systems, I reroute the wiring to increase the reliability  of the system, when you purchase a compressor from us you get more than just the compressor, you also get my rewiring mods and me to help you install this unit into your coach.  Hey, it's why folks get stuff from us, we offer more than just the part!  $225 plus shipping of course will put one of these puppies in your hands, a phone call will help you get it installed and doing it's job in your coach.  I do not work with the origional V2 compressors any longer when I can offer a better product at a reasonable price.  Give me a call if you have any other questions.  Oh, and if you have an EL-II air ride system (78 models) we can rebuild your system to include 2 of these babies in your system-- talk about going up right now!  Hope this has answered many questions about air compressors for your GMC.

The sun is up and I have some interior finishing work to do for the Duramax coach and some stuff for Marylin's, I gotta get out there and get the sweat going, it's time of your so you just do it!  No need for a Bally membership, I'll be doing a good workout today!  Have a good time yourself today, tomorrow will be what it will and opportunity is always here when it's here and maybe not again so go for it guys!

So waiting for some glue to dry I wanted to end today with giving a personal Thanks to all the guys who work here with me at the Co-op.  Over the past 12 years, I have seen many workers come and go, this is not an easy business-- I mean the most useless tools in the trim shop are a level and a square-- Steve, Craig and his sones Eric & Logan make the things I see in my minds eye come to life.  Everything from holding tanks to steering wheels, these guys are the best.  Jason and Buster make whatever mechanical things we need done work.  Jason has been with me so long all I need to say it go and he takes off-- what a pleasure working with a 2 man team that knows whats happening.  Paint is one of the opportunities I have had constantly, don't know what it is with those guys that sniff all those fumes but I've been through a pile of them and the crew we are now grooming looks to be the best yet.  Just like with you guys, there are 3 factors in getting things done of which you can pick 2:

o Quality
o  Low Cost
o  Speed

This saying holds true for you as well as me, we are working hard to include the third factor in our work, wish us luck.  All in all though, we have an awesome team here dedicated to the GMC and it's future.  This has been a struggle bringing this company and this team together, many people have told me for years it couldn't be done but hey, we're here and I think we're doing a great job.  We can do things for your GMC that many cannot and do them at a price thats right.  Sure, the economy has effected us but through our customers support we are keeping the hokme fires burning, we do have opportunities like most other poeple and am ready to do work for you but in following us here on the pose you can see wh're happening around here so thanks for all the support and like I said thanks goes to all the guys here that make this all happen   See our "board meeting" usually includes a pizza or 2 and the paperwork covered usually finishes up with food stains on them!

  7.23.09

First off, I need to give you an update on the meeting with FMCA reps, Jim G. gave me a call and said he finally did get with max powers at the shindig and the explanation is the coordination of meeting location went terribly wrong.  I guess getting the right words to the right people can be difficult.  Still it's too bad that a group that big representing the GMC community could not be in the meeting.  Jim felt that FMCA was trying to cater to the GMC folks and asked me to report they had some good talks.  With the economy the way it is I think it very important we all stand together and support eachother.  It's that way in all things right now so lets get behind FMCA.  I read the monthly magazine all the time, there are some good articles though I would like to see more content on vintage machines and less on sales oriented marketing.  Hey but thats the way of the world, guess they too need to make a buck!  Hey, if we do enough support for them maybe they will come through for us, we can only hope.

We have had good waether the past couple of days, have been able to ride the side car bike to and fro a bit, nice to get out in the breeze.  Have developed a leak in ole "Attila" , guess thats why they call most old bikes "leakers".  The brakes got soft so I had some repairs to do.  Sounds like a day in the life of a GMC-- maybe thats what attracted me to the thing, I don't mind living with old stuff that needs my attention. I think this evening I'll try the electric bike on the home ride, wish me luck with that.  My son, John, has been investigating some of the custom motor mods for bikes over in Sierra Vista.  There is a "pusher" design that puts a hefty motor drive on a 2 wheeled trailer behind a bike.  The understanding is it is sort of illegal but he sent me a video of one going over 65 MPH!  Holy crap batman, thats a fast bike!  It's just fun dreaming about creative things and doing cool stuff with bikes is a cheap way to fulfil that wanderlust.  "Ride on Man", wether it be a bike, a motorcycle or a motorhome, those creative juices all come from the same bucket.  I think in learning about UAV aircraft in his job, those creative juices seem to be turning him into a visionary-- I may just have to look into a gas motor for my bike-- think of it, a 3 way powered bike-- gas, electric and pedal.  Sounds like a reallt dangerous machine indeed, cool lets do it!

Have been lurking a bit lately on the mailing lists I subscribe to, it's good to get a strong overview on what trends are out there.  It's no secret that the economy has created several great opportunities for folks to get involved in all sorts of specialty niche categories.  On the GMC front, there are many coaches for sale and like I said it's a good time to look for a coach.  Talked to a commercial realtor recently and when asked how his business was re came back with "isn't it fantastic, EVERYTHING is on sale right now!"  Now thats the spirit!  Yes, compared to where we knew the market was, everything is on sale and history has proven things always bounce back to some more reasonable level so if you can afford it, now is a great time to get involved.  heck, I have a coach here that can be camped in with a little work for sale at $2500!  Go to the "for sale" page on coaches at the lot and look at "Tarheal".  "Rumplestilkskin" can also be had for $10,000 so know if you are interested in picking up a good object for your labors now is a good time to jump in the pool!

Yesterday, Marylin's Zip Dee awning came in  by truck and the guys turned too and have it all but on this morning .  There has been a great deal of verbage about awnings in the past, my feeling is if you are going to use your coach as more than just a transpo machine from point A to B, having the added luxury of outside cover while parked is a great plus.  A plus that is if the awning works for you rather than you work for the awning.  I want one that can handle a little bad weather, can stand up to a little wind and rain.  One I don't have to worry about if the weather turns a bit bad.  I appreciate that an awning adds some vertical arms to the style of the coach but seriously, the Zip Dee arms are the smallest, most esthetically appealing appendage you can hang on your coach & I feel it does not detract from the style but adds such a convienant feature to a coach that the look does not bother me at all.  I install only Zip Dee mainly because I know my customers will be happy with the outcome.  Some other awnings are bulky and difficuly to deploy and adjust while others that may look more stylish while folded up with no vfertical arms hanging down are more delicate than I would like and require a bit more attention to keep them safe.  All of that takes away from the usefulness of an awning in my mind so Zip Dee is the one for me.  I'll do some pics today of the coach with the awning in and out.  A good looking coach is still good looking with a Zip Dee awning on it, watch and see.

I've been fielding many questions lately about fuel delivery systems and the "vapor lock" issue.  Stands to reason, heck it's hot out there and with our fuel supply lacded with ethanol the boiling point of fuel has been dropped to the point that on a hot day passing over a hot black road in the sun out on a long stretch of road as well as in town, our fuel systems are causing a bit of trouble.  We as well as others are trying several things to help the issue.  Insulating the fuel tanks under the coach, insulating the fuel lines, adding pusher electric fuel pumps all are possible problem solvers.  I'm most interested in things that seem to work with this problem so if you have astory of your experiences with this issue I sure would like to hear from you.  On several occasions, it seems that the teflon braided stainless line with the "pyro" shield sure seems to work that we have.  Check it out on our "just for GMC parts" page.  We sold out of inventory but have more in the mail to us right now, if you are interested in having one give me a call right away and I'll put your name on one as they come in.

The sun is up so I'm out in the shop, have a great day-- call if you need something-- I'm sure I'll be around here somewhere!

7.22.09

After a rousing day of productive work I feel much better.  It's tough coming to this place day after day, tinking away, chipping at some huge bolder knowing the time you are taking well, many will not believe what it takes to figure it all out.  One of the main things I tell a prospective new owner looking for his special GMC to do a personal renovation is---"don't get depressed on the volume of work you find yourself in the middle of".  I have had car enthusiasts start in on a GMC, wide eyed with all sorts of ideas, enthusiasm and things they want to do to make their GMC "all their idea" only to finds after getting the coach apart, finding unexpected issues and having to make decision on things that were unexpected that enthusiasm turns to frustration and then to dead interest.  Hey, these machines represent a huge investment in time, energy, materials and just more down right grunt labor than most folks can comprehend-- that is until you are sitting in a pile of old, rusty, worn out, greasy parts and pieces that once looked pretty good and only needed a little sprucing up.  I just does not happen that way.  Another statement I make to those excited new owners is "it's easy to talk about all the things you want to do, the stuff you want to include in your coach-- the hard part is trying to figure out where and how to stop!".  It is conceivable that one person can completely dismantle say a 65 Mustang and can also put it back together with a little luck and a pile of new parts.  Doing the same process on a GMC will take a rather large building, maybe 3 piles of new parts and time like you just would not believe.  I had a great friend Gene T. who is a concourse Corvette builder say it best when he brought me one of his GMC's (yes, thats one because he has several) and said, "let me leave this thing with you, I'll go back to my shop and work on Corvettes, they're much easier".!  Hey, the point is these puppies can offer great pleasure, comfort and use but you gotta pay your dues and really be committed to make it happen.

So here I am, nuts enough to take on several of these labor sucking pigs all at the same time.  Yes, I am a bit masochistic in my later years.  I just get such a great feeling of accomplishment as does the people I have working with me.  We have a really tight crew of 6 fellows, all committed and all lokking at these coaches as more than just a collection of bolts.   Heck, you have to if you expect to survive through one of these restoration.

You also must be creative to sometimes get a desired outcome.  How bout this idea Eric and Logan came up with to push out Joff's swollen original frig unit.  It had to come out and thats all there was to it.  All the screws were out but because the insulation had swollen the sides of the fig gripping the compartment in a death hold.  They needed some pressure pushing in from the back side of the frig-- here ya go-- good job guys   Maybe 2 heads are better than one, especially when each has 2 legs!    You bet she came out and now Joff has an all new Norcold 3 way frig making ice.  Thanks guys for thinking "out of the box" on this one-- you may never live this one down!

Like I said, it is most rewarding when an idea comes together, here's one-- of course we want the 26' Duramax "out the top"  on everything we do on it.  Whenever I look at a project the question always comes after in investigate all the options "How can I take it farther than that?" and here is one I al particularly proud of.  We all need drapes of some sort to cover the huge goldfish bowl like windshield, of course unless you like to be an exhibitionist.  You get a really open look both from the inside and from the outside with the GMC windshield.  SOP is a rather nondescript pleated cloth drape you manually untie and bring together from each side.  Hey, it works good but it's always been one of those menial jobs that always feels a bit clumsy.  OK, here we go with what to do about the windshield and the huge driver window on the GMC/Duramax project.  We want to go remember "out the top" but where is the out the top opening on a windshield drape?  I mean what can you do to make closing the drape exciting, impressive and --- well, cool?  I'm gonna do a video of this one for ya--- well for Raymond but check this out-- we found a custom drape company that makes one off automatic drapes, yep-- with a remote involved!  We investigated what it would take and had a custom curved and cut drape runner made for the Duramax coach and put it in. Now, how do we make it actually actually work well in the coach?  The valence still needs it's Majilite covering but here it is waiting to deploy push of a manual button or the remote--- it starts to move oh go baby go you beautiful hunk of perfection   keep going, you're almost there-- almost there   almost there-- wham, capture-- the Eagle has landed!   The other side valence will hopefully go in and fire up that drape today but hey, it works!  This coach with all of it's "automatic features" reminds me of that contraption the Cat in the Hat drove picking up paper in one of those awesome childrens books!  The material used in the draks is the same honeycomb stuff used in the side curtains which were also of course electric.  The drape folks were impressed to see the horizontal honeycomb curtain material used in their electric drape runner-- actually both companies were rather skeptical that it would work-- hey but it had to!  We needed a colored drape to match the curtains and there just was nothing short of using the same material-- so we did!  I'll probably wait till I have the driver side drape  operating to do the video so stay tuned for that.  I know Raymond will.  Now you ask--- how much.  I mean thats always the next question after we come up with a deal like this.  let me tell you first this is the most expensive windshield drape I have ever seen!  The custom measurement, the manufacture, the materials, the install and then the valence manufacture is all one off and you know what that means!  We have no less than 30 hours in the install, the hardware cost was over $1500 so you do the math, I don't even want to look!  Hey, it works and there will be no other of it's kind and thats enough for me!

Another momentous occasion happened yesterday, the AV system is in place.  Yep, after resorting and abbreviating the 5 miles of wiring that went into the system down to a manageable bundle and all of the fitment we went through to figure out how to install the mound, by God it all fitted in!    We were forced to angle the control panel, wait till you see how it moves!  I'll have to do a video on this but here are some stills.  Here is the unit on , the top left green LED says the system has power .  Now, with a push of a button, the 7" LCD screen deploys, it comes out facing up thren lifts out and the entire mechanism moves back into the DIN casing --- very cool!  Of course the system has a remote with more buttons than I can translate but on the face of the unit a few pushes and you have many options of audio and video signals to choose from , we have the CD playing here , then with a push of the bottom left button on our control panel the night vision back up camera comes onto the screen -- this is the view from atop the Duramax coach at the bay door.  hey, it works and sound-- well take my word for it, the camera mic blows out every time I fire this puppy up!    Eris was my man doing the initial programming on the unit, along with all the cool stuff the system will do will be a serious class to figure out how to work the whole thing and he'll be the teacher!

Just got a call from Jim G. , he's over with @ 17 other people at the FMCA rally up north.  He's surrounded by 2 40 footers that are blocking his daylight!  They are out there as always FMCA conventions are in a huge open field, essentially dry camping amongst all the other monster machines.  Thanks Jim and the others for carrying the GMC flag into the frey!  They had , of should I say supposed to have a meeting with FMCA representatives yesterday about GMC participation in FMCA functions and how they could better serve our niche population --- no one from FMCA showed!  I feel bad to report this but it stands to reason the GMC folks were a bit dismayed about this.  Jim is meeting today with his ares VP and boy my bet is the flies on the wall will get an ear full!  Hey, the GMC community is the largest contingent in FMCA!  Out of all of those monster 3rd world country motorhome types out there WE are the ones with the outstanding numbers-- how can they help us-- take an earfull home to the group, we're ready to tell you our concerns!

OK, the sun is up, the day is on and I have a hard day ahead of me.  Call if I can help, I have hard meetings this morning with my painters, Kevin needs to get ready to listen-- Ken, I'm working hard for you.  Steve is doing a stellar job on the electric drapes, stay tuned for that and you know more stuff is happening.  Thanks for dropping by, hope there was some entertainment as well as information value in it for ya.  We'll talk later

7.21.09

Yesterday was exciting but of a milder sort.  Steve & I were working on figuring out how to make the electric windshield drapes work while I did the final wiring on the AV sound system in the Duramax coach.  For Raymond but also if you are interested, here is a breakdown of the features on the AV system:

o Toshiba 32" LCD flat screen w/ DVD player included

o Kenwood head unit w/ 7" LCD touch sensitive screen
        o DVD/ CD player
        o hi def night vision back up camera
        o GPS navigation
        o Blue tooth
        o KVH in motion A-7 satellite system w/ Direct TV programming
        o USB & I Pod inputs
        o Toshiba 15" LCD monitor w/ DVD player included
        0 8500 watts MA audio 3 amp sound system
        o Active crossover
        o 2 cap power supply
        o 2x 12" MA audio sub woofers in MDF boxes
        o4x 8" mid bass woofers in MDF sub boxes
        o 6x 6.5" mid range drivers
        o 6x dome tweeter

Craig & Eric will help today to install the system in the overhead compartment.  A system such as this is so interconnected with wiring that routing it all, getting it all mounted and operating is just such a labor sucking pig, yesterday did make good headway but all the wiring wore me out.  It does work awesome and I guess that should make me feel better but after such an involved head game as that yesterday, today I feel a bit drained.  The hope is today to pull out the coach and give the GPS and the satellite system a good view of the sky and let them commune with the satellites overhead, this is important for the system to figure out who it is and where it is.

Expect to find B/O situations on many parts this summer.  Manufacturers have been cutting back their inventories, production runs of less than big sellers are being cancelled and in general all inventories are shrinking down to managable levels while sales continue to slump.  I just wanted to throw that in, we should be getting used to stuff like this but here recently it has been hitting home.  Please be tolerant of orders having to wait for parts deliveries not just from us but by many people you purchase stuff from.  Inventories are just not out there!  This in not only a problem due to the economy but we also have declining sales for our specialty parts which is not unusual.  As vehicles of any kind age, parts sales always decline, the economy does not help matters so like I said, anticiapte lead times on some parts and don't put yourself in a bind trying to get something that just will not come on a timely bases.

It's a beautiful cool (in the low 70's) morning here in the sunny south, it's good when a day at least starts out this way.  We have a shot at productivity until the clouds roll in, wish us luck.

7.20.09

Here is is closing in on 9 AM and I just got through with the immediate Email pile  I had to throw everything up in the air and walk away this weekend, sometime you just have to have a break!  When that happens, Emails pile up, work backs up I want to do (of course I always pile on my plate more than I can ever eat!) and the best I can do is answer the cell phone and help folks with immediate problems they are having with their coach.  Had a few of those this weekend and it was fine helping those folks out but thats about as much work as I could get done this last 2 days.  Emails are caught up now, I'll go over to the net and see if there is anything I can help with there-- maybe not-- thats always good for flushing a couple of hours so I may just cut all of that out and get out there wiring on the 26' Duramax or going over to rub the shoulders of the paint guys and their attempt at pulling off the clearcoating of the 23' Duramax.  I did get the story of my trip to Bakersfield started this weekend so it was not a total loss of productive work.

The rain started early this morning before dawn, not a good sign for productivity for today and the rest of the week looks wet as far as the weather people present things.  Hey, we will push forward anyway!  The posts of encouragement are well recieved and is a great help indeed.  Folks out there working on their rigs, asking questions and looking for ideas-- thats a fun part of this business.  Issues with easy solutions and people enjoying their coaches, thats a fun part of this.  Jim G. thinking he had an air ride issue when the circuit installed had fail safes built in to protect him-- I call that a win.  Seemingly big problems on the road that turn out well, thats also very gratifying.  "These are some of my favorite things".  Quoting the Sound of Music may seem silly but it sure looked like Julie Andrews was portraying someone with real enthusiasm for what they were doing-- I like that.

Today could be enriching, with the 26' Duramax AV system coming to life, I am helping sort out the 5 miles of wires down to a manageable say 1 mile off stuff and organizing it all for the next guy that may need to service the system.  Can't help it but I have to think of him and make the system logical.  I've been on the bad end of that maintenance stick way too many times.  Stay tuned for the outcome.  Fun today will be on "indoor sports" with the rain situation and for me it will hopefully be a calm one.  The stress of keeping an niche business afloat in this economy is something you just cannot look at in the face, you can only keep your head down and keep stroking.  We have business and for that I thank my customers and will do my best to give them a maximum value for supporting us. 

Parts orders are picking up a bit but with that the short inventory situations from vendors will start playing in so be patient when you order stuff-- not everyone has everything we seek when we ask for it.  Manufacturers have cut back, especially on the slow moving parts which would be us and the select parts we look for.  Dist. also are cutting back their inventories so that distribution tunnel is also weak.  These things are a reality of an economy as we are in right now.  What caused it and how will it end is up in the air as we all know.  There will be an upturn at some point but will we all be there to see it and will it be something we can live with are the questions I am watching for.   I mean when the doom and gloom turns to optimism, we will all be better off so I would say lets all watch for that and hope for it soon.  We're here doing our part!

So lets go have some fun, damn those overtaking torpedoes!  I think about that movie "Hunt for Red October" when they used every inch of that super sub to get away from those smart torpedoes, we need to think out of the box and do the same thing today.  I think this is a good way to start a week of optimism.  With Walter passing away, we need to make our own "Thats the way it is" now so lets get started!  I'm out in the bay doing glorious wiring-- do something you love today, why wait!

7.17.09

Leaving the shop yesterday, I thought this was a great pic   I think a really classic shot of one coach in good original condition with another side by side up to today's look.    They are the same coach but with a difference.  It's not "old and new" by "new and newer", heck even an original well kept GMC thats over 30 years old looks newer than something new out there!  Viva La GMC!  Sorry, couldn't help it, the view from the gate was just so about what we do-- when I first met a GMC I thought to myself what a fantastic machine and just think of the possibilities-- and there it was!  With the new Quad bag system, you do not need a spare tire and using the coaches the way they are today, storage pods and ladders are becoming a thng of the past.  Colors are going to the metallic base/clear stuff that really spiffs up and blends to the lines of the coach.  There's nothing wrong with a little well placed "bling" and there you see an all new fresh looking motorhome that nothing on the road can touch in comfort or style.  Sorry to "diss" you guys in the RV industry but we still have you beat with a nice GMC!

You guessed it, the day is on and I need to get to work.  Got the sound system active on the 26' Duramax, got Mark's Q bag on and Kevin swears he will have the 23' Duramax in clear today.  Wish us luck on this hot day-- of course it will rain but lets see how it goes til then.

Thanks for the visit and we'll see ya later

7.16.09

Well, they got the heap off the ground yesterday evening.  The shuttle came alive once again , luck prevailed and they punched that sucker through a hole in the sky.  I met Janie at this small water front resturant near the shop (Julies) where we waited to the fireworks.  You can see the shuttle in a clear day from Orlando if you have a good view and this place had it along with nice people and descent food   The view over the small lake looking east is a good one .  I say "punched out" because we did have some pretty bad cloud cover when the candle was lit-- we only had a small glimpse of the shuttle as it climbed through the clouds -- can you pick out the yellow dot in the pic   Then the rains came.  There I was with the side car bike sitting out front as the waves of rain blew in not 10 minutes after the shuttle went out of sight   we are the lightening capital of the world so it was not hard to get a pic of it right where the shuttle was seen , the craft punched through this hole in the sky before going out of sight   then it was gone and my attention turned to braving the wet stuff to get home.  In the immortal words of ben franklin "when it rains you get wet" and I did, very wet but hey, I probably needed a preamble to a good shower anyway!  They said there was some damage to the shuttle on liftoff, I picture an old car with chrome pealing off as it does a burnout on the drag strip-- hey just tack a bucket to the tailpipe and catch the parts as they fall off and as Foghorn Leghorn does "he keeps his feathers numbered for just such an occasion"!  Good luck you guys out there, swing that critter by when you come home-- we'll leave the light on and foam the runway on reentry for ya!

Had a question about the rear suspension mounted spacers on mark's coach    Yes, this represents a rather unique situation with this coach.  We will obviously need to cut away the wheel closeout around the rear wheels if we install tires on those spacers.  Yes, we will do that but why would we do this?  nclude the flare/ ground effects kit used on the GMC/Duramax projects to bring together the Workhorse chassis wheelbase to match the narrow GMC body.  Adding the spacers on the rear is meant for the time being to bring the wheels out to the flares of the ground effects kit.  later, the owner hopes to fit electric hub motors on the rear wheels (yep, here we go).  The extra space made by spacing the wheels out will be taken up by the hub motors --- maybe.  Either way, it will make for another super cool looking GMC and win or loose on the hub motor idea the look alone will make thing a win.  Yes, I have already heard from a few of our engineer fellows talking about bearing load and some more stuff.  We have some ideas about rims and tires for this project so stay tuned, onward and upward we go!

Yesterday we got a good leg up on the head unit install in Raymond's Duramax.  It is not a slam-bam job though, we've gone this far so we need to take the time to do well by this project so stand by.  We all are falling forward on this project, we have such an investment in labor it's just huge and holding us together.  I feel like a runner purposing falling across the finish line with long fingernails as his secret weapon to win!  If you're in the stands rooting for us-- stand up and do the wave, we need your support!  I'm looking to do another you tube video today maybe on the interior, a walk through of features for Raymond, stay tuned for that.

Just a few more "impossible" project to figure out, pray for us on those.  After the AV system is buttoned up, the dash area is next-- not a small feat! 

Ran outa time, I'll try and put out more later-- have a great day

7.15.09

"Up with the sun, out with the wind-- they always said I was crazy".   Bob Segar really stikes a cord with us "early risers" with that song "Agianst the Wind"  I've always felt identified to that bit of poetry.  This morning for some reason felt even moreso, the gate was there as usual as I turned the corner and the headlights hit the "No Trespassing" sign.    Boy that new camera is good with light.  As much as I appreciated what "Ole Silversides" was to me that camera did not deal with low light conditions very well.  Color is low but you can really think it was daylight in that pic.  I had to put up that "no trespassing" sign when I was dealing with that trailer guy.  Did you know that anyone can walk onto your property unless you put up that sign?  Yea like you have to tell someone to leave your stuff alone, we're not supposed to assume people know to leave things alone anymore-- rediculous!  So we've become a race of sign people.  How bout that song way back by the 5 Man Electrical Band "Signs", hey what happened to their Crystal Ball, we sure could use someone telling us whats going on right now! 

And here we go, gonna try and launch the shuttle again this afternoon-- LET THE THING GO IN THE MORNING GUYS!  The is no wind and not a cloud in the sky right now!  Hey, what do I know.

We're wiring and routing fuel to Mark's new Hinda generator yesterday   We have to route fuel of course from the tanks, replumbing all of the fuel lines in the coach this last one is no problem in that it was plumbed and waiting for the unit install.  We have 2 ga. ground, 2 ga. power from up front in that the batteries were taken out of the generator compartment.  We have the 4 wire remote to run and power output inside to a 50 amp transfer switch.  As soon as the Qbag system gets installed we run the coach down to Ben for it's custom exhaust using the Honda muffler but plumbing it to fit the coach.  Having the generator slide out, the exhaust routing is important.  Stay tuned for that.

Went over to see progress on Ken's 23' Duramax.  Sometimes it turns out hard to paint very little and Tank was just sitting there staring at the side of the coach   Here is the "canavas" he's working with   He felt the swoops just lay there.  We're not trying to make it take off just want it to move a bit.  Tank works with low rider cars and trucks, this is tha largest machine he's worked with and in that it's a big thing to cover.  Step one is to bag off the blackout they just put on and start laying out for the accents   Windows again covered, the entire coach resanded to a bite for the stripes then the complete clearcoat it's a pile of work doing it "right".  My guess is he stayed late last night just messing with it and today I want to see what he came up with.  Sorry but doing things "out of the box" there is successes and then sometimes there are challenges-- you have to accept both and work whatever you have out.  These Duramax coaches, both of them, as a one off challenge.  Needless to say, most shops even ones who say they do "custom" look at the project and shake their head.  They know what it takes and know there are just too many variables.  I'd love to say it's no big deal--- but it isdangit!  Just finding someone willing to take on such things is rare and here we are doing 2 of them.  I am sure I will look back on this time of my life and have to smile, right now though it "keep you head down and push"!

Don't forget, Lou will have his coach over with us this Friday for the "impossible" project of a quality paint job on his coach for $4200.  Impossible because of course everyone wants a $10K paint job for $4200, the trick is to make it look like a $10K job for that.  The challenge was made to balance "what to leave in and what to leave out" to come out with a superior finish for less.  This is about as challenging as going the other way with it.  I mean I feel we are already on of the better "steak houses" when it comes to paint, now we wanna be the best "burger pit" too.  The GMC community needs a place in the community who is willing to tackle this goal so here we go.  If you guys out there are interested in puttin in a little "sweat equity" on your coach and do some of the things to make the finish the best it can be, you really need to pay attention to whats coming.  Lou has been doing a great deal of prep work, breakdown and many of the labor intensive things that make up a quality finish.  These things make all the difference, we have been working with him to bring us a very detailed body for us to pull out this low priced quality finish and this is exactly the way you too can do it with us.  Lou has helped arounf the shop for several years and now it's time to put that hands on training to work for himself and I for one am excited to do this project.  Stay tunes like I said, we can help you have a great paint finish at a modest price.    Lou is a hands on guy and around here he has done a bunch and learned a bunch and now comes his reward for his hard work   Thanks Lou for being our "Lab Rat", I hope we all learn a bunch from this

Yesterday was exciting but of a mild sort on the sound system on the 26' Duramax.  We fed sine waves at diff. freq. to try and dial in the active crossovers.  I think I added a couple more "ring tones" to my already constantly ringing ears.  The mic in the camera would have probably shot out of itself so there was no reason to make a video.  The SPL (sound pressure level) is deafening hey but thats what that stuff was made for!  We also prewired the head unit and all that goes with it, not a small thing   there are a few wires to deal with!  This is the "bread board" of hadeaway components connecting to the single DIN Kenwood head unit   This will not be just another radio-- it has a 7" LCD monitor with CD/DVD player, Blue Tooth for cell service, backup camera, interfaced to the satellite system, the 32" LCD TV, XM, of course remote controlled I think, hey and it will even play radio stations too!  All of this hoopra will go in the overhead console--- we hope so stand by for that.  I've been asked what will raymond do if all he wants to do is listen to a ball game--- good question & I have planned for that too.  We have a pair of 6.5" speakers up front, a pair of 4" outside and 2 4x10" spks in the bedroom for mere mortal music so he will be able to just hear news or whatever through that system.  Yes, the big system will flatten his batteries which BTW, we'll have to add more, leaving the big system off will give him less power consumption for "dry camping".  I tell ya guys, we are trying to put it all into this package!

Finally, I have had many Emails asking where the 26' Duramax design is going.  I appreciate those questions because really I have only seen a few coaches where form came before function and the form was something unique.  I say unique, take a look on the gallery page at "Engine of Mischeif".  That was a form over function design.  This past weekend I went with janie, her Mom and sister to an open house in Winter Park of "Casa de Faliz", a house built in the early 1900's, an historic home in the area.  Take a look at a few pics of this place and think about outfitting the form of a GMC interior in it's design-- this is where I see we are going with the 26' Duramax of Raymond Cruz.  Raymond, look at these and let me know if this is in fact what you see as our form.

Rustic elegance, artistic expression to common appointments, sort of a "leather and lace" look.  This is what I feel as we design each part of the interior.  Pretty exciting stuff and a real challenge. 

Thanks for the vivit, hope it was worthewhile, come back again and watch as the saga continues!

7.14.09

OK, so I'm too old for that sort of sound thing-- it did feel good though to see that producing that rediculous level of sound is no big deal using our "old ways"!  Hey, it's easy-- wire up a huge meaty pair of amps to an equally rediculous compliment of speakers, build proper boxes and feed in a signal-- BOOM, you have rastasound!  Jeff is bringing in his signal generator (mine is too old and just did not work).  Our goal will hopefully be to feed different freq. ranges in and properly set up the active crossover to the "Q" of the speaker/box compliment.  I'll try and do some video of that but still expect the little mic in the camera to pretty much freak out again.  The SPL (sound pressure level) of this system actually shuts down the sensitivity in your ear so after about 5 minutes of it you can't really tell how loud it actually is.  See God made our ears to protect themselves from ourselves-- smart thinking!  What I really want out of the system is a good flat, strong sound across the entire audible freq. spectrum.  BTW, here is a better pic of what you watched , my dead sine wave generator is in the lower right corner of the pic.  I had to resort to sending a signal from an old radio I had laying around, it's sitting on the edge of the galley counter.  In the top right of the amp panel, there is a "starburst" display that tells you when the system is on (as if you needed something to tell you that)!  The 2 blue components at the bottom of the panel are power supply caps that help the amps with the high current transients.  Actually we will need to reinforce the power supply to the system with more batteries and maybe a dedicated power converter to really crank it up.  The amps we are using (MA Audio) are basically like huge funnels-- the more current you pour in the more sound pours out.  There are totally "Pro gear" and would probably suck the life out of a regual car's electrical system.  We have 2 of those speced out at 3500 watts each.  Yes really-- 3500 watts of real RMS per channel power!  Can't wait to have some real digital content signal to run through the current gates!  Hold on Nelly!  The bath module and the rear wheel liners are rattling as are all of the outside vent covers.  We have no licence plate yet but I feel certain it will also have a hard time not vibrating!  Can't wait for the first time pulling next to one of those boys in their tuner cars playing his music loud.  He will not believe that "motohome" is dissing him soooooo bad!  Yea, thats what I stay up late nights thinking about!   Don't know if you can tell but we're having fun now!

On another having fun thing, got a post from Bill F. on his trip to the Genesco Air show last weekend.  He and 9 other GMC fellows got together there to help out with the show.  Hey, this is fun stuff too!  So he asked me about a turbine powered GMC--- would probably be difficult to lay down on but you could have fun passing people on the highway!  See what sort of stuff creative minds come up with when it comes to our classic coach!  See, it all depends on where you're going with the outfitting of your coach.  People reach "nirvana" in many different ways! 

So today it's supposed to rain in the afternoon.  You can see how much hassle this is, the shuttle is costing millions of tax payer dollars having to reschedule--- guys shoot the dang thing up in the morning!  The mornings are good down here!  Hey, but I'm not an engineer, what do I know!  Light that candle bout 9AM and things will work just fine, send me some of that money you saved not having to refuel that thing & I'll tank you for that.  There obviously is something I'm missing-- right?

So I'm out in the shop now, gonna check on Kevin and the 23' Duramax this morning, had Ben modify a set of Thorley headers to make it possible to R&R the gov. without removing the header, will get that on today and Jason will finish up wiring on the new Honda slider install on Marks coach.  Have a great day, watch for smoke on the horizon-- it will be the Duramax sound system!

Update,

Ok guys, go to my You Tube page, the camera flipped out on the sound ut you can at least see the sound system "drop", I hope to have the mids and highs going and the head unit tomorrow but for today-- my ears are ringing even a bit more than normal!  http://www.youtube.com/coopmotorworks

7.13.09

One thing lead to another and the weekend went by without turning on my computer.  I need to get some business done first.  Ken has been patiently waiting for a pic of his side inserts in black.  Here ya go   Can't do another shot, by the time I got back over there Kevin had the coach totally sanded again for the clear that will go on next, I'll do a pic of that.  Tank it conjuring up something for the side graphics, he said it looked "boring".  Hmmm, wonder what is in his head?  I'll go over there as soon as someone gets to the shop, stand by.

On the Body Pad issue, last week we had Burke's coach in with complaints about starving fuel.  We checked over his coach and other than a vapor canister hose, his fuel line laying on the valve cover (he has a Holley carb set up) we only found that his body pads had problems.  Obviously, there was a body pad here recently, the undercoat spray shows where it used to be , so those that ask if these body pads move---- yes they do.  This portion of his frame has no pad at all and no evidence of any for some time so I must conclude that all of you really need to look into your body pads.  The 1973 coaches have a front to rear pad length which may still ber in place though I had a 3 foot section hanging down on Larry (my coach) a year or so ago.  May sound silly but I just cut it out and kept going, Bet I need to check my pads too!  Hey, I will when it goes up on the lift for it's new motor, remember larry gave up the ghost coming back from Dothan.  Really, this body pad thing I think is an important one.  Will hear back from Burke maybe this week and see how his run home went.  Oh, BTW, remember a couple of weeks ago the coach I drove back that had serious vapor lock issues, going home the report was no problem and we replaced the body pads on that one too!  Further evidence!

Here is Mark's new design Honda generator slider bracket in place   Like a glove!  The silver insulation is a "Leaded foam" product which one square foot has a weight of 1 pound.  This is a sound barrier absorbing high frequencies while also having a chrome Mylar heat barrier.  Today we should see the generator going in if the rain holds.

So on to my pet project right now, the one I am getting pretty excited about--- why-- because things are coming together.  After countless ideas, impossible dreams and all the 26' Duramax coach is really taking shape.  Fri. I got in the last or 6 motorized overhead clamshell cabinets   Not just for the overhead cabinets sake but in getting them all up means all the speakers in the sound system are in and the big deal of making music can start.  I am also able to clean up those piles of hanging wiring that we have had since the dream of the prewire stage started way back.  Janie caught a shot of me "on my thrown" talking to someone about some problem while wiring the last cabinet.    The problem is my back is wearing out and the floor ceiling is too low to stand full up while wiring but the cabinet is too high to work on your knees.  The stool/bucket combo was just right .  This overhead will hold the wireless self deploying awning control board, thats whats going in here.  Each evening before going home, partly to do a real test but also just to fuel my minds eye for the nights dream, I try all 6 motorized overheads, I drop the 32' flat screen, fold out the 15" flat screen, open and close the wireless blinds, run the motorized front drapes, check to see that the frig is cold, flip on all the lights and just basically take 10 minutes (it takes that long) to just play with all the buttons.  Maybe tonight I will fire up the sound system and clean out the wax in my ears!  Like I said, this is getting pretty exciting.  Hey, this is what creating something like this is all about!  Thanks guys for putting up with me through all of this, you may be getting bored hearing about the same ole motorhome-- it's just that this is not just another ole motorhome, this thing is really something unique.  Raymond said he wanted something "sick", I told him to be careful I could do "sick", so I feel a fever coming on!

Steve has been hard at work on Raymonds carpet, remember the "bedroom" panel I showed him before working on?  Here is some more of the carpet here he is binding the step sections .   When I met Steve some 14 years ago now, he was just a carpet binder-- I say just, heck that was a pretty important component of wan interior, coming with me Steve is now my "carpet mechanic' and take a look at his handywork , this is the bedroom carpet and step into Raymond's bedroom.  Man, wait til you see the rest of the coach with this stuff layed out!  Oh yes, remember, the bedroom floor you see has a "basement" under the floor!  Look at the progress on the Duramax interior like a floor-- water is slowly rising heading forward.  As we move forward, the colors in the coach, the wiring, the finish all are coming alive.  This is a very exciting time!

So the sun is now up and I need to get to work while the rain is away.  The shuttle is battling the afternoon rains here as well.  Hope they can get up today and we can get out quantity of work done too.  Thanks for the visit, thanks for the posts, the questions and the interest in our work.  it really gives me a feeling that we are doing something important.  Call if I can help and we'll see ya again soon.

BTW, my son is cranking up a web site on a "blogger" site, I'll give you details as soon as I can figure it all out myself.

  7.10.09

Was a tough day yesterday what between the rain (man rain does alote more for me than just getting me wet!), Craig & his sons had something elsewhere they had to do, Buster also had stuff to do and a new roof leak at the paint shop made it too humid in the building to do much clear coating,  the fort was held down with a skeleton but a good one non the less.

Steve finished up on the breakdown of Mark's interior so he came over to do some indoor sports with me on the 26' Duramax decked out in his carpet work attire with his armour plate kneepads, Steve here is trimming the floorpanel for the bedroom.  If you wonder what happened to the middle of the floor, we are building in a "basement" in the bedroom.  Raymond will have a lower level for storage or whatever!  I struggled but finally fitted the last forward full headliner panel yesterday .  Don't worry about the dust on the panels.  Take a look at the pattern how the design all lines up-- that was fun!  The first panel because of starting out straight and the last panel because it has to fit perfect are always the ones I dread.  Hey, but it's up now and it fits well.  The wiring to the AV system is also taking shape.  The TV works great and will soon be connected to the rest of the system.  We have one more overhead to put up and then all the speakers will be in and the system can come alive.  That will be exciting!

Had a question on what the slide looked like we came up with for the Honda generator install.  OK, I'm not one of those guys who feels he has to hide all of the stuff he does for job security.  Some people are insecure to the point that they will not answer questions about things they do.  Hey, if you want to copy me then fine, I look at it as a high form of flatery and if you do copy this be sure to give credit where credit is due you you just might be building some bad Karma Ju-ju!  So using the original Onan cage, here is our modified Honda slide system .  This is the sort of stuff we love to figure out, thanks to our customers for the challenge.  Oh, and for those of you who do feel I give away too many of my ideas, there are features in this slide that are unapparent that are very important so as they say in the movies "don't try this at home".  If the rain will stop, Jason will install this puppy today.

OK, so I got a post with a series of pics asking if the coach needed our body pad kit.  Tell me first what you see.    What body pads?    The aluminum body crossmember is sitting directly on the ladder frame rail!    The few pads that are there are on the wood of the body and that is not correct and the wires, brake and air lines running in that supposed 1/2 gap of the body to frame are getting crushed (sorry, that pic got corrupted!) but take my advice, this coach really needs some body pads!  Look, guys, you really need to check your coach, you need at least 1/2" gap between the bottom of the body and the top of the main frame rails to clear fuel tank hoses, brake and air lines wires and all that stuff.  this is very important, check it out.  The frame pad kit is $85, we take @ 3.5 hours to install it and I'll be glad to step you through how it's done.  You can do it in your driveway with a good bottle jack, some wood blocks and some new cuss words.  This is not an elective in my thoughts, it really needs to be checked out.

And finally to show not only anything is possible but there is probably someone out there that wants it, here is a pic of a very special car   Yes, that is a "white Gold" car.  Wonder what process you would use to fix a scratch!    Hey, maybe this guy would like a platinum motorhome!  This is  good analogy, you can buy a car like this and the exterior will cost "X". 

7.9.09

Have again several things to show you so get some coffee and have a looksee.  First, I just had to show you guys what the extra care on the design end of Raymond's 26' Duramax has yielded.  Like I was talking before about paint work, it is the details that makes something come together and with the Duramax projects, one thing always leads to another when you are putting together new ideas and things.  On the exterior, the wheel flare/ ground effects was more than just a style statement.  With the front axle where it was, we needed a body element to bring the original GMC body out to where the wheels were.  I mean you can't leave it looking like a dune buggy!  So the decision was made to do a mold for a "wrap around" complete ground effects for the coach.  We struggled with fiberglass people, it was the biggest ground effects project anyone had ever tried-- all of the boys ran off screaming-- I can't do it.  Finally we got the project to an end then it was time to attach and decorate the kit.  OK, like how do you "decorate" a ground effects kit?  You've seen those bolt on flare kits and how hoky the look, that is not what we want.  We want to preserve the lines of the GMC at the same time fit in the new wide track wheel stance.  Then when they are mated together, the docorating comes in.  We are doing a "mild & wild" scenario with Raymond's 26' coach being wild while the 23' coach goes after a tasteful mild style.   OK, for the wild side, Raymond contracted a fabrication group there in Hollywood to produce a front, rear and side grill design for his coach.  Expensive--- yes, polished stainless steel grill designs for all 4 sides of the 26' monster but boys, just wait till you see what the look is.  Here is the first "rear grill insert".  Feast your eyes on this   Coming up on the back end of this machine you will know you are in the presence of something special!  Craig is still finishing up on the mounting of this component but the first time we propped the grill in place we knew we had something very special     This is the handwork of LM Pagano ,our design consultant.  I posted her one day saying I wanted her help on something that was maybe a little out of her interior design work.  The exterior of the coach needed something unique and boy did she come up with it.  We will leave this area open on the 23' "mild" rendition of the rear treatment which is BTW the way you see most vehicles that have this sweep up feature on their car bodies.  Look around at cars as you travel and you will see the cut up style.  Thanks LM for this unique idea and thanks Raymond for plunking down the bucks to make it a reality.

This next subject is about as far away from the 23 & 26' Duramax projects as you can get.  Yesterdays post about modest priced exterior refinishing generated several comments from you guys, thanks for the input and I will tell you from all of the posts everyone was positive on the project.  We also now have our "Lab Rat" for the job.  We will See a week from Friday the 26' rear bath Royale coach owned by Lou and he has agreed to let us have at it to prove up the concept of a lower priced good looking paint job.  And just as many folks want to do, Lou has done much prep work already on his own to help the success of the job.  This is something many people have indicated they would also like to do.  It is a good idea, there are things you can do yourself that will help keep the cost of the job down.  We will document all he did and every step of what we do here on the pose.  Most people would not show you all of this but hey, you know me-- I will to help you understand a bit more maybe on what it takes to have a good looking coach.  Our4 goal will be to refinish Lou's coach complete for $4200.  You ask how can we cut 50% and more out of the cost of a good exterior refinish?  Yes, there will be visible differences but as you guys tell me some of it will be OK.  Well, lets put the rubber to the road and see just how good it will come out.  Yes, I feel that way too but it's all down to how to do it, as Bob Segar says "what to leave in and what to leave out".  Don't go anywhere, follow this one, it should be interesting!

Our first shipment of a rim/tire set left yesterday   Here's the deal:  In the past, Alcoa rims run over $300 per rim with their lugs and covers, good tires are runnign over $200 each for Michelin and Bridgestone rubbers.  This makes swapping to 16" aluminum rims cost a whopping $3000 and more when you add in mounting, balancing and you still will not have a superior true/balance set up unless you bring the coach here to Orlando.  This is a major consideration for all of us.  We now though have an option.  Making that run to Bakersfield was much more than just a drive, I used it as a test for the new custom made eagle rims and a tire recommended by many performance people I talked to.  A complete set of 6 aluminum rims and 225/75E rated highway tires complete with mounting and truing runs $2160 plus shipping!  I put this rim/tire compliment on that coach I drove out west, put over 2500 miles all but non stop on them.  I had a really smooth glass like ride, no problems and the tire wear and wear pattern of the tires was non existent.  In short it was an awesome ride and the new rubbers cost  @ 1/3 less.  OK, so now we are offering to ship as full set of these tires & rims-- mounted, trued and balanced for this amount plus of course truck freight shipping which eats a little from the sweetness of the deal but still you are saving money and getting a superior product and with todays economy isn't that what it's all about?  Even with shipping which I feel we can still get down if we look harder we are saving our first customer for these rims and tires over $500-- and that "ain't no chump change"!  The rims look great and fit our coach, the tires are acclaimed as serious performance stuff and the true & balance of the system brings it all together.   So, if you are in the market for new rims, you still have the original steel rims and understand that the 16.5 era is all but out the window, here is a really good option and I am proud to be a small part of this.  Give me a call if you are interested.  Oh, the tires are Nexen brand performance highway E rated tires, look then up.  In the tire business since 1942, in 2004 started a line of "ultra high performance tires which we are using, been making radial tires since 1985 so yes, these are awesome rubbers!

Next-- she fit!  Yesterday our Honda water cooled generator came in by truckfreight and Jason got jiggy with his install on mark's coach    Before we take off on this subject yea, take a look at the rear suspension on Mark/s coach-- yea see anything unusual?    What the-----, why do we have front spacers on the rear drums?  .  What are we nuts-- so what's your point!!  Remeber we will have the Dursamax ground effects/ flare kit on this coach and we need to get the wheels out to the flares.  You betcha you need to stay tuned for this one-- oh the engineers will have a field day with this one!  But we're talking about installing the water cooled Honda generator on a slide mechanism and here it is mocked up in the hole in and   She fits!  No we do not have space for the rear mounted battery but I wanted to move them up front anyway.  There will be a small storage area for oil, gloves, hoses and cables next to the generator though.  The critter fits nice and with only @ 3 hours more work to modify the original Onan power drawer bracked we did not need to spend big bucks for slides, cages and all that sort of stuff, fabrication and the mods were no big deal.  We'll pull th eunit back out now, undercoat the base panel then prep and paint up the new bracket-- hey it's nice if it works but it's gotta look good too!

Last but certainly not least, I had a request for a total side to side shot looking forward inside the Duramx 26' coach, here ya go-- cut-n-pate these together

      She's coming together, the speakers in the overhead look ominous and maybe a little scary-- "Dave, will I dream", I think the sound will bring you to that level!

Have a great day, we're looking at rain, rain, rain so I hope you can do something-- me, I'll be trying to stay dry!  See ya

7.8.09

I just couldn't do it that way!  I had all sorts of things to cover yesterday and though I had the will to do everything I wanted to-- it just could not happen.  Sitting back doewn to update this page during the day, while you're all hot, sweaty and going after it is just not possible and then when I get home it's like trying to ride your bike after letting the air out of the tires!  Just can't go far.  So let me work a little here and try and catch up to today then I'll get back in my saddle of doing all of this in the morning.  hey, I'm game for new ideas but there is a time for everything and my time for stuff like this is in the AM, early-- before the world figures out where I am!

We were talking about the 23' Duramax and the reworking of sorts Keven & Tank are doing on it's exterior.  Hey, when you "try" new things there is always possibilities or rework needing and the paint scheme we all agreed as did Ken it needed something more.  Kinda like tasting chili, you may need some more peppers.  The lower insert on the ground effects was begging for "blackout" so Keven went after that   We're going for a low heavy look below so blacking out the recessed area seems to do that well   It's funny how paint colors and textures are used for effects and using the word "effects" is not the same as using it in other areas.  Effects in other areas may mean "it looks like but does not really do anything".  In the case or body painting it draws attention to areas and helps actually give the overall look of the body the intended  (there the word is again ) effect.  Also using the word effect, we will attempt another by reshooting more clear over the entire coach after the blackout and restriping is done.  The "effect" on this move is to really add as much depth to the finish as we can.  Kevin is going on the paint again so I'll do some more pics today, should be seeing some progress.

Speaking of paint progress, here is an issue that we have really been fretting over, it does need some explaination so bear with me on this.  Paint is one of those very subjective things.  What some call great others will call terrible.  Paint quality is a relative term, you can do awesome prep work but shoot crappy paint and have nothing, likewise you can lay out the most expensive paint over silocone that was left on the surface and the paint will fall off.  It is always said that life is a balance and anything in excess is bad.

OK, lets go with that for a moment and extend that phrase to paint work.  It's always said and it's true that the actual painting is the smaller part with the extent of the prep work being the major factor in the final look of an exterior refinish.  It's the details that catches your eye and we had always taken the high road on all of that sort of stuff only doing the first rate work-- taking the time to remove as much of the acc. as possible to give the paint the best look possible.  That all sounds great and I bet no one will openly say they do not want that attention but the problem is those details is what runs the cost of a paint job up.  The attention to the details takes time, removing bumpers, mirrors, grill, bezels, lights, etc. then reinstalling them all with new fastners, stainless screws gaskets seals and all new parts really can double and triple the final cost of the job. 

As I said, we had determined early on that we wanted to be known as a house that paid attention to such details and I just cannot in good conscience do less.  Hey, but things are tough right now, what last months new job bless numbers fell to only 400,000 new claims-- that is scary and wether I like it or not there are far more folks looking for less detail and a lower cost when it comes to an exterior finish on their GMC.  In the past I had left that work to others, hey it's no secret where they cut the corners and we could do the same thing but what would our other friends say when we did paint of a lesser quality?  Well, after a rousing thread on the GMC Net about paint quality and cost, I can see that there is a large number of folks wanting paint but are not able to invest what we have traditionally said it would take for our level of finish.  Ok, with that in mind and looking at the economy today-- what if we could offer a paint finish that did include many of the issues we know go into the final quality look that many overlook but cut in areas that could be cut and still have a descent level of finish? 

This is not easy and a tall order but I think time dictates unusual answers to questions and working with Tank & Kevin we have decided to "Lab Rat" this very issue and go after a paint process including labor numbers that the "wack-n-pakers" throw at paint but really make that time count.  I am not saying I can do a $10,000 paint job for $5,000, look the reality is still "you get what you pay for" but if we can make the best of what you pay for maybe that throng of customers wanting less a finish for less money would recognize a value in our more modest level of finish and we could keep them in the GMC community "fold" by doing this different level of work for them.

OK, all of this means we are actively seeking folks interested in a descent exterior refinish without the extreme attention to detail.  Whats better, pushing a production paint company to do work beyond their usual attention or contracting a custom paint shop to turn down the detail a bit to come up with a finish everyone can live with at a cost that won't break the bank.  I feel we are in a good position to do this and in the upcoming weeks we will do one of these joba and show you what you will get if you bring your coach to us for this work.  This does not mean we are going to lower our standards and whatever work we do will be of the finest possible, it means that things like do we remove the bumpers or bag them off, we'll bagem.  Do we remove the side rails to paint them seperatly, no.  It does not mean we will use cheap paint or not properly prep the surface.  It does not mean we will not do the things accepted as proper refinishing techniques.  It does mean we will still offer the best value for the money spent and of that you can rest assured.  So if I have peaked your interest--- good.  Stay tuned and see how our new exterior refinishing service approach rolls out.  This does not mean I am going to do cheap work, it means I am looking at different levels of work!   Your comments on this idea is greatly appreciated.       

OK, more --- OK guys, what do you think this is   Give ya a hint:  It's for Raymond's Duramax coach and it will move electrically.  Yep, still another remote and this is something that also has not been done in this way before!  Give up?  We are going after the install on the idea of the motorized front windshield drapes   The uniqueness here is we had a custom track made to incorporate the huge driver slider window and will have them motorized with either a wired or wireless remote.  The material of the drape is unique, we are using the pleated shad material turning it 90 deg. and hanging it!  Not make sense, thats what the drape folks said too so stay tuned and see how this plays out!  I love trying new things!

Had a request to take a pic of the galley overhead cabinet with my new camera to see if it would pick up a bit more detail.  hey it did!   We still have some cleaning to do and the finish will pop a little more with some glaze polish but the idea of a hand rubbed deep finish I think comes out.  I think many people try too hard in the direction of "perfection" and miss adding a warm, personal, hand made finish.  On this wood, I went out of my way to make the finish reflect the fact that it was truly a hand made affair.  There will be days when Raymond will want to spend an afternoon waxing his cabinets!  The finish is that detailed.  Now I have no doubt this finish is not for everyone but with the hammered copper (another finish not for those looking for a easy to keep surface) this look really blends in well.  Thanks for the idea of taking another pic of the finish of the wood.

So whats all this controlled caos on the spaghetti wiring?    These are the final builds on the last 2 overhead cabinets, the wiring to push the LED lights, the A/V speakers and the motor drive for the cabinet.  Here is one in place being wired to the coach   I'll be making these puppies work today.

Some business, Mark while putting your coach in shape for the trip home, your Onan generator gave us a go   The unit would not wind up to get it going.  After going into the PC board, we found several solder joint issues, a bad switch and piles of glass beads inside the generator.  Have no fear, we have our electronics service tech (Jeff) on the job.  The rear hatch is secured with new screws after a rousing session of drilling out inserts and removing rusted our bolts .  For you other guys looking over our shoulder, this is a 1973 ans as such, the rear panel was installed with inserts spun into the SMC rear cap .  These steel inserts pulled out of the SMC right away, rusted the screw into the insert which made removing the rear cap all but impossible.  A mental note, if you have a 1973 model with this fastening system I would not suggest you try and pull off your rear hatch like this , in this case it had to be done so hey, thats what we're here to do!  Craig and his son Eric prevailed the day and your rear hatch is back on and yes, we come back off when you need it to.  Mark, your "A"  frame windows have been refinished   The media blasing must have done something to the aluminum frame because our normal etching trim paint fisheyed to beatr the band.  We had to seperatly prep the frames with another paint before our regual trim paint would stick .  Hey, but it's done and with the new felts the window slides very nice.  We hope to have the generator running today.  I'll get with you soon.

7.7.09   Updated below

Just like the big white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland-- Oh my gosh I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!    Hey, blame it on Lou!    My good friend Lou dropped by this morning for a chat.  Lou had been a real help around here but had been taking care of some family stuff for a while-- was good to see him.  I have so much to tell you guys about I am going to add to this post all day long so come back later to read it all.

First thing out I need to catch Ken up on progress on the 23' Duramax.  Kevin and the paint guys have hope to have going through some changes (you know the one thing in this world that is guaranteed!).  The paint finals on the 23' monster has taken them a bit more time (as Ken said I am speaking well of the guys) Hey, it does no good to beat someone up if they are honestly trying so we just have to roll woth it.   Anyway, Kevin did get the over windshield paint issue fixed   With the roof going an off white for heat rejection the paint line seperation over the windshield was a tricky thing to look right so to their deference they did take what was needed to do a quality job and what can I say I can't argue with that!  Kevin said for me to come over this morning to see the black inserts in color so come back later for that.

Next, I want to tell you something exciting we just have I feel demonstrated is a very important option for your coach.  If you will remember a week or so ago, driving the Kashi coach to the shop on a Sunday I experienced a really bad vapor lock issue.  Well, we started in on investigation to find the issues.  We checked fuel pressure, timing, fuel hose condition, etc. and found no problems.  Because it was hot as ^%$# on the drive we concluded it must be a fuel vapor lock issue.  Hey, why does this coach have it and others don't I cannot answer but I just felt strongly that this was our problem.  So we added an electric fuel pump on the aux. fuel line tied to the solenoid (giving the system a second option to push fuel to the carb),  We added the hot shot new insulated fuel line from the mechanical pump to the carb   It is a teflon hose,  braided stainess sheth with a "pyro" shield outer skin.  About as hi tech a hose as we could make.  It is custom cut and fitted to reroute the fuel away from the thermostat housing and with all the heat shielding I felt it would do the best job possible if there were a vapor lock issue due to the old steel line heating up.  As I said "I think" has been the explaination because there could be several other issues that contribute to the vapor lock issue and this being onlt one there is some speculation that this may or may not do the trick.  Well, the coach was picked up and made a trip right back the way it came, back to Sebastian Inlet in a hot day-- guess what, no vapor lock.  The electric pusher pump was not needed because the motor didn't miss a lick.  Yep, we fixed the problem with the hose!  That was a really good $38 investment and man, does it look good!  Don't try and make one yourself-- sure you could be seriously -- you will have more than $38 in doing that and thats IF you can find that pyro shield stuff which is a very interesting and special part!  OK so I'm going to stock up on these puppies, I am now convinced it is a real positive for the GMC.  Give me a call if you want one of these, I would not tell you I think you need this if I did not believe it myself-- So give me a call.

OK, here is some more  Here's a question:  Do you have one of those new GPS units?  I have had a program for my lap top for some time but you know it was always such a hassle to set it up and hey, I pretty much knew where I was going-- I didn't need to get all involved to go somewhere I already knew how to drive to--- or did I?  Yes, the lap top with the plug in receiver really was the hassle so I've been going through life thinking that GPS was no big deal-- man was I wrong! 

Coming back from Jacksonville this weekend in my little Suzuki, for some reason the speedometer stopped-- how dare it, I mean the car only had 100,000 miles on it! Don't worry about the "check engine" light, it came on when I hit 100K.   I tell ya, driving that car with no speedometer was really dangerous!  You have to push it hard to do most anything so it's about impossible to know what speed you are going.  I had more folks mad at me, guess I was really going slow.  OK, so fixing the speedometer might only be a cable but even at that I would invest $30 or so in it.  If I got into it and found a stripped gear,  bad head or whatever I could have time and more money in it.  Ok, so it was time.  I had wanted a GPS unit but I don't travel much so it really did not make much sence but now I needed to know how fast I was going-- hey, a GPS could tell me that and with the prices down at $100 lets do it.  So... I did.    On top of the speedo it fit in very nice and man does it tell me all sorts of things.  The posted speed on major roads, the roads I'm coming up to, the time (hey, I needed a clock in there) and of course the speed I was traveling.  All in this little box-- fantastic.  It even works without the car cord to and from work!  As Will Smith said in the movie "Independence Day" -- "I gotta get me one of these".  You need one of these GPS things.  Nelson had one on our trip to the GMCMI convention and it kept us company.  I understand with a little understanding it will plan my trip, tell me about interesting sights, find gas stations-- man, I see this is really going to be a fun little toy.  Hey, pick up one for yourself, don't be stubborn and say you don't need it, sure your do! 

OK, here is another epiphany :  There has been much talk about the ethanol in our fuel supply down here in the sunny south.  I have had reports ranging from "there is no problem" to "Those dirty (&^%$#%%& politicians-- it has been difficult to figure it all out.  Well, let me give you a report on something that just happened.  We have had a coach sitting here for a couple of months waiting for a window for us to drive it north for the customer.  Previously, this coach had sat for 1 1/2 years under cover here in Florida in storage.  We had retrieved it and getten it ready for a Disney vacation for the owners.   Everything seemed fine, just before going into storage we had replaced all the fuel hoses and cleaned out the tanks after it had sat for several years.  We felt all was good, the customer ended the Disney vaca and was bringing to coach to us when it shut down not more than 2 miles from the shop here.  We rescued him with a gas can and katsup bottle.  The fuel system was completely contaminated again!  Unbelievable, so we took down the 1 1/2 yrear old fuel delivery system for delousing.  The tanks were coated with some sort of tar like sludge, it was most nasty.  getting it back into shape was a serious chore.  So here we were, staging the drive up north for the coach.  Sunday last Buster put her into the wind up I-95.  He did not get out of Florida when his carb filter filled up, he changed it 5 more times before adding another in line filter which also was holding when he arrived at the destination.  Now guys, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that fuel delivery system had been cleaned well, it had bewen done twice in 1 1/2 years and still we had contamination in the tanks while driving north.  I gotta tell ya do not leave your coach sitting for any length of time with regular fuel with  ethanol added.  Pour in "Marine Sta-bil", I have been told by reliable sources that stuff will help.  Better to fill the tanks with hi test ( I know that will hurt) and add the marine Sta-bil.  Lou has said and I tend to agree that hi test fuel does not go  bad nearly as fast as the nasty ole regular.  I have to say this is an important thing for you, there is over $1000 in cleaning if your fuel system get contaminated as this one was.  You need to have extra carb fuel filters with your   Remember, Buster when through 6 of this this week driving north!  The part is a "WIX" brand part number 33052.   Please go get several-- OK, you have been warned!  The symptom of this filter clogging up is reduced speed, the motor runs fine but will not go above a certain speed or looses speed on climbing a hill.  Of course other things could also cause this but I would put my bet on this little filter in the front of your carb as the first thing to check.

more to come

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.&n