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.

Another cold day in what is supposed to be the sunny south, oh sure we have the sun out but I betcha those boys over at bike week are waking up with a hangover, in the cold wondering where they are! David & Andy are out and about most of this week visiting friends here in Florida so it will be the regulars in here getting stuff done.

I'd like to say hello to my Mom, she is working with some new hard and software with her computer. She's on a new lap top, Wifi driven high speed cable internet service-- really state of the art stuff. Technology today is putting all of us so together-- that is if it works well and we know what to do with the technology. Call me Mom when you read this, just wanna know it's all working. She also has her phone, you know the phone number that the family has had for decades now hailing from worlds unknown over here cable line and of course don;t forget her cable TV signal also comes in on the same line-- how do they do that! Awesome! Work that keyboard Mom, let me know how it works. So everyone say hello to my Mom.

You know after being here in the same building, doing the same thing for over 12 years I think I have "seen it all" and true I betcha I have seen more goings on concerning the GMC than many. I guess I should not expect to be insulated though even though the general GMC owner is what I would call above the average in being unrealistic when it comes to working with and maintaining their classic coach.

I bring this up today maybe because I have been fielding several issues lately that people are simply not being honest with their dealings here at the Co-op which really does work on me. I really appreciate all of the posts telling me to not worry about these people but ya know you must have passion to do something like working with vintage RV's like we do. You have to come to work seeking more than just a days wage to do this stuff and to have people giving you grief after working well so hard to turn their sows ear into a silk purse-- well it just gets me down.

I usually do not proof read my posts here but I have already blown out my words here 2 times, I just cannot seem to find the words to express how situations here have effected my point of view. The pressures of being the one where the "buck stops" working with these classic machines I guess is just such a unique thing that really most people would not even consider being thrust into positions we deal with every day that I guess I should just put up with it all. Maybe what I am saying here is I am getting fed up with some of the unreasonable expectations some have. Where does the fault come from? I have been accused of things till it gets to the point you can actually see it coming. People must thing we're here making a wad of cash doing this! Guys, there is a good reason most other shops decline to do these things-- they are hard and many people do not appreciate what it takes to take on machines like this! It's not that they are stupid and don;t know what they are doing -- in fact I think they may be much smarter than me when someone comes in with a coach upset that something is wrong. There does not have to be a reason for everything to happen, sometimes it's just because it is old, rusty, heavy and built in a time when technology and quality was on a different scale. Stuff happens and sometimes "megga stuff" happens and no matter what you do there is little defense from it. The best you can hope for is someone to partner with you to get to the bottom. Thats what we try to offer here but when the offer is made it's not a blanket offer to take all responsibility! No, thats what I define as unrealistic expectations from the owner. I am here to help but I'll be danged if I will take responsibility for every mishap in a coach!

So you maybe can understand more my plight, taking a risk of venturing into "whinerland" but what else can I say, here are a couple od scenarios (no names mentioned to protect the sanctity of those involved) I think you will understand maybe why today I am starting the week a little down.

OK so a coach comes in with one issue on it's punch list "generator is in/op". Seeking more input I am told the generator was working then it stopped and would not restart with no other input given. OK, I can go the basics to find the problem but the reality is the generator had been worked on before by others who may have thrown up their hands-- you really need to devulge all of that info and all details of the last work to your tech. I start my check out-- we have first a bad PC board, a bad coil, a clogged carb. How can all of these things have happened all at the same time? Truth is they didn;t! Truth is the unit had been waffled with obviously for some time without results and after all of that it was brought to me. So I fix it all, install a better point system (no charge), bypass the PC board (trying to save the owner $), field strip the carb to dig out the years of sludge (took pics to show how bad the unit was) then put the pll all back together and guess what-- it fired up! Look at that, the ole Troll does have some life left in it! I adjusted all the hardware out, loaded the unit down and smoothed out the timing and operation to spec. Took care to show the owner what I did and how to run and maintain the generator for the future. The unit was old but I get her back to the surface, demonstrated the operation and charged 2 hours labor for the work. Trying to help out I offered a superior repair on something that was obviously mistreated in the past. So 3 days later I get a call from a "wet hen". His generator does not start and it is obviously all my fault. It must be something I did to make it stop and I was expected to close my shop, drive 2 hours and make that 30+ year old turd work again. Maybe I should follow the coach around and just be on call since I touched the coach? Sorry but that cannot be a guaranty on old iron like this. the old generator is a very simple machine but the owner didn;t want any part of me helping them work with the unit-- no, that was supposed to be "my chicken"! So I said bring it back and lets see what happened-- man was I looked at as a dirty bird!

Sorry, I just am too close to things sometimes-- now you can see why I have blown out thiis post twice already-- why do I do this to myself? I'll not go here anymore, sorry. But please guys, understand what we are working with-- "Murphy" lives in your glove box, you must understand we are here to help no matter how bazaar things get so you need to help by working with us.

Another issue-- Our crate motor program has been a great success from where I see things. We have brought many very unique motors to folks all across the country but when something happens, the installers who may not have noticed a problem or had done something that caused an issue seem to always blame it on "big brother" which happens to be jasper or even me sitting on the phone in Florida. What did we do to cause the problem-- we were just in the loop-- down the food chain. The reality is everyone must take responsibility for their actions, if you do not send in the warranty card on time, if you do not let someone know there is a problem in a timely basis and document your concerns how can you expect for others to take responsibility? I am so over "plausable deniability". Is that a political term? How did we get mixed up in that? Someone used the wrong intake gasket, someone did not make the call when there was a problem, someone zigged when they were supposed to zag and they say it was my fault-- Man, I'm over this! A motor fails, OK then lets all come to bat and deal with the issues. Prime directive, the coach needs to move so the motor must be replaced. This is the goal, lets find the issues and now the rats jump from the ship, finger get pointed and no one takes responsibility. And here we are sitting on the phone listening to story after story. You retired cops understnad this and see it probably all the time. After a whale all you need to hear is the first 10 words out of someones mouth and you can pag the real issues-- that the way it is here. "I did everything I was supposed to do, it was running fine and then it just broke". Oh come on-- what really happened? Gimme a break, go back and investigate the whole picture. In putting the motor together, the installer used the metal valley pan gasket and the lifter hit the intake. You are not supposed to do that-- so after the fact whose problem is it, mine? The driver heard a slight knock but said nothing until a 1 1/2 later when the knock got louder-- was it supposed to heal itself? Never does so why is it my fault and why am I supposed to pay for others failure to communicate? So I am threatened, I am said to be producing flawed products-- what are we doing here? The flaw was not in the product and what needs to happen is that installer needs to stand up like a man & say I missed something-- then as a member of the GMC community we all should band together to help him out and do what we can. But the buck seems to be passed around like a hot potato with me having no gloves. I'm really tired of it. I am in this loop now with so amny I can usually see issues like this coming way down the road so be quite careful when you feel it's OK to place blame for things of others-- you may be surprised how transparent your actions are.

OK, so if I have not simply run all of you guys away, made myself look like Snidley Whiplash and buried my image in a pile of dung-- guys I'm really sorry but maybe I just wear my heart to far down my shoulder! To those that tell me to blow these people off, gosh I really appreciate your advice and while that may be what I should do, how to you react to the fact that in doing the fair thing you will not keep people happy sometimes. I do not have the assets to simply put my arms around issues and just handle them even if I did nothing. This is not a windfall business and my bank account cannot stand paying for others shortcomings. Hey, I did not marry that generator, that motor or whatever. You must understand all involved must bear the brunt of a failure and everyone must not run from the issue and we all need to help out.

Recently Dan blew his motor-- whose fault was it. A piston came apart-- I would say Murphy let go, others would say the last tuner timed it too lean and then they would be off on a witch hunt for that tuner guy that 5 years before did his best to make the motor run. Reality might have been the adjuster bolt on the dist. loosened up and the dist advanced itself maybe-- who knows. The fact is the motor is dead, it's old and we now need to make it work again. What happened-- the GMC community came together, worked through the issues and now Dan is off again with a new tranny from Manny, a fresh motor-- not mine but hey, thats OK and a good job of labor to put it all together-- that was a win-win and I appreciate all the people that made that repair happen. Why can't it always happen that way? Or maybe I should say it's still to early to say if all is well but my guess is if there is any issues that Dan is of the mindset to not misplace blame and whatever happens he knows everyone did their best. Sure wish I could be in loops like that more often!

I'm done, I could go on and on-- I am, even though I may not around like it, so pleased to be in the band of brothers loving the GMC and all things considered having to do with them. I am proud of the work we do even if others may expect more than is reasonable with this classic machine & I will continue to keep our flag held high "though we walk through this valley of death"! Again, thanks is not a word that describes my debt to all of you for following us though our perils here. It truly is the glue that holds this place all together. It's hard anymore to commit to making rallies where there is a camp of "nabobbing naysayers"-- it's just to painful to enter into that jungle. I will though, given the chance but please if I do make a rally know I am there to support the community so I hope the community will do same. Call me worthless and weak if you must, we're here just doing the best we can.

OK, it's all out of my head now, I'm back in black and I promise to not expose you guys to my "dark side" again-- until the walls close in again. As Bob Segar writes "beautiful looser, where you gonna run..." All is good, have no fear, all will work out and I'm 5 by 5. Thanks for listening, you may wanna wash out your ears, all this stuff really smelled today-- see ya tomorrow, life will return to normal and again and "all the women will be strong, all the men will be good looking and all the kids will be above average"

Follow with me a bit while I catch Steve up with the progress on waking up "Rumplestilkskin" his newly purchased toy. Yea, He picked up this baby from our "for sale" page and hopes to drive it home to Wonder Lake Ill. One event made it possible to get Steve up on the lift-- we had to get Mark's coach with it's new 455 roller cam Co-op crate motor off the lift. The coach with the first limited slip diff fired up yesterday morning, uncapped headers man did it sound sweet! With Jason spotting as Craig fired that mother up and backed it off the lift

we got Mark back over close to the trim shop

to let Dave & Andy keep up the pressure on the fiberglass custom bathroom mold which BTW, we have changed direction a little to make the mold better fitting. Yep, a little backstep pulling out the counter we had

but thats OK, with the talents both Dave & Andy bring to the table, the bath mold will again be accomplished with fiberglass-- stay tuned for that. Like I said Mark, we were pleased at the progress before but the guys brought up some good points and I think we will end up with their help a much tighter module.

So with the lift free

, we were first going to bring up the 23d for it's lower work but first we brought up Steve's "Rumplestilkskin" for a looksee under it

so up it went

. Pardon me guys while I show some of the stuff under the coach to Steve. He's all excited to look at his new acquisition.. We're doing a "baseline" on fluids, dropping the fuel tanks and basically looking over the coach getting it ready for it's drive home. He's go both Ragusa aluminum trans & diff covers

, Jason drained the fluid, it looked pretty good though it had a rather funky smell)

then Jason cleaned them up, changed out the trans filter and the diff fluid then cleaned the pans and put it all back together

. We have the fuel tanks out now

& I ran them down to the radiator shop for a good cleaning. Checking the fuel hoses, they actually didn't look too bad, good thing though that we did drop them, check out the crushed vapor hose on top of the rear (MAIN) tank

definitely a good decision we also found a cracked hose

and some wetness on the AB solenoid

The wiring and connectors you see will be cut out and direct wired in. After 30+ years, the spade connectors in those housings are just not reliable. Found the 3" exh. pipe pulled apart so we'll fix that too. The tailpipe for the new generator was never installed so we'll do that too. The maserator in the coach had never been used, no outlet hose as you can see.

The frame is is really good shape, very little rust only surface

so all we will do here is the scrape down the surface scale and shoot our rubberized undercoat to protect it. Having the fuel tanks out gives us a good access to the inner part of the frame. You guys who have had your coach for some time are probably not excited about the stuff I just went over but I betcha Steve is studying things hard. A new owner with background with custom cars, all of this is new and probably interesting. The main reason for this daily pose you guys must remember is to show to folks with their coaches in here what we're doing. The rest of you guys are here for the ride which I hope is interesting.

But of course this page is supposed to be fun so check out Andy's shower here at the Co-op RV resort

. Yea, gone are the eveings of skinny dipping with cold hose water

we have plumbing now! Hey, and we're saving energy with out solar water heater system

patent applied for! Mike V. came in from Mi. for bike week and you know he had to stop by

, he did bring in his transmission core after we sent him one of Manny's trannys, thanks we need to hang on to these core units. Gonna be on the chilly side at bike week this year and with todays rain my guess is there will be a pile of arm hoisting mug exercises going on over there. Enjoy Mike, watch out over there in Daytona for the crazy people-- they will be thick this week!

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet so Paul, have no fear, we will get your reworked steeing column back in soon, the dash , AC/heat system and the rest of the front of your coach back together soon

, good thing we broke the motor down to the timing chain, there was play in it. Stay tuned for more. Finally, our previous upholster (Christine & George) dropped by to see what we were up to

. Showed off Andy's coach, the Duramax stuff also Marks interior project and all. Had a great visit, thanks guys for dropping by. Hey and if any of you guys in in the Central Florida area drop by if you can. This is a big, happy family around here. Thats it for now, all is good and getting better every day. I'll get with you again soon

Now here is a man proud of his craftsmanship How bout it Ken, yep thats your dash I like the way he treated the stitching

So now Andy grabbed it and did the fit right away

. Very cool looking, you would think it is an original GMC dash

ah but thats just an illusion!

hey and just for grins, here is the 26' Duramax bezel panel

Not long now-- hey Ken gimme a call about a delivery-- thought I would never say those words!

Hey and while wh=e're in the euuuahhh mode-- don't see any difference here

, none here either

but as many things it's whats inside that counts and brother this is a biggie

OK, it's here in real life, now you can stop spinning 1 wheel, with this limited slip chunk that Mark is getting gone will be the days when you loose traction in loose gravel and stuff. Yes, it has a bit of a price tag but hey, doesn't anything worth doing! So no more whining about traction, there is an answer-- the only thing between you and having one of these is a check! Stand by for pricing, this is available in several ratios.

Jeff is forging new ground working through the lift gate for Paul's coach

, stay tuned for that-- looks like we might have that in next week.

See That-- it happened again! There I was, blowing along trying to keep on subject laying out an idea getting more involved and specific-- hoping to lay out my case on some very important subjects and --- wham--- the phone starts ringing, the guys start showing up and the string on the ball comes unwound! There I am hanging out on that limb with all of you, making a proverbial fool of myself trying to make a point and I dropped the pencil! Sorry guys but whats in front of me must take precedence!

Hey but I really appreciate all of the press, most all great but a couple of respectful but critical. Ed W. best laid out what I was beating around the bush on when he said, "Jim, you sometimes just need to say "NO". He was so right, it is very hard for me to use that simple 2 letter word. I always take the high road on issues presented to me wanting to be the cog in the chain that makes things happen. I sometimes mistakenly think those that seek something understand the complexity of what they ask and partner with me to help make that dream a reality. Sometimes, folks know the impossibility of what they seek and push to lay the impossible success on what is wanted squarely in my shoulders. It's sort of like expecting those that have done so much with so little for so long to now do the impossible with nothing at all!

Dang, it happened again! Now I'm not saying Jasper listens to my rant here on the pose but I did give the boys a call about an issue we have on a motor and -- how bout that-- my rep & his boss came by. Our crate motor program is very important to them, what awesome partners and when something falls through a crack they are most interested in fixing things. So I'm there laying outall we are doing in our crate program and how we can be "morebetter" and Richard L. calls in with some comments on the pose. Richard has one of our first roller cam motors, was a beta test on it and was instamental in in making our motors what they are today. Thanks Richard, your call could not have been more timely! You guys rock, thanks so much for the support!

Anyway, I am determined to catch you up on the goings on around here, told the guys to carrt on while I did some important work on the keyboard--- Shhhhh, don;t tell'm I'm having a great time here!

Say "Happy Anniversary" , last night Janie & I celebrated 31 years together with dinner in Longwood at the Melting Pot. And I will have to admit compared to my stand by Taco Bell, the flavor of all the foods was-- like I said I have to admit was much better. So with an 05 Merlot, we brought in year 32 with a bang. No pics, I forgot my camera but we had a great dinner.

Yesterday was also a celebration for Matt cause his clearcoat is on

. Let me take a bit here, catch Matt up on our progress and you guys may enjoy it too. From this when it came in

, a bad hit on the flank

to the repair

and prep

and now we're in color and now in clear

It's just great bringing coaches to this level of finish

Kevin is on a short vacation til Monday so we'll let the paint cure till then.

Paul's "Tail Gate" coach Chimera got some attention under the hood yesterday. You probably recognize all the old stuff in here

, it's all gone now

and I'll build it back up with all new stuff. Jeff came in today to work on the tail gate

I think we have it figured out so stand by

Oh look, the UPS man is here and what is this he just brought--

, OK so wait till ya see this

it's a real honest to goodness limited slip differential!

I gotta go, too much happening-- talk to ya tomorrow hey, and thanks for the visit

Sorry bout missing a couple of days been a zoo around here. Guess the moral of the lesson today could be "communicate in good faith". In that I work on only one thing day in and day out, I get pretty familiar with issues and situations probably more than most folks understand-- inother words I have pretty much "seen it all" when it comes to GMC motorhome interior, exterior & mechanical issues and stuff. Some people feel it is their right as an American to be at odds with everyone around them using that position to get as much as they can from someone or something. Let me say this about that:

I work very hard to do the best I can for everyone I do business with, "plausable deniability" is a fine line and a very "slippery slope" when it comes to issues with what we do. I feel I do know the issues having to do with things we do and please understand that while I am always here for you, will always answer the phone and be available to whoever comes up on the caller ID that I do that deliberatly because I feel I know our position on whatever is happening nd have no problem at defending that position or whatever the conversation could be about.

Now, if that sounds a bit "cryptic", let me clear the waters for you-- which may in the end stirr up more mud to some but hey, you know me-- I'm always up for a spirited exchange!

I'm not out to take advantage of anyone in this business, no matter how specialized the issue might be. I hate "what the market will bear" attitudes toward situations. I have to turn some sort of income but make no mistake, I am not funding a mortgage for an island in the Bahamas! My CPA tells me to get a real job that pays a good income everytime we sit-- I tell her I'm not done having fun yet! You have to enjoy what your do biding your time until what comes next or you truly are a waste. I love what we do here and it's not all about the $ as many people that you may contact. Don't wanna come off to "altruistic" but really, that is how I look at anything folks ask me about. I leave myself open to help someone up front -- the thing you need to do and understand is to as I said when I started this "communicate in good faith" with me.

What specifically am I talking about? OK, I'll give you the scenario and please do not take it personal but here we go:

Worked on a gentlemans coach last week, a really nice, clean original looking machine. I love to work on stuff others have not "messed " with. His 4K Onan "troll" would not run, wanted me to look at it. Ok, well "looking" at something is pretty easy, it takes eye movement. I can do that---oh, you want it to run? Lets see what the issues are and what our options are. You know me by now, my feeling is these power drawers are just too old to be a reliable machine. I will though, do what I can to bring that last bit of use out of the machine but there of course are no guarantees!

So I'm told, "It will not start, can you do something"? The answer to that is -- yes. I go through a start up check and procedure that will show me the issues of a motor. I can hot wire the puppy and if there is any hope of survival I can make it run-- so I do this. I take 30 min. , check for fuel and fire-- solve those issues and see what we have. So I get this 4K puppy up and running. I hate to throw good $ after bad so I negate the expensive PC board, negate the internal alternator winding, ID any other issues and if I can make it fire and create 110 VAC-- thats what we have. I look at that as time well spent and if the critter actually comes to life and talks to ya-- it was a good day.

OK, so we have cherries, the unit is running, starting, stopping and making power under load. I demonstrate the operation, how to use it, whats going on and how to maintain the mods. The coach leaves, the $ is collected and we "break on 3". Get a call a couple of days later with a couple of cuss words and inuendo that I have a liability because now the 4K troll wet the bed. The customer wants me to close up shop and drive to Tampa to make the thing run, it was my fault his 30+ year old piece of crap died and I had beeter follow through. Brother look, you can bring the thing in & I'll be happy to see whats up. Obviously, some event has changed from the time it left. What the customer did not do when he brought the coach in was to give me any indication as to what had been done or what had been discovered what was wrong before he brought it in. He said it had been tuned up and was running recently and that was all. Let me see, I replaced the original coil, I replaced the funked out style I point system with a style II at no charge, pulled the carb and scraped out the sludge in it, bypassed his PC board and had to do all that to get it to run. Was the customer up front with the problems with the generator and was he right in trying to put me in the loop of liability when the thing died--- I think not but I am of course more than willing to give it a go again if he would just bring it over. Oh no, he would rather abuse me, put me on the spot and make me marry his piece of crap! I must tell you I get tired of being abused, being taken advangage of and being held hostage being threatened and all to try and get something for nothing! I take my responsibility personal and will certainly do the "bend over backwards" maneuver to help anyone but come on man!

What did I say to the guy, said bring her in and lets see whats happening. He said, the traffic is too much, you fixed it-- it's broke-- you come here and make it run or you suck. Guess I suck!

Have I reached "whiner" status yet? Hey, I'm not here as a whipping boy for folks like that, I'm here to help the rest of ya, I put up with people like that. In that I've been doing this for going on 12 years now, don;t be surprised if you call me up looking to squeeze me and try that stuff for me to blow you off. Maybe I should record calls like that andthen play them back for the rest of ya as entertainment!

Had a guy call me cussing at me cause the back of his coach was dragging his driveway when he pulled out-- asked if he had raised the back with the air ride system-- he said "what air ride system?" Dude, don't get behind the wheel of a GMC if you don;t know stuff like that!the smell of burning rubber-- I told him to pull over. LOL but I get calls like that! Then I get derogatory statement about maybe me or the coach or both. Man, what a stupid thing to say-- sorry but there's just no way around that.

Then I get a guy that has a motor going on 2 years out of warranty, tells me it had problems from the first day it was put in but said nothing, wants a new motor, all the labor, all the money for towing, driving back and forth and hotel charges. Man, what planet do we live on! The warranty card was never sent in which BTW you need to send in to start the motor warranty. How can I help someone falling forward like that? How can I

Sunday is about over and big week is coming Saturday started early to drive Bud's coach to him down in Ft. Myers. Some may look at driving 3 hours one way to not be something desirable but for me-- you guys with a GMC and the time to use it I would hope knows what I'm talking about. I find that the harder we work, the more it's important to clear your mind. Guess I'm in the learning curve most of us have at some point- time off is more important than before. At least I can find time off that keeps me in a GMC.

Getting out on the road with a good driving coach is a sheer pleasure for me. I don;t-- can't --- get out on the road much so driving bud's coach to Ft. Myers was OK by me!

The plan was that Towing the Suzuki, I would drive the coach to Bud's place. We had such a hassle getting his 4 wheel disc brake system stopping better, I wanted to drive the coach myself. If it made it home I felt it would work OK-- so I drove it. Like I said-- tough duty-- Bud had spent much of his own time and much investment bringing his coach to the point it was -- good looking

hey, and check out his answer for the boring grill, really makes a statement! One feature I love is his steering wheel

, he's got our brushed nickel, leather wrap 2 spoke hi tech wheel with a real old school feature. Driving his you can see why these were so popular

, a nice, clean dash presentation too. Going to Ft. Myers I drove along tourist alley along I-4 then south down I-75. I-4 is interesting, you never know what you will see. Airstream trailers buried tongue down

, how bout extinct animals

, yea and I think they have free parking with validation

and an ocean of RV's

When I turned south onto I-75, a huge "stars & bars" greeted me

Must be a daughters of the confederacy memorial-- Only in Florida!

One of the things I had installed was one of our electronic servo cruise control kit, the up/down/ resume made the drive great. Really was a great trip, plan was to drop the coach and drive the Suzuki up to Palmetto where Janie & my son Ray would be visiting some family friends. Then we would connect up the Suzuki to Janies Dakota and all of us would make the 100 mile run home. Thats a great idea, I mean pedaling that Suzuki 55 MPH all the way home. A great idea! As it turned out, my son stayed the night & we came home with him bringing the Suzuki Sunday. The tow bar makes options flexible-- maybe we all should have a receiver hitch and a tow bar--- "Can I give you a ride" could take on a new meaning!

OK, so maybe not but it works for me-- It was a great day but riding home I hit the wall, asleep, the 100 mile ride seemed 5 minutes. The best way to always get me to sleep as a kid was to put me in the back seat of my grandma's 53 Ford. My Dad was a Greyhound Bus driver so I guess I got that honest. Whatever, I was out and have pretty much stayed that was til late in the evening on Sunday. You might call it a "crash" I guess and you don't know anything about it until it happens. If as hard as you hit is any indication for the future, Monday should be a good day. I feel much better and with some projects coming and going, next week will take all the energy all of us can muster.

Nothing like a 40 deg. ride on ole "Attila", kicking it off in the cold to make you appreciate a warm heater in the office! Yesterday was warmer and clear so the guys really went to work on some of the stuff around here.

Paul's resurrection of the 25' tail gate coach is going pretty good

Eric installed the 2 Max Fan roof vents, there will be no roof AC units on this machine. Installing these vents is the first step at sealing up the interior so the new floor can be installed. Ah, the floor-- an important part and one that will be a little special in this coach. The original floor had to be totally taken out, with the coach being open to the elements for what 4 years you can imagine what the condition of the floor was.

As you can see, Steve has started at the front cutting 3/4" plywood panels. The plan is to 3/4" panel the floor with rubberized undercoating on the bottom, then we plan for a layer of trpaper then a layer of 1/2 plywood in the top. The 1973 coaches had a single layer floor panel which was a bit spongy, this floor will NOT be spongy. Next, check out this

Hey, after 4 years of waiting to see fit, my all aluminum rounder rear wheel liners fit! These were made from a tractor/trailer diesel fuel tank

. Originally designed to be a transport vehicle, we needed a kick butt strong wheel well to aid in lateral strength for the body. When bolted in, these should give good body roll support. It's great when a plan comes together

so with the fuel tanks plumbed, we can pattern the floor over them-- keep her goin Steve!

Kevin has been very busy, as soon as Matt's coach is out of paint we'll hopefully be ready to roll over Pauls coach for it's exterior makeover. Matt's roof has color and clear

with the first color of 3 for the original stripe base color on

Being a bit on the strong side, this bright yellow will only be a stripe color. I think Kevin is looking to have the main body color on today with the total clear of the body going on this weekend. I know there will be at least one person glued to their computer monitor to see this!

Next, here is something I have had to go back to with Honda finking out on their RV generator division. The ole "Trolls" for now need to be brought back to life.. Really, the original Onan power drawer design generator was a very nice machine-- problem is the years have not been good to them. But, if they had not been too neglected, there is hope of bringing them back to life. Here is the story of one such 4K power drawer in a 78 23' Birchaven. The ole girl actually looked pretty good

This coach looked like it had been packed away in a time tunnel-- with 90K miles on the odometer, the coach looks as nice as the generator all over. The arrow points to the original "type 1" point system circled. Having to use a mirror to even see the point, I went on a search in my Troll bone yard for a type 2 point system and found a poor ole 4K with the part I needed

You can see the cap covering the type 2 point system and with a little work I had harvested the organ

. Pulling out the impossible to adjust type 1 point system, the type 2 fit right in

Next, "SOP" is to break open the original carb and clean it up. Good thing I did this cause there was some serious funk in the carb float bowl

. The customer said he had just had the generator cleaned and tuned up--- ahhhh, not! No way, not only did I find this stuff in the carb, the coil was open and the PC board would not operate K2 relay. I also installed a switch on the Onan prime circuit so the generator runs "hot wired".

Now it not only looks good but runs good too! See, I'm not agianst the ole Power Drawer, but they must be worked on to bring back their reliability. If you are wanting to get your ole Troll going, give me a call and I'll help ya check things out.

OK, it's 9:30 & I need to get to work, we have a furnace to finish installation, Mark's fiberglass bath module is on tap, I'll tell ya more about that later, we have Omar coming in with what I hope will be a finished dash for the 23d and just more stuff than you can shake a stick at. Have a great day

Man----- where was I going with that! Better yet, where did that came from--- sorry. Too much going on, need to relax a little. We have several very interesting projects that everyone is really working hard on I just appreciate it all the more. Yea, just so many great things you get wrapped up, sorry.

A late start again and I may have to cut this short but I had a question about my post yesterday where that bit about restoration quality came from. I read it again and yea, I guess I should explain myself better.

OK, so you asked-- hope this cleared it up a bit. It is a constant struggle to match expectations to reality-- just goes along with the work. I cannot validate someone who just does not understand and when you say I am too expensive-- well, you are not being realistic. If someone has a GMC for their own object of frustration, I would say they picked a good one! There are years of pleasure if working on something non stop is your idea of fun. If it is not, do not purchase or consider any vintage vehicle, especially a GMC! There are unique machine, technically designed and critically engineered BUT they do require a certain level of attention and there must be an understanding of what is possible.

One of the annoying things about our coach is renewing some of the harness circuits. One in particular is the "low fuel" light in the telletale window along with say the "set ride height" The low fuel circuit is a stand alone little PC board plugged into the harness buried in the bowls of the dash. Later GM designs put this circuitry actually in the fuel gauge but our was a plug in circuit. Someone asks me to get that working, I tell them I'll take out the bulb because to have the circuit repaired would be too costly one at a time. This has been the answer since I have been involved with these coaches. There have been some people who have made a timer circuit for the "Set ride height" but still the cost of doing that is still so much more than simply removing the bulb and forgetting about it that we always opt to go that way. OK, so here is the late breaking news, Our resident electronics bench tech, Jeff, took it upon himself to discect the original PC board circuit and can now rebuild them to work again as original so if you did not throw away your light bulb and socket or have one of Mac's new dash panels, putting this rebuilt assembly will make your low fuel light circuit turn on the low fuel light when you reach somewhere around 1/4 tank. Here is what the circuit looks like

We have now an exchange program and for $39 and your old low fuel circuit, we can send you a rebuilt one. Give me a call if you are interested.

Still cold around here, in the low 40's, hard to get excited about dong things until the sun warms us. I need a rock to lay on! Making headway on several projects even in the cold-- gotta hand it to the guys, we're just not prepared for slow moving electrons! The guys are fighting the battle.

We're installing the new limited slip diff in Mark's coach. We'll run the coach with the regular 3.55 through paint and put the new chunk in a bit down the road but I think in the snow where mark is looking to run his machine, this will be a welcome feature.

Kevin, as usual, is the first one here-- he's working hard to keep us on schedule. Matt's paint work is coming along well and we should be in color on the coach by the weekend. Here is the body with much of the DA work done

The original lattered info decals were in such good condition we plan on keeping them on the coach.

With the corrosion from dis-similar metals on the beltline sanded and prepped, the 2" aluminum flat stock laying on the floor will go in place today.

The original decals and logos have been taken off and the surface in is prep. so soon it will see new paint. Keep up the good work Kevin.

Different strokes for different folks Here is a phrase that really means so much with regard to restoration that I just had to talk a little about this. We have been looked upon as a place to go for full GMC restoration and I appreciate that support. While it's true I reguard our work as tops in our field, you must still keep things relative to it's use. We do not have a "roticery" , we do not chrome out the undercarrage and I look at stuff like that as fluff that does not add the the operational use of the coach. Therefore, the trick in this business is to figure out as Bob Segar would say "what to leave in and what to leave out". There will always be something for someone to "pick at". I make no bones about this, if you are looking for a concourse restorations you would see in a soup to nuts full auto restoration first don;t look at me to do that and if you do find someone thar says they could do that be very leary! I know that level of work well and it would bring the total cost of a restoration up by a factor of 3 or more. Why would you wanna do that? A motorhome is not built to sit in the garage and get polished and looked at-- they are made to drive and to go. That is a very different use than a show car. You must understand this when you look to get jiggy with a GMC. Keep everything in perspective please. Also, no matter how many parts you replace and how much work you put into a GMC, it is still a 30+ year old chassis and as such you will have some sort of maintenance and repair curve. You still need to keep a pen and paper up front and write down a "looksee" punch list of things that happen as you drive-- it's only smart and proper to do this. Do not think a renovated GMC from anyone will run like a new car-- with a new car warranty-- with a new car maintenance structure-- sorry but it just "ain't" gonna work that way! We take care to split those twigs toward economy and efficiency, doing things that are visually pleasing while still being cost effective so don't shoot the messanger when you find an issue meriting additional work and don;t pupu us if you find something that may not be as refined as it could be-- remember to go from 90% to 100% perfect could cost so much more! Just had to say this for you guys trying to figure out what "restoration" means with regard to these '26' hot rods".

OK, so it's 10AM so what am I doing sitting here playing with this keyboard? My 2 fingers are getting tired so I need to exercise the rest of my hands and get out there and do something. Have a great day, call if I can help and we'll talk again later

Oh come on-- Fat Tuesday, next holiday will be wimp Wednesday! How can we get back to a hard weeks work with all of these holidays, yesterday our LP gas dealer was closed! How can we get work done like this, hey I'm here Fat Tuesday wimp Wednesday and I'll betcha thursty Thursday and frantic Friday will also find the Co-op gates open!

Another cool morning, in the 40's with a clear sky the hope is for a clear warmer day. Kevin has been stoking the fire in his prep building getting on Matt's 73 Canyon Land.

Paul dropped by to see how things were going on his project. hey, I asked him to do a pose for you guys-- he's not as scared as he looks!

Hey but you know you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet! Yesterday we got his fuel tanks and hoses back in, today we'll keep on the job.

Last night had a guy come in on a wing and a prayer filling his brake master cylinder every couple of miles to keep brakes-- I tell ya these puppies will run broke and thats all there is! Stay tuned for a report on his progress.

OK, so the sun is up and I need to get off my butt, have a great day-- stay tuned and know we are here Fat Tuesday and all!

OK, so we all made it to the other side of yet another holiday-- oh wait, the banks and stuff are closed again for "President's Day". Will we ever all get back on the stick! Oh well, I'm here, Kevin just showed up and if it will warm up a bit. was 40 this morning at dawn, we could have a descent day. It's kinda like writing with a thin paint brush around here, you have to make sure each letter comes out by keeping enough paint on the brush to complete each letter, one at a time. You can't get ahead of yourself-- one day at a time is the way.

On that note, with the :Tin Soldier" actually running and all, it's time to start finding the good & bad points of downsizing the motor and just the short run of coming back from Ben's I found driving it normally the little 350 popped through the gears just fine. When I wiggled my foot on it from a dead stop it really didn;t like that function-- actually shut down! Wait, what are we doing here? Just cause I have 4.10 gears does not mean I should burn rubber per say-- The gears allow a nimble start off and clean power where it's needed and that may be where we wanna be. No tire burner, we want a fuel sipper! Now that I have it and the 23d ready to run on command, I'll be able to start testing both-- think about it, I have a torque monster turbo diesel and a limp rubberband in the same body trying to come up with the same end goal, fuel efficiency. We are dream about the age old question, "Do we get economy from power or from efficiency?". I just may be able to answer that question, my guess is both ways will yeild successes. I mean I remember the day that Panasonic yanked me out of my V8 Impala just to put my seat in a K car. Yep, I saved the company money-- there was no need to mash the gas to get there on time, it was no use-- this may be the economy fate we find with Tin Soldier. If the space shuttle didn;t need to escape the earths gravitational force you could say it reaches fuel economy when you power down those SRB's, I think thats what we will find with the 23d.

Steve says I need to switch to a Holley 600 cfm and I betcha he's right, when you do what we're doing you have to think outside of the box, truth is I have never seen a Holley work as expected on an Olds motor so I'm going to tweek what I have to see how well it will run beforew I change out the lungs. Stay tuned.

On another front, we have Omar going after the 23d dash which will lead next to the dash for the 26' Duramax then on to finishing up both dashes. We have the custom build high dollar 23d holding tank with a marine application maserator toilet-- also big bucks but it's whats needed. We're on the move with that project too.

The "Chimera" gets it's fuel tanks today -- oh, oh-- got a fantastic one-- how bout a limited slip differential with any ration specified? We have it, not cheap but the community has wished over a 2 wheel puller drive train for years-- we have it, are you interested? Of course the next q is "how much" and this is one of those that you can say if you have to ask it's probably too much. This mod is @ $800 more than a simple ratio change unit, thats @ $2400. Hey but if we can negate the issue of standing still in wet grass or digging rocks on a soft surface it just may be a needed improvement for a % of us.

Another advancement is Jeff has now dissected and can repair the "low fuel" indicator circuit in our coach. You know, that stand alone PC board that usually does not work. In the past my solution was to pull out the bulb to get the idiot light to stop shining. If you are interested in having your low fuel light circuit working, give me a call.

See, we have several good things happening around here. On top of all the resto work happening we have more. OK, so the day is on, mother nature has given us a sunny morning so the cold is burned off anf we have good weather for our stab at progress today. I gotta get out there so lets sign off for now. Call if I can help and have a great day

Taking the weekend off Janie & I will be travelling to Jacksonville to be with our son Ray and my Mom. It's tough to be just far enough away to have to plan a trip to go there but close enough to be "just down the street". I'll have my cell phone with me so if you need me just give a ring.

Yesterday was cold and very wet, the holes in my shoes let the water in and my socks were cold and soggy all day-- not fun! We still did persevere and got some stuff done. Just at dark, I picked up the "23/350" Tin Soldier at Ben's where he finished up our 3", sigle rear muffler exhaust system and for the first time I was in the drivers seat of another dream machine coming together.

This is one of the great things about what we do here, we take a proud coach that has fallen on hard times-- try and squint hard enough to see the potential then work about bringing the critter back to life. This coach, found in a junk yard by Larry Coldren way out in Denver, who BTW also found "Larry" for me, had been purchased in a junk auction for a window. The junk yard owner had a GMC and needed to replace a large widow so he drug the carcus of this 1973 23' coach to his heap. Larry with his sharp eye saw it and knowing I was hankering for a 23' coach helped me make the deal to procure it then went about putting it in road condition with a good friend of his and mine Richard . I flew out where Larry rode back with me in the coach making the trip tolerable. We used 8 quarts of 50 weight oil to get the 2000 run to Florida done.

We then set about planning what to do with it. We named it "Tin Soldier" because of how well he hung in there to get us home-- a real "tin soldier". I had always been partial to the 23' stepchild. With only 15% of GMC's being the 23' configuration I just wanted one and I wanted to do somthing with a 23 to make it unique.

After thinking about it we decided to try something unique and outfit the Tin Soldier to be as efficient as possible. First things first so the mechanical aspects of a "mileage mizer" came first and this is where we are. Tin Soldier is fitted with a Olds 350 power plant

, mated to a Manny tranny with a set of 4.10 gears and the 3" mandrel bent single muffler exhaust system from Jim Kanomata, yesterday was the first day checking out all of those mods. The motor works great, the coach has good power. I will need to tweek the motor a bit to find the sweet spot with my Kryptonite 455 cam programming that little 350 motor. Many say it won't work-- that just spurrs me on to try! Yo need to follow this project among all the other wild one we're doing.

Gotta go, I'm running out of battery on the lap top and we need to get out in the Race week traffic to pass Daytona in hopes of making Jacksonville in tact. Have a great Valentines, remember it may all be about money but love has to be at least a close second-- maybe we should work on that a bit, might end up being the more important thing at the end of the day. In the end there are 3 things that ruly endure-- faith, hop and love with the great being love so this weekend really should be important to us all. So here it is, it's in front of you so make the best of it.

If it's irritating to be reading along and the verbage stops, sorry bout that when the day starts around here it gets going fast! The point I was making when I so rudely interrupted myself was I sincerely do appreciate the support for what we do here at the Co-op. Oh sure there are folks that come here, look around at the same time looking for something to point out and for those folks I'm glad I can give them something to talk about. You can look at something in 2 ways-- is the glass half empty or full--- so why not say everything is great and I'm working to make it better? There are issues with everything in this imperfect world so why just dwell on it, if there is more of that stuff than we already want why make it seem larger than it is? Anyway, I look at all the things we have and are doing and when I do that I enjoy this mess, I hope you see it that way too.

I was saying I went over to Ben's to pick up the 23d from getting it's pipes. It was a 2 day affair with certainly things involved we had never dealt with before. The original muffler worked out very nice in the rear of the coach

and though it may not stand out all that you see of all that work is a single pipe out the back of the coach

So janie is opening the mail and I get this letter with this years CMW membership dues It may seem cryptic to some of you but I thought it was great! You must know Ben

, he loves his machine and tries as hard as he can to get his family out in it. He's a doctor practicing in a hospital and is so darn busy he never gets to do what he wants. His buddy "Fitz"

helps Ben keep his coach at least running-- heck Fitz is not a doc but has the same problem getting out with his coach too so between them they both try and help eachother. It's great hearing from Ben now and again, just knowing they both are out there supporting what we do here at the Co-op makes me feel good and getting a letter from Ben means he sat down for at least 45 sec. to pound out his letter meansd he cares. Thanks Ben, hey Fitz-- you may need to get over there and give Ben a hand with that generator if for anything else but to yank that thing out!

Hello my name is Franklin D., I live in Bonita Springs FL, I have become a fan of the 12,000lb Hot Rod because my neighbor has owned a 1973 for 10 plus years. I recently started working with him on a regular basis doing odd jobs durring the day and tinkering on the coach at night. I rebuilt the " rodchester quadrajet" the other night and it transformed her to a tire boiling head turning beast. I was surprised at how easy it was to remove, rebuild and reinstall my first carb. Thank you for supporting a great coach! I thank you because it has really kicked my inner "gearhead" into overdrive and it has helped me to see the value of working hard to get what I want out of life, (My own Hot Rod with plumbing). So again thank you all! By all I mean all the people across the nation that are ready to help a fellow GMC owner, you have inspired me to get started living!

Another very uplifting comment, thanks for the support. I tell ya doing this day after day, pushing this huge

See that-- I get going, the sun comes up and the ball of string here just unwinds and before you know it I'm gone! The weather man said yesterday would be a good morning but with rain and the cold coming in we had better get the morning going or we would be screwed and they were right! I got sidetracked on the GMC net and lost valuable time. Sorry but there are several people there lurking and holding on every word on that list and sometimes I get scared they really believe all of that stuff so I fell it important to comment from time to time on what is put out there. You guys are here for fun and to pick up tips, so are they so I feel I sometimes need to say things there as I do here. gets me in trouble sometimes but hey, if you don;t speak your mind sometimes no one will know where you stand. Ok, so don;t get me on a political platform-- I don;t do well with that stuff. Heck, I thought Ross Perot had a good idea with the flat tax so what do I know!

Got the 23d back over to Ben's first thing--

just can't wait till I have the engine cover on that puppy. Yes, that huge turbo diesel is a bit noisey when you are sitting next to it open. But buddy what a ride! I'm in the right lane trying to just get it there when some tuner dude slides up beside me, he checks out the ground effects for a second then figures to go on and pass me with his noisey stinger tail pipe honking along. I just could not resist, I looked over at the shifter pod that said I was in 3rd, I mashed the right pedal and the turbo went zing and I stuck that Honda hard. Is a bit scary pointing such a large machine to that little slammed Honda but I think he got the message-- This is the big dog and my bit is as bit as my bark! Got scared and backed of as he squirted out from under my shadow, bet he'll go home and tell mommy how he was handled!

As I was saying yesterday when I blasted away, there was a thread on the net talking about modifications to the GMC drive train and I held the line that economically speaking the original drive train as it stood was probably the most cost effective thing to keep. And there I was warming up the 23d as I was plunking doen my words. Hey, this thing is so far away from what I was pointing out that it's not funny. These Duramax machines were concieved not as a cost effective way to go but just as the dreamchild of some people that just want one and bunky when it's all said and done, when the last shovel of dirt is padded down, when the porchlight is turned off all we have left is the memory of doing things the way we wanted to and brother this machine will be on the mantle as something really special! I really did not grasp the full meaning of building a machine like this until I got deep into it. So deep in fact that there was no way out but to just do it! The 23d and it's wild brother the 26' Cruz'n" are monster machines. It does not make sense to have "Grave Digger" parked in your front yard-- it is a machine built mainly because they could but it always draws a crowd wherever it goes-- such are these machines. When one pulls into a rally soon, the first thing that could come to the lips of someone looking at it might be something about it's not practical-- heck, who said we were wanting to BE practical! Why to we have polished aluminum rims-- thats not practical or something as delicate as paint on the outside of a car-- why don't we clad our vehicles with a thick layer of rubber or maybe a 2x6 PT wood body mold strip! Why do we have such an affection for chrome-- the stuff shortens our lives keeping it shined up! NO, we do all those things because it makes us smile for some reason, we do them because we can and because it makes us feel good so when Ken pushes the "D" on the shifter pod of the 23d and the turbo spools up I will guarany you there will be a smile on his face. And when Raymond sits behind his wheel, turns on the tunes and blows down the road with the Cruz'n machine, there will be a ____ eating grin from ear to ear because NO ONE will have a machine like his and I mean no one! Hey, that may not be your goal for your coach and thats fine but these machines were built for a purpose and if that purpose was nothing more than because they wanted one well bunky who are we to say thats not enough reason! There will be an honest $300,000 in the 26' coach-- I say honest because I know, I was there & I spent every schilling! I say honest because these machines are not filled with fluff-- you know, thats the stuff that you say "damn that was expensive but I guess worth it". No, you want an expensive drive train, you have a monster turbo doesel with an Allison transmission, front wheel drive-- tell me what else could you add to that! A 20,000+ GVW chassis with an 8000 pound body sitting on it means it's like a skinny monkey holding on to the saddle of a race horse! I'll get off theis rant but you just need to put these machines in perspective. Yes, it has been a crazy journey to build these machines and I just want you guys to know it has been a job that "hurts so good"!

Going-- Going-- Gone and if you were looking for a great coach at a cheap price go cry in your beer because you missed one!

case Steven said yes and is now the proud owner of Rumplestilkskin! I'm sure we'll probably need to change it's name-- we'll see but as the last machine on the lot for sale I have to say folks are again turning on to the possibilities a GMC offers. Hailing from up in the cold country right now in Illinous, Steven will have us go throught the coach mechanically and get systems operational again. He'll be down maybe in a couple of weeks to survey his catch and see what other things he would want done before it goes to it's new home.

Likewise the "C130" has a new name and a new home.

Now dubbed "Chimera" (still my spelling stinks on this one) but we are deep into this machine as we speak. You probably don;t remember this grand experiment of a rear opening hatch, a 2 foot stretch on a 23' coach with a boxed frame, 4 bagger and other attributed making it a real one of a kind machine we fist raked out the old mess down to the root mean

, tanks now out and getting cleaned up it's a sinch with the floor out

working on them. Here you can see the extent we went through to engineer a lifting rear hatch

OK, so Ken needs to see this-- his dash is taking shape

Draped in the color of the dash that Omar will be by today to pick up, Andy pulled out his talents to make the dash bezel the best it could be

The AC/heat controlls mounted, the fly by wire instrument cluster in with enough space for a DIN radio, the dash looks just like an original GMC dash-- but we know different!

The brown covering will have to be stitched, I do not have the talent to wrap that raskle so Omar will pick it up to do the honors. When that is back we'll be "cookin with gas"! Now Andy & Kevin, now that we know how to build it will go after the Cruz'n walnut burlwood dash bezel and fitting the components to it.

Like I said, this is exciting stuff! Stay tuned for more! So here we are, Jason is doing his part even out there in the cold rain

making it happen. It's just so nice having dedicated people working hard toward a goal! Steve, Kevin, Jason, Craig and Eric and now Andy pitching in we just have an awesome crew.

BTW-- for those of you who have modified disc brake set ups on your coach, I won;t take time here to talk about some things we just found out (unexpected results) on mating disc brakes to the rear of a GMC but if you have these and are having problems with them-- give me a call. As a rule I don;t do these mods but in that they are on coaches we have found out some important things about them-- give me a call.

OK, so thats it, I took the time to catch you guys up, to get some of my excitement down on paper and to give out some of the fun we are having here at the Co-op. My banker and CPA ask why we do what we do, I tell them if they don;t understand they just don;t get it! Sure many things we do represent the most cost effective way to get out on the road in a cool amchine while others are just cause we can. What a great place to be, what a great time to live and what a fantastic machine to work with! See ya later

Yea, I'm late posting this morning had several Emails I felt needed answering and just got back froom running the 23d down to Ben for a second session on it's exhaust-- man what a fun drive!

Don't adjust your set, there's nothing wrong-- we're here, just had some important things going that took my time Thanks for all the concern and no, it's not a matter that I'm not happy with someone or something (overall though there are "those" issues) no, we've had an interesting weekend and I'll try and give you the high point as we go.

picked up the 23d from Bens, it was a bit more involved that usual getting the Duramax exhaust system with it's mondo diesel pipes and muffler shwedged into place. Ben got the forward section of the system in very solid shape but since I don't as yet have the headlights in I had to pick up the beast before it got dark-- you didn;t think I would leave that machine out did ya! I'll take it back over to the master Yota of the pipe world today for more on that.

We're back at the shop for the weekend here. Yep, thats the Lincoln we moved to get access to the "C-130" now renames "Cimera" (Butchered the spelling on that one) but in the medical world, this word referrs to some body that has been patched up or has body parts harvested from other people or animals. Paul, the new owner of this baby

, has a dream for this beast and I for one am excited where he wants to take it

A rear loading transporter machine is the dream. Paul plays in a band and needs a travel vehicle to take himself, is band members and the equipement to gigs all over the place. He needs someing easy to drive, easy to load up and something to bring them all to and from wherever they need to go. Stay tuned to see where this project goes. over the weekend Jason reported he got "Cimera" fired up and ready to move. So the saga begins!

Looks like "Rumplstilkskin" pictured here on the lot which is the last coach here at the shop for sale will be finding a new owner soon. If you have been sitting around waiting for that one to hit "rock bottom" it has been reduced to $10K and there are several people looking hard. If you are in the wings, it's time to make some decisions. Spring is here and people are out there buying. It's speak now time on this one!

The body work on Matt's coach reached a new level last week. kevin had the body support framework reconstructed

and welded together

. Now he gets with fitting the harvested body panels cutting to fit

A little here and there and where the original bolts go into the framework

they all like up and there it is

, we have a straight body again

Now he will mold all that in and together, stay tuned.

Mark's old motor and trans is out and this 455 motor is ready to go in

. We're waiting for a new 3.55 ratio diff to put into the mix so stay tuned for the drive train install. Late news-- The diff just showed up, the UPS driver was happy to dump that lug off his truck! So looks like Jason will be on that trail today-- stay tuned

OK, so what went on while I was away from you guys? Well, first of all we had the winter "Brookesville" Sunshine statesmen rally along with the Brookesville FMCA rally and we hit them both

. Yea, I need new windshields, what can I say-- "The plumbers pipes leak"! A winter tradition in the club down here, last your the temps dipped under the 20's (well digger territory for us) so filling the LP tank for the furnace we headed out with Andy following to see what mess we could get into there.

Later go to the Sunshine Statesmen web site www.gmcss.com and check out this recent past rally. The club will be posting pics soon. The FMCA rally drew in over 1200 coaches for that event. We set up a club dislpay with Andy's coach as a draw. We had a blast!

We hope this will also become a tradition at that FMCA rally. I mean think about it, why do you go to a car show? Sure, there will be vendors hocking their wares but you mainly go to see the cars--- right? Well, I feel FMCA needs to present more content on letting members show off their clubs and their coaches like we did. Got many people walk by interested in checking out the ole classic and I bet they would get more interest if they did more of this. Lets see if we can help FMCA make some decision with this.

So we had the Super Bowl last night, congrats to all you "Who Dats" out there. I remember in the past New Orleans Saints got the title of "The Ain't" -- well now "They Are". Good show but now lets see how long it takes the crew to straggle in. It's not going on 10 AM and no one but us chickens are here. Hey, they guys need a little slack now and then so I'll make this as just one of those days. Gives me a chance to catch up here a bit.

Guess I need to address the "rant" I put myself into about brake vacuum tanks and all that. Got several comments who said back to me the point I was trying to make-- thanks for that. Relays, motors and diaphrams to me are not things I want to add to any brake system. Betcha thats why GM stopped supporting them, A1- Cardon stopped and now if you want such a critter your search will usually have to include the "Men's Mall" or junk yard to you less correct folks. No, I don't shop at such a place eather and I want you guys to know you will not get junk yard parts when you come here! Guys thanks for the support and for you guys who think I'm wrong that fine too, don't ask me to put in one of those set ups though. And if you are mad at me about gong off on the issue, sorry but hey-- it's my page so give me your comments!

It's a "tough row to hoe" for folks who speak thier mind-- it always seems like others who sneak around always have things to say about someone who as in the book "The Emperors New Clothes) stands up and says hey, he's not wearing anything! When it comes to issues of the heart or things you have strong convictions about, I feel you are doing an injustice not only to yourself but those that ask you about things wanting to know "just how you feel" about the subject. I have never been one to just sit back when I saw something going on (that was a good Cat Stevens song "father and son") so you will have to excuse me a bit while I lay out support for an issue I have recently found there is a differing of opinion. Now in that we live in America and have the right to say and do anything we like, I am not attacking someones personal opinion --- except the fact is they are attacking mine so boy howdy here we go. You do not have to believe what I do but don;t down it, just do your thing, make your case and let those listening make their own opinion-- that the way it should be and thats the way I see it.

OK, don;t worry about others opinions, worry about yourself so on the subject of emergency stand by vacuum brake systems, there are 2 ways to provide vacuum if your motor fails. This situation is not such a big deal with a car, it's small and you can "gorilla" your brake pedal without vacuum and usually bring your car to a stop safe on the side of the road. However, this is not the case with our GMC, we have a pile of moving energy and it takes usually more than you can deliver to a brake pedal with now vacuum assist to bring the critter to a stop. OK, so we say we need some sort of way to create vacuum without the motor running to bring our coach to a stop and as I said there are 2 ways basically to do this.

Brakes are an emergency safety device, they have been designed by some pretty savy people. They have been tested to failure, designed to be maintained easily and fail as safe as possible if there is a problem. "Fail safe" does not mean fail and have an alternate way to contuinue to work, failing safe means when there is an issue you will be able to move to the side of the road. When you have issues with your brakes, you simply don;t play with it-- you should not actually modify brakes from the original tested and certified DOT safety equipement but thats another whole can of worms and lets not go there right now. I'm talking about a supplemental way to provide vacuum to your brake system in the event of an engine failure. You need vacuum to stop, lets use that as a true statement.

OK, in the evenrt of engine failure and this may never happen but when it does, you want to have an absolute, guaranteed way to have vacuum. You do not want to fumble for a switch to turn something on, you do not want to think for a minute if you have checked your supplimental vacuum system to be sure it works-- absolutley -- no you want to hit the brake pedal and you have vacuum to be able to immediatly pull over, get safe and save yourself and your vehicle investment. let the next question of "what will I do now that I'm stopped" be the second issue, the first issue is to get to the side of the road --- NOW!

You do not want to complicate this issue, you do not want to include additional items in your brake system that might fail, you do not want to include any electrical issues that could fail and cause the supplemental system to fail, you just want enough vacuum to stop and stop right away! OK, so now as I said before, there are 2 ways to do this and taking a risk of irritating those that do not subscribe to my opinion I'm sorry but to me, I just cannot see adding an electric motor, an electrical relay which BTW these 2 electrical devices have the highest failure rate in electromics-- no-- I do not want to include either of these components, a diaphram which is actually a weaker non mechanical device than most-- I do not want to rely upon a motor to create vacuum and a relay to control this motor when I need vacuum the most. At that instant, again it may never happen to you, but in that time when the rubber needs to stop the road I do not want to complicate the issue. I want a sure fire way to have enough vacuum to pull my 12,000 hot rod to the side of the road, I wanna ride that puppy to the ground and save myself for another day and the best way to know for a fact that you will have a second, a third even a 4th hit of vacuum to your power brake booster is with a resevoir tank suitable to provide enough vacuum. With 2 PVC schedule 40 tanks 4" diameter and 30" long, you will have 4-5 hits on your brake pedal with vacuum assist to help you bring your coach to the side of the road. No motors, no relays, no diaphragms involved just a second check valve identical to the original booster check valve and a wide spot in the vacuum line (the 2 tanks) and you have a safety device at your foot pedal-- ready to go anytime the condition dictates. There is no more reliable situation than that!

There are those that love their vacuum pump and I say to them, great! But do not make the mistake of saying a motor, relay and diaphram in line to your PB booster is safer and better than a resevoir tank because logic says that is simply not true. Only one additional moving part works for me. Does your vaccum pump work, to answer that you will have to test it. When yo need the system most, you will not be in a position to test and maybe find a problem with it-- when you need it, by golly you need it and every time a resevoir tank and a check valve will work. If the tabk has a leak, it will tell you by giving you a hard pedal when you are not cinching up on the seat so you can check out the problem BEFORE you have to hang your butt on the system! This, to me, is a reliable system, not a motor and a relay.

You guys who love to play with your coach, love to have rows of switches and wires that do all sorts of fancy things for you can just have a field day adding all that stuff, give me a coach that works no matter who is behind the wheel, no matter what switch is thrown, what fuse is blow, no matter what sequence or selection of things is done-- especially having to do with a safety device and I'll ride in that machine every time!

So for someone to say a vacuum resevoir is dangerous, is a faulty thought process or is simply not as reliable as a pile of wires and elcreical parts and hoses-- well I just think you need to understand the issues and draw your own conclusion. Don't blindly add "stuff" to your coach, to the safety of you, your family or your coach without thinking through it. I can lay out ct, you can lay out yours and we can politely agree to disagree without each of us throwing darts. OK, you feel your way, I feel mine and we can leave it there. Do not bring me a vacuum pump for me to install into your brake system, I will not take the responsibility! You will have to do it yourself. If you want a resevoir tank, there is a link on my "Information" page where you can make and install that system yourself very inexpensively or I will build and install it for you. Those are your options. I just don;t know why we have to go through all the emotions of downing each other because we have differing views. My opinions are formed after years of working directly only on the GMC. I have seen all sorts of failures, all sorts of problems and have had to fix them-- not just talk about them, bat around ideas and finally come to a consciences -- no, I had to make it work and thats where my ideas come from--- from the trenches!

So, when you read about someone saying their vacuum pump saved their life, think about what would have happened if the thing did not work in their time of need. That could have happened! Each thing you put in the path of operation increases the chance of failure-- that is just simple so don;t do that! So now that I've said my piece, look at this issue and do what you feel is best for you. Believe your eyes not just others opinions, use logic, use common sense and know the "KISS" system is the best for sure! OK, I'm done, so much for alienating myself from people, I just want everyone to have an honest evaluation and the facts of this issue without subjective criticism. Contrasting views are welcome but don't try and convince me of a differing opinion, I have been to this mountain!

Just took a break --- and I did it! Called ben our muffler guru, he said the lift was waiting-- he had the runway 'foamed" and all gauges showed 5 by 5-- there was nothing else to do that do it. I got in, fired that mother up, pushed the "R" button and the Allison transmission lurched the 23d into reverse and with a deep gulp I was pointing the most expensive GMC I had ever driven out onto the road! All of the work, all of the unexpected results, all that dreaming, doing, redoing and fitting and it all comes down to the first hit of the wheels to the road. Is the driver position good, does the driving feel natural, is the power useable, are the brakes useable, Craig said the sound of the transmission sounded awesome as it went through the gears following from behind!

Like riding your bike for the first time with the training wheels off, your senses are peaked. Like riding my Triumph for the first time after all those months straightening the triple tree and all that work fixing the damage from a hard hit, every noise every bump, every sensation was an attack possibly and needed to be thought through-- is it a problem-- should I be worried. It's all right at the top of your throat! It is exhausting peaking yourself to this level. I only had @ 2 miles to go but it was far enough to give you a sinking feeling if something went wrong---- but nothing did! Letting off the brake, no push on the accelerator was needed to let the chassis step out and man, when you do touch the pedal the coach is gone in a flash! This first thing I did when I felt the sweet acceleration is I hit the brakes and then the 4, 19" ABS brake system put me on a spot right now! The brakes were awesome-- the acceleration was awesome and as the Allison transmission started a light whistle you knew it was about to shift. I wound it up through 4 gears, going 50 MPH on a 40 zone I did not have a speedo connected so I no idea I was flying low-- Craig following me in his van told me the speed.

These pics are showing you a really happy camper! A crowd stood around as Ben guided me up on the lift

It looked mean, it sounded mean-- heck, it is mean! This is the real thing and there is no doubt of that, it's in Ben's hands now

our muffler guru is on the job. When we get it back we will have a muffler and exh.. system on the Kubota deisel generator and on the Duramax motor. Done, Fini, complete that part of this journey will be done and we can move on to the sewer system which BTW the tank is being built from our design as we speak. Exciting stuff for sure!

Such an outstanding experience, if I smoked I step outside for one! I could go home now feeling the day was wothwhile but hey, the fun of the day has just begun! More to do, stay tuned and hang for pics of the quiet ride home with the 23d!

Have heard the housing industry is on a comeback, realtors are saying if a house is priced right they are selling and I have to say the same thing about GMC's. I'm the "piano player" in relation to selling and buying coaches and as such it puts me in an interesting position to see both sides and help both sides of sales. Have had several coaches sell and come down from our "for sale" page recently. Low-Ride-Ur sold a couple of weeks ago and now we are looking at a sale and finish off (finally) of our own "C-130" " opening tail gate 25' coach.

. The coach as been neglected, the project at a standstill for several years now. Picking it up means we will have to shovel out the water damaged floor

. Hey, one good thing, it will be easy to replace the fuel hoses with the floor out!

. Stay tuned for more on this project picked back up.

BTW, if you are interested in getting a DVD disc set of the GMC manual & parts book, give Tom Lins a gingle at tlins@optonline.net, They are a great thing to have. His set includes: Maintenance manuals for all years, Dealer training tapes, Service Bullitens, Maintenance schedules, Wiring diagrams, Factory assembly manual, Onan generator service manual, Refreigerator service manual, Air conditioner service manual and many other useful manuals for the GMC. Man-- is that a deal or what! It's almost 3.8g of stuff scanned in high resolution for $30 w/ free shipping! You need one of these! Tell Tom hey for me, he picked up his GMC from here at the Co-op for he's "one of us".

I'm hoping to drive the 23d to the muffler shop first thing this morning, the rain looks like it will cooperate. Here is the thing up on the lift

Man, is that cool looking or what! That guy that spent $500,000 on his 23' coach "ain't" got this to look at! You'll not loose this puppy in a parking lot! Wonder how many heads I'll wrench around? It's still hard for me to put into words what these Duramax projects mean-- I mean this stuff is wayyyyy over the top! I'll take pics.

OK, so Andy gathered up his coach

, fired that mother up and headed out for some fun on the road. Watching the coach pull away from the fence was a true quality feeling

so much of our spirit had been put into all the work on Andy's rig, it was one of those stick out your chest with pride as he pointed the coach away from here

, out and down the road

. See ya Wednesday man! Bud also pulled out the weekend with his baby

, another good looking coach. Here is the install on his new brake booster and master cylinder-- cool grill hey

This is the coach we're still having issues with his 6 wheel disc brake mod, I'll let you know what we find.

Here's the custom dash bezel for the 23d finished up by Andy this past weekend

, here is the detail of the material used

. We are closing in on having bezel overlays with this pattern, if you are interested let me know & I'll get you on the list.

One more report has Mark's coach finally up on the lift for his new 455 roller cam crate motor, stay tuned for more on this project

As you can see, the rain screwed our work yesterday, after lunch we just shut the shop down-- you know, we would all shurly melt if we got out in the stuff! Because of the terrain up in North Canada, Mark is opting for a 3:55 diff gear change, should make this coach a real screamer! I just love outfitting these machines to do the job, what a blast!

So thats bout it for a start out of a rainy week, we'll all do our best to get things handled but hey, we need to get Mother Nature on our side a bit! Have a great day, we'll see ya tomorrow

A wet week seems to be in our future. We have clouds this morning that they say will get us wet by noon. Yea, I know we need the stuff but it sure cremps our style around here working in the open air as we are forced to do.

Andy left the ground heading to see some friends over Tampa way and is scheduled to be back around here on Wednesday. If you are on or near I-4 and Tampa watch out for a really good looking white Palm Beach-- He'll have a beer for ya if you pull him over!

Bud's *(&*^&%#&^&(%)^ 6 wheel disc brake set up is giving us a severe case of the red butt! Even after running a gallon of fluid through the system it still seems we have air in the lines. I hope to go back to basics, do it all again and solve this issue.

We had a very nice, very clean, very original 23' rear bath Birchaven come in on Saturday-- hey, where ARE all of these unbelievably well kept coaches coming from! I left the lap top at home so I don;t have an SD port to plug my camera into for downloading pics, stay tuned for shots.

RV Buddies is trying to get their GMC project coach going just as we all know, silly small things pop up to mess with you. Their air ride system is giving troubles so they are learning fast what it is to have and hold a GMC! Go to http://www.rvbuddiesonline.com/gmc-suspension-culprit-revealed/ and read about their trials and tribulations.

I have said many times that this daily pose is as much for your benefit as it is for mine and I have to say that is still true. I get in here in the morning after planning my day, answer the pile of Emails and then set out on organizing all I see has to be done while writing this. As the sun comes up over the lot, I look out over all of it out the window and brace myself for another one. Answering questions and talking about problems helps me get grounded on what is important rather than just spinning out in the lot beating on this then that I can focus a bit. Get orders lined up, what is coming in, going out and what has to be attended to fist, sec. and third. then the day starts and all bets are off! I never get to the bottom of that days bucket list but I do at least start off with the best of intentions so thanks for being a part of each days trial and tribulation.

Mark goes up on the lift today, if the rains will hold out for the install on his new 455 crate roller cam motor, stay around for that. Of course the 23d is on the lift now and has to come off to make room for Mark's coach. I want to drive it to the muffler shop but with rain in the forcast I do not want Ben working on it dodging rain drops , see he also works outside and as in Ben Franklins immortal words--"When it rains... you get wet". We'll have to see how that goes.

BTW, here is a link to some unbelievable pics, take a look. Thanks Steve F. for the link. http://tinyurl.com/yatvmg4

Looks like we'll get that and more today-- enjoy your day and know if you are not getting rained on-- we have it all here!

BTW, the 4 bag retro kit is being designed and manufactured working together with Jim K. Someone was concerned that we were doing this project on our own. Oh no, the GMC dealer network all works together for the community. Jim has folks that do a great job at manufacturing all of these special5ty pieces/parts. He also has people with computer software to stress test our designs, it's a great association. I feel when people work together great things can happen. Have had a couple of people post wanting to get in on a Beta program on this kit-- stay tuned, lets get a real production set built and we'll go from there.

As always, I push too hard making too optimistic a plan. We did have successes today, one thing I learned about those all wheel dics brake kits-- you really have to rough up the rotors every time you work on the system. Bud's brakes were scary, just about sailed though an intersection and that was after the new sensatized booster and new master. The dang things would hit right away but just would not stop the "bullet". Pulled the rear calipers off to bleed them, the bleeders on the calipers were on the bottom! Thats what you get when you use different parts all cluged together. Had some air in the calipers but I think the big fix was roughing up the rotors. Took 1/2 the day (time I had figured for other stuff0 to get Bud's brakes doing descent and we did make it!

Did not have a chance to get the 23d off the lift, maybe today. As soon as it vacates, Mark's coach is ready for it's motor swap. Maybe Monday. Andy hunkered one more night and is leaving today. I have a set of blinds & valences to install today. Supposed to rain @ noon, gotta get out there and get ready to rock when the coach gets here. I'll try and post some pics of stuff maybe tonight. Gotta go, have a great day

Yesterday blew through while I was looking somewhere, never saw it at all! There are just so many things happening here and they are going by so fast it's sometimes mind boggling!

Here yesterday, part of what filled the day were all of the projects reaching a milestone, some leaving, some getting going while others as I said reaching a milestone I just could not imagine until it was here-- I'll explain all of that

First for Matt, I'm sure he's pressed agianst his screen following the rebuilding of his baby. Digging deeper into the repair of the damage from his accident with a drunk driver, we took the pulling and pushing phase as far as it would take us.

, the trashed parts cut out and the original frame pulled out as close to correct as it would go, knowing we would have to go farther we had to bring back the shape as much as possible before---- cutting it all out

then adding in frame members harvested from the donor we again have the proper frame shape

Next, Jason will MIG weld this all back together and we'll install new skin sections. Andy inspected the work happy at least we didn;t have to go this far on his

while we got the final things on his coach done for his leaving today. Matt, the coach is standing up straight again

and looking good, still has a rather funning looking rear profile

but we'll fix that. Stay tuned for more.

Last night may be Andy's last stay with us at the Co-op

It's been a blast, I hate to see him take off but as all good things it someday has to end. We got Andy's dash finished up, seats in and all yesterday which included a lot of me but the time I feel was well spent and actually fun. Here is Andy's finished dash area

that came from this

to this

Thanks Andy for the opportunity to have such a great time bringing a classic GMC back to the top of it's game. What a machine!

Andy is finishing up on the dash bezels for the Duramax machines.

with the kalley cabinet insert watching he did the final touches on the pattern then the cut out of the carbon fiber look panel itself

(this is the back of the panel. This now puts un in possession of the burlwood bezel for Raymonds 26' and Ken's 23d carbon fiber panel, stay tuned for views of them.

As I was leaving last nigh, Kevin gave me a rundown on the next step on Matt's body repair

, I closed down the shop with great anticipation on my next stop. Nelson has been prototyping his butt off on the fix for the early 4 bag system adapting it to have the features we have in our new Quad bagger. Pulling in to his place on the bike he was up on his shed blowing leaves where his 2 coaches sit. It was dusk so we needed a flashlight to see his work and there it was

He had the bag on the right empty with the one on the right full and holding up the coach

, the right wheel is off the ground! The bags turned with the ait lines to the outside, bags pressing together on 2 pieces of 3/8" steel bolted and supported together.

With both bags filled, they are lined up not like they were originally. "up" is @ 1/2" lower than before mainly because the gap seperating the bags is gone. This system used smaller bags than our Quad bag system so hight is hampered but down goes much lower. There does not seem to be deflection in the vertical member-- the main goal we were seeking. Thanks Nelson and everyone with one of these older 4 bag systems shouls also know this was done for you too. This is the prototype, we still have making a pattern, manufacture of a complete set then computer stress testing, failure analysis and some Beta testing before we feel good about offering this but hey, the first step is done.

OK, so now after covering all the goings on here at the shop I have one last exciting subject to tell you about. Something like probably how the kid strapping on his Pinewood Derby helmet and getting in his soap box after so many months and weeks of designing, dreaming and building. Maybe how Howard Hughs felt sitting in the pilots seat of the "Spruce Goose" with a pile of engineers and reporters on board, cameras rolling from the shore as he was supposed to taxi around the bay to check out possible flight soon. Oh you know he was sitting there saying "Taxi crap, I'm going for it-- my one time to impress and here it is". He just could not resist after so much work, so many saying it couldn't be done, heck even the government pulling the contract for the monster floating plane-- no matter, it had to be flown once-- and he did it! Like Bert Routan, like Virgin Airlines, like the Tucker, like of course the Wright Bros. but see they were successful beyond their wildest dreams. Exciting times, stepping out over the edge does not always go along with successes. Yes, the "Spruce Goose" was burned in a bonfire smores roast but it's a good bet it will never fly again and forget making more of them. Don;t think there will be a market for a pedal plane and to compare all of these defining moments I have to put this one in that category-- at least for me. Today with the air ride system in the full up and locked position, sewer system figured out, it now needs an exhaust system on the motor and generator. I am referring to actually pulling the 23d out of the lot-- onto the road and putting the rocket actually on the road! The 2 Duramax coaches have been suckled up to the shop discovering what it is to make a machine like no other. All of the work, the dreaming, the "what if's", the money, the "never done that" and the "you can't do that" all comes together maybe today because today, the 23d pulls off the lift a self contained unit. We'll plug in the "fly by wire" dash display module and brother, it is a moving unit! We have a seat (not the real one) bolted into place so no holding on to the steering wheel for dear life! Man, I'm driving it this time! It's a 2 mile run to Ben's muffler shop. It's a straight shot-- I think I can do it. Like Howard sitting thre the cockpit, looking out over that huge nose, looking at the water and saying "lets fly", I just might today sit up in the driver seat of the 23d and also say "lets fly"! It's just hard to believe the first of these 2 monsters are ready to run. Heard recently of a guy who invested $500,000 into a 23' GMC. Saw the pics and it looked nice. I shake the hand of anyone who cares enough to really go at a GMC restoration and obviously this guy has stepped out-- but let me ask this-- does he have a Duramax turbo diesel-- does he have a 22,000 GVW frame, does he have a killer ground effects/flare kit, does he have 19.5" aluminum rims and tires-- does he have a Kubota marine diesel generator and can he reach out and touch the stratosphere? There are great things, great features in any well involved project but brother-- this Duramax dream is one of a kind-- and we're now getting to the really fun part. Stay with me on this and feel the excitement-- I'll do pics! Get your kids and pets off the sidewalk, lock your doors -- I have not named the 23d yet, he's just starting to wake up--- oh ma, we're gonna have some fun soon!

So we'll talk later, we have Bud to get out from his intake crossover block, his brakes sucked so he's also getting a new sensatized booster and master cylinder, we have Andy to hit the runway, Kevin and Jason to work over Matt's coach and oh yea, we're ready to put Mark's coach up on the lift when the 23d comes off for his new roller cam motor-- like I said I gotta go, just too much cool stuff happening. Have a great day and if yours stinks just swing by over here and I'll do my best to help out!

Took a little more time than I expected to answer the flow of Emails this morning, it's great to hear from you guys -- don;t stop sending them but some days are filled more than others so it does make for a busy day when I get a pile. Thanks for the support on figuring out the sewer system on the 23d. This exercise will also relate of course to the 26' Duramax in that the "X" frame is also under that machine. In answering the question about how it will work-- I intend of installing a "lift station" style set up having a maserator to use as an actual pump to evacuate the toilet doody to the remote mounted holding tank. Hey, they do this in boats and trains-- why not here! There is no way to locate the toilet under the holding tank as they are in ours and most other motorhomes, we will have to pump it over to the tank. The GMC coach "Wind Dragon" built by Hunter Boats used this concept so after making that system work I feel this will do us well. We are going to use a toilet with a 2 gallon tank below it so you would not have to "pump" the thing each time of use. This will save on water. You might know these toilets as "recirculating" style, they were actually original equipement units on the GMC and other coaches. Connecting it to a maserator direct makes it work like a marine toilet configuration. It looks like we will only have a single tank sewer system. Originally we thought we would have 2 tanks but there simply is not enough room under there for such an infrastructure. These are the things you find out when designing something from scratch. Stay tuned for more on this, the tank size will be determined today and the tank ordered. We'll be using a polyprop tank design.

So, digging into the box---

I found it. The first east coast "Mac Dash" has arrived

I tell ya now, you just can't beat the quality work Mac & Shirley McNeal does on these custom dash packages. You can't beat the quality or the cost! Years of doing this has refined their skills, they know just what works the best! I rely upon their services and they know just what I want. Andy's dash area was waiting so I dug into the install-- I love doing dashes, something about it and after doing so many it just feels natural to be in there with all those wires. Andy stole my camera and took a couple of shots at me having fun

, from outside the pics were sort of interesting with the reflection of the trees making the back of the dash look rather busy

Anyway, how can you go wrong with quality stuff like this dash package, it all came together very nice

As you can see, it was dark 30 when I got to this point, a beer and a chilly ride home on the bike and I was in the sack resting up for another big day. Andy was hunkered down at the Co-op RV resort for another day and all was good for that day

Kevin has really been going at Matt's accident repair

OUr "donor" coach gave up part of it's butt for Matt's coach

but hey, it was a worthwhile donation. I'll do pics for ya today Matt on the progress.

We have Bud coming in for some preventive issues. He has heard enough about this cracked intake thing so he wants his checked and if there is a crack, he wants it pulled and blockoff plates installed. A great idea to increase the reliability of youe motor cause when you have the crack cause a problem-- it's a big one! He's also opting for a new electronic cruise control and some other stuff so stay tuned for all of that. If you are interested in the blockoff plate thing for your intake, give me a call, I can talk you throught the checkout and the job if needbe. I do feel it's a good reliability pickup.

OK, so the sun is up, I have stuff to do so I need to get out of the office and out there and work. Thanks for dropping by-- sometimes I feel I need to have a ending schene like Mr. Rogers used to have on his show-- maybe like the one Buffalo Bob or Cpt. Kangaroo used to do or something. "Happy Trails to you, until we meet again" might just have to work for now. See ya later

One thing about riding to work before dawn on a motorcycle in 45 deg. weather, when you get where you are going, anyplace is warm! It is exhilarating though and it's a good way to get my day started off well.

Yesterday was a good one mostly made up of working through issues on the 23d coach. With it still up on the lift,

we're searching for ways to install a sewer system for it's infrastructure. The problem is the basic structure of the frame, being a 22,000 GVW chassis it has supports on supports-- a real stout frame

which we say is a good thing but the problem is trying to figure out where to put a poop tank in the middle of all of this

. The bottom of the coach is filled up with support members, bars, gussets and whatall

air tanks, drive train components

it's just really busy under there. Here is the air syspension compressor wedged up under there too

and way back up in there behind that compressor was where one of the 3/8" air lines had a leak-- you know it was a press fitting! Man, I with they made it a bit easier to work on! Here is the nitrogen filled canister dual motor ABS hydraulic over hydraulic brake booster

with it's nightmare of wiring and computer modules-- a work of caution, DO NOT burry this chassic in the water, this booster will submerge and then-- well, life will suck!

Had a late arrival last night, a coach from the "Hammock" flew in for a nights rest

. Glad to see a fellow netter, enthusiastic drop by. His 12 volt electrical system has some opportunities! Stay tuned for whats going on there.

We have the 23d computer air ride system resetting itself overnight for us to start doing it's programming set up. I think I've figured a way to include a holding tank under the coach-- stay tuned for that!

We're getting pretty involved with the Fire Fight auto fire suppression systems here lately.

I know it's maybe not one of those exciting subjects but really, you need to look into protecting your coach. Really, compared to what is at stake, these systems are not really expensive. Hey and with getting an insurance break, they really do pay for themselves! Please look at this as another feature of your coach, give me a call & I'll fill you in on what we're doing. I'll have more on it on the web site soon so at least stay tiuned for that.

Looks like people are sturring out in the lot, I need to get out there. Have a great day, thanks for the visit and we'll see ya later..

Took this weekend to soak my head a bit and chill out I have a tendency to get "wrapped" too tightly and last week I think I made it to that level. I needed to step back from that brink, get back to the basics of enjoying the work again. It has been a difficult last couple of months, many pressures to deal with and I lost my way a bit. The main focus should always stay having to do with the coach. The rest of it all should take a backseat. It's difficult sometimes being so close the the issues to keep thinks in proper order so I went back to the roots to again find myself.

Today is windy and rainy so I think I'll take some time here with you guys. It's the inner core of people devoted to the subject that is healthy to talk with-- that would be you guys. I get very insightful feedback from folks on the pose here. BTW, it's "pose" not prose. It is one of those silly things but the name was supposed to mean for the time your are here, we "pose"

and show you the work we are doing. Yes, the page here may be "prose" but I didn't start this all out to be a literary venue though sometimes it may knock on that door. Pose-- prose, I really don;t care, you can call it anything you like. What it has become is a great outtlet to talk about, see and show things for the GMC enthusiast and thats where I want it to stay. I will do my best to not turn it into my own personal soap box, some rant column or a one sided left or right wing blog-- there are enough of those out there now. I should stay out of the politics, I was never good at any of that. Heck, I though Ross Perot had a few good ideas so what is my opinion worth! Lets not go there!

So Friday Jim M. came in to pick up his puppy

. Working with his coach was like visiting with a friend who had long since gone. This coach had been built and cherished by a good friens Clarance Buskirk. It was one of his personal coaches, not a stretch it was purchased after his death in 1997 from his son who said it was his last coach. I met with Clarence way back then in Marion in this machine just before his passing. It is just an honor to do a fer updates on this machine. We did a thru bumper trailer hitch and a new Quad Bag rear suspension on the coach

Like I said, it was a pleasure and an honor to help keep this coach updated and on the road.

We pulled Matt's coach into the "cooker"

building for it's body repair. More than just a fender tap, we have our work cut out ahead of us

Andy helps out by pulling the 90 MPH fix

that kept all the pieces together to get it here. Stay tuned for an awesome transformation, this coach as a documented 29,000 and change miles--- yea really! The interior is so original and in such good condition you can call it "new". The 1973 print designs take you right back to Rowan & Martin's Laughin! It is a true time tunnel piece and we're going to leave it that way! The exterior is going back "original" design right down to the decals-- colors, stripes and all. This coach will be like Andy's-- a great example of an original design machine. Can you believe it, we're doing to correct original restorations in a row! A bit of a departure from our usual, I still do have respect for the original design of the coach so what this coach come back together and back on the road with it's own particular style. It belongs to a young couple, the second owner having the first owner being Matt's grandfather. Yes, it's been in the family from the beginning, sitting most of it's life in a tool barn in Fargo. Man, what a find!

Friday night, Janie got tickets to see Leo Kotke at a small theatre. What a great guitarist! If you have ever followed his music, you have to give anyone at that level of their profession credit! If you like 12 string guitar solos, you have not lived until you have heard Leo!

So I spent the weekend soaking my head which Andy was happy to help with

. Hey, I'm off and since I WAS working on his coach, I concluded that having a refreshing beverage would be in order. Here is Andy's dash before messing with it

. Not bad though the PO took a paint brush and light grey paint to everything! Wasn't bad-- wasn't good so it all came apart

Sanding down the brush strokes became a real challenge-- guys, if you can, don;t take a paint brush to your dash, even a roller for that matter will really mess things up! So I got the whole thing down to an acceptible level after some new words and 80 grit sandpaper.

Now recovereing the soft pads with "pleather" I went about building back up the dash my way

Fixing all the cracks in the instrument "donut" I recovered it also in the pleather

So after a couple of days of taking my medicine, taking time to do something "my way" , I and Andy's dash are doing much better

We're using the shape of the dash and side panels to make an interesting design

We're preparing to receive a Mac dash on Tuesday so stay tuned for that. BTW, Mac McNeil has relocating himself and his business to North Carolina. Yep, he packed up his wagon (actually 4 trucks) and moved from California to the east coach. Good to have you as a neighbor Mac & Shirleytting the first "east coast Mac Dash" for Andy's coach. Stay tuned to see how that all comes together.

Kerry took out yesterday after a little tweeking

. He and Leanne really roll the wheels on their rig. If you have been to a GMCMI or WS rally, chances are you have seen their coach or at least you have logged into their WiFi signal at the rally. We installed his MotoSat "Datastorm" internet satellite system several years ago which he has made good use of to provide interset service at the club rallies wherever he goes. A real emissary for the GMC community I am pleased to help Kerry out whenever I can. He's been here a couple of days preparing for his spring flight back out west, north-- heck, I'm not sure where they're off to next!

The cool, damp day is perfect for starting up the week on a good note. No need to get stressed on getting too much done, with this weather there isn;t much we can do! Hey, we'll doing something though. Give me a call if you need something. Thanks for all the posts of support last week, it really helped me to just "forget about it". It's all good as they say, we're so blessed to be a part of such a unique vehicle, those that don;t have one may not understand and those that do need to remember how special our coaches are. So as a train, blows it's whistle heading south on the tracks near the shop, the rain making sounds coming down the downspouts, the grey sky still letting enough light trhough to let you know it is daylight and the sounds of Kevin, Andy and they guy next door talking about how good this day is for ducks, I need to stop plunking on this computer and get out there and be a part of the day. Have a good one yourself, it takes less energy to smile than frown so give it a try. The economy will do what it wants to, no need to worry. Gas prices will go up, the only question is when and how much so don;t worry about it. "We all live in a Yellow Submarine" seems to say to us just relax and "Be Here Now". See ya again soon.

OK, I guess after a stack of words like yesterday an explanation should come This venue should not be filled with stuff like that, I should not use this as a platform to air laundry but if you know me I just sometime be still when I find stuff going on. I should maybe but hey, what can I say...

If you decide to be a member of a niche group like the GMC community or any limited association centered around some object (car club, basketball team, home owners association, etc.) you have an important and awesome responsibility to support your small community to others within the group as well as without. You need to promote you august group, you should speak well of others in the group and not foster backbiting and divisive attitudes that make people feel not a part or down them to make yourself or others look good and play on their emotions. Clicks kill any organization, they do not perpetuate a club-- only help to slow it down. If we as club members in the GMC community don;t welcome and go out of our way to make possible new members feel "warm and fuzzy" about our group and our classic coach, what we stand for and how we promote our industry how do you expect us to grow! Such a thing is an awesome responsibility, we should always talk up members of the community. If you have an issue with someone in the community, get one on one and air the issues, don't throw it up in the backrooms, that makes issues much larger than they really should be. What message does that give to the "newbee", what image do you project? it's not a good one and you are doing an injustice you yourself as well as the community by dividing the community. If I got jiggy about this after only one issue you could call me an instigator but this is not the first time this has happened. I have several customers who after enticing them to involve themselves in the GMC community they reported that they could not have felt any more unwelcome and that is the problem. You might say, "well, we did this and that" but the bottom line is the subjective feeling that person took away was not good. Leave the soap opera on TV, we do not need that in real life. Truly be interested in promoting the community and make it feel that way to others, don;t just lip service the issue! OK, we now have a GMC owner of an awesome correct custom order white Palm Beach who would not go again to a club meeting on a bet-- that is a sad state of affairs. He loves his GMC thank goodness because club or no club he still has a perfect reason to have his coach. He is a "full timer" actually living out of his coach. He looks at the expense of renovating and maintaining his coach as a far better alternative to rent-- what a great concept. I have many customers who subscribe to this idea. In many ways, full time GMC aowners "get it" maybe more than those of us who only use our coaches when we go somewhere. These people should, I feel, be held up as real supporters of the classic coach and what they can do.

I support anyone who is nuts enough to align themselves to the GMC community, I do not speak badly about anyone unless they are in front of me or someone I have no problem with talking through my differences-- one on one. Yes, there are folks I do not agree with but they have a right to feel the way they do just as I have the right to my opinion and I celebrate that. So this morning I got posts like this one

WOW, someone really set you off. As the new kid on he block, I appreciate all your hard work. I always wanted a GMC and it's because of your efforts that I am able to get one and hopefully get it in reliable shape to take my family on trips. Keep up the great work and ignore the snobs. Love the daily pose and all your pictures that you post . I have learned so much in the 3 months I have owned my GMC from your website.

These are the folks that will keep our classic coach on the road, the new "blood" and make no mistake these folks are coming in. Our GMC is such a unique machine, this is not a dying industry-- it's an emerging one and for one I appreciate them all and want to do all I can to support them-- and we all need to!

OK, so there it is, we all are good will ambassadors for the GMC so we all need to take that responsibility seriously. When you go to a rally and there is a new person, go over-- introduce yourself and bring them into your "fold". Sit with people you do not know at dinner, make them feel wanted and appreciated because they should be. Make your club one they will feel they want to be a member of -- if you do not do this watch out because the club is headed down the hole! We have one of the most unique machines on the road, everyone appreciates them, be proud of our heritage and know the future is left up to us. Be mad at me if you wish for bringing this up, I would be mad at myself if I did not!

So Friday started out rainy, Gery delivered Low-Ride-Ur to Ed in Las Vegas where it was also raining. Raining in las Vegas, can you dig that! And of course there were a couple of water leaks! Dangit if "Murphy" didn't strike again! Go over a bump wrong and you spring a leak! Hey, we'll work through it, other than that the coach performed awesome as Gery said. Fantastic power from the Koba crate motor carberated. The Manny Tranny pulled it's weight so now we have another Co-op rocket on the left coast.

The dash bezel for the 23d is getting cut out by Andy while we wait to have Ben burn on his Honda generator exhaust. The holding tanks I had made previous for the Duramax projects do not fit--- bummer. Hey, it's the way it goes, we'll just have better ones made! I'll do pics later.

In the middle of bolting up the single rear exhaust system for the 23/350 project picked up from my buddy Jim K.. Nice stuff! Stay tuned for those pics.

It's almost mid day, I need to get out of the office and get to work. It is important, however, for you guys to understand my ranting. I am very protective of our community. There are many people who have worked very hard to bring the community to where it is today and an attack on one person I see as an attack on us all. Tell me another vehicle that has more going for it that a GMC, we need to recognize our community is really on to something, your coach represents much more than just your ride-- take comfort in that, there are just so many passionate people I have met in my years of the Co-op that I respect, to make light of their efforts is not respecting them. Not supporting the specialty GMC suppliers is hurting our coach in general-- pick the folks you want to do business with, support them but I suggest to not do that on the back of the other suppliers because we are all in this bucket together.

So, what IS a GMC worth and how much SHOULD you put into your coach to make it work for you? This is a question everyone has on their lips when they look to purchase and have a GMC to fit their needs. There are as many answers to this question as the proverbial liver pill and I will tell you that for whoever asks the question, their reasoning and conclusion is right. I will also tell you that however you answer this question, saying that others that answer the question differently are fools automatically makes you one! Sorry to be so abrupt but from where I sit in the scheme of things, I can relate to the reasoning in either direction and like the Italian waiter says when you place your order "good selection" I must recognize to each person they are right choosing whatever they do.

This is the great thing about the GMC, you can get into the driver seat of one of these puppies at an entry level and do just fine. You can invest under $10,000 and have a machine that will take you down the road in relative comfort and reliability-- and that is not a wrong way to think. I can also side with folks who understand that compared to any other vehicle they can purchase to do the same thing as a GMC will do, you can invest well over $100,000 and still spend less than you would if you were to go an RV dealer and plunk down bucks for something they have. Now, is that person nuts? Some might say that and I say to that person-- if they look down on the guy that invests $ to have a nice coach--- they are nuts themselves! Sorry bunky but you must rise out of your single mindedness and realize just how unique a GMC is. It makes sense to simply get a GMC running and drive it around looking like crap just as going at one and making it look like a new penny. Don't make yourself look silly and say to someone who invests money into a GMC wastefull because those people are looking at you riding around in your coach as a fool for not investing what they see as what the coach should have to get everything out of the investment.

If I have now totally confused you to the point you're not sure if you should be offended on what I just said please read that again. I see and help people every day who have a wide range of ideas about their GMC. One man has valves in their air bags, for example, and go pump them up at a service station and call it good to go while another person understands that having a working quad bag rear suspension gives them an awesome feature that they use every time they get into their coach. Both people will drive down the highway fine so which one is right? Like I said, they are both right-- in their own way. It's that way on about every subject having to do with the GMC. One guy thinks another is nutty spending more than $2000 on a paint job, the guy that had a quality base/clear paint job using SMC compounds to do body repair looks at the guy with the beautiful paint job complete with an orange peal that won't quit as nutty themselves! So that makes my point probably clear as mud, right?

Let me say this another way, do not apply your ideas about your GMC to someone else and their idea of their GMC-- you will look stupid to someone! Don't say my paint jobs here at the Co-op are "too expensive" because it makes you look like a cheap skate! Don't say someone is stupid for investing so little into their coach that it's hardly a reliable machine, that guy may like carrying around tools and working on the coach every time he stops. Some folks look at their coach as a full time "passtime". A GMC fits that bill very nicely, better than most anything else someone can have. These things will drive broken and there are many people who revel in that fact. Are they crazy or are you crazy for saying they are crazy. Grow up, know this world is a big place and there are many good reasons for owning a GMC. Either way you look at your coach, the answer is "good choice", you can drive a "slug" and enjoy your coach or you can fix it now and leave your tools at home.

So in ending this diatribe and stepping down from this soap box, let me say to those that say the work we do here is too expensive-- you are simply not thinking properly and you can take that any way you like. I am not presently buying an island in the Bahamas from the massive profits I am making from operating the Co-op, no, I am paying the bills to keep the wolves from the door and being here to work another day, if you think you can do what we do cheaper-- go for it man! If you think that we are too expensive on what we do, I will go so far as to tell you that you are the fool so don;t call me and don;t say to others things about me or my business, you show others just how shallow you really are!

Wow, did I stick my foot in my mouth with that one! Sorry, you just need to open yourself up to the bigger picture! I am prepared to help you at whatever level you are with your coach. Wether you just wanna get her going or want to do it up right, I can help you and I do not look down on either idea. We live in America and so we can do things anyway we like and a GMC is the perfect machine to do things one way or the other. Take my coach, it does not have an awesome paint job, it runs well and is maintained to drive. "The plumbers pipes always seems to leak", " The cobblers kids have holy shoes"-- both of those sayings relate to me. I mean what do I do with my time-- work on someone elses coach or mine? I sure wish I could do many things to my coach but the most I can find time to do is keep her motivating so don;t look down on me.

Thanks to those that have called and ordered the ending inventory speakers. More than making a "sale", these are parts you may not be able to find in the future, they are inexpensive and probably a good upgrade for your coach. I think those of you who do opt to update your original speakers with these are looking ahead. While they are available cheap, you may want to think about your position.

Well, I've blown my available time this morning about one subject and probably popped a few blood vessels in your eyeballs too, sorry bout that. You know how I am when I get going! Have had several people recently come by to just say hello, let me say hello right back. When you stop by I will say there are many neat things to see and my guess is you will enjoy your trip to see us no matter what way you look at us or your coach. So if you are around down here, come on by-- we're the newest Central Florida attraction and we don;t charge for parking!

Thanks for stopping by here today, hope I didn;t turn you off to us, if I did--- sorry but sometimes the truth hurts. We're here to help you in any way we can and I am working hard to be as cost effective as I can for you. We'll leave the light on for ya and a cord out to plug in, we'll see ya later.

BTW, in ending this bombing run think a minute-- the 23d Duramax is the second most expensive GMC ever built only outdone by the 26' Duramax. There is over $400,000 in it (yes, thats with 5 "0's". Are these guys nuts? Will you tour through either one of these machines when they show up at a rally soon-- you bet you will! I just delivered a coach up north the guy put a total of $3000 in-- and it made it to his place!-- is he nuts-- hey, maybe we could say "yes" about both of these guys. But both are equally smiling so put that in your pipe and smoke it! Contrasting opinions are welcome.

To all of you out in Quartzite, hello for those of you who don't know about this rally-- well, is it a rally or is it just a place people go! There isn;t much in Quartzite the rest of the year but right now I understand there are 25,000 motorhomes out there scattered across the desert-- Wow, thats cool! Talked to Steve F. last night who said he was heading out there today. Hey, Gery driving Low-Ride-Ur will pass right by the shindig, I'll call him this morning and see if he would like to swing by. If someone out there is reading this, give me a call and let me know where you guys are gathered. I understand there are some 25 or so GMC circled up braving the desert winter weather.

On a similar note, we have a herd of GMC's hunkered down in the Cocoa Beach Florida area over at the "hammock"-- hi to all of you. I think Andy with his "serious influence" coach will be dropping by to see all of you. He has been over at Jetty Park for a couple of days decompressing after the trauma of hanging out here in the parking lot. If you see him tell him hello for me and check out the finish on his coach. Also have him show you the 2 litre AFFF remote mounted automatic fire suppression system thats on board. It is the first, the experiment and the one that proved up the theory. I think you will like it.

OK, they are here, what I would call your last chance to have new original style front and rear speakers on the original grills.

These 3 1/2 and 4x10" speakers were a staple size speaker back in the day but today cars do not use this size speaker at all. It takes a "thin mount" reasonable sized magnet speaker to fit into our coach, these fit that spec. and actually with their strong construction and "wizzer cone" design should give you much better sound than the originals. Costing only $8 for the front 3 1/2" speaker each and $12 for the bedroom 4x10" speaker, these are inexpensive upgrades for your coach. If your coach is still sporting original speakers, you really should replace them. If your speakers sound bad, do it for sure. If you don;t, this is certainly an "ending inventory" and sure as they are no longer available you will need them and brother, you will be hooped! Give me a call, I have a quantity now but of course I do not know if I can get more-- yes, this time I am using "doom and gloom" to tell you to get these now!

Kerry is still here, we're doing some fluids dumps on his rocket today with a scheduled blastoff tomorrow. Jim M. coach has his new Quad bag installed, refitted brakes and a couple other things complete and it will be heading out this week. Mark H. crate roller cam motor is about outfitted and will be going in soon and big news, the "Tin Soldier" with it's hopped up 350 Olds motor ran in the cam yesterday with it's reworked carb. Still with open headers, I need to visit Ben, my muffler man for a single muffler exhaust system-- maybe that will happen today-- we'll see. The 23d is still on the lift while we scratch our heads on where to install holding tanks. Being an "X" frame rather than out original ladder type frame set up, putting in 2 holding tanks will be a challenge hey, if it were easy they would be doing it at Jiffy Lube so suck it up guys and lets get-r-done!

A beautiful blue sky out the window, it's daylight & I need to get out of the office and out there in the shop. We'll see ya later, go at your day as if tomorrow is speculative-- cause in reality it is!

"Elvis" has left the building! Andy took off for a couple of days to the beach to play with his new toy

. With the last touch on the body, his front needed some ID and though GM is really proud of their logos, we sprang for some awesome logo letters to dress up the front of his coach

Like I said, the cost of these 3 letters has gone up from GM to the point that if you have these on the front (and the 3 letter rear logo too) you have made a commitment to do what it take-- yea, but just look how it sets off the front end

He'll be back on Wed., I mean it's not that he didn;t have a blast hanging around here but I guess I do have to admitt there might be some other attractions to see in Florida! We are pushing to refinish his dash and install a couple of new seats-- follow that.

OK, so one Elvis left while another one goes up on the lift

Yes, we are at a point where we need to prototype the sewer system in the Duramax projects and step one was to get one of these puppies up on the lift. The 26' coach has so much finish work in it I did not want to put it up outside so Ken's little 23d will be our lab rat for this phase of these impossible dreams. Something we knew, something we said heck, it has to be but something that we have to admitt will be an issue on the Duramax coaches is the front body clearance to the ground. It just looks so dang cool, I couldn't help but bring the ground effects low, we had to build up the ranp on the lift to clear the front spoiler

Kerry stood, or should I say sat, watch as we got the 23d up on the lift-- kinda like those folks on the movie did while they dumped the holding tank! But we prevailed

and now after all the work above, we get to see what we have to work with below. I know at least 2 people who will be following this project very closely!

Mark's Crate roller cam motor is on the stand and in the middle of it's build up

, we will be replacing his 403 with our fire breathing monster 455 roller cam motor. 20% more torque than our 403 build, Mark wants the best & he'll get it! Hang in Mark, you will be on the lift after we figure out Kens sewer system.

Had some questions Emailed about the fire suppression systems we are carrying from Fire Fight with AFFF retardant. A question was, "What about the Halon system I had purchased previous". Have no fear, Halon is an awesome fire fighting agent. It also does not harm wiring and does not leave a clean up mess like those dry chemical extinguishers-- guys really, do not fire off a dry chemical extinguisher on anything you do not want to replace, the mess will usually do more damage and make a huge cleanup. If you have a dry chemical extinguisher in your coach, while it is good that you are on track thinking of your safety, you really need to better protect your vehicle investment. Call me, we'll set you up with the right stuff!

Halon will do the job, AFFF is a new approach which will do the job too. Halon is on the way out, stockpiles are going down and soon no one will have the stuff, Fire Fight is about the last manufacturer with stockpiles for the consumer. The next phase will be AFF and yes, this stuff does have some other positive things. I'm not saying to dump the Halon you have in favor of this. I am saying for those of you who have dry chemical extinguishers or nothing, this is the deal today and the cost is far less than anyone has offered to protect your motorhome investment.

Also remember in most states, there is an insurance discound for an auto deploy fire suppression system and the Fire Fight systems qualify you. Check into that with your insurance folks. You can probably pay for the cost of the systems in a couple of years premium deductions. Come on, you really do need to do this! I don;t need to use the pictures of burnt coaches to convince you do I? I'll have the package prices of the AFFF/Halon systems for the GMC soon, let me know if you are interested.

So it's Sunday, I'm feeling a little better (breath in, breath out). I have the guys from RV Buddies coming by to check out the Duramax projects for an article and some other discussions about their GMC project coach they have themselves.

Have been putting some thought into the name for Andy's coach. As you know, as these classic machines come back to life at the shop they all wake up and give me their name (don't worry, I'm not seeing ghosts or anything), yes-- I name my creations and even though Andy's coach might not technically qualify as a "total restoration" in the classis sense of rthe word (no interior work--- yet) it was such a dramatic transformation on the exterior and we did install (updating from stopping this this thread yesterday) install the last Honda generator,, a quad bag system and now after thinking about it a new Mac dash and refinish the diver area so I think the coach and it's plight in life have spoken to me and naming the coach does seem to be appropriate.

Andy & I have batted around several names-- first it was "Glowworm" for the outrageous green stripe on the white background but after thinking about it I did not hear the coach bouce that one back. Then thinking about the whole project, naming it after the impact Andy and his machine has had on the Co-op we thought through "Bad influence" after all of the dinners, beers, staying up late and morking like madmen to do small details that made the coach what it is but the word bad I felt was not a good work for a name-- you know, "Bad Banana", "Bad to the bone" maybe but still I like positive words. Then one hit--- "Serious Influence" because building up a correct retro spcial order classic style as this machine came out has influenced me to be interested in doing more "period representative" coaches alsong with the fact that doing what we have on it has eaten into my sleep and down time-- the names "Serious Influence" with maybe a plank to fill in an operative work in between like "Serious blippen Influence" might be a fit. Like previous coach names like "Blueocity", Orphan Anne", "Iron Man", "Gold Standard" and others-- Serious Influence seem to describe the legacy of this unit. It was just such a seriously impressive transformation --- see how the name Serious Influence fits? So with a little more to put in, that may just be the name that sticks. Let's see how it goes-- let me know your thoughts on this if you have any. Take a look at a few shots I made yesterday:

Had Mark from RV Buddies drop by for a visit yesterday

, had one of his camera guys there who said I smiled for pics like a kid playing soccer, we both saw the humor of that

so we gave another pic a go

-- guess he was right. Anyway, we're talking about partnering with the GMC project they have coming up which sounds liek fun-- something that is right down our alley! Stay tuned here and on their sight http://www.rvbuddiesonline.com for that. A great souce for all thengs RV, Mark and the guys there are a lot (did I get that right Andy) fun. We all know my issues about using spell check, "alote" bothers Andy-- and probably my retired librarian Mom to for that matter so let me at least give that one some attention-- thanks for helping me out with that.

Spent a little time on getting the 350 motor in the "Tin Soldier" set up

. It really is a beautiful thing if you can get into staring at motors

It's harder on a Sunday to find the piddly small things you need to finish of a project such as this. Lets play a game here, there are 2 parts missing and one thing rigged that need to be attended to before I fire the puppy up again-- can you pick them out?

here's a little closer pic

. Give up? I had a Q jet carb specially set up for the 350 and the 455 tailored cam the motor has. There are many opinions of doing this, will be interesting to see if it works-- a low RPM, high torque cam in a motor that creates power with RPM! Hmmm, lets see. It's is missing the 2 front carb bolts, a silly part but without them we aren't gonna go and the spring return for the carb linkage was too loose so we rigged up the spring mount to give it more tension temporarily to break in the motor last week-- hey, we can't let that out! Maybe today I can steal some time out to fix that up then we really CAN fire that mother up and see what we have! We also have no exhaust so we will have a "redneck lullaby" sound on start up and run-- can;t wait! Stuff like this, trying new things, is just what this place is about-- stay tuned, lets put into life an idea.

As you can tell, I'm trying to give the daily pose a little more time to help keep you guys up to date on our activities and our stresses. I feel communication goes a long way to help people feel "in the loop". We have several project going on all at the same time and the reality of too much happening and too few hours and hands to pass around in one of the realities around here. We have timetables and budgets we have to balance-- "many pie pans spinning in the air"--- so we try the best we can to keep that rock pushing up our hill. Thats what it's all about and I just want you guys to know we're peddling hard around here!

Kerry T. dropped in last night for some tweeks on his overhead cabinets, watch for pics on that project

On another front, we have installed out first AFFF automatic "remote" fire suppression fire suppression system into a GMC. Check it out

The head is attached to a 4' braided stainless steel line and mounted to the back of the motor over the bell housing to catch directly both the motor and trans

. The "AFFF" (aqueous film forming foam) retardant is a new departure over the past Halon fire suppression systems. Let me bore you a bit (hope not) and tell you about this:

When you dial 911 and call out the fire department to come by your place for a "wennie roast" while your house burns, they bring in the big truck and proceed to turn your house into a cake covered with white icing---- right? Well, thats AFFF. it is a water based chemical so the EPA doesn;t get involved in it's cleanup. It's non toxic, non corrosive like that nasty chemical powder stuff that destroys your coach if you pop it off. Being water based, it will not hurt upholstery or wiring and can simply be washed out and the damage due to it is very minimal. It does it's job by cooling the heat source because of it's water base them lays out a non flammable coating over the heat source and suspends that fire retardant material to lay down a thick heat and fire barrier-- a very good way to treat fuel fires especially. Another positive attribute for our motor compartment application is unlike the Halon which is a "clean agent gas", it stays on the heat source and compartment and does not dissipate as a gas does so the secondary fire is considered. We feel that even though Halon is an awesome fire fighting tool, that in our application maybe a new approach might be the AFFF for the generator and engine compartments and keep the Halon systems for the more enclosed compartments like the frig., furnace and electrical compartments where the Halon gas can be better contained. This new system uses a remote hose which helps solve the placement problem of the container-- you have a 4' radius you can mount the container. In this install, we mounted the container under the driver side hood to the side of the radiator support bracket. For you folks with Electro-Level reas suspension systems this is a great place. We'll have to revisit placement for the early coaches with the "Power-Level" system. So anyway, we are now offering these AFFF automatic fire suppression systems also have manual, hand held AFFF extinguishers available so give me a call if you are interested. Really guys and I hate to say it this way, we all really need to consider some sort of fire suppression systems, these new Fire Fight systems seem to fit the bill. You will be hearing more about AFFF and Fire Fight systems this year. Let me know if you need more info.

Well, my tongue isn;t tired from talking but my fingers are from plunking on this keyboard, guess it's time to get to work. Thanks for dropping by, sometimes I feel like Mr' Rogers and his house, guests dropping by, things being taught and interesting things being shown to the boys and girls. hey, that sounds like us and wither you watched Buck Rogers, Capt. Kangaroo, Mr' Rogers, Sesame Street, the Ninja Turtles or the Power Rangers, I think you know what I mean. We're all a part of the family-- won't you be my neighbor!

First, I would like to thank everyone who helped bring Andy's coach to where it is today. The guys over at NAPA-- yea, I see you guys over there-- thanks for bringing all those materials when we needed them. To all of you out there for feedback sending Emails, Andy's Dad for giving Andy support through all of this and his sister for getting John's computer up and running. All the rest of Andy's friends watching all this mess, you really helped keep us all together. What started out as a basic ,no frills project -- after Andy got into this, saw how good his coach could be and stepped out there on the long thin limb with us and just said-- well you know-- lets do it, this 1976 Palm Beach to me is without a doubt the most original, updated, refined, retro example of a classic GMC in full regale! I mean just look at this puppy!

Many times, things look better in pictures, in this case you just gotta see this thing in person! Kevin & I are in here this morning after a celebration party with Andy that I think we all hurt ourselves, Kevin is fitting the last part-- new fiberglass T skirts and I'm here trying to clear my head doing some final touches and trying to get a handle on the paperflow of this project. Andy is still knocked out in the coach, even Kevins dentist drill sounds cutting the T skirt brackets is not phasing Andy in the coach-- guess maybe we are better off than him! He's looking to pull out today for a run over to Tampa to see some friends then come back to get the exh. system for the Honda generator cut in. There always seems to be one more theng when you do a coach like this.

Yesterday was all about getting Andy done. We did have to break a little to finish off Ed's coach leaving for Las Vegas, Gerry had come in by train to drive Low-Ride-Ur to it's new home

It's a fond farewell to this coach. Low-Ride-Ur has been here for some time waiting for that right home. I know these projects all some day must leave but I get attached to these puppies having so much labor in them. Yesterday was a whirlwind having this machine leave as well as doing the final touches on Andy's-- I mean after weeks of coming in here, whittling on this and that, trying to bring one of these machines to it's new condition-- planning, sourcing parts, fit & finish-- a day like yesterday does not come together often. Maybe thats why we all let go so hard last night.

Craig was a real help keeping all the guys, me included, focused and getting it all done

Every job needs a good foreman and Craig does a great job here with us. We had some Co-op friends drop by yesterday for some needed moral support pushing like we were

John picked up a rare Onan part and we hagled on the price, he won

hey, it's just one more part out from under my feet!

, BTW, thats Gery on the right who came in to drive Low-Ride-Ur to Las Vegas. If you are near I-10, watch for him and the rocket! He's west bound and down today. Jim G. dropped by with his coach sporting an oil leak.

. We jacked him up to find his oil dip stick tube loose-- fixed him up and kept on task. Yep, you see it, the 26 Duramax was backed out of the bay to get Andy in for his alignment. This thing is nothing but awesome

I mean check out that real stainless steel grill!

The Duramax twins will be the next machines out the door and I know you'll hang around for that!

Andy's alignment after replacing all of his control arm bushings went very well. Everyone got into the act on getting it done. Eric loves to play with the huge air over 6 tom long chassis floor jacks we have

So the alignment went well, here is the pic of the final set up from our computer alignment machine

Check out the detail finish work on Andy's coach

3 process rechromed bumpers front

and rear

and those Palm Beach Logos-- Wow

. His Honda generator is in

, this pic is before it got wired up

Say goodbye to an awesome generator-- just breaks my heart!

So the day is getting on, Andy is still "napping" while Kevin pounds on the coach, maybe we should check on him------- Naaaaaaa! He's been through a lote here lately, let him sleep. Hey you guys over in Tampa, Andy may be in a little late this afternoon! I'll give him a note, it was the Budflu.

Like I said, thanks for all of the support out there, we're here doing this stuff cause you wanted it, thanks for supporting the Co-op and thanks for caring about our 26' hot rods, they are worth it!

No time, the day is on and between Andys alignment, getting the coach ready to leave to Las Vegas and all ---- gotta go!

Promises of a warm up have me excited Another nights sleep in JayGee, heck I'm getting used to it by now! So what is the criteria, how many days do you have to sleep in your coach before you call it "full timin" anyway? Janie said as we got home from dinner, "it's pretty comfortable in the motorhome isn't it". We'll probably move back into our stationary digs tonight, they're talking about temps in the low 70's today. Looks like I'll swap those socks from my hands to my feet now.

"The only thing guaranteed in life is change" and that addage is so true in our parts world. Here are a few that might raise your eyebrows:

o Carrier is no longer producing their line of RV roof AC units. Whats with that! After watching them for 2 years I had just figured out we needed to switch to them and no you cannot get that awesome low profile Carrier unit.

o So I call back over to Dometic to pick up a Pinguine with a heat strip-- you can no longer get a roof AC unit with a heat strip! Pretty soon we all will have to wear an inflatable rubber suit and a helmet to get the paper. Someone probably spilled their coffee in their lap and it was blamed on their AC heat strip-- chalk up another one for progress!

o Roof pods, we all know them, have to have them when we need to dag more stuff with us-- well Ameri-Kart, the main manufacturer of roof pods has discontinued that division and the roof pod I got for Andy's coach looks to be the last one I can get. While it's true many of our renovations do not include roof pods and ladders, still it is a nice option for folks bringing that proverbial kitchen sink. You can a cut down sleek "space case" from the designer pod folks just no more big. honky boxes for your roof.

o We all know by now that Honda pulled out of the RV generator business. I mean after installing a blue million of those puppies , folks finally agreeing that the only water cooled power plant on the market truly was a gem--- they're gone. Today in fact we will be installing the last new Honda EV-6010 into Andy's coach. His generator compartment is lined now

and today the last of that Mohican comes out of it's box.

o No more flush lights at your entry door. A silly part but all thats left are replacement lens for that assembly. There are interesting new LED replacement units but that funny shaped flush light had been a automatic part to use in a restoration-- we'll all have to go back to the drawing board on this one.

o Speakers-- now here is one that blew me away! Granted they are not much but it is nice to have that little 3.5" speaker in the overhead driver and pass. speaker/light assembly. Well, there is not much room in there for the speaker, not much also for the 4x10" speakers in the bedroom-- well, you need what is called an "OEM" thin mount speaker of which you can no longer purchase. I think I have found a case of them which are coming to me now. If your speakers are blown out and you have just been dragging your feet replacing them--- brother you had better cal me, I'll have some. The train is leaving so call if you want to replace those original speakers, pretty soon you will not be able to!

o Alcoa 16" rims are going soon, my feeling on that is now that Alcoa has discontinued 2 out of the 3 rims they made for us and is looking to dump our classic rims soon, we need to look at and support other manufacturers who will be building rims for us. Eagle has committed to produce a limited number of custom rims (not available through their regular dealer structure) for the GMC. With the cost already being 1/3 less than our old Alcoa rims, I sure want to thank Eagle for that and support them to show we deserve for them to keep considering us as a market. So with 16.5" tires now really hard to find, our original steel rims bending and basically not continuing to be reliable, we need a 16" alternative rim, one that looks like they will stay with us-- "Buy Eagle Rims" is what I say.

We all understand that as time goes on, there will be parts that go obsolete and whatever but this economy crunch has made manufacturers and suppliers look at their mix and drop many marginal selling parts. Unfortunatly, these many times are the parts we rely upon to keep our GMC on the road and in operating condition. There are hundreds of parts we have had to retrofit as in the case of out Firestone air bags. No longer available the community has adapted redesigning the older 4 air bag system to make available the dual and Quad bag systems. This exercise will continue and as special parts go away we will hopefully be able to keep up with those leaving and find new ways to skin those cats. Expect the cost of doing some things to increase because of this. Parts availability for a niche market such as ours is a critical thing because if we have critical parts that turn into "unobtanium", our coaches will hit the side of the road and that is a bad thing. This is the reason I keep calling for folks to support the specialty parts dealer network because without them your GMC would already be hurting! Don't get mad at us when you find cost increases on parts, trust me when I tell you it is not us thats fueling those fires. Dealers that do bump prices because the market will bear as those economists tell us to do are not helping the GMC community, in reality they are helping themselves to our parts problem and profiting from our misfortune. I say to suppliers, do not do that to us. I have no quams about exposing greedy parts suppliers-- right now we all need to band together to help ourselves--- to keep our classic GMC on the road--- to keep our investments alive and viable as a road machine. I did not get into this business to build museum pieces. I want my customers to drive their coachs, not to worry if the part they wear out cannot be replaced. So it's all up to you guys, support those that support you or one day you may find your coach not able to drive!

OK, that commercial message was brought to you be me! Yes, we sell parts exclusively for the GMC, this is our busines and you are our only customer. This economy has made everyone take a look at what they are doing and how they can be more cost effective. Us suppliers to the GMC community are being hit from all sides trying to stay in business-- we need you, we need you to put us in your loop on purchasing parts to keep your GMC on the road. There I go again, I'll stop now

Yesterday ended as we buttoned up Andy's coach for the big push tomorrow

Yesterday, the coach was put in "hover mode" as we all jumped on it like a pile of ants on a popcicle.

Jason get the front wheels and knuckles off to see just how bad his driver A arm was---

Thats pretty bad! Jason as a parts pulling fool yesterday, from dropping the pressure on the torsion bars

to just "gettin jiggy" with all of Andy's front suspension

he was all over it. By the end of the day his work was done. He pulled down both upper and lower A arms, replaced the bushings, we found Andy's knuckle and hub on that side of the bad A arm were out of tolerance and the lower ball joint was wasted. A pile of work and just like the 3 Christmas ghosts for Scrooge, he did it all in one day! As I showed before, it's time to install that last Honda generator and the compartment is about ready

. Yep, you see there the strut hold ups for the compartment. I am proving up the installation on his coach. A bit more difficult on the install than A.B.C.1.2.3! Today we have an alignment to do after all of that front end work. This means we all get to feast our eyes on the 26' Duramax outside. It's being stabled in my alignment bay-- stay tuned for that.

A bit of a long post this morning, I need to get over to some other paperwork this morning. I have several agreed value appraisals to complete which is BTW something everyone should have to protect their investment. Insurance on vintage RV's is very important and an agreed value appraisal is critical to that process. Gotta go, thenks for the visit. Enjoy the day, hug your coach and all that and do something to make this day special. Have Haiti in your thought, it could be you. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst and we all may be here another day.

Looked through the paperwork, it was David K. from Ontario Canada who "socked me". thanks man, is this sort of a sign like "hey, stick a sock in it" or something? I guess I should be thankfull it's not stupid cold like it is up there. Scott C. from up in the great white north up there tells me some of the things that you guys put up with-- I simply cannot imagine. Got a post from Mark H. up in Mt. McMurry Canada who tells me his family can't wait to get their GMC back to take them to sky outings and stuff. Snow, lets see--- thats something like wet, cold beach sand that mother nature pours out of her shoe right? To me, it's a sigh from heaven I am in the wrong part of the world when I see snow falling! Anyway, I appreciate the socks, they are working well as mittens.

So yesterday evening I kicked Andy's coach out of the bay

, we had been packed away in the metal building with the diesel turbo heater blasting keeping us warm as we worked. Buffing and assembling his body, it was time for the coach to see the light of day. I did the honors and pulled the coach out as Andy and the guys directed me back-- see I had no mirrors as yet so backing up was a bit on the scary side but hey, I'm always game!

Andy's coach has come a long way since it rolled in here, the assembly is coming along nice. Trying to capture the "retro" look of the original special order white Palm Beach means we need to pay attention to details like the logo compliment

The "AMF" does not mean Andy has a bowling alley in the coach, it happens to be his initials but I'm sure it will get folks guessing about the coach. He's also made another tire cover

but is thinking having "GMC" logos 2 times on the back may be a bit much, which one do you like?

Yesterday we mounted up Andy's new Zip Dee awning just before pulling it out of the bay. While they guys were finishing up some details on the coach I took Andy over to the 23d Duramax coach to teach him about his awning by having him help me wind that awning. Ken has not seen his Duramax with the awning deployed so this will be interesting pics for him. Zip Dee too on the challenge to modify an awning to fit the ground effects of the Duramax for us, came out really nice

Had Andy help me wind up the sping in Ken's awning to show him the operation

and how it all worked together

. I don't feel the original awning took anything away from the lines of the 23d, in fact I thnk it added to the technical superiority of the machine.

Andy picked up on the operation and after helping him wind up his awning he got his deployed and set up with no problem

Tody, we'll put his coach in "hover mode" and acting like a pit stop at Daytona we'll install his new Honda generator-- BTW, this is the last new, boxed Honda water cooled generator on the planet! Good by to an awesome part of our restoration combination, this is the end of the Honda generators as we know them! We'll also yank his upper & lower A arms, finish off his wheel wells and keep going on his exterior assembly. Will be a busy day for him.

Ed R,. "Low-Ride-Ur" coach is probably coming off the lift today from having a Manny Tranny installed

, we have a thru bumper hitch to install like the one we installed yesterday on Jim M. coach , we also installed a new Quad bag system on Jim's coach as well

. Much is going on around here.

OK, who sent me the Redhead socks? Hey, you don't see nice fat socks like this in Florida! Thanks, think I'll wear them on my hands! Had a call asking if I needed a windshield scraper----- actually this morning it would have come in handy, I used the cap of a coffee cup to do the job! You gotta laugh at us thin blooded Americans down here in the south, heck last night we had dinner and slept in JayGee again in the driveway at the house! Nothin to say but it's just cold down here. I know it's cold all over but guys, it's not supposed to do this stuff down here!

Hey Wayne, was cleaning out my camera last night & found this pic while we were working getting your coach ready for the trip to Bakersfield

For those of you who followed me cross country delivering this coach half done to Wayne in Bakersfield Ca., here is a pic he sent me of the coach after he had it all together ___(pic to follow)___

Hey and just so we don;t forget what Mark's Royale looked like, here is a pic of it still together

I found in the SD chip. This coach is going to have a radical departure, ground effects and all that.

Even with the cold, Jason was out there working on Ed's coach-- I say Ed's coach, you guys know it as "Low-Ride-Ur". Check out the motor all set up with it's reworked Q-jet carn and HEI dist.

The new Atwood furnace kept the insides of his coach toasty last night keeping his pipes from freezing. We did have a nipple break off in the fresh water tank from somewhere in it's past (the fresh water tank was original) but Craig should have that taken care of today. Some of you might say "Why am I telling you this"? Remember, you guys are reading over the shoulder of the folks who have these coaches here. Ed is eagerly anticipating his coach to the end of this month when Gery will drive it out to Las Vegas. Thats the real reason for the Daily Pose page, giving folks with coaches here a view of the workings on their machines. It is though a bit difficult for some which coaches down here not seeing progress every day. Guys please understand that with this weather and the fact that when the snowbirds land with mechanical issues after their flight south, we have an obligation to get them back on the road enjoying their vacation here in the sunny south--- Ha! Sunny South, thats another laugh! Anyway, it is difficult to move all projects forward each day, some will complete and go, others will come in get what they need and bug out while the other larger renovation projects also move forward, it's just the way the work flow is. We have to help all who come by the Co-op, bear with us, when this cold goes away (which is supposed to happen the end of the week) we will be moving faster around here.

Andy is already up with the diesel heater blowing hard. We're trying to finish as much of the exterior accessories as we can on his coach inside before we pull it over to Jason where the control arm bushings will be changed out. Remember his cracked A arm. Work on that, Ed's coach and another coach getting a thru bumper trailer hitch and quad bag system will keep us humping today. Stay tuned for news on those and on our work on the 23d sewer system, it's radiant water heat system (sure wish that puppy was working right now! and some other project still moving forward here at the shop. Gotta post some of the pics on the Sunshine Statesmen sigght from the rally, check those out isf you have a chance-- check out the "GMC Jepordy" game we played the weekend and the light system the Co-op built for the club. www.gmcss.com Gotta go, see ya later

Boy, the date today resembles a binary number! I bet many of you are probably tired of hearing me start out my posts whining about the cold down here-- well, as I'm sure it is where you are it is always the first thing you talk about as you lumber in to your breakfast place or pull off your jacket going into someones home-- well, it's the same for us here but I have to say moreso-- Yes, the Sunshine Statesmen had a rally this weekend and yes, Janie & I went. Lakeland, the middle of the state, Lazy Days in the middle of those huge mastadon motorhomes out there and it felt like they have brought back the ice age! You've heard of "well digger" cold, when it sustains under 30 deg. in Florida for a number of days, it qualifies for that prestigious description! Saturday was raining too which made for an interesting rally. But everyone was there, Andy & Dale made the rally good having crab races (yes with hear hermit crabs) and we had a round of "GMC Jeopardy" which really was a hit.

OUr Digital Atwood Hydroflame furnace made JayGee a warm friend for us. Sunday morning from the rain, the awnings over the slide outs on those monster motorhomes had frozen causing serious issues in retracting the slideouts for travel. 1/4-1/2 thick ice from the rain water sitting on the cloth awinings made those folks have to deal with their troubles with hair driers and whatever they had. What a mess!

Janie & I had a wonderful 60 mile run there and back the weekend in JayGee, the nights with that awesome furnace were so nice that after we got back yesterday we stayed last night again in the motorhome parked in the driveway at the house. Hey, homes down here are just not made to deal with this sort of cold. OUr house was built in the 20's, on blocks, wood frame-- it's been over 7 years since the furnace had been lit, well diggers moved into the place over the weekend! With a cord from the porch giving us AC we were just fine in the motorhome. Maybe you could say being ready for deep winter weather down here in Florida should include making sure you have your motorhome filled with LP and parked in your driveway! It was hard cracking the door to go into that cold house for a shower this morning, let me tell ya!

So we're hangin in around here, Andy is hold up in the paint bay, boiled peanut cookers keeping that metal building warm, he's out of LP on a low current power plug so he's watching his current consumption. Last night I came over to put a space heater in Low-Ride-ur to get the temp up for the work today. Was on the same line as Andy so I popped the breaker in minutes. Hadf to get creative with drop cords to get power from another source to heat the puppy. We're racing to have the coach leave here on Wednesday to get it to Las Vegas. Gerry P. will be the helmsman on that voyage-- wish him luck. We have a Manny tranny to install, service the furnace (don;t want to try and turn it on until then and a handful of other punch list issues to do before it heads out. BTW, we will have a new GMC enthusiast when Low-Ride-Ur reached Las Vegas. A custom guitar builder will be our new enthusiast. He currently has a Blue Bird he's just tired of having to lug around, had always wanted a GMC so now he has a nice one. I'll do some parting pics of this puppy heading out so stay tuned.

John, you're welcome and since I did mention Andy, let me say he's shown me what it is to be used to the cold. You guys up north are just6 better adapted I guess-- ahhhh, but let the heat roll in and lets see who can do work at 100 deg. in the rain! Well, lets leave out that rain but in extremes you do find just how resilient you really are. So I have no heat in the office now trying to heat up Low-Ride-Ur, under 32 deg. I'm hoping to warm the office from the PC and lap top running, I have the muffin fan on the lap top faced toward me-- man, thats pitiful! My guess is if we can get the guys to focus on Low-Ride-Ur and keep Andy's exterior assembly move forward I don;t see many other things happening. I have the owners of the "time machine" coming in today to discuss the exterior rehab of their low mileage machine, not saying we'll even pull off the tarp but we'll get the discussion done. I have several agreed value insurance evaluations to finish up so if the office will warm up from the computers I'll live. You snowbird down here are probably snickering at us southern reptiles trying to keep our body temps above icewater-- ha,ha, very funny! All of this will pass and we'll get back to global warming which sure sounds like a positive thing right about now.

So try and keep warm today, I think America has turned into a popcicle today and the best we can hope for is to keep our feet dry cause the cold is here to stay for a bit! Watch the sunshine Statesmen web site for info in the rally www.gmcss.com , I'll post that stuff when I get a chance, maybe tonight. My guess is we'll be living in JayGee on the driveway until further notice. Who knows, maybe we'll get used to this-- does this make us "full timers"? Maybe we can just rent out thehouse and live in JayGee------ no, I think we'll keep the house as a backup!

BTW guys, I have dropped one of my Email addresses, the "bellsouth.net" addy is gone and all posts there will go into space. Send any correspondence to coopmotorworks@yahoo.com . Sorry bout missing a post if you sent it to the other addy.

There ya go, I get the day going and the last thing on my mind at that point is my computer I was out in the shop till way past dark 30 yesterday so here are some pics I wanted to post then plus some more interesting thing.

Andy has taken on some of the issues himself in finishing the assembly of his coach

He's bagging off the rear frame, sanding prepping them "foofing" the rear frame section with a satin black finish. You ask, what is "foof", thats a highly technical term we use in professional painting for back painting with a spray can paint. In this case it is self etching, trim black-- very cool stuff. You can find it at your automotive paint supply shop under the "SEM" brand name-- remember to look for "trim black", you'll love the stuff!

Over to the mechanical bays, Mark's crate motor arrived all wrapped up

, we should be able to unwrap it and get the motor stand out for building it up. Tony's bodys are back together

, he's going with the new "dual bag" rear suspension when he puts it all back together

. This system complete for all 4 wheels is $750 which is less $ than buying 2 new original bags from those that feel the need to sell them at inflated prices. No, we no longer sell original air bag, don't call me for them anymore. This new dual bag system not only retrofits to new currently available off shelf air bags, it works just like the original bags-- a really good substitute and upgrade retrofit.

As I was talking about yesterday we were going along finishing up the undercarriage on Andy's coach when Jason did a "Hold On"! Here is Andy's driver side lower A arm and ball joint

You can clearly see the crack across the A arm at the ball joint top nut. While it's true it looks like it had been that way for a while and he did drive the coach down from way up north you know that if we were to know it was there and leave it he would be on the side of the road pretty soon-- Murphy would take care of that! This factoid will stop Andy from making the rally this weekend so he and Kevin will stay behind continuing to put together the exterior of the coach.

Check out this coach from a timetunnel somewhere

An early 73 model, a Canyon Lands 26' coach with only 29,000 original miles! Yes, thats real mileage!

Original paint, the decals are still vivid! Original interior undamaged the fabric is still clean and vivd as well! Was the new owners Grandparents, sat in a machine shed in North Dakota most of it's life-- bones stock original-- just a flippen perfect machine, only seen one coach with lower miles! You say why is the coach in here if it's that nice

Well, the last pic kinda shows the problem-- a drunk driver decided to customize the rear end of the coach, not one of his better ideas

This pic does not give the custom work justice, looking down the side you can see the issues a bit clearer

Can you believe the window did not shatter, look at the stress it is under! Oh yea, they did a good job ion this puppy

and thats the terrible part about this-- a perfect machine being lovingly kept all that many years gets wacked unceremoniously, just a shame! So I might just turn into one of those "purists" after finishing off Andy's coach in the original retro style and then this puppy. We're looking at bringing the exterior back to total original-- heck, it's worth doing on a coach like this! We'll get more details on the project on Monday. Matt, the current owner is one of the 300, he's a "poser" checking in often here to get his GMC fix. Can't wait to turn this baby back to awesome!

So we're taking advantage of the warmer weather today, Andy is back inside getting body mold, window rubber and Kevin is a buffing fool going at his new paint. Janie is packing up JayGee for a weekend at Lazy Days at the Jan. Sunshine Statesmen rally and I'm in here holding down the fort. Call if you need something, I'll be on the cell phone Saturday and back in the shop for Sunday. Thanks for the visit, thanks for your support and thanks for caring about an old motorhome enough to bring it into your life.

Dang, I left my camera this morning Janie will bring it in and I can show some pics of the ice box down here. No need to talk about the cold. Broke bread last night with Andy, Janie, Andy and I went over to a local place (Fish on Fire) had some beers and talked about his coach and all of the loose ends we have to finish up. I found out we have a new "poser" John, Andy's Dad following the progress on Andy's coach so along with all the other friends Andy has watching here I want to say hi and thanks for dropping by and watching all the stuff we're doing around here.

I had not looked at the daily pose as much of an attraction to anyone except us crazy people fond of the GMC. Guess this might also be good entertainment for others though. I mean how involved can you get over a 30+ year old monster hot rod anyway-- guess here folks can answer that question!

Like I said I have some pics in the camera so come back a little later in the day for those. In the meantime let me tell you about some of the things happening around here.

I was just poking around under Andy's coach up on the lift while the guys were finishing up the body pads and maserator system on his new holding tank. Jason said come check this out and low and behold, Andy's driver side lower A arm was cracked bigger than crap right at the top nut on the ball joint. Looks like it had been that way for a while-- Wow, how did we miss that! Our plan to show off Andy's coach at the Sunshine Statesmen rally this weekend is gone! He might be able to baby the coach over to get some LP for his furnace but beyond that I cannot allow him to drive his new paint job anywhere. Hey, a perfect example of why we need to take our "blinders" off when working on these coaches. Andy had no idea of this trouble, we did not see it when shaking his suspension, now since we are going into his suspension pretty deep, all of his A arm bushings on both sides of the coach need to be attended to, his ball joints can now be checked with the suspension apart and with all new parts there we'll do an alignment next week that should end up giving him a great ride home. Hey, it needs to happen!

Even with the cold weather the guys are pressing forward getting stuff done. The galley cabinet in the 23d (Duramax) is getting it's final fit after insulating the generator compartment. Mark's new 455 crate motor arrived so plans to yank his 403 motor to put this monster 455 power plant can now move forward. We got in the quad bag system for Clay's coach with his thru bumper receiver hitch looking to arrive early next week. Marylin can in yesterday for a new water heater and when she pulled in there was a funky sound coming from hor new roller cam crate motor. Turned out her alternator gave up the ghost, bearings went out and the fan blades on the alternator were hitting the case-- all I can say is I'm glad she made it in and we have the technology to fix it while she was here. If you will remember we did a new crate motor, Honda generator, double "J" sofas and a 3 color paint job on her coach some months back.

More and more coaches are getting big face lifts, the thing that is driving this business is the simple fact that putting good money into a GMC is not throwing good to bad-- this renovation work is bringing the GMC back from the past into today's use. It's doing this for far less moola than the RV industry says you must spend to play their game. This fact is what is driving our business, making the GMC a more than viable option to get out there on the open road and travel with style. If you haven't done it in a while, check out our gallery page and see some of the things we are doing with the GMC platform. You should feel good in the knowledge that you are truly not alone with your GMC experience.

Kevin just came in and said the weather man was calling for snow fluries this weekend! WHAT-- snow in Florida? Wait, what happened to global warming-- I'm looking forward to the polar ice caps melting at this point, maybe I'll have ocean from property in Orlando AND no snow down here! If it snows down here it will be akin to pigs flying, the Tampa Bucks leading the NFL again and the flat earth society getting some scientific evidence-- snow in Florida is obscured!

Well, I think thats enough fooling around for now, the sun is up and with Kevin here we can get going on some work. I need to get out there in the cold and do my share today and with the rally coming up this weekend I need to make sure jayGee is ready to sustain us for a couple of days. Snow-- wonder if I'll need to get with chains! See ya later and come back thisafternoon to see if I could get to posting some pics from yesterdays madness around here.

OK, ok, I know it's cold up north but thats why I live down here! I thought "Sub-Tropic) meant we should not see this cold stuff! Got a post from mark H. , the next coach going into paint-- he lives up in the seriously cold part of Northern Canada and he says 0 is just playing around, said he would rather have 50 below-- at least you know for a fact it is cold. You betcha, thats true-- 50 below is below cold! Good thing he likes that stuff cause we're happy to shovel all of that cold stuff right up there to him! Man, it was cold this morning-- 24 deg. wind chill.

Kevin has my turbo heater warming up the metal building to we can do some body assembly on his paint job today. Founds a cracked A arm on his coach this morning on the lift so we're out of the window trying to get his coach to the rally this weekend-- no way! I'll show ya pics on that tomorrow but his driver A arm was cracked from the top nut on the lower ball joint-- cracked badly too! He's putting the final touches on his new maserator system while on the lift. We're doing his body pads, his old ones were crushed into slivers!

1.5.10"Who let the dogs out", who left the door open, who turned down the thermostat somebody did something cause when is gets in the 30's with a wind chill-- brother thats cold for us cold blooded reptiles down here in the swamp! Yesterday was a shiverfest-- can't paint, the stuff won't kick, can't use sealant, won't skin up and heck, how much work can you do with gloves and 3 coats on anyway!

We have some timetables we're working with trying to get things out of here. Andy is being the trooper he is running with the pack with all of our heads twisted off trying to keep the work flow going. Put his coach up on the lift yesterday to put in a new holding tank, found his body pads crushed, the PO had an electric fuel pump in the main line to the motor (bad Juju) and we had to make some exec. decisions on some suspension work to hold off on to keep us on track. Thats always a hard one-- as Bob Segar put it "what to leave in, what to leave out--- still runnin against the wind".

Craig & Eric just rolled in with their parkas on, Tinkles (Kevin's dog) looks like a Siberian Husky walking around out there and my feet are just cold-- can't say it any other way! I'm just cold!

OK, we gotta keep falling forward so the guys are out there and I need to be out there too if for nothing more than moral support. Supposed to get up in the low 50's-- still dang cold to me and we're talking about the 20's tonight-- oh come on man, what did I do to you guys up north, stip sending this stiff down-- we're just not prepared for this level of fun! Yea, I know Scot is probably cracking the vinyl in his seats up there in Toronto and I betcha Martin D. is going to tell me the oil in his plane has solidified-- I'm there too!

We have a rally this weekend in Lakeland-- might change the name to "frozen lakeland", wonder if you can rent skates over at the RV park at Lazy Days? We're in the landing path for all those "snowbirds" coming in for a landing, Jim G. has called for a landing vector, folks are just dropping by for a visit and I appreciate you all thinking of us. Fred W. dropped by, he got one of our project Koba motors way back and has had a great time riding with it, thanks for dropping by. Saw Max Pardy a couple of weeks ago, you will remember him holding Buskirks together till the end-- he's retired now and is in the "snowbird" ranks now. Winter down here is interesting, seeing all of you dropping by.

The sun is out and looking through the window from the warm office you have no clue how your nose would fall off standing

Yep, they were right, another day in the 30's in Florida means you guys up north are getting hammered! And it usually is the case, if we are cold down here there is certainly someone somewhere north of Calgry with their back door open-- that must be you Mark, so what gives man!

Pulling up to the gate this morning just after dawn with the condensation from my breath creating a white cloud, Andy's coach gleaming in the cold crisp morning looked great

No matter what's going on in my personal life, I feel this irresistible urge to go over to the shop if not for anything productive to answer Emails and organize my thoughts-- so I'm here!

Got over to Nelsons the other day to pick up the boat after putting it in at the county ramp and docking it at his place -- I figured we would use the thing on and off after taking all summer to get it going. Yea, right, boating at under 40 deg. in Florida is only for some dedicated boater which I am not. So it was off to Nelsons bringing Andy as the "gopher" to bring the Suzuiki dragging the boat trailer. It sorta looks funny, that litte truck pulling a boat longer than itself-- you do get looks! Fitted the waterproof cover now that I have something to keep dry. Not would I would call a great fit, the center pole is a real pain

Nelson is on the trail to a fix for the early style 4 bag system. An interesting step-- get the bag raised to bring down the air pressure

Before the hardware is completed even, he has one air bag where it needs to be-- you can see how small modifications make a huge difference. Nelson is not only having a good time exercising the creativity that put him where he is today, I appreciate his efforts-- Keep it up man!

I think the best thing you can say about today is it came after yesterday Yep, 2010 is a new year-- a new decade and NOT 2009! Don't know about you but I could have done just fine without some of the crap we all waded through last year. If not, hey I'm sorry to have concerned you but my guess is I am hearing a loud "Ah Men brother" on that one. As it turns out, today actually is pretty crappy in comparison though when you realize it is turning cold (10 deg. from this morning) , it's misting rain, grey and dreary. Makes ya wonder why I would call today a good one-- it is in that there is no use but spend a quality day at home with Janie and my son John who will be going back to work next week in Arizona. Guess you could then call this a good day. Glad we've got that straightened out and now I can tell you guys about some exciting stuff happening now and for the next couple of months.

She Lives! Check it out, an Olds 350 living in the engine compartment of a GMC!

Yep, it's a little brother-- The pic shows it runnning-- you'll have to take my word for it-- We're going to groom this little killer to do some hopefully successful things. I've been told this would not work, and I do not "disbelieve" them on that but hey, as the line went on a movie I can;t remember the name of-- "so if there is a 99% chance you will not go out with me means there is a 1% chance you will--- worth giving it a try! Sometimes jumping around out there on that thin limb does pay off and even if you have less than stellar results you can rest easy in the knowledge that you gave it a try and really that too is enough to give it a go so thats what we're doing.

In contrast, here is the monster built 455 in Ed's coach with it's intake manifold off

Note the red glyptol coating on the valley of the block

Let me explain, this is a coating we painted the interior of the block with to act sort of like Teflon in a frying pan. Drew Koba built 3 identical "super motors" to test out our engine design theory. -- these 3 motors to me are the top of our scale at that time. What I mean is if you want to know everything about how to build a reliable, dependable custom purpose built motor you have to experience both sides of the scale. it's not hard to experience the lower end of the quality scale when it comes to motors, the tough one is to gain knowledge from the extreme other side of the coin (no pun). There are 3 people in this country who have motors that were built MUCK better than they had to be as we worked our way up to the crate motor program we have today. What Mark H. will have the benifit of when his long block is delivered on Monday, these motors were our "benchmark" maybe would be the best explaination. Jim W, Don T. and now Ed R. are the owners of these 3 motors. The glyptol is one of the unique things, one you could see. As it turns out, comparing the expense of doing the coating, the fact that we are pumping through a high volume oil pump and we're not caring if the oil takes an extra couple of seconds to roll down the side of the engine block walls, we opted to not add to the expense of our quality crate motor by doing this process. There were of course, many other things we did retain, most I could not show you in a picture but things ythat make our crate motors really something to have. I spent a little time today on this but I really think (not just cause we offer these exclusively) but because after having over 60 on the road the motors themselves have proven their merit. Yes, there are problems like you have in any program but all in all when we get one of these music grinders making music, it's a beautiful thing!

Watch for Mark H. 455 crate motor coming in on Monday and watch the 403--455 motor swap.

This brings up another issue. So if any of you guys out there have always in your heart of hearts have always been interested in having a high end, direct port fuel injection system with coil packs, a lap top programmable and monitor system on your 455 Olds motor-- brother we have a deal, actually 2 deals for you! We are digging into Ed's motor specifically to swap his motor over to an original style carb and HEI dist. Here is the 455 intake

with the drilled out ports for the 30lb. Ford Motorsports injector set

we're pulling out the system-- some would ask why? We are doing this as we helped Don T. with his monster motor for one good reason, they opted for less performance and more ease of service. Make no mistake, this direct port fuel injection system has much to talk about and if some 2 of you out there would like to buy a $4000 awesome system we have 2 systems here for 1/4 the original cost. Getm while they are hot!

it's all in a box

and waiting for you

give me a call.

OK, thats enough for you motorheads-- lets get over to some other cool stuff, how bout Andy's paint job. Andy has been a real trooper, having to live in his coach while we are doing his paint work (Andy is not only a "full timer" in his coach, he lives in it on the road or at home.

So as Kevin pulls the tape we see what it's all been about

It's been a long trip from this

to this

. All that breakdown, body repair, sanding, priming, blocking, bas and clear here is the fruits of the labor

and Andy likes it

Now look at that pic, thats a happy guy-- no troubles he's got what he needs and now we'll work together to put the coach back together. Stay tuned for it's finals. We're installing the last known water cooled Honda generator on the eastern seaboard into Andy's coach, also he's getting one of the last roof pods--- yep the main manufacturer for the conventional roof pods we all are familiar with is gone so the new pod you see on his coach is another "last Mohecan". Hey, I'll give you another one, you can no monger purchase a new Carrier roof AC like the one we installed on his coach AND no one in the industry is making a roof AC with a heat strip -- yep, this means you have a furnace or you use a portable heater! Andy has to offset these "last ofs" with the new Eagle Rims with Kuhmo tires and our all new Quad bag rear suspension. Gonna be a really sharp coach, stay tuned.

On the Duramax front, Steve has been finishing out the generator compartment in the 23d coach

The Kubota diesel generator is working now, we are now insulating the compartment from heat, sound and fumes. The opening at the bottom is to quickly check the oil. Stand by for the finish look of the galley. We also got in the materials for the carbon fiber look dash bezel on the 23d. We have to find unique materials suppliers

We had specified a carbon fiber look plastic material to cut out for the dash bezel. We also hope to pattern and have original carbon fiber dash overlay panels from the same material-- give me a call if you are interested in one-- I'll show pics of the material tomorrow.

After a hard search, we've found the set of bogy pins you should use

Our new pins are heat treated and hardened steel with 2 crossdrilled grease holes right on the bushings

and with the spiral cut bushings you will easily be able to keep piles of grease on the pin

Tony, these are your parts, we should have yor bogys together on Monday-- give me a call.

It's getting late and I'm just not as interesting in the evening as I feel I am in the morning so I need to end this first post of the year-- the new year-- the one we have to do our best-- to make things better. Happy New Year to us all and as Tiny Tim says" and God bless us every one". See ya again soon, stay warm -- heck we're going to be in the 30's Brrrrrrrrrr! See ya then

Is it the day before new years, new years eve, day of-- I know it's not New Years day yet-- it's all starting to run together all I know is I'm here, Kevin is here nad the bet is the guys will be here and the hope is we'll get some things done. Around me suppliers are closed for the holiday, not shipping til the first and all of that-- I just fall short of getting so involved that I forget the "prime directive" of keeping the shop fires going!

Speaking of that, we have more going on the Duramax dash project

. Here is the 26' bezel fitted, this gives us the pattern for the 23d dash bezel with we have the "carbon fiber" material supposedly coming in tomorrow-- yea, I bet the supplier will be shipping and recieving tomorrow! As soon as Kevin gets Andy's coach in clear he'll get back over on the fitting and finish of the structure. Pmar is stitching a new memory foam mattress for Gery and will pick up the dash structure for covering when he brings in the mattress. Thats one problem we have, my specialty workers do all my work themselves and with them having only 2 hands we work at the pace of their hands.

Andy was like a kid waiting to ride his new bike as Kevin said "come on in" after he got the white base on Andy's coach

so as he pulled the bag off the stripes while Andy fumbled with his camera

to get that first shot at his new colors. Now you can see how that lime green was used

The small color went on first, the the darker green then the white and pulling the tape on the stripes is one of those pleasurable things Andy just had to be a part of

Keeping a fire going as the base cures

, this is the final color

, no gloss yet but this will be a reproduction of the special order white Palm Beach that was available. Being base/clear the finish will not be the original, will have much more gloss and shine. That's fine, it will still have it's original look and thats what we are seeking to capture. The temps look like they will allow the clear to be shot today, wish Kevin luck on this work.

It's been some time since we reported on this project, it had been pushed back so many times because of pressing matter but we had a bit of a window so I had Jason jump back on it trying to get the puppy fired up. I'm referring to the 23/350 project. You might not remember but in the pursuit of the definition of the word "performance" , we have decided to step out the other side of the sand box looking at reaching economy the way they tried back in the early 80's. Here is the Olds 350 motor laced up into a 1973 23' body

. We have a Manny trany with a 410 ratio diff from Jim K. . We're looking to intersect the aerodynamic and mechanical efficiency curves to meet to produce an "ecomizer" coach. The coach found by Larry C. in Denver

we have named this puppy "Tin Soldier" for it's performance driving to Florida. Larry rode with me and the critter ran pretty much flawless with it's original drive train (other than the 9 quarts of 50 weight oil is gulped up on the run. I'm always looking for the different path so lets just see what this idea brings us. Stay tuned, the motor may fire up today!

So I just got a call from a customer just recovering from an accident with his coach, looks like some serious body damage, wants to have the carcus towed in to us soon-- so watch how a repair like this goes.

So we have a clear, sunny morning-- temp in the 40's but with hopes the sun will do it's thing and get us into spraying temp we're off and running. Had a guest staying at the Co-op resort last night with Steve Blackburn;s 23' super coach-- if you remember that awesome looking 23' rear bath that made the Raine GMCMI convention way back-- it's good to see the coach again. Steve passed away a couple of years ago and we lost contact with his coach. There will be these coaches out there long after we all go to our reward, they are timeless and as interesting to the next generation as they are to us, don;t forget that!

Something I think I need to cover if not for the new people coming here but to remind you old timers and thats why I mispell so many words, use run on sentences and basically butcher the English language in general here on the daily pose. Over the years I have had people stand up during say a talk I would be doing at a rally somewhere and tell me and the world for that matter that they loved the way I communicated here on this pose, said it sounded like we were standing together talking. I hope that was a compliment cause I took it as one. read into it that you guys might enjoy the fact that not only is this unscripted and spontanious but I do not proofread things after I write them, no spell check was used during the production of this pose and of course no animals were harmed. If it's raw that folks want it's much easier for me to do it this way besides, I don;t have the time to second guess myself, rewrite something or even look back to be sure I didn't push the cap lock button so this is what it is-- it's sort of therapy for me and if it gives you guys somewhere to go first thing in the morning, something better than the morning local news and weather to help push down that coffee well then maybe we've done our job here!

I have also had people come here, spend a day looking around and asking questions tell me they really felt at home coming here-- seeing the things right here I talk about every day-- recognizing the lift, the "nearly new" room and the tremendous mound of stuff I just can't bear to toss out-- the trim shop and all the stuff in there. I start to show folks things and they tell me about it-- how cool is that!

So maybe I'll put out a new years wish to do a better job at posting here, that means I'll try and focus a little more as I wizz past a sentance cause I just can't go back and read all that after writing it! If you see some misspelled words and those gramarical errors (it seems that I have a few school teachers out there that I'm worried I'm going to get a note sent home to my Mom) know I did all of that on purpose and just for you to find. Kinda like "Where's Waldo" or that Sunday morning bit in the comic section to find the differences in the picture, look at it like I'm hiding clues to my sanity in all of this.

That said--- 38 deg. this morning-- cold for Florida, yesterday did warm up a bit and a few things got done

(Kevin got Andy's coach stripes bagged off and we're ready for the white base now

but just as I said "I never have a raincoat near me when a storm comes or sun glasses for the beach, Ray I John brought over our boat to see if I could finally get the motor running. It's only sat in our backyard all summer and now that it's the coldest day I think of the year we finally got around to finding out why that simple 2 cycle motor will not start. For those of you up early trying to read this while I type it, I'm going to add the pics over on the lap top when I finish the verbiage-- so you'll have to come back and see them. Don;t ya hate how I control the reader sometimes! So not meaning to get away from GMC content I think there will be a good lesson in this for ya-- our boat is unique (of course it is) being a basic conglomeration of old parts all holding hands to maybe float. The boat itself is as yet untried picking it up this summer only knowing ir was made of aluminum and it looked more seaworthy than the collection of parts our last boat was. This one looked to be more seaworthy, a bit longer but still light and small enough for my Suzuki to pull. I picked up a 91 vintage Evenrude 28hp eggbeater after finally pronouncing our 61 vintage Johnson Seahorse just not up to the task. I did like that old war horse, ran like the proverbial top but as all things there comes a time and to have power when you needed it-- well, was a big plus. But as most things it seems the new motor was a bit more delicate-- got a leak in the foot and ground up the gear down there. Fixed that and now the critter would not start-- heck just cause it's been sitting around-- whats wrong with this thing!

Ahhh, what indeed is wrong with it is what is wrong with a pile of coaches here lately-- opened up the carb and found the mother load of goop! Yes, it is 2 cycle and all but still I think the trouble with this thing is the same crap thats happening to our coaches with the ethanol. The float bowl was seriously contaminated. The motor was running fine when it ran a fuel tank dry-- and it didn;t start again! It was an old metal marine tank-- I think funk in the tank got sucked up into the carb.

Sure with the thing had a Wix 33052 carb filter on it I could just change out! But no, I had to remove the starter to get the carb out,

had to disconnect the starter solenoid, power, ground and a slew of wires to get the starter out. Hey, I wonder if Evinrude makes motorhomes? This thing was built upside down! And there was a bold similar to the 3 bolts on the knuckle of our coach that was put in backwards and upside down, whats that all about, couldn;t the designers do a better job than this! Guess it was job security for the mechnics but it sure was a pain for me. That is a huge difference on how I at least try and design something here, I try and think of the poor tech that will someday need to get back inside there to repair or trace something, designers wire up involved "ground trigger" fancy circuits that mainly serve as that proverbial wrench in the works-- man why do they do that? OK, triggering with a ground might be safer in some way but whats safe when logic cannot fix it? On this I think the auto industry and the RV folks too for that matter have missed the mark. No, they made you bring your machine in for a hangnail for a reason-- see thats their job security! When a coach leaves here I don;t want it to have to come back to me for repairs-- most coaches do not roost near enough to me to do that so it just stands to reason to design something someone else can easily figure out but todays manufacturers might as well weld the hood shut cause you and I just can;t mess with it at all. There are no recognizable parts in there! Call me living in the past on this but I just do not want to be tied to a shop for every little thing!

And this is as good a lesson as any on the GMC, the commercials talk about how much more cost effective the newer cars are than those of 30 years ago and hey, that might be true but as far as the heavy lift truck community goes (of which the RV industry is smack dab in the middle of) a GMC can get close to if not hit 10 MPG, most of the RV's out there right now, the new ones can;t do that. Oh sure those "downsized" ones do but look, I don;t want an abbreviated life, I want it all so I want a "full sized" motorhome and for that a GMC is a winner today maybe even moreso than in the past! I can work on this thing! If you posess a set of Sears tools, there are recognizable parts under the engine cover of a GMC-- there are actual spark plugs without a coil sitting on top, a carb where the fuel goes in, a dist where the spark gets figured out and oh look, there are bolts on the exhaust pipes I can tighten to maybe get rid of that ticking sound! Give that critter fuel and fire and watch it run, try that with a new motor and see what you have. Being basic and simple to understand is a huge feature of a GMC. So don't blow off your old machine just cause it's old, it can be repaired, cleaned up, undated and again used to be a really useful machine. Maybe I should pull out that old Johnson 18hp Seahorse--- naaa, it's just too far gone and you have to say when enough is enough too, there are some coaches that need to be harvested and we have to be astute enough to figure out which ones those are.

OK, so not the sun is up, I have to process the pics for the pose here and get into the days Emails, came over here first thisd morning. Got a bit philosophical on ya, sorry bout that but hey, I didn't make you come here! Yea, it's cold today but on this winter day our hearts are warm for the GMC on this property. Thanks for the visit, I hope I didn;t let your coffee get cold talking here. If it will just warm up a bit we can get out there and do some work, prey for that. Kevin bought a new thermometer for the shop watching it for enough heat to kick his paint-- wish him luck. Have a great day, we'll see ya tomorrow

I guess this could be called "the other side" We still have this lame duck time until New Years that it difficult to expect high productivity but yea, I'm here! With the hit counter the way it way there are either many new people coming here or several frustrated folks wondering where we have been. Made a trip with Janie & my 2 sons up to Jacksonville for a good visit. Not much of an opportunity to do something like that as the kids get older. Heck, I didn't even have to drive, even sat in the back seat! There comes a time when you pass the torch on to others.

Kevin came in and explained that he and Andy were here Christmas even laying out the second color on the coach

and got the color actually on. Man, that's dedication! Yea, he did get in a little trouble-- yea, give it to him for that-- but he was right when he said it just had to be done. This morning he's again over there bagging the colors off in preparation for the main white color.

As you can see, the dayglow green was pretty much covered up and religated to the pinstripe with this color green being the color of the main striping. In the 50's, Kevin has to factor in the temp. and keep the building a bit on the warmer side, Hey this worked for the orange groves!

No, he won't paint with an open flame in the room! The next couple of days the temps may hold so he's racing to get the coach into clear before the weekend-- I'll do some pics for ya on that.

Low-ride-ur sold-- yes, finally-- an awseome coach has found a home! I'll give more details but it will end up in the Las Vegas area. We're swapping out the direct port fuel injection opting to go with the original carb and HEI distributer on the brand new motor. Why you ask? After climbing the aftermarket Fuel Injection mountain-- falling off the other side then climbing back up I swore I would do my best to not put my customers in harms way be promoting direct port injection as a viable option for the GMC. Hey, there are always so many sides to an issue and I sure am the last one to pu-pu new ideas being adapted to our classic coach but in this case I feel a major feature of the GMC is the fact that being totally designed and produced by GM, keeping the very recognizable and serviceable original Q-jet carb and the HEI dist set up that came on millions of 70's vehicles this feature really makes the GMC very repairable by most anyone who would be willing to do so. I mean you can MAKE the original set up move, it all can be replaced at most any parts house even those designer ones. The original set up did not give bad performance in fact other than maybe a bit more maintenance, you can expect pretty much the same performance and mileage as you will find with a fuel injection system. No foolin!

In saying all of this I am not knocking those of you out there with a throttle body or even a direct port injection system, I would say though and if you have these systems you would probably agree that you need to be the one carrying the diagnostic tree and a plethera of parts and cross reference numbers to support your FI system. See all you need with the original system is a AAA card and a charge card, the rest of it can be had most anywhere!

So enough on that, we will also be installing one of Manny's awesome transmissions, I just did not want this puppy to leave here not knowing how the transmission was built-- with Manny's I know what I have. The new owner , Ed, understands the reliability thing and wants the coach to be it's best so we'll be getting her ready for a trip home to Las Vegas in Jan. Gery P., our driver, will be at the helm of Low-ride-ur on the delivery. Lets all congratulate and welcome Ed into the GMC community-- man he's got a nice machine to show off!

So here I am, it's in the low 50's, not what I would call the best working weather down here, I know up north you guys would call this awesome but for me this is cold! Kevin is here, let's see who else makes it in and what shape they will be in. Andy made headway on the Duramax dash bezels

. The "fly by wire" dash instrument cluster must be fitted to the bezel with enough room for the AC controls and dash radio for the 23d, the radio is overhead on the 26 Duramax.

. This is the burlwood panel for the 26' Duramax, the 23d bezel will come from the same pattern. I know you look at the dash ans say it's the same as the original-- it may look similar but thats where it ends. The dash has been essentially chopped and channeled as they say in the hot rod world. Looks are dece1ving-- yes, it has the same shape so lets leave it there for now. I have the 23d dash AC to fit myself-- hope to do that today and Jason is deep in yanking the FI system on Low-ride-ur so I have hopes of progress there.

So one more day and it's here, all the hype, the traveling, the shopping all comes down to this day we call Christmas I guess it is good and it is human nature to live from holiday to holiday so having a main one to center all of the rest around I guess is good for us all-- at least thats what half of us all say. The rest of us are creatures of habit, we get up early, go to bed early and everything else in between is scheduled right down to how many days to drive the car til you stop and get gas and even with that we go to the same gas station maybe even the same pump! Weekends and holidays seem to be the proverbial wrench in the works and if uninterrupted with these undisciplined days, more time could be strung together to get stuff done. But still thinking, a holiday like Christmas is a good time to end some things and start other ones, to push toward a goal, a day to get things completed and to move on to others. We did finish up a couple of smaller projects in the past week or so. Cleaned out all of the old parts and got ready for some new things. Next week, we'll push on and get Andy's unique original look paint job out the door. Kevin is committed and that will happen. We are finally moving again on the last impossibilities on the Duramax coaches, these machines WILL hit the street very soon-- for the owners sakes as well as ours, this is a focus for us. With them out of the way, Mark's unique Royale with the 41" skylight will be turned to our major focus. "Tin Soldier" with it's experimental 350 Olds motor and tall gears will hit the road and lets see just how much economy we can produce doing it that way! JayGee, our Co-op Flagship is doing duty carrying Janie & I to the Sunshine Statesmen rally season in good form. We have a new low profile roof AC unit-- just in time for the cold season. Why is it I always get my boat running in the fall, heaters working in the spring and a new AC in the winter! All I can say is "the plumbers pipes"!

So as you can see, all of that and more that will inevitably come in will do well to keep us busy. Janie gave us all a surprise yesterday and instead of a "pizza party" to celebrate the holiday, she whipped up some meatball chili kinda stuff with huge shrimp, cheese and all the stuff she knows us hard tail guys like to eat

, thanks Janie-- pizza just dosn't get it for a Christmas party-- see I need people around me that thinks about stuff like that! The Christmas tree reminded me of the one Charlie Brown picked out

-- hey, but as that one had more meaning than just some tree this one too was special-- it was ours. Steve was not with us, had some holiday things to do yesterday but the rest of the crew and our guests got together

with my 2 sons for a good sit down party with food, smiles and fun

. This shop is much more than a business, it's a place we all come to struggle and enjoy the work, the pains and the accomplishments we have working with a very worthy machine. The part that impresses me is the fact that over the past decade we have not only attracted customer who are interested in the products and services we offer, not only people who are committed to carry out the needs of the customers who are so attached to these unique machines that that seek us out to do things for them but the part that amazes me is that all of this came together and though they say 90% of small businesses fail in the first 5 years-- here we are, never thought I would make a million at this and it's good that wasn't in my business plan because there is so much more satisfaction from working a hard day at these coaches, make them better and know your work is appreciated.

My Grandfather told me once, "Retirement for people like you and I because we will always have to work, work is the thing that keeps us going but retirement is stopping what you are doing that you think you can make the most money doing ans start doing something you have always wanted to do and see if you can carve out a living doing that". He proba bly didn't think I was listening but I was and I feel life is about more than the P&L, we have a great time doing the things we do here. We win, we fail, we learn, we teach-- it all comes down to are you dong something useful and are you having a good time doing it and on all of those point I feel very blessed. Found this pic cleaning up my flash drive

Here's Al who I have had a a friend/GMC owner/just all around interesting guy getting with Andy, a new friend who is also attracted to the Co-op by the common thread we all have-- the GMC motorhome. They're standing in front of the paint prep bay, next to my side car bike next to a 63 Airstream Tradewind trailer-- now where else could you go to have a picture like that of people from 2 sides of the country hanging out together? That would be here, I am proud of this place

, proud to be a part of it, proud we're still here after so many things and proud that the machines we work with have attracted so many people and have so much interest. What a great thing and looking at things the way the founder of Boston Lager sees his business "do something you love and never work a day"-- I'm there brother!

Thanks to all of you, the ones who stand around the Co-op giving support-- it's why we are here. Thanks to GM for messing up a marketing plan and giving us such an unusual machine and thanks for the RV industry who is finally coming around and figuring out "bigger is not better" when it comes to motorhomes. The GMC has been here, the first quality based machine and we're still here, waiting for the industry to catch up, to rediscover in retro form what RVing really can be about. It's about much more than a square white box, it's about more than cheap seats, cheap carpet and stapled on trim, it's about quality, comfort and unique and I think we all understand this. So have a great holiday, I have succumbed to the fact that this weekend we'll not get much done at the shop but will be back in force on Monday. So don;t hang around here, get off the computer and go give someone a big hug and if your coach is handy give it a hug too-- hey even Charlie Browns tree is good for something and should be appreciated! See ya on the other side

The only thing brighter than the wild green color for Andy's pinstripes is the white of his teeth as we closed the shop down for the night! The evening brought us one step closer to his finish.

Andy builds custom wooden spiral staircases in New Hampshire and will be building up the custom dash bezels for the Duramax coaches. He's set up now and we're going for that phase

We're deep into this project now and he's off to our materials supplier for carbon fiber materials for Ken's and walnut burlwood for Raymond's Duramax dash. Stay tuned for more.

"Elvis has left the building"-- Danny picked up his good looking 74 whiter coach after new rims & tires, Quad bag system, grill and other stuff. Got so would up in getting him out the door the only pic I got was while I was truing the tires

Hey Danny, send me a couple of pics of the outside-- inquiring minds wanna see!

You might think Andy has lost his mind painting a funky green like this on his coach

Actually, all of his color will be in base with clearcoat over it all, the first color here will be the small pinstripe color on the main stripe

so you paint it backwards maybe from what you think you would, the smallest color goes on first-- it gets bagged off with the second green color going on next then the white. Stay tuned for more on this project.

OK guys, today is our last day before the holiday shuts down bout any productivity we could expect to have. Craig & Andy are playing with the Duramax dash and the AC system for the Kens 23d. Both of our sons stayed at the house last night, John flew in late last night, we have a pizza party today at lunch and my guess is not much will be done after that but hey, we all do what we can!

Hey, have a great season, do something memorable-- be with your family-- cherish all you have and be thankful. I'll be on my cell phone if you need something, thinks for the visit -- I'll see ya on the other side.

As I was saying, Andy got some visual gratification as Keven layed on the sanding sealer on his coach . This layer locks in the old paint keeping it from "leaching" through into the new color base. Kevin will use this to show any areas needing a block sand then reprime those areas before the base color can be put on

Over a few refreshing beverages, Kevin pointed out the issues remaining to Andy. Today Kevin hopes to lay out the 2 colors of the stripe before the main base white color is put on. We have a 2 day window before the temps. drop and no painting can be done-- wish him God's speed!

Danny's Quad bag install ran into a few snags, these are the "unexpected results" we always find when doing custom stuff to these critters. Danny has a boat manufacturing business, Andros Boats over in the Tampa area. His fuel tanks were swiss cheese so he had a set of really nice aluminum tanks hand made by his marine tank source. Hey, they were very nice and has seperate fills so he really does have "2" tanks. The tank size was increased to use every inch under the coach but in doing that there was no room for Jason to reach the suspension to frame bolts to install the Quad bag system! Bummer, we had to drop Danny's rear tank (and of course it was full of fuel with no drain port)-- that proved to be a fun job. Then Jason pulled the coach back off the lift

to install the Quad bag kit

. Now we have to reinstall the rear tank and fuel. Then we will warm up the tires by driving the coach a couple of miles then pull the tires off for their truing and balancing service. With that Danny should be ready to go home just in time to be a present under his familiy Christmas tree!

We also installed Fire Fight automatic fire suppression systems in the generator & engine compartments on Danny's coach. These are options I really feel everyone should have. Stay tuned because after the new years we will show you some all new exciting Fire Fight automatic & manual deploy hand held AFFF fire suppression kits. This will be a big deal to hang out for this.!

Wow, what a day-- don;t know if it's because maybe Santa has a GMC or what but man we had shipping today! Thanks for all the orders! Wonder if Santa has a trailer on that coach! Gotta go, it's way past dark 30. See ya tomorrow-- hey, and you friends of Andy, he's got alote to smile for at the end of this day! Stay tuned for that

Cold this morning Yes, I know it's nothing like the snow fall up north but temps in the 40's down here are cold! This morning is a bit too cold for paint to kick but Kevin is out there bagging off windows and stuff just doing what he can. Jason is looking to make a fare Sunday appearance to help with getting Danny's coach out the door. The rain put us behind on his delivery so with Christmas coming Danny needs his machine so we do what we can.

Yesterday I drove to Reddick (just north of Ocala) on the way back from Jacksonville where I saw my Mom and son. He has some issues with his new holding tank and maserator system. Al and his brother Warren have an "antiques Mall" out on I-75 formally called the Christmas antiques now they call it A Antiques mall in Reddick (look them up). Man, have they got the stuff -- Check out www.allenkeene.com . This is Al's personal "dungeon"

And what's cool is he actually uses the stuff! Has been in the equipment business for decades, brother if you need ANY sort of weight training geer give Al a call at 352-591-0588

. Hey, he's one of us, lives full time in his GMC! Doesn't need a tire jack and man, a lug nut has no hope on his coach! He's autograph a picture of his motorhome if you like! The rest of their place is a professional antiques mall. Hey and if you know what one of those places are like-- man they have everything

the place goes on and on!

Just thought I'd show you some of the cool things that some GMCers do. Picked up his coach on the way to Orlando

to do some work on it. I gotta tell ya I just love driving a GMC on the road

. I mean you look at all of those monsters out there on the road and realize you are the unusual one out there

Just rolling along out there is one of the more fun parts of this business!

, blowing along in control of a 12,000 hot rod-- looking down as most of the machines out there and at eye level with most of the rest-- man, it's just the place to be! Road hazards ahead-- no problem

, it's when the nimbleness of the GMC kicks in. On the other side of the traffic, life is good out on the road in a GMC!

. A 4 mile parking lot but for us we're filyin high.! A list of things to do to a worthy machine. If you will remember this is the coach with the worn out frame-- a little surgery and it's back out there running great! The ole Samuri makes this possible so thats the reason if any other to have the little critter.

Wanted to give you a diagnostic line and repair of a coach that came in last week-- thought it was sort of interesting. Customer call just coming into Florida saying he could not get up to over 35 MPH. popping, coughing and seemed the motor was starving for fuel. You know the first thought was the carb filter but that was not it. Still kept bucking and spitting. They white knuckled the coach down 441 so they could go slow. Finally Wed. afternoon they made it to the shop, got a hotel room and just wanted to get away from the coach for a bit. They did a good deal by riding that "horse" all the way in so they figured to spend a little of that saved tow money to chill out. We first checked the filter again, just to be sure-- it was flowing. Next I pulled the carb switching to a known good one with little favorable results. Hmm, now we dig in. I called one of my "go to" people Steve F. and we discussed many scenarios. Next we verified fuel was reaching the carb, removed an electric pyump up toward the front of the coach (wrong place for that)-- no help. OK, now lets talk about fire-- popped the dist. open and found a weight spring off and a jammed advance plate. OK, now we'ere getting somewhere! New plugs, the old ones had time on them, retimed the dist-- was a little advanced-- and we have better but still starving at 35 MPH. Hmmm, I was gone picking up Al's coach so Craig was heading the circle so I told him that maybe we had 2 issues disguising themselves to be one. Lets put back on the known good carb and lets see what happens--- that was it-- first we found the screwed up dist advance plate, retimed the dist then the carb showed it's ugly head and replacing that the coach was again off to the races. An interesting situation and why you must not assume anything-- in the midst of all of this clogged carb stuff we have another seemingly clogged carb that ended up being 2 totally unrelated issues looking like one other issue. Just goes to show ya it's never a dull moment around here!

And on that note let me say this, than God that we can seek a solution using an old tried and true diagnostic tree most any competant mechanic can understand. I really feel the auto industry has lost their mind as well as their focus complicating drive trains making them unmanageable unless you have many factory supplied computer diagnostic machines and technical data. Yes, the maintenance cycles are less but when an issue comes up there is little reason for the common man to even lift the hood because there is nothing in there you can check out. Yes, we may have performance, economy and efficiency but what happened to ease of maintenance and owner involvement in that process-- I'll tell ya, the industry is throwing that concept out the door putting their shops in your maintenance loop. Maybe a good thing but maybe not. Yes, the Duramax chassis are very reliable but when issues or service comes up the owners will probably not be involved other than to pay the bill.

For the Duramax coaches this is all well and good but one nice feature of the original GMC is the fact that we can actually work on them, I like that. Folks call me with issues and many times we can diagnose and repair their problems right on the phone, find parts and if needed a local mechanic and "get-r-done". With tools like the black list and our Co-op "project" you have option, you have support which everyone out on the road needs. New cars have the dealer support network, even the Duramax coaches has the Workhorse support network and the GMC community has an awesome support network. All this brings me to the fact that a GMC is a great road machine, smooth, comfortable and efficient, good looking -- heck with our support network, what else do ya need!

Dang, it's still cold even after the sun has risen, Jason is running late, I understand that. Lets see how the day goes. I've got piles of paperwork so I'll be on that plus more stuff. Next week being Christmas I'm not expecting much and with the cold moving in us southern reptiles move slow in the cold! Hey but I'm here, we're doing what we can, too cold to shoot paint, we'll do something else.

Thanks for the visit, stay worm, Janie got the Christmas tree up yesterday, Ho-ho-ho, so lets get in the mood--- yea, OK, I'll try! See ya later and come back later & I'll post some pics for ya

So coming in this morning on the side car bike, I had to say it's great living in Florida this time of year The sun was trying to push away the dark, a light blanket of clouds was holding back the cold weather but the chill was still aparent. The 80 year old designed motor on the bike likes this weather, not hot because ole Attila hates the heat, he'll buck and sputter over it's tremendous vapor lock issues. The non syncro gears also seem to like the cooler though it just may be me. It's only a 3 mile ride from the house but on a machine like this it's just right to losen up the bones.

We ended the evening yeasterday with Andy and Dave standing in front of the building where Andy's coach is in the middle of it's transformation

It was pitch dark outside but with the warm lights of the prep bay, the GMC talk made for a wonderful end of a hard working day. You've met Andy and his machine getting a face lift, Dave P. is an avid "Poser"

as he says starting each day with his ritual of walking the dog and scanning the daily pose among other things. He and his wife Bobbi live in Canada, one of our "Great White North" contingent. A year or so ago Dave dove into GMC ownership when he purchased Carol S. coach from right here at the Co-op

His trip home was a "trial by fire" event in his life-- replaced his carb filter I think 4 times and limped onto his driveway just before something else snapped (forgot what it was) and he was home-- battered and worn but the ole girl got him there and thats when his education into GMC ownership really began. Eventually though he got on top of his maintenance curve and this year he and Bobi has so far had a great trip down from the cold. As she said in the kicking the tires while standing around talk yesterday evening, " The coach has just run perfectly and we've had a wonderful time". They have taken their time coming down staying a week here and there and all the time fielding all of those usual questions from other RV owners in the parks as they stopped. Dave said it was a blast to see each afternoon all the huge "dinosaurs" lumber into the park and pull in all around them to bed for the night. They would pull in dwarfing their GMC but eventially the folks would exit their monster and come over for a talk about the GMC. Their coach is a good looking machine

, a 78 GM floorplan coach fitted with one of our Koba crate motors. Still has the 78 frig side louver treatment, a sure sign it is a 78 GM floorplan coach. A nice renovation, comfortable and reliable it demands attention wherever it goes and they love to talk about their machine. It's one of the things you just must expect traveling cross country in a good looking GMC, most everyone is interested in it. Dave & Bobbi stayed at the "Co-op RV resort" hanging from one of our 30 amp drop cords, they're here having some issues checked out. We found a cracked rear brake shoe, their sway bar bushings needy and we converted his alternator trigger circuit to a safe situation. I'm surprised I had not done that mod before in that the coach had hung around here so much in it's past. Anyway, he was one of the lucky ones with no previous wire harness damage from the toaster wire and now after installing the alt. light circuit will not have to worry.

So now on to the "No Brainer" troll resurrection on Danny's coach. As you will remember I had extracted the PC board and all of the associated wiring and installing a simple circuit using a boost relay and a fuse holder. Why-- hey look, I just hate throwing good money after bad and you could spend literally hours and big bucks tracing the diagnostic tree sorting out these 30+ year old Onan Power Drawer generators with no real guaranty that the work you did would be for nothing when some other decrepit part looses it's smoke. I mean there are so many old parts and each of them will put this ole war horse down again that I look at these things as having one foot in the proverbial grave. Hey, both of the coaches I use (Larry & JayGee) have Trolls but I have had a prayermeeting with both and they know the next operation will be a big one if they give me any greif. Well with Danny's Troll, there were already "Xes" over it's eyes when it rolled in. The story was it DID make power when it last ran and there were no greivious mechanical noises when it ran so with that as a given I went about making that puppy run "my way". That expensive PC board was out, all those cloth covered wires and special funky relays --- out! All we need to do is give the coil power and kick the starter and we are in business so that what I did for it. When it turned over first time the starter let out a puff of smoke so I brought over a donor starter from the troll pile, it's always a good idea to break open the carb since from sitting there are probably little green things growing inside. Not only that, I found missing parts or should I say did not find the parts that were missing

The float was dented (how can that happen), there was no screen in the float bowl and the seal on the fuel needle was hard as a rock so pulling out a donor carb from the troll pile I went about building up a carb with all the parts included cleaned up and ready to run

. Putting the carb ou I found the air inlet hose was hard as a rock too and broken, the air cleaner looks like it was drug through beach sand

so back to the troll pile I found some suitable deasent parts and pulling out a brand new air filter I put together the needed parts/pieces

. I had already replaced the electric fuel pump so which these parts all together I was feeling pretty good about the fuel delivery system to Frankentroll.

Now lets take a look at the fire part of this mechanism. The spark plugs looked to be turn of the century so I ordered up 2 new ones. Looking at the point system I crenged -- this critter has a type 1 point system-- you have to use a mirror to adjust the point-- the cap on the points opens from the back side!

OK, so whoever came up with this one needs to leave the room! The type 2 point set up has a cap cover that comes off and checking and setting the points is a breeze

Don't come here expecting me to mess with a type 1 point system-- life is too short! Back over at the troll pile I scrounged up a type 2 point set (BTW, don;t go to your Onan dealer to get one of these type 2 set ups-- if he even has them he wants like $250 and more for them! Thats why I really do not enjoy dealing with Onan-- Oh Man-- It's an Onan!--- their really overprice their parts, I mean I guess they think they have you over a barrol-- not me, I won't give them the satisfaction of knowing they took my money!) Anyway, I cleaned up the point set and installed that and with new plugs, the with point gapped I think we are ready to fire that mother up. The remote is where the only controls for this system will be. We will have an (on/off) switch and a start spring loaded

From the new remote panel the new LCD meter makes you feel like you have an all new, state of the art generator but we all know better. We have a machine, forced to run on it's merits , the last chance for romance and our hope is it will do for Danny a little longer-- come on baby, lets go! Flipping on the ignition switch turns up the electric pump throwing fuel into the regergitated carb counting to 10 I give the pump a chance to fill the float bowl and giving the panel a hard stare (as it it would help in some way) I pushed the start button and the old but willing starter slung around the flywheel contecting to the crank connecting to the pistons and wham-- away it went! It was like watching an old grandfather clock chime again, here the ole thing was again alive

pumping away tossing out exhaust making that distinctive 1600 RPM wonderful sound. With a couple of point and fuel mix adjustments I let it warm up then flipped on the breaker mounted on it's head and went around to see if we actually had power. Yep, the front roof AC fired up and I had blower, went to the back AC and sure nuff it fired up too! Then I went for the gold and turned down the thermostat to kick in the front AC compressor-- banga, we had cold and the ole Troll barely stumbled-- OK, do we dare-- going back to the rear new Carrier AC I turned it's temp. control and it's compressor kicked in! CapCom, we have throttle up and all is 5 by 5! So it's done, another "no brainer" is on the road. Don't let it run out of oil and I would stay with it when running-- would also be a good thing to install an automatic fire suppression system-- I mean we are making this puppy run by unconventional means! If this puppy proves it's worth in a bit I would like to use the low oil trigger to install a low oil fuel shut down circuit as a safety system but lets see if this thing will run relaibly before we do that.

If you are interested in having this operation performed on your Onan, there are a couple of things that must be working-- first, the unit must be able to create 110VAC when running, next the mechanical parts of the generaotr must be in good shape-- it's not worth replacing major mechanical parts like pistons, cranks, etc. We are forcing the ignition system ans start circuit-- in other words the electrical functions of the motor. You have to have a good carb, fuel pump, starter, plugs, air filter, oil filter and other basic things and as you saw I replaced so there still are expenses associated with bringing the ole troll back to life but I feel this is a better way to have a relaible machine than trouble shooting all those other parts and banking they all will hold hands and run on.

OK, the sun is up, I have the new Dash AC in a box here for the 23d project, I have Andy here to fab out dash panel so it's off to the races for today. We hope to finish up Dave, get Danny's quad bag system on with his new Eagle/Nexen rims and tires on and trued. Had a traveler call yesteray not able to run over 45MPH-- wonder what his trouble is? No word thus far, he's AWOL-- lets pray for his safe return. Have a great day-- we're off and running here...

The "Rockie Horror Picture Show" coming to you from the Co-op Danny's "Troll" generator needs some brain solid surgery. On our punch list of work to do on his restoration is "make the generator to run". This means it probably ran at some point in it's past and we need to try and bring the ole war horse back to life to kill again for at least a while long enough to make the bucks spent to wake it up worth the job. A total rebuild of a 30+ year old generator to me just does not make sense. Maybe if you just wanna say it's all "original" you might want to invest in doing that but to must of the folks we do work for, we seek to spend their money to make their machine a reliable contributor to their joy and happiness and an old emergency stand by device is an oxymoron! So here is our Troll as it came in the gate smoke billowing from the flywheels area upon our first try to fire it up

. I pulled the main power cable off the starter as the smoke came out. As all of you know, you need to not let the smoke out of any electrical component because all electronics runs on smoke-- and mirrors! Let the smoke out and nothing runs. So pulling out my weapons of destruction and putting "ole paint" up on the cutting table step one is to rip it's lungs out

Don't need no stinken PC board! If the generator will make AC when it spins up, the actual motor mechanics is in tact I can give it fire from the Gods and make it spin over without all that mess. The starter had a funny sound so we'll replace it with another one, used but with more life-- also, I'll field strip the card-- I mean I want this puppy to start more than once and having it hang around for some time I betcha there is more problems than what makes it not run today. I'm also going to install a type 2 point system, the type one it has needs a mirror to set the points-- stupid work in my book! So here is the first step in bringing this critter back to life-- yes it has no brain

and all of it's guts lay before the carcus

. The unit will sport a new electric fuel pump, a rebuilt carb, good used starter, new start solenoid and good used type 2 point system. Join Danny in preying to the generator Gods to smile upon our work. Stay tuned for final details.

As the day ended, Andy just had to get a perk of seeing his new top marker LED lights shine

, with the roof in color and cleared we're going at outfitting it. These are 17 element original "catseye" styled sealed LED fixtures

, very bright and very cool. They have LED elements pointing in many directions giving the unit a fantastic look. Today, Andy has been hard at work helping out with his coaches resurrection scraping the inside of the side rails. This should be on the Discovery Netwrok "Dirty Jobs" program

With 30+ year caked on "Goopenpucky" all you can do is scrape it out

and it "ain't no fun". Removing, cleaning, painting seperatly then sealing and intalling them after the paint job is a critical step to a quality finish and there is just no short cut to this process. Andy is getting a new Zip Dee awning so Eric is installing the awning rail using aluminum "blind rivets" with a steel shank that pulls down that puppy tighter than "Dick's hat band"

The poofs of black is oil from the air rivet gun cause you just will not pull those puppies by hand! Andy helps in the prep of the side rails and install of his clearance lights as night falls

I'm over at Danny's generator finishing up my step one

No more light so I guess this day is done. Thanks for the visit for today, my fingers were tired so it's a little beer and a rest to get up and do it again...

Like I said, we have had many things pass through our gates lately Here's Don T. on his leaving out back to Texas

A great looking coach, we repainted the lower rocker panel blackout along with 2 new transfer switches, some brake work and tweeking his 8 year old monster motor (one of ours). His motor was one of our experiments having 3 mirror image motors produced with unique specs. All were originally set up as direct port fuel injection rockets which in building we found that FI was not what it was all cracked up to be. I was really excited for the chance to set his motor up mayself to the original Q-jet/HEI ignition set up and boy howdee we were not disappointed. Out of the box on the first test drive he experienced "torque steer" as he broke the wheels loose in 1st and when his Manny Tranny banged 2nd! Back when that motor was built, "performance" meant tire burning torque and power-- we proved with this series of builds we could do that. Today, along with this power we now also seek economy as well as torque which in many ways is even more of a challenge. Our roller cam motors are now taylored to that too. Having Don hang out here in the lot while we played with his machine was a blast-- it's what our experience was all about. He thanbked me for the good time as well so it was a win-win for both of us

Jerry headed out of here with a repainted roof & tail, relocated AC units and a good running "brainless" generator among some other refinement to his road rocket.

His generator came in with just nasty wiring done from the previous owner. The best thing I could do was to yank it all, install a bosch relay and run his Troll without a PC board

If you understand it's operation and remember to keep up on your oil level, the big bucks PC board is not needed to keep your old Troll pumping power. Let me know if you need to know more about this.

Danny & I both are hoping for a delivery this week. His body molding is now on, LED side markers are in

and now we are waiting watching the road for our Quad bag system. Today I will be lacing up his new Eagle rims with his new Nexen tires. Speaking of the Q-bag system we are installing, we have been getting engineering help to hopefully refit the older 4 bag system to many of our new Quad bag features.

Some ask why I feel this is needed. Well for one, after installeng a "blue million" of them and while doing that discovering it's shortfalls, I felt it important to support those with these older system by incorporating some of the positive features of the newer systems we have updated the design to. First, theses systems were manufactured with 1/4" steel and welding that was simply not up for the task. This air bag base plate released it's weld under load

. Simply put, there needs to be more steel and a better weld in this area. Next, there was light webbing on the vertical member which really needs a heavier gauge metal and a different bag placement

. We are mocking up our proposed retrofit with 1/2 plywood. The white plastic pattern is the original vertical web. The "V" cut will leave room for our double 3/8 steel relocating plate

The bags will now go back to back with the air lines to the outside to aid in maintenance like the original air bags were set up. One issue with the older system was the bag was a unique "upper" air fitting inlet where most all bags are a "centerline" configuration. We will design our refit to accommodate those odd bags but will also fit a replacement centerline bag as the bags need replacement. This system is a retrofit and should refit the coach for the future not for some other unique bag. The bags will be lifed the 2" that the Q bag system is to allow for lower bag pressures and the stationary vertical member will be reinforced with thicker 3/8" double steel construction as our new systems are.

Give me a call if you have the older system & would like to get on the list for this new refit kit. We are still in the design phase but right now is not too soon to get on the lest. I expect big interest in this project.

Finally, I'm getting pics of last weekend's Sunshine Statesmen Christmas rally posted. I did have a great time

with friends and my group but was still totally in the loop when people needed things from me, the club folks there are used to hearing my phone ring and knew I was "on duty"

This one was the call that "please excuse me" was about the guy not believing his carb filter clogged could possibly be his problem with me remanufacturing his carb only one year ago. Don;t mean to sound pushy but I don;t make this stuff up and I sure would not waste my time pulling my assets away from my club rally to blow smoke! You can see more about the rally on the Sunshine Statesmen web site http://www.gmcss.com

Wow, sounds like the kid cracked a bit yesterday! No, many things seems to have just caught up with me, it's OK-- let me explain a bit of that diatribe:

First, here is a spec sheet on the Gates version of what you need to look for in fuel hose for everything from your coach to your weed eater from now on--

As you can see, you can no longer use just "good quality" hose-- I mean now even the branded fuel hose has a line of hose that we cannot use. Now, rubber hoses are not all created equal-- this stuff we will sell for $2 a foot. Craig just paid $7.49 for 2' of regular hose-- Wow, what a racket! Now, saying this does not mean for those in the past that did not get this hose should run out and vilify the shops that used it, it means that now we know more and now we need to use better. Who's fault is this-- it's not the poor ________ that installed the stuff, no it's your government through their mouthpiece the EPA and it is done to save our environment, something no one can throw up an argument agianst. The "perfect storm" that now causes us older vehicle enthusiasts to pay more to keep our machines operating at the same time causes those that are hanging onto their older machines for economic reasons to loose on their bet to cheap spending bigger bucks to motivate. This theory hold true also with our oil supply and the lack of ZDDP in it. Guys I beg you, stop blaming your repair shop, they (and I put myself in this bucket) did not cause you to have engine failure and I'm dang tired of being blamed! I dare say most any other shop owner you ask actually understands this threat so here I am up on a soap box by myself while still getting blamed for results from it. Forget savging the trees-- lets save our classic coach-- start using barrier hose, it's for your own good! And dude, don't call me up and say I did your fuel hoses a year ago and did not use this stuff, I know I didn;t! Neither did anyone else but I can tell you I am using it now! If on inspection of your fuel lines you see cracking, hard hoses-- yes, the fickled finger of fate is pointing at you! Write your congrssman, it won;t do any good, call and take a wack at me and know you are part of my problem, take all the hoses out and put it up on the counter of your local parts house that sold you the stuff and maybe they will give you new hose bt that has less to do with "warranty" and more to do with just keeping you as a happy camper which most cannot do. No, just know ____ happens and you were in the way of that fate, deal with it and move on. OK, enough on that...

Next, I am sorry to come off sarcastic but really, do not expect to buy a coach on the cheap and be able to treat it like a spring chicken and bitch up a storm when you are forced to put $ into it. You bring a machine you bought cheap and whine when there is a long list of repairs-- stop that please! It is not your tech's fault you bought the slug and now he has to do many things to it. Oh, and do not put in on the hook when he does some things only to find there is more he has to do--- bunky, he did not sell you the machine, he did not build it and it is not his fault things must be done to bring it to a reliable condition! Please do not get upset at me for saying this, I am not on the attack, I am trying to help, trying to put your head in the forward direction and trying to help. Know that it costs in the realm of $100,000 to have a new vehicle that you can expect to do the same thing you can with a well maintained, updated and upgraded GMC so if you have $50,000 in yours you have cheated fate. Yes, thats a pile of bucks but expecting to have less in your coach and have it do more for you is simply unrealistic. If you are under that investment you should be jumping for joy not grinding your repair shop to charge you less! Stop beating yourself with a Boy Scout Book, your idea of trying to save money and invest in a GMC was a good one but there is an amount you must put into it. OK, enough on that one...

Now, there are 2 arms with a hand attached to each that your tech has to work with and they can both do only what the laws of physics and gravity allow them to do. I had a bumper sticker on my towd Suzuki (I'm not in your hurry) which I put there as a spoof to say the thing will not run much faster than it was going. it was interoperated as I was there to screw everyone behind me which set me up as everyones object of frustration. Every car that passed me on the road (which BTW was about everyone out there) looked over at me with discus. Guys, my Suzuki Samuri is not much of a highway machine, it is geared to allow a whenny motor to motivate a very small vehicle, it is not designed to go much over 55 MPH and no matter how hard I try thats about all it will do. Likewise, there is only so many things we at the shop can do and no matter how much stress folks put on us, there is still only so much we can do. I am not saying this to attack again, I am reminding all of you that our goal is not to pop out work at some superhuman rate, no it is to do what we can to the best of our abilities and thats all we can do. My hair went from a dusted brown to a full head of grey matter in a short period of time. Why, because I care and am taking the responsibility but still there is only so much I can do an no amount of compounded stress will make things move faster. I simply can do no more. Bear with me while I break down, 24 hours does not make my day, it's more like 30 or maybe 35. Enough on that one too...

Fewwwww, now, let me move on now that all thats out of my head, we are making progress-- all that said00 today I start the shop up with 2 less helpers, lets give a big round off thanks to Craig and his son Eric for all that they did to help the Co-op to this point

Certainly not Moe and larry, these guys have been a serious help to me around here. Craig was so overqualified it was funny and under his direction, Eric was a huge help as well. We'll miss their work here but hey, as the ole soap says "as the earth turns'-- we will keep on keepin on.

Andy just got here to hang with us and play with his paint job so all is good

, he's here to both work with us on his coach and to drink a little beer with me, thanks!

We have a foggy morning but it will burn off when ole Mr. Sun comes up and we are looking for no rain and 80 deg. weather-- oh goody! Thanks for putting up with me, it is a great help, don't be offended or upset at me, we're here to help. Have a great day, we'll go after ours-- you do that too.

Let me take a minute to update it's been a good weekend away from all that makes up the Co-op. There are so many things that make up my day that really I need to get a grasp on. Sometimes backing away is a good thing. As much as my business is beating on these old machines there are other things you may not think about.

A guy Emails and asks me what I think about a coach he is looking to buy for $4000 and I just added up a bill to give brakes and suspension that equalled that. Another post asks why it took 13 gallons of LP to keep his coach warm for 2 weeks. A guy calls me the weekend half upset at me because I had rebuilt his carb a year ago and now his coach won;t run over 35 MPH, I tell him the ethanol in his gas has caused his carb filter to clogg up and he wants me to do something about it. Then the US mail takes 3 days to get a part to him and I must have something to do with it, also because I did look at his coach once I must have done something to it that caused that part to fail-- forget it was an original 30+ year old piece of crap.

So I spend a % of my day yes trying to pay taxes but then also trying to get all of these people have the understanding that crap happens and sometimes it does little good to blame other people for the obsticles in your life.

The fuel supply in the US that has ethanol in it are eating up our fuel delivery systems in our coaches, the oil is not lubricating our flat tappet lifter motors and everything right down to our lawn mowers are eating themselves from the inside out! It costs $ to keep things warm in the cold and cool in hot places and yest-- our coaches are getting older every day-- go figure!

There are no unbelievable deals to believe in, everyone is out to be on the top and their good fortune has to come from somewhere and someone, I'm just hoping thaqt stuff gets spread out a bit. It costs $ to get things done, to get people to do things, heck it costs even for us to do things for ourselves and there is one speed the world turns which is always slower than we want it to.

I will be at the shop tomorrow, dishing out all I can and with a little help who knows-- I might get something done! Don;t buy any wooden nickels from an indian, they won't work in a slot machine. If a deal is too much to be real, it probably is and the tooth fairy's wings fell off a long time ago!

I did have a good weekend, all of that stuff came out, I did get to relax with friends and I think I can do another week of this, thanks for the visit, I'll probably make more sense when I get back to the shop!

Holy crap!! 5 coaches plugged in hunkering down in the lot! The Co-op RV resort is at record capacity this morning! 50% chance of rain means we have a 100% chance we will get wet. Oh well. Got 5 coaches to fix to get to the rally-- talk to ya later

Another blurrrrr yesterday but the weather was good to us and much was accomplished. Got a post from John D. after leaving here having some repairs done. He called down and out on some unrelated things to our work , was at a light at an exit ramp blocking the world when he called. Here is his "postmortum" Email to me, though everyone could relate and maybe learn a little:

I Learned About My GMC From That... Thanks Jim.

John D.

Bluffton Sc

1977 Eleganza

8 Dec 2009

1- Never trust your fuel gauge. Instead, travel 250-300 miles on a full tank and refill noting the amount of fuel needed to top it off. Knowing the fuel capacity is 40 gallons, you can estimate the distance you can safely travel between fill ups.

2- Do you find yourself priming your carburetor with a can of gas because you are not getting fuel into the carb? The problem is a manufacturing repair that has gone bad. The float chamber has a hole in the bottom that was filled at the factory with a synthetic material that has become ineffective in preventing the fuel from leaking out of the chamber. The fix is an inline electric fuel pump installed in the auxiliary fuel line.

3- Have you ever not been able to get the starter motor to turn over the engine, knowing the batteries are fully charged? If you have been spinning the starter for an extended time due to #2 above, you may have overheated the starter motor. Relax, let the starter motor cool down, & you will soon be on your way.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Jim,

Another problem. After filling up, I switched to the main from the auxiliary. The engine died from no fuel. I have to run on auxiliary to keep it running. What's the problem?

Thanks.

John

Thanks for that John, sometimes coming from another things sink in more. To answer his question. There was a thread on the GMC Net about ethanol and fuel delivery problems, here is what I posted there about it:

Have not reviewed all of this thread, hope I am not being redundant--

I am in a heated battle right now with coaches crapping out with contaminated fuel systems. I look at this problem from the top side of a creeper laying under the coach & I tell ya guys there is an issue. Taking the "green" thing away from the issue a minute-- our 70's designed drive trains for some reason really do not like what we are trying to do to them. Something in the combination is screwing us all up. Not just every week but every day I have people calling with fuel delivery related issues and it's either a factor of the 1/2 life of the parts they have or the results of some factor introduced that is excellerating the end of the useful life of the components. In my mind, looking at all the factors each person tells me starting with "I was driving along with everthing fine then, out of the blue...". Every story is about the same, starts with that statement and ends with "what caused this, was it something I or someone did"? Guys,
"stuff" happens and many times "megga stuff" actually is the problem, Murphy lives in the GMC glove box and our coaches do not like something thats going on right now. What is it-- I see the problem as the Ethanol in the gas. Not directly but it's doing something thats doing something that is screwing up the reliability of our coaches! That I have to tell ya is a true statemement-- so what does that mean and what should we do is the question.

OK, you ask me what am I doing-- I carry in stock now a pile of carb filters and am selling them for less than you can buy a couple at your local parts store, add a couple of them to a parts order and keep them in your glove box along with the wrenches maybe to change it out. When a coach comes in with fuel delivery issues no matter what the problem in that I am going to touch the system I tell the customer we need to " throw out the baby with the bath water, scoop out the south end of the house with the dirt it sits on and do the entire enchilada-- stem to sturn!". If you are looking for a reliable fuel delivery system it all has to be suspected. Yes, this rises the cost of the work but it's the only way to expect any sort of problem to go away. a replacement of:

mabe carb remanufacture w/new carb filter, heat shielded hose to the pump, new pump, all new hoses to and from the tanks, new sener socks and seals, cleaned out and pressure tested tanks, new body pads, check the vapor seperator, A/B solenoid switch, add a primer electric fuel pump... and a partridge in the pear tree!

Then I tell folks to not buy gas from a ma & Pa gas station, these folks tanks are pumping crap into our system-- use Sta-bil marine if your coach is gonna sit for any length of time and store thout coach will full tanks.

OK, now I've run out of fuel system suggestions, if you come here or call I will tell you all of this-- please tell me you have read this and save my vocal cords!

Next, yea, I wanna run our motors on things other than gasoline. I have a dual fuel (gas or LP) coach sitting here I have built and would love to get involved but there are speed bumps the size of Mt. Rushmore standing in the way of small businesses to get involved in the retrofit of older vehicles to alternative fuels. I have books on "woodgas" and that stuff I am wishing I could do but there is little time & no bucks to blow at a wild --- scheme like that. Cool to daydream about and if someone wants to bust-s-move and do it I'm ready to dance but by myself I can't do it. Fun to talk about though and I'm ready to go!

In ending I have to say I hate what I think this ethanol is doing to our coaches, it's killing me feilding these issues but here we are...

Jim Bounds
----------------------

Don't call-- we're OK! This weekend was a blurr and today between Don T., Al

and all the goings on I've just been buried. Andy had called asking for an update on his paint and boy do I have some pics to show hin! Tonight after I get a bite to eat I'll post some stuff on that-- I think all will get a kick out of what we have found.

Been so slammed I have not had a chance to get up on the GMC net but Don Tracy, being a net guy, has been sitting out in my lot on the WiFi and said there is a continuing thread about ethanol in our fuel and it was back and forth. Hey, it's great to have a forum for such things but for you guys reading this that are also on the net I gotta tell ya the ethanol in the gas-- both Al & Don ran into clogged carb filters on the way here. What caused it----it's the ethanol in the gas throwing stuff in the filters or there is some communist plot that coaches coming to the Co-op are secretly being sabotaged! Guys, there is a problem with our fuel supply so unless there is something else being perpetrated on us it has to be the ethanol! Carry a WIX number 33052 carb filter, a descent sized crescent wrench (or a 1 1/8" wrench) and a 5/8 wrench with you in your coach-- trust me on this one! Hey and if you find the filters are being clogged by something else let me know.

BTW, Our GMC guy on the Closer Raymond Cruz has a new episode of the Closer on tonight, check him out if you have a chance

OK Andy, first I'll say the guys got your windshields in just fine

BTW everyone, if you need windshields here is what you do-- Call RV Glass Solutions at 1-888-777-6778, ask for Tara -- tell her I told you to call and get their price on glass. You should have them set up the shipping and installation in your area. It is truly not only the lowest price you will find but also the windshields will be professionally installed, sealed and guarantted for one full year. Don;t go buy windshields for $550 delivered-- they can actually beat that price but really, you do not want to buy glass from anyone but the folks that will install them-- any problems are THEIR PROBLEMS! Believe me that is the way to go. Call me if you are not satisfied with what Tara tell you-- RV Glass Solutions is the best way to get glass-- trust me on this one too.

Gerry

picked up his coach after a repainted roof and rear cap. Check out the 3, countem, roof AC units!

--- why-- because he could! The dogs were getting hot and Gerry being a devoted pet owner by golly is gonna take care of the dogs! The 2 rotary compressor penguins pull that little current that they can both run with the new Carrier big boy on the back. This give a new meaning to the term "cool man"!

OK, so when Andy was here a coupe of weeks ago we all agreed something had to be done on the rear wheel surround

Kevin started picking out the rotten bondo and has he picked more came out--- and more

and more, some more hurricane clips fell out of the bondo

the coach must have been repaired "FHA", maybe they were good for storms but hurricane staps are not what you repair a vehicle body with! Keeping up the picking it was pretty soon obvious something had to be done

so Kevin did it!

Yea Andy, he's gonna piece in a new section, yours was gone! Hey, sometimes it just what you gotts do, we sure are not going to cave and pave over that mess! So then Kevin goes over to the driver side, there were some issues but at least the wheel wells were in tact! There was a spot on the side panel that looks fishy-- Kevin had me come over and get a pic of the spot he uncovered with the DA

The edges were pealing up which meant it was regular bondo, not the correct filler material. So he started sanding it out-- and out-- and out-- did I say something was fishy-- how bout a fishing hole

in the side of the coach! Looks like a ball bat came unloaded on it

Holy crap, that was a plug of bondo! Kevin will spot weld wires and pull out the pothole then fill that with the proper SMC filler-- unbelievable and then he shows me another spot just behind the windshield

, stared digging bondo there too!

someone needs anger management classes! Bet that bat was dented after working over this coach! Guys, you never know what someone tries to cover up, we'll fix it-- no problem and the outcome will not only look good but will stay there too. "Cave & Pave" is no way to do body work, neither is "whak-n-pack" , if you have paint work done, be sure they know the materials they are working with. If they say they are going to use fiberglass resin and regular body filler thank them for their troubles and move on, you can certainly trust me on this one too!

OK, so has everyone got their "pose fix", hey I feel better too. I miss not having the time to get here on a regular basis. Janie is out with her sisters this evening getting culture over in Winter Park, it's Taco Bell for me. It's pitch dark out there-- been a long day. Thanks for dropping by, tomorrow morning will be packed so I may have to post agaon tomorrow evening. Call if you need something, we'll talk later

Trying desperately to catch up between the Email questions, monitoring the mail lists, evaluations for folks insurance and actually trying to get coaches fixed that blow through the restoration work is hard to stay on track. It's just the way things are but it all simply adds to the stress of the workload. Prey for good weather, this morning and last night we had a good drenching, cluody skies mean I have to figure in the wet stuff in getting work done.

Kevin is really working his butt off on Andy's pint job. The body work is about done

No, thats not chiggers with Calamine lotion on the back of Andy's coach

Looks like the coach was shot with rocksalt, this thing must have been driven in reverse at a good clip behind a rock truck or something! Hey,. he's got it going on though! The roof has just a couple dozen more hoes to be DA'ed out

around the frig vent. There were "fiftymillion" screw holes up there-- an you wonder why the roof had leaks! All that had to be filled in. The tail light basket is reshaped to stay

and ready for it's DA work. And he's bout got the old decal striped erased off

I still say the body was in pretty good shape but the repairs had to be done. Stay tuned.

Kerry T. pulled in last night for a few repairs, like many "snowbirds" heading south things fall off and they need help to get back out there on the road. Many of you know Kerry and his awesome road machine. He's back & forth cross country-- has his Motosat "Datastorm" WiFi set up at many of the big rallies. We have a few small issues to get him back out there.

We have a Q bag going on Danny's coach today-- that is if Mother Nature gives us a chance and Gerry's roof AC covers are getting painted. He's scheduled to come in via AmTrack to pick up his machine tomorrow. I'll do pics of "dancing in the rain" on this stuff later.

Just had a good talk with Kerry on some issues with his coach, he says Hi to all. He had some issues but don;t we all. Gotta go, the day is on---- giddy up!

Mark's custom bathroom is taking on shape, here it is with the basic structure defined

After hours of measuring and working placement for this eventual fiberglass custom mold style enclosure, we have the round SS sink in front centered to the window (yes, a full window in the bathroom). The countertop is a pattern for the eventual solid surface countertop. The rest of the module will be a "glassed in place" fixture which I think we finally figured out how to do-- thanks to Nelson for the corroboration. This style of enclosure has been done before using a process that required a stupid amount of labor, we're trying to come up with the same finished look only not looking to "marry" the project. Wish us luck and stay tuned.

Kevin was again here at dawn to bang hard on Andy's body repair. The front clip pulled in nice

as you can see the brackets pulled in tight together. When the kick butt bonding glue sets up the seam will have both a physical and glued securing system. The mirror area that was soooooo trashed now has shape

as does the tail light basket

. Don;t let the look of this filler material fool ya, it is not the ole "bondo" you are used to seeing body people work with

this is the special "SMC" compound materials that actually do bond to the plastic of the GMC body. You MUST use this stuff it you are hoping the repair is to last-- no excuses. If you wanna know if you have the right body man doing the work on your coach, go over and read on the can of body filler he's using-- it needs to say "SMC filler" somewhere on the can-- if not he has no idea about the difference and you should be concerned. Sorry but this is the truth! The front fender is also looking like it needs to

and he's got the new styled frig side vent cut out

-- Man, doesn;t Kevin look like Ali-G with those shaded safety goggles and the stash! All he needs is a hood and he'd be ther! Hey, it's good we can kid like that! Kevin is hard on Andy's body repair, we're on a tight schedule on this paint work, more repair (the first stage of an exterior finish) than was originally preducted. We just need to bang through that.

OK, we have another coach in here for some work. Danny E., owner of Andros boats, is building a "road boat" at his plant and as his plan has done the things he felt accomplished to do and has hit the next phase of letting us do the things we can do best to help the project along

Check out this awesome bumper the whipped up for the coach

. Only a boat guy could make up something like this! Danny & company did the paint job, a single stage white. His plan is to do some form of marketing logo or vinyl wrap for his business so he was not looking for a base/clear finish. The interior is "boatlike" again keeping with how he intends to pull up to a boat show and smooze his clients. We're doing aluminum rims and tires, he's going with a Quad Bag rear suspension, some duding up of his body moldsing and some other stuff. Stay tuned and follow that work.

Tere're calling for some wet stuff today so we'll need to see how the day goes. Raymond is thinking about doing up the lower panel of his door in the high dollar distressed red leather of the custom seats-- Wow, that rumps our carpet job-- I tell ya every aspect of this 26 Duramax coach is out the top-- where this machine will end up is somewhere over it's rainbow! Keep watching that. Kevin had to pull away from the Duramax dash mold for a little to get Andy's body repair in shape, stay tuned as he gets back onto that.

So I think I'm sorta caught up with giving reports on projects here. Thanks to all who are working hard here and to all who are letting us work hard on so many cool projects. All this and more is what gets me up and in here every day. Have a better one, we already have a good one going!

See that-- there is life after holiday! back in the saddle after all the family responsibilities and raring to go. Had calls with breakdown issues as I get on every holiday, on every weekend for that matter but hey, when you need help you need help! Hope the rest of you did have a good time and your coaches performed well. As usual, I expect several calls on issues from the weekend-- it's natural.

Have a good thread going on the net about 4 bag suspensions, if you only go there occasionally you might want to take it in. The big think is the new "Q bag" and "dual bag" systems are both products of much experience and road testing and I feel can be not only a needed but reliable fix to the issue that Firestone no longer is producing our unique rear suspension air bag. All of us with original air bags (and I put myself into that category) need to retrofit our coaches for the future and these new systems do just that. They have been designed and even failure tested to prove that we can install them with confidence. If you are purchasing a coach to use it really is a good idea to refit it now before you have a problem. The further we go from the discontinue of the original air bags the more important it is to be set up to work with new off shelf product. This is what these systems do so face it, if you are on the old air bags at least start saving your nickels and dimes.

Along with Kevin having a birthday this holiday, Steve also had one turning 65, a big milestone his sister and friends threw a surprise party for him. Of course being a large part of an extended familty, thats how we all see ourselves around here at the shop, we hit the parts and was there when he came in eyes wide with excitement. Here is our family celebrating his achievement of being on the correct side of the astroturf

I am sure Andy is glued to his screen wanting to see how his paint work is going. After Kevin got the expanded foam holding the front clip together he got the fender to line up pretty good

hey but looks are deceiving! There ended up being nothing holding the seam together

The original bolts had been broken long ago

so there was really nothing, the original system wasn't that good anyway, holding that part of the body together.

Now it's true they are really making some kick butt adhesives now days but to hold together a stress point like this you need more than just glue alone, you need a physical bond as well. We're using a pair of aluminum brackets

glued onto the body members to hold the panels together

as well as bonding it together with the SMC body adhesive

. Today Kevin will be doing the body bonding after these brackets are left to cure the weekend. The other body repair using the expanded foam was --- well-- crappy! Also the tail light basket had to be cut out where the older body repair

, Kevin is piecing in SMC bits then will glue it all together with the 2 part epoxy based SMC materials. Guys, you gotta do this work to last!

The day is on now, the sun is out and the guys will be arriving soon. Have a great day, feel good on owning a really well built machine and do what you need to support it. Thanks for the visit, call if we can help-- we're here for you

I remember my "Black Friday" experience every year working in consumer electronics that most definitely is why I don't do it today-- on any side of the table! Yea, I already get up early so that end of it was no problem but I guess the problem I had with it was the mindset some folks had blowing in there like Attila the Hun combing the slelves for a deal on something. Didn;t matter if they needed it or not, they just wanted to "steal" something and boy don;t be in their way of that transaction! If you go do it as a tradition please have some pity on those poor sales people-- give them a smile, maybe a buck so they can go have a cup of coffee when they hide for 10 minutes from the floor manager or hunker down in the bathroom stall trying to build back their nerve and go out onto the floor again! ALL sales people work on Balck Friday, it's just one of those rites of passage, those that have done it from the button side of the register all know the deal and all smile at one another because on this subject we all are "brothers"

No, I don;t do this day any longer, I leave it to the more robust people that seem to give a crap. Yes, I'm at the shop-- getting some paperwork done, thinking through some of the seemingly impossible project we're working on because along with all the legwork to get those things to their eventual conclusion there is always a large measure of thinking involved. Usually running into one of these walls, I first try and understand what first the mission is then the obstacles. Next I go into a sort of dreamworld thinking "if I were King" how would I want to solve this problem then see if I can do it that way. Usually, I end up finding the one or more monumental reasons most everyone else has given up on the job before. Hey, thats a good realization of the thought process. Then I step out of the box and try and look at the problem and say "If I were Howard Hughes, how would I solve this. Then after looking at the dangers he would throw to the wind, I'll think of myself as Ralph Rader Yuhl Gibbons and try to soleve the problem while hugging a tree with my seat belt on. I look around the shop, think about all the crap I've built before, all the parts and things I have used in the past and try and find a solution based on that stuff. I draw on the professionals I have around me, asking them how they would solve the problem, what they would do and if they have any ideas that would bring me to victory-- we all get by with a little help from our friends and bringing people together will many times make something better that it would be with only one set of eyes on the prize!

I guess this discovery process is why things done for the first time usually take more time but without it, God knows where we would be working through issues. So I'm in here today dong just that. Last week, Craig & Jason worked through an issue we had with the diesel generator fuel pickup tube tube, thanks guys for that persistence. We're about ready to bring Omar "our tent maker" in on the Duramax dash project, man I can't wait to see that covered and we have now Andy jumping into the frey on the dash bezel for the Duramax dash project. We are at the point of building the instrument cluster panel and as soon as the structure is mounted I want to be ready to wire then mount the dash in those monsters. So while Kevin is doing the final touches on the mold he's banging hard on Andy's paint se when he comes back soon we'll be able to put in the quality time on the dash we're wanting to. See, we all work together for the common goal around here!

So I need to get out there in the shop now, do some daydreaming, wacking on some boards and see what damage we can come up with. Have a great Thanksgiving, be kind to your sales guy, remember all he wants to do is sit down for 10 minutes and chill out a bit of grabbing the deals, I guaranty you they will be there next week-- well not the stupid ones but there weren;t enough of those to go around anyway!

Guess I got my days mixed up Today is the day before Turkey day so I guess the right thing to say is Happy Holiday

Of course I can't really promote this but I would say if it were not for weekends and holidays I could really get something going-- man just can't live by work alone and I say I am blessed by having a woman who will take charge of my social needs and make me keep that part of my life healthy. It's raining already this morning so I don;t see me or the guys out there in slickers wrenching on these beasts. I'm using this time to catch up on the mount of paper that seems to clog my life right now.

Got these pics of Wayne's first outing with the "Gold Standard", you remember the coach I drove solo to Bakersfield. Check it out

To me, the dream has come alive with this one and it truly IS what it's name has described, From this tragically original Palm Beach green example of state of the are of the day

to this where the work was interrupted for over a year

to someone who picked up the ball and ran with it to the finish line and one awesome machine-- I gotta tell ya THIS is what it's all about! Now, Wayne got in his Zip Dee awning yesterday and will be outfitting his road rocket to an even higher level! You guys in California now have a machine that I can point too and say here is what I'm talking about! Yes, I do have "Bling-Bling" out there, I have Steve's awesome machine, and a couple more but now I have our "racoon" look design which I have felt was a product and example of our look for the GMC there in Bakersfield so guys, if you wanna see a good looking machine let me know and I'll get you in touch with Wayne out there. My hope is he'll get in on the WS rally season and represent our best for us.

Wayne already says he has to beat off the gawkers with a brick bat wherever he goes, I told him to get used to it! Those of you who have reached a similar level with your coach know what I mean. The GMC outfitted to todays style will always turn heads and do it with just about anyone. It does not have to be a car enthusiast-- everyone turns their head toward a machine like this and in that you can build something like this for much less not just a little than plunking down big bucks for a slab sided, downsized example of what the industry is saying is "hi-tech". Don;t be fooled-- we, that is the GMC, is the real thing!

Tried to get in early to get some paperwork and Emails done I have been putting off Good luck on that catching upp stuff Hey, don't stop writing, it's great to hear from you guys, it's just time consuming but what isn;t anymore.

Cost increases on parts in "Marcel's door holder uppers" is already biting me in the butt, I'm going to keep shipping them at $75 through the end of the year anyway It sucks but prices on everything is going up -- every time you scream they always say it's tied to the cost of oil to produce the parts. Hey, linking the cost of producing steel in China (seems thats where all of our metals are coming from today) to the cost of manufacture & shipping is just a cop out in my book. OK, I'll cry uncle but to say fuel prices increase the cost of the shorts I wear is just getting old! Come on man, get a little more creative in justifying raising your price will ya!

Had the awesome looking Kashi coach "Hanuman van" come in for some maintenance

The motor sounded "funny" when it pulled in. The driver said the drive over from Sabastian was reallt smooth but I tell ya, I listen to a pile of these 455 motors and it just didn;t sound right! This is one of our roller cam crate motors-- I know this puppy and I know how it's bark should sound. Yesterday, I did a check out myself of the motor and sure nuff-- one of those hot shot Delco platinum rapid fire platinum #7 spark plugs was fouled with wet fuel on it. Checking it out the plug would not shoot a spark and #1 hole was not firing. That has never happened before-- how bout that! Replaced that one plug and -- wham-- the motor had it's mean bark back. That puppy was making it's owner happy on it's performance running on 7 pops! Impressive there young Skywalker! I've got all 8 banging now and man is it smooth! I know their ride home tomorrow will be a good one if they liked the ride here before!

While Kevin and Eric were banging on Andy's coach

Kevin was over picking at a spot at the pass. mirror. After a little probing he fond there was some plastic filler with cracks under the mirror bracket that did not look right. So going at it with his grinder to get out all of that bad Ju-ju bondo the stuff kept falling out until we got to the root problem

Unbeknowxt to Andy, somewhere in the past, the coach had a close call and the mirror was ripped off. The body damage was "wacked and packed" kinda like the wheel opening was and we just could not put pretty new paint over all that crap

The stuff Kevin is point at is still all bondo and the aluminum mounting plate you see had to be removed, straightened up , reinstall then he had to fix the damage properly. Andy was there and saw the carnage, same was true on the rear tail light basket, out with the bad and in with the good was all we could do

Andy had little clue this stuff was there but it is properly fixing stuff like this that makes a really nice finished product. The reason I bring this up is if you have your coach painted, you should expect stuff like this

and you should expect your painter to bring this stuff up. It is labor to fix it and if he tries to "cave and pave" over issues like this to keep the cost in line-- well, he's just not doing you any favors! Recognize there may be issues and iunderstand that if they are not fixed right your coach will eventually suffer! Nuff said.

We stabilized the prep work on Andy's baby and pulled it out

of prep to give Jason a wack at installing one of Manny's awesome transmissions. See, I'm not the only one standing up on a bucket doing stuff to better the GMC

. See, now thats a sign of a real pro, hanging off one foot from the bucket while going after that old rubber band! We have a trap over Andy's coach while it's up on the lift just in case the wet stuff moves in

Saw a special last night on PBS about horse racing and the way one special underdog horse captured the imagination and pride of America during the depression in the 30's. How the rather common looking horse came out then back from desaster to dominate and win it all-- what a great story of "Sea Biscuit". Kinda like the past coach we builr "The Phoenix" rising from it's ashes to again be a really awesome machine, maybe Sea Biscuit would be a good name for Andy's machine. It was an original green Palm Beach GMC which was very popular, now it will be reinvented to a custom white Palm Beach and my guess is it will be as popular when it is done as it forst was back in the day. With Andy's nod, lets name this puppy Sea Biscuit. Don't know, another name may come into play but right now I really had pride for that horse, as much as I will have for this coach. lets see how it plays out.

The day is on, gotta go. Have fun today, the holidays are coming so bust it now before you have to do the family stuff!

I feel like Jay Leno introducing his next guest but here goes-- and now, direct from the trenches at the Co-op, GMC owner, resident of Rhode Island, custom spiral staircase builder, yes girls single and in the middle of building up his vintage 1976 GMC motorhome, actually at this time living in this classic machine and without further adieu--- Andy F.---------

After a week of entertainment at the Co-op two things come to mind as I am forced to be a "Guest Speaker" this AM. Actually three, we need to do something about the shower situation her at the shop. the hose with moderately cold water is getting a little old. The issue of the Alt. light circuit is something so serious that every GMC owner should be addressing it. I don't know if I was one day from the fire or one month. One thing is certain. I had 6 inches of bare wire, with current flowing through it, that was designed to create heat in that it is a resister circuit. This wire is wrapped around our main dash harnesses and mine had already started to let the smoke out and melt surrounding wires. Any other repair of this issue which leaves this circuit in place and allowing current to flow through that "toaster wire" just doesn't make sense. After listening to Jim's thinking on this subject and actually doing the fix myself, I don't know why anyone would want to allow that dangerous heating element to get any amperage at all.

The next thought that comes to mind is what a wonderful experience it is to be able to learn as much as I have working along side all the "cast of characters" at the Co-op. All of Jim's guys are great at what they do. The ability to work on your own coach here at the Co-op, with supervision from someone as knowledgeable as Jim is something everyone should take advantage of.

Well I am off to Rochester NY. for now but I am already thinking about changing my ticket and flying back down here in two weeks to work on the rig and have more fun with all the boys.

OK, how was Andy's monolog? Do I give him a thumbs up-- I haven't read it, I almost never reread my stuff but you must know that by now! Just open that gate valve and let it flow! He's packing up now getting ready for his flight home. We'll be banging on his coach hard on paint so stay tuned for his progress. I hope you picked up some insight from his week long odyssey here, I had a great time showing him around his coach and I hope he said he enjoyed himself. The offer is open to anyone who would like to give this a try, all I ask is to come in with your eyes wide open, understand we're not here to "blow smoke" and know that you will probably see things you would never see without doing this.

Andy is finding out how much this page impacts folks He told his friends and family they could see how things were going here at the Co-op here on the daily pose. Now when he talks to them on the phone they ask, whats happening, there's nothing about your stuff today! Is there something wrong? Hey, hey, we've got more to do here than plunk on this all mighty keyboard! I wasn't kidding when I said "this page could be habit forming"! Thats fine & I am honored to have all of you Andy supporters stopping by-- keep on keepin on you interest.

Last night Andy and coach was locked inside Kevin's prep bay because we now have his rails and vents removed which means in the imortal words of ole Ben Franklin, "when it rains, you get wet"! This morning Andy commented that he and his coach now have the distinctive aroma of sanding dust and SMC filler. Not sure how that will play out on his next date!

Andy is learning alote helping me with the R&R of a ride height valve and searching for air leaks in the system. Found a crushed auto line from, you guessed it crushed body pads-- yep, he'll need those too!

We got talking about the alternator light circuit and what that was all about. Pulled his dash cover and looked at his harness just under the dash radio and WOW-- there was melted wires! I thought he was going to blow smoke out of his ears! Why didn;t someone see this before, heck I drove down from RI with this melted wire stuff in here? Yep Andy, I swear to you and all of you guys out there this is a serious situation, please do not run along thinking "it will never happen to me". Showed Andy how to fix everything then yesterday he did the mod himself. The $5 for the set up can save your coach too! Go to Alt. light circuit refit, read then do this to your coach. Didn't take any pics of his progress, just too much happening to do it but trust me when I tell ya it happened. Maybe I'll get Andy to be a "guest speaker" here when he comes back from a parts run.

Jim:

I absolutely love your rants, be it about windshields, insurance, fire extinguishers or whatever, you aren't afraid to make your point, even if a few toes are in the way and get stepped on. If people don't get your message, they absolutely aren't listening or are deaf -- or dumb! Please don't pitch your soap boxes regardless of any negative feedback.

Starting to feel better again, so should be able to get on the road after Thanksgiving -- I hope. Regardless, take care and tell Janie, Hi.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Don T

Thanks Don, I hoped I was not coming off like a cry baby. I see so much of this stuff being involved with so many coaches, it's a unique position I'm in. When I see a large number of coaches all with similar issues I can't help but make a link to the situations. I also hoped I was not boring you guys-- hey, after all this IS supposed to be "entertainment" as well as information content!

I'm finally there, I have the instruction sheet finished complete with pics on "Marcel's door holder uppers" and I will start filling orders on Monday.

(at this time they are $75 complete) Yea, I know it seems like I'm moving at the speed of stampeding turtles on this new kit but I just really wanted it to be a good kit. You guys with back orders, please drop me a note to make sure I do not have anyone fall through the cracks. Got yours Marcel, Cal, and a couple more but please humor me and just plunk down a post to coopmotorworks@bellsouth.net .

OK, I need to move on, I'm loosing my Sunday here. Thanks for the visit, thanks for the support and those of you who are not Co-op supporters but come here just to see how you can thwart our efforts I'll believe in you understanding why we are here and coming around. Give your GMC a hug, call if I can help you with your coach and we'll see ya again soon

Forgive me for venting yesterday on the soap box about having the proper insurance on your coach In the first place I hate insurance in general, it makes me feel like I'm standing at the craps table without the dice in my hand but hey, it's a part of our society today and we must play that game. If you want to get a comparison on your insurance and an agreed value policy call Miller Insurance at 1-800-622-6347, ask for Marlene or Cheryl-- tell them I sent you and they will know exactly what you are looking for. It may surprise you what it costs to have some peace of mind on this issue. You will need an agreed evaluation of your coach which I can furnish for $160 usually and thats it, you will be covered. Ok, we've had this fire side chat on this subject, I trust you will make proper decisions based on whats the best for you.

Speaking about doing the right thing, I have had several calls recently about windshields. I'd like to give all of you a 101 on this subject, if you're not interested in this, skip the blue print:

So you have fog, a crack or maybe a BB hole in your windshield-- you just can't imagine how much nicer your trip can be with a clear pair of windshields. it's like putting on your first pair of glasses-- you just never knew what you were missing! OK, so you say it's time, you need to address those 2 big, curved pieces of glass in the front of your coach. As most people, you get up on the internet and Goggle a search on GMC windshields and you find a pair of windshields can be sent to your door for @ $550 each. Ok, so with that as your guide you try and "beat the price" comparing all you see to those numbers. Ahhhh, but thats not the "apples to apples" on this issue! Having a pair of windshields sitting in a box in your garage is not the same as having them in the front of your coach doing their job. No, they must be not only installed, but sealed where they do not leak and then you need recourse if something (God forbid) happens beyond your control. Yes, the entire picture is what you need to compare because even if you do install the windshields yourself which I really would not roll dice betting you could do it one time, the first time, perfect you really need more than that. Yes, you need them installed but you need "recourse". What happens if there becomes a stress crack, a delam right away or some other problem keeping your windshields from being the best they can be. There is no recourse if you or someone you contract to install the windshields-- it's not that they are evil and wicked but just a the supplier backs an installer, you being the supplier will be the one backing the installer if something happens. So you will be the one taking the risk on the install.

So, me shipping you glass is not helping you but if you DO want to roll that proverbial dice on the deal, I can tell you I can have drop shipped windshields to your door for less than $550 each-- yep, compare those apples to apples and I'll be cheaper. OK, that siad now lets go at this the real way-- for somewhere around $1735 give or take $100 on some variable factors I can have a pair of windshields crated, freighted, installed, sealed and guaranteed to be in your coach. As is said "compare those apples bunky"! Hey, and thats pretty much nationwide, you don;t have to bring your coach back to me, matter of fact in most cases they will come to you! With gas costing whatever to run your coach even 100 miles, just let your motor stay cool will save you money right there! If you want the best, lowest, cheapest or what ever word you use, this my friends is the right way to get a pair of windshields! bar none, I think you will find this to be the deal, it's the way I do it. I no longer install windshields, take on the risk-- no I partner up with these folks and the deed is done. Who is this you ask? OK, here is the skinny on how to get going with this. Call 1-888-777-6778, ask for Gino or Jenny-- speak to no on but one of them-- tell them I told you to call and thats just about all you need to say. You could remind them this is for a GMC Motorhome but they will pretty much know the deal. For you SOB (some other brand) you will want to tell them you have a Revcon, Ultravan, FMC or whatever but know whatever you have my bet is that the cost of the deal will be the best with these folks! hey, thats it, now you know why I no longer lug 10 sets of windshields to a rally, I let Gino & company take all the risk, do all the logistics and the plan works every time. If you find a better way to do windshields after talking directly to Gino or Jenny, I need to know. I tell them I will support them but in turn they need to support our community and I think they are coming to the party for us, it sure seems that way from my side of the tunnel.

So, all of this blue print is to ask you to at least give this program a looksee and if you give it a try and it is not the deal for you, let me know. Call if you have any other questions and like I said, let me know if you run into any issues with this plan. The only thing in this life that is guaranteed is change so watch for it but until further notice I'm on this train and I support the fact that this is the way to go for you too.

OK, we're back from the windshield soap box, I'm yes, at the shop on a Saturday morning, Andy is scheduled to fly back to RI early Monday morning so I'm in here getting some things done with his paint job + project. Making up a set of valences for Mr. H interior project he's tackling. I'll give you pics of that stuff. Saturday is a good day for my head, far less distractions and more time to focus for me. I'm out in the shop now, bouncing from Ken, to Craig, to Raymond, to Andy, To Perry, to Tin Soldier, to Mr. H to whatever comes-- what a fun time for me. Thanks for the visit, have a great weekend before turkey day. I nice day here, hope yours plays out well too

Outa time this morning to talk here and let me tell you why If you do not have an agreed value insurance policy on your coach and you have a total loss, the new fee to act like a chicken scratching the ground and "dicker" with these adjusters will be $500 to even take their call! You are just out of the box if you do not have the proper policy and there is little anyone can do for you! I do not want to come off as the bad guy in this mess and yes, I will try the best I can to convince that guy that is going by the letter of their policy and make him believe me that the coach is worth more than that but the reality is the preparation the owner has made has made the coach not worth anymore than a minute amount of what has been put into the coach. Listen man, a "full coverage" policy, I don't care how many receipts you have, is not going to protect your investment!! It's just plain and simple, I have been burning up the phone for an hour trying to defend a fine coach that has been totaled and all this may be for nothing-- if the owner had just had the exact words "Agreed Value" in his policy none of this would have been needed.

Like I said, gotta go-- the day is on, I did my best for the guy and now we move on

I'm trying for a headstart on tomorrow posting tonight Janie went out with her sisters to soak up some culture at a Rollins College play where they all have season tickets tonight so I'm Bachen it tonight. Going to those ever so often with her members of her large family is probably what keeps her from going nuts working at the shop. Being a play house for us big boys, it's not what you would call a center for cultural enlightenment-- no it's more like a pile of fun for those that emrace grease, rust and the ever present chance that one part will finally capitulate only to allow 3 other parts to fall off at the same time. Yes, it's a true Mecca! I mean take another look at Andy standing in front of his object of frustration--- what stands out-- thats right a smile from ear to ear!

Today, Andy got some surprises as Kevin went about breaking down his exterior surface for paint. Hey, but you see a big smile because Andy is still having a blast

That piece in his hand used to be part of the body

The PO probably had a tire blowout-- sure hope he didn;t pay too much for the body repait! The guy must have been a carpenter, there was a hurricane clip holding the wad onto the body

and I must admit until Kevin took out the screws holding it to the coach that clip held pretty good but the whole affair glue and all fell off when the hurricane clip let go

See, thats the sort of stuff we find. Maybe Kevin could have paved over it-- would have been easier, faster and cheaper but dude, what kind of people would we be. Repairs like this are important, Kevin can fix it, no problem-- stay tuned for the outcome.

Speaking of Kevin's work, he was a busy boy taking the Duramax dashes to another level of discovery.

Hey, it's actually starting to look like a GMC dash! Yea, but we know that it's something very different. Someday in the future when you see one of these machines at a rally you will be able to lean over to your buddy with you and point out there was much work that went into making it look like an original dash. Bring your tape measure with you and you will see it is really a totally modified shape-- hey but it looks good! I can see light in this tunnel-- keep moving we're getting there!

Then there is Steve plugging away at Mark's highly modified bathroom.

Can't help it, people keep challenging us with unique designs, each one just a bit farther down that yellow brick road. This coach, being a Coachman center kitchen model started life as a separate shower bathroom design. Mark as 4 kids with another on the way so he saw the bathroom as a busy place! We pulled the shower mold, that space could be better used. We're building up a kingsized "wet bath" design with a molder in place one piece fiberglass mold with solid surface counter top, under counter stainless sink. Yep, thats a entry door sized window in the bathroom! Will have a 14x14 vent fan, china toilet-- stay tuned for this project, it's starting to take shape!

Like I said, a fun place to be-- the thing that makes this work is the whole team working together, everyone pulling their weight. It's so great having help like that, and you guys-- it's great to have folks like Andy, Gerry stopping by yesterday, Uncle Al holding down the lift tonight in the "penthouse" getting a new holding tank and maserator, Nelson swinging by on his scooter adding to the collective, Bob H. dropping by when he's in the area and the rest of the snowbirds dropping by in support. Yep, I feel very blessed and with great weather the past couple of days the side car bike has been getting a workout.

Tonight with Janie out, Al, Andy & I made it over to Chipolte for a Burrito and the bike ride to the house. Sitting here having some time to plunk the keyboard listening to some good music-- what else can there be! It was a good day, good food with good friends, hard challenging work and a few new things learned-- let the good times roll!

Update: It's today (kind of a funny way to put it) but I just really felt this was an important thing to say-- I've been here several hours pouring over writing an "after the fact" agreed evaluation on a coach that had been stolen and destroyed. The owner has appointed me as his "arbitrator" with his fight with the insurance company trying to recover at least a descent portion of the over $40,000 , they want to give him $11,500 for a total. My evaluation came out over $57,000 and I doubt I could build what he has today for that! Now we are in a contest playing games "Wazit Worth". Guys, DO NOT play this game! Have an agreed value insurance policy that states clearly what amount you will get if the vehicle is totalled! Do NOT settle with "full coverage" or you will be playing this game! An agreed policy is not that expensive, may be the same you are paying now! Don;t float along thnking all is well, your buddy insurance guy which you have used for decades is taking care of you! Agreed policies are not written by all companies-- what are they supposed to do, tell you they cannot take your money? You may have "coverage" but it will not pay you for your classic baby when something happens-- trust me, you do not want to be in this guys shoes! It has taken me all morning to compile what I have to try and help and it's a good bet is may not do squat, he did not fave an "agreed value policy" and here we are. I can hook you up with a company that writes agreed value policies for motorhomes-- thats their specialty. It's not my brother in law although one gal there does have the last name "Bounds". I just want to save you guys a huge heartache-- please check into this. OK, along with my automatic fire suppression soap box, I now have one foot on this soap box too!

Thanks Mark, got the word the Daily Pose was getting too large to load, transferred some to archives As your Atilian waiter says when you order "Thats was a good choice", after much debate and looking through color books, we all agreed that Andy's direction of bringing his coach into the direction of a original, custom, retro look would best be accomplished with a soft white and original sahde green graphics identical to those on the original custom white "Palm Beach)

There is room in the future for "back to the future" styling. Usually we are going in another direction but this too will be a worthy challenge. Soon, you will see as close to an original custom order Palm Beach in white with green striping. Tonight, Andy has out "penthouse" suite spot up on the lift where the view over the lot is stupendous! Well, it is if you like seeing many GMC's in various stages of repair!

You know you are hooked on GMC's when you prize a spot up on the lift for the night! Hey, we're taking reservations!

"Uncle Al" is back for a couple of tires getting trued and a new holding tank, I'll do pics of that for ya. Garry liked the new roof paint on his coach so much we're going to refinish the rear of his machine, loose the ladder and install 3 (countem) roof AC units. This will be a cool coach in many ways!

The sun is up, I need to get out there truing Al's tires before the guys get in. See ya-- thanks for dropping by to our "neighborhood'-- As Mr. Rogers would say "It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood..., won;t you be my neighbor"

I'm switching my "modus aparandi" (now thats amazing I spelled that right!) (OK, enough about my bad latin-- but as Nelson said, "People should expect it from you at this point"-- you too Scott!) in posting here before the Emails yaks all my time One post was right when it said I must be slammed because of not posting in a while-- how right you are and hey, what can I say -- with so many folks in the bread lines we have to stay on work we have.

I have to thank all of you for supporting us here, having things happening though it's not like what it was we do have stuff going on and thats great. It's pretty scary out here in small business land. I listen to PBS reports that economists say the economy must rely on the small business, the start up guy with a wild idea to employ the larger part of the work force-- that we need to not slim down and invest in keeping a larger staff on board for the time when this crunch is over-- OK, how long will that be? My check book says it can't be very long but with no one pointing to a date when the gates will open it's pretty hard not to hunker down and just go into hold on mode! This GMC market is unique and we love our coaches and don;t want a small thing like being so broke we can't pay attention to stand in the way of keeping our machines in tip top shape but hey, you must ad mitt it does wear on us at times!

Yesterday Andy F. blew in from up state some 1500 miles to bring his baby in for some work

Owning this bundle of joy for @ a year and a half full times in his machine figuring why spend all that $ to live in a house when he has one right there. He put his house budget in his business building and now the only problem will be where will he live while we paint his house and install my last Honda water cooled generator! We all get by with a little help from our friends so he'll be hitting friends sofas wqhen he goes back up north-- hey guys, take care of Andy, you may need a custom build winding stairway someday-- thats what Andy does so if you have an extra sofa unoccupied and need a stairway, I've got a deal for ya!

Andy's paint scheme will be trick in a different way that trick has been defined in the past. Enjoying accurate cars having a point accurate Triumph TR4, he wants the colors on his coach to be that unique custom order white "Palm Beach" design with a white body with the green stripes. We're discussing making the green have a twinge of pearl to give it that unique look. Tis should be an interesting outcome, original style "retro-rod" accurate nostalgia--- cool man, he should be a real hit for folks that will remember the original look of the GMC and to the young people looking for something trick!

OK, so people are showing up and I haven't hardly gotten into Emails. Hey, a good one Wayne-- I too am feeling an impending doom!

Until things clear up I would keep the top up and double check your insurance policy!

Gotta get out there, we're trying our best, thanks for the support and the visit-- have a great day and do something meaningful

Thanks for the post saying you enjoyed seeing all those Co-op supporters there were a couple of very dear shots of folks I miss, I have literally thousands of pics that bring me pride like these, matter of fact I felt bad about putting so many up yesterday but I just could not stop-- every time I said this one will be the last another one came up-- the ringing of the phone stopped me!

On those lines, yesterday Les D. from White Bear Lake Mn. rolled in on his grand trip around the country and lest night I shut the gate with them hunkering down at the Co-op RV Resort

Les is a netter and for years I have shipped him parts and we've talked through issues with his coach. He is a fanatic with his coach, a real Popular Mechanics devotee really putting his mind and heart into his machine. We're gonna help him with some things today before we hit the rally, he's heading south to the keys then over to his place in Az--- what an awesome run he's making, I'm jealous! Les mantra is "Life's a journey, enjoy the ride" and man thats what he's doing. He said he just loves to drive his coach and brother, thats what having one of these machines is all about! Use that critter, it's what that greyhound was made for-- to run! To that, my Dad was a Greyhound driver, some years after his death I ran into a fellow bus driver and he said of my Dad, "I drove a bus to put food on the table, your Dad Jim, drove a bus because he loved driving". I think there is no finer thing to be said of a driver and the machine he drove than that. Let me clean my glasses for a minute-- the GMC is truly a machine that can fit into the category of great driving machines along with the "Silversides" Bus, the "Superscenic Cruiser" and the "Flexible". My Dad told me stories of driving those machines, how he loved to wind out those twin turbo diesels on the long low cruiser and how pissed he was the day they took away his Buffalo Bus and stuck him in that automatic shift MCI! Now those were stories and I can tell stories of coming across Texas in my "dumpster" with all my mechanics in the back towing a flat bed trailer full of tools and parts heading to Mariposa and a WS rally. I can recount the non stop ride to Raine La. with Nelson only to turn around and white knuckle straight home staying less than 24 hours or the awesome sight of over 300 coaches nestled in the valley in Marion NC. I can remember waking up a mothballed GMC, gathering my assets and drove the beast all the way in to the shop-- I've got many of those stories and then there is JayGee, what an ongoing adventure there!

Anyway, enough of that. Steve is following the spec and rebuilding the dinette base of Mark's Coachmen Royale

. Being a 78 model, this cabinet under the seat was intended to be the LP tank compartment but that fixture ended up where it was supposed to be in the LP compartment in the back. Coachmen guys built the tin lined box and called it "outside storage", yea-- thats it, lets call our screw up something! Talking with Mark, we designed the compartment with one inside storage area and the outside door could also open inside to access that space easier. In that we'll be retaining the original seating, this can be a good inside as well as outside storage spot.

Finishing up the plumbing on the Wind Dragon, we were testing the sewer system and found the drain in the floor of the bathroom not connected

I mean what were they thinking-- the galvanized pipe came down in about the worst spot you could think -- not only did they cut away part of the body base support, it was right next to the steel frame just above the exh. pipe at a 90 deg angle!

It was above the bottom of the body so nothing could be connected to it and the body could not be cut away to get to it without I felt compromising the integrity of the floor! Stay tuned to see how we painted our way out of this corner!

So I have shoved plunking down this before I got into the Emails of the morning, I need to at least answer a few of them so it's over and out for today. It's in the 50's this morning, the cold front has come in and if the clouds will part it really will be a nice day here. Kevin is lathering up his fiberglass stick going on the Duramax dashes, Jeff will be in to go at the 23d floor and I'll be arounf looking for my head. Should be a fun day, see ya later

Before I got too deep in questions from Emails and all that I figured I had better come over here and plunk down some verbage before you guys got tired of staring at our new license plate caddy and took off I mean I know it is a good looking addition to your coach with the "Dream's Alive" theme and all but there is a pile more going on here than that and I know thats why you come here to see what mess we've stepped into next.

Heck, even my uncle that follows the Pose called to make sure I was OK, man I've gotta stop having gaps in this posting! Thanks Don T. and others for waking me to the fact I needed to post something, we all have our vises and if starting the day with something interesting here does it for ya-- hey, it does it for me too!

Joe had his Wind Dragon in here trying to sort is out after it's 8+ year hibernation,

, we've done a pile of work. Now remember the coach did drive in under it's own power but as Joe said when I first asked him what things he felt the coach needed, he said thats simple-- the radio works and the motor starts, other than that I think everything else is broken! Oh man, does that conjure up a bunch of variables but here is a list of the things we did:

Dropped fuel tanks, changed all hoses--- front suspension---- brakes---- bearings---- wiring was a zoo--- power converter--- compressor in air ride---- blown up fresh water tank,--- fix maserator toilet--- adding 2nd poopy tank--- new tires & trued-- roof AC new--- sort generator- a mess---- what did I leave off! Hunter Boats built this puppy, guys-- look, it's not a boat but boy the interior looks like one! Oh, the cruise is wacked too! Today is the last day, Joe wants to make this weekend SS rally at Ft. Wilderness so we gotta get it all today-- wish us luck!

Was trying to limit the expense of the job and first said we could leave the shocks-- looking at them when we did the truing-- man, I had to change them-- sorry man !

Heck, the front shocks were the wrong ones

(note all the new steel brake lines) and the rears were blown out

I mean are those shocks or just rusted tubes and it's pretty obvious that they "wet the bed" right there when we started messing with them, sorry bout the cost but it just hadta be done

Gerry brought his coach in for a roof repaint, the clearcoat had pealed so Kevin sanded that crap off, prepped then based and cleared new stuff up there.

. It's really tough to match metallics but I think we got it pretty good. This is an older CLASCO restoration, good to see our work is holding up and I sure am proud of it.

Jim G. just called wanting to be sure all was well at the Co-op World Headquarters, he was deep in winterizing "Annie" the machine we worked with him to put together some years back.

. Yea, Jim was a great help working on his coach of course the time he got stuck on his spare tire

! Just kidding, it was great how at the same time we were doing up his coach to a useable condition he was learning how to keep Annie on the road. Thats what every coach owner needs to do to get the most value and enjoyment out of their GMC investment. Jim G. is now head Kahuna in the Tidewater Crabs club, on the GMC net and is a real GMC community supporter. Thanks for being a friend of the Co-op Jim

. And there are many others, folks who "get it" , use their coach, appreciate their GMC and want to have something unique-- I think of all of you and the good times I've had-- thanks for the memories

God, there are just so many more-- where do I stop. You all have been and made this wild ride at the Co-op such a blast-- thank you all and like I said there are tons more pics I could put up-- rigured you were tired of looking at'm all.

Sorry guys, been so busy with Emails , phone calls and a little work thrown in there for good measure that I have not had a chance to plunk on this keyboard Have no fear, we're OK, all is well just trying to catch up. I'll see about posting some stuff in the morning for ya. Thanks for the concerned calls-- no my blood pressure is good!

Hey, I'm not above bribing folks! So now, with any parts order big enough to hold it, we're sending one of these puppies out in the box

Hey, show your excitement about your coach and your spirit for the Co-op with our "Dream's Alive tag caddy! We have T-shirts & bumpers stickers too so hey, get with it

Man, you just won;t believe this! I was just about to plunk down here that I had convinced myself from recent things I have heard about coaches catching on fire that automatic and hand held fire suppression for our vintage coaches is one of those things that we just can no longer take for granted and the phone rang-- it was Lou giving me a download from his last trip with his new "low cost paint job".

. "Capcom" we had an issue! Driving along Lou reached over to turn on the dash AC, a fire started in his dash! He ran out and switched off his batteries (thnk goodness he had installed the cut off switches on his battery) then he emptied 2 dry chemical fire bottles right into his dash-- made an awesome mess! Then turned on his water system and kept spraying water in-- it was all he had. Got it out and found a hot wire issue on the dash blower resister module on the side of the heater boix. There was a squirrel nest up in the heater box inside against the resister module for the speed control. Bout lost the coach-- got it out, got the mess cleaned up and found out first person how dangerous fire in a motorhome can be. Found out how damaging a dry chemical extinguisher in a motorhome can be and hoe he really needs to know his coach. Good job Pou, you saved it, thanks to quick thinking. He had prepared himself with what he knew to do and it worked!

OK guys, now-- there is no excuse and I cannot sit on the sidelines on preparing you guys for this sort of scenario. I was creeping up on presenting this concept but now-- for Pou's sake if nothing more-- you guys just have to think hard about fire suppression!

Lou's dry chemical bottles did help him but they made a mess xso cleanup was a killer, here I go about "hindsight" but if he had one or 2 of the Halon hand held manual units we have, the fire would have been smothered and out with no coach damage due to the extinguisher. Guys, this is a wakeup call, this unit here

on the right is a hand help Halon manual fire extinguisher-- I just can't rest til you guys have one of these! Cost is $95, yes it's more than one of those "Kiddy" jobs, a dry chemical unit like what Lou had. At least his coach is still here with it but man, I wish I had prepared my good friend-- you will have to put up with me asking you if you are prepared from now on! Go to this page and spend a few minutes and read about what is out there and new Fire ext. . Working with Fire Fight, BTW the owner is one of us

, that's his coach he uses in his business, Fire Fight has been on the Halon band wagon for some time. Ralph has been recovering Halon gas from the aviation industry and is still offering this awesome fire fighting chemical in custom automatic systems for motorhomes specifically the GMC. He's now also going into AFFF fire retardant foam systems. Very neat stuff, it's not only watersoluable which means it does not make a mess, it is a system that is currently the hot thing (no pun there). Ralph feels that AFFF will be as safe and useful as Halon-- hey, I'm on the plan now so please excuse me when I bring this up with you when you call. I'm not trying to sound like an info mertial or some home sales thing which it seems fire suppression systems have been sold in-- this should be an automatic for your coach.

Yesterday, we installed a Halon engine automatic system in Larry's coach

. Installing it I found an old Halon fire suppression system

, it had been in there since 1993. It was Halon but look at how small it was, more proof that for $225 you are getting a real deal! Installation is no big deal, the old system had to be wired in, the new system is self contained and automatic. Here is Larry's generator system getting ready to go in

. Here is his Halon system in the frig compartment

, note the sticker with the circles, that is a heat strip to show the heat in the compartment. That comes on every system. There was an old fire bottle in the frig compartment, a manual one buried in a hole-- I mean would you have the presence of mind to open the frig compartment and yank that thing out! You need a manual system in clear view where anyone can see and get to it.

OK, I'll get off the milk crate on this for now, please think about fire suppression for your coach-- both automatic in key areas and at least one manual extinguisher where you can get to it fast. Fires in motorhomes do not give you much time to think! Call me, I can have the Halon and the new AFFF stuff sent to you. Check out on the internet and you will see how really inexpensive the systems we have really are! OK, I'm done for now, thanks for hanging through my rant.

Hey Ken, here is where your sofa will be

We're setting the floor now, placing seating mounts and all that. I'll do better pics for ya.

Kevin is bouncing back and forth, had a order fro a set of fiberglass bumper covers, here he's laying out a finish sanding primer

We'll be boxing these up today.

Last but certainly not the least-- did you get your new issue of FMCA magazine? Thanks Dave Greenberg for that great article about the GMC Registry and how the community is coming together to capture all that important information. If you haven't yet, go read the article and tak a minute to Email FMCA and thank them for the GMC exposure. Go to http://www.gmcmhregistry.com

OK, it's 9 AM, I gotta get to work, thanks for the recent Emails, good to hear from you all. Please take seriously this fire thing, get some protection-- it's important! We'll talk to ya later

Got caught up on the phone & Email with some new owners and all of those "101" Q&A things everyone needs to know when you have a GMC Getting work around here done is important, letting you guys see whats happening is important but getting new owners off on the right foot--- now that really important. Stuff like the "B&B" (bearings and brakes, how to check the altenrator light circuit for damage then how to bypass it and why just putting a blocking diode in the line is not enough-- stuff like the poop on the air bags, how you can either get ripped off buying new original ones at an inflated ending inventory price or just bite the bullet and retrofit the coach now and be done with it-- all this stuff is "need to know" for everyone and so many now are getting it and calling in to learn this stuff-- it's gratifying to help in this way.

Che ck out the roofline on the Wind Dragon after we put in the new low-pro Carrier 15,000 BTU units

We left the awesome rack built by Hunter boats, lost the roof pod to fit the reversed rear AC unit The coach now has that low, lean look

Carrier really did their homework trying to "one up" the Dometic Pinguin, I think they may have won that race!

Man, I hate messing with older Onan ganerators. This is a late model "Emerald"

, check out the corrosion on the aluminum parts, then there is the wiring-- all white wires, no color codes

and the circuits are not logical! The starter has a plastic graphite gear and a plastic wormgear

, the aluminum case is cheap so the ears break for no good reason

Rob Peter to pay Paul or go and get screwed on price is how it goes on parts! Hey, we got it going so the Wind Dragon has power-- at least for now. They may be on the top of the heap now, if they keep going the way they are now though it won't be long...

Our shipment is in so those of you waiting for a new Gov. gear for your tranny, they will be on the way

We've got Mark's 455 core together for a pickup tomorrow

We don't use "off shelf" cores, you never know the "trauma" some motor has seen. No, we send our own cores for our hot shot roller cam motor builds. We also send a Milodon high volume pickup tube, this time they asked for the oil pan for some live crank testing

. For those of you who are not aware of our roller cam crate motors, these are custom built motors specifically designed to pull a 12,000 pound load. A very unique problem for any motor, a low RPM, high torque situation actually is more difficult for a motor than a high RPM drag race burnout! We use a performance roller cam design for both lower valve train friction and to give us the opportunity for our unique cam specifications making our motor the right one for motohome application. Not wanting to make this sound like gratuitous advertising but hey, if no one tells folks, no one will know! Mark is pulling his 403 in favor of our 455 roller motor. Yes, we can do a 403 roller mother but hey, we're in there so lets just do it! Cal's new 455 is pulling his rig right nice after putting his old 403. We'll be doing the same thing here with Mark's drive train.

The first pan of cracked eggs that will eventually make up the Duramax dash "omelet" Yea, I know it does not look like much-- what you are looking at is the first pull of the engine cover before the interior panel is made, the pass. side of the original GMC dash from the full dash mold and the resized dash cluster 2 piece mold mold made custom to fit the Duramax dash panel. As we speak, Kevin and his gimp back are going about mating the 2 dash sections together, we'll them fit them to the dash itself and cut/add/shape it to fit.. This pic will stand as the humble beginnings of the centerpiece of an awesome machine.

I have talked about this way to much probably and if it bores you a bit just skip over this blue writing but every time I look at these 2 Duramax examples of just how far far can go in custom modification I have to sigh a bit and think of all of what it took to get to this point-- was it worth it? Let me say, no one may v=ever say they want something like this again -- but there will be 2 built, it will be proven the design was not a fluke and we will have the knowledge that we ( you guys have suffered along with this as much as me) made them both AND at the same time! How far will someone go to prove a point? Pretty far for this point! How outrageous can we think of something out the top, as I told Raymond Cruz when he said he wanted something "sick", careful-- I can do sick! There is not one square inch of these machines that has not had custom modification consideration

These are not after though projects, these machines represent something that may never be tried again, taking the idea of a state of the art, high technology turbo diesel format wrapped up in the retro package we all know and love. Some may say it is sacrilege to do this to a classic GMC while others water at the mouth and say "when will it be done". That question has no answer at this point, how long does it take to make a work of art. I'm not saying this "tongue in cheek", I must tell you these coaches are so far out there that the Palomar Observatory will have a hard time focusing on the galaxy they broke free from! When folks drop by for a visit and I start showing them around the shop, they always come to these coaches and just cannot believe what they are looking at. Most have heard we are doing something with a Duramax motor and some even have an idea of what it is but when you step into one of the coaches, turn your head toward the front of the coach that motor grabs the eyes and you can't help but say "holy crap"! Thats a big motor! Then their head spins back around and words like man, there had to be some changes done to fit this in here! I usually just point out a few things and say YEP when they ask questions because most of the questions are of that variety. Always the question will be when will they be done-- I immediately think of all we've been through to get to this point, realize the person asking the question has no idea what it took and no idea what it would mean to me to say some date in the immediate future and just say "we're getting there". That is the best answer to that one-- we're getting there. The next thought is "man, I want these done" but getting this far it would be wrong to just push these machines out of here. There is so much custom done here to get them to where they are how do you cut things short and just blow them out! The project is worth taking to the mat, all the way the best that can be done.

With the economy as it is today, what we should focus on are things to create cash flow, not these labor sucking Duramax projects. Things like this take much more out of the day than you can ever charge for. Trial and error, unexpected results, involved processes, discovery all are things that must be endured to bring projects like these to their best possible conclusion. We all went into this knowing we would be breaking eggs for these huge omelets but you just never know how messy the mud pile will be until you are knee deep in it. \

So here we are, I'm sitting here looking out the open door as it starts to rain-- oh, thats great-- rain, for a fair weather shop like we have wet stuff means slower work. Rain is our foe-- hey, we need it I know but as for our shop I wish we could have a 7 year drought! This too will pass though, we will endure if we have the strength and these unbelievable machines will soon terrorize the roads. We shall endeavor to persevere and boy when we're done-- look out!

OK, I'm done, I had to clear that out so I can go forward. All who are involved in the Duramax projects are all as excited and jumping up and down as I am. We all just want them done so stay tuned, the desire is there and you guys are soon gonna see some cool stuff roll out of here!

In the meantime, Larry was reading about the brake issues we found when looking into the Wind Dragon brakes, with his coach here he asked if we could just take a looksee at his rear brakes as well

so Jason jacked it up and pulled the drums. No problem found was the report. The shoes and wheel cylinders were in good shape-- the shoes did need adjustment because the wheels spun free when checked. We flushed, inspected then repacked the wheel bearings, changed out the rear seals (that stuff is just done when you pull the drums) and all went back together. See, it is not always a total redo when you go into the brakes!

Larry said he wanted us to install one of the new hot shot sensatized brake boosters

and since Larry said it had been a while since the brakes had been flushed (you really need to totally flush the system every year or 2 at the max) we popped open the master cylinder and found this

. Can't leave a contaminated lunk like that in there, while we were doing the booster we replaced the brake master cylinder

and then we went on to flush the lines-- and thats where the train came to a screeching hault! First letting the system "gravity bleed" to the rear, we could not get fluid flow. Now it's disconnect the lines at the cambo valve and blow them out. A plug of wad came out of the upper line to the combo valve-- OK, we know where we are, all the lines must be first blown out with air before we can go forward with flushing and bleeding the system. See, you just never know what pearls of joy you will find. All you can do is keep on. Guys, flush your brake system every year or at least every 2. If it's been a while since you did this, don;t say "it seems to be working OK". That means it will work OK until it doesn't and who knows when that will happen! Brakes are just too dang important to treat them that way. Larry was right is asking us to check his brakes out, he certainly was not looking to spend more money but brakes--- what can I say! If the brakes he had were acceptable, wait til he hits the pedal when we finish--- new sensatized booster, new master, blown, flushed and bleed lines, shoes adjusted-- heck man, he's better carry a pillow to keep him off the windshield! You gotta look at safety systems like brakes in this way.

So while I've been plunking on this keyboard, I've been hearing Kevin out there cutting and grinding on stuff. He just came in to say he's heading to the house to rest his back for an hour and I might wanna show you guys his progress. Hey ma, it's looking better

And as the Beatles said it so well "I have to admit it's getting better, it's getting better all the time!" Stay tuned for more, thanks for the visit now I need to get out there and get with it. See ya again

Uncle Johnny had my lap top this weekend loading in a new antivirus set up and figuring out why it took that thing a good 15 min. to load up. Between the 2 computers, I use it to load up pics and work on the web site, I like to try and keep my main computer out of harms way and all that rooting around. Sorry for the time away, I know by now this page is wound so tightly into many lives I sure don;t want to be the one that gets your schedule out of kilter! I'm that way, I need to stay on my path, on the daily routine is how I try and get things done and is actually how I have been able to post here on a more consistent basis. Realizing how important regiment is to me and realizing it may be that way for others is another reason, a good one for me to stay on my routine--- to the beat goes on.

Speaking of the beat going on, check out my son's newest motorized bike creation

I run the risk of him not sending me any more pics of the stuff he is doing-- see he does not want me to dote over him but hey, I'm his Dad and I would probably be doing exactly what he is if I were in his situation. Well actually, he is taking it his own way and creativity is just that way. From the "pusher" idea he picked up this tandem bike frame and transferred his apparatus to it. Kinda looks like a cross between a old style slat racer and one of those new crotch rocket drag bikes! I'm waiting to find out how it performed! Let me put it this way, if you were walking along a street and saw this critter chained to a street light, would you stop and take it in? I think so! So whats next, careful it may be outstanding and isn't that why us humans think in the first place! It's not for social gratification as much as just letting those creative juices out, what else can you do with that energy? There has to be diversions in your life, it's just more healthy to have some other things going on in your life than just work. Good luck John.

A good lead into some of the carryingson around here--- the guys around here have pretty much the same affliction I do about having outlets for our ideas, maybe thats why we try some of the things we do-- certainly, it's not making money doing some of this stuff! Had a hickup (unexpected response) on the first outing of the pulse digital generator project. Thats OK, thats why we "test" stuff. If you never had issues to deal with it would be a boring life. By vertue of being the first, you must expect those unexpected issues to come up. I'll fillyou in when I have more input-- but no one dies, there was no smoke and it pointed to several possible fixes so all is good.

Thats how it always is on stuff like this, the Duramax projects have pointed to so many unexpected results, thats what we are deep into right now. I mean if their are labels as "unexpected" that means you did not know about that issue so in finding it you have to stop, back up-- understand the issue and work around, through or over it to continue. All of that is time and money and that is the whole problem with doing all this first time stuff and also why most people just will not try. If no one ever stepped out and said-- lets go for it, we would not be where we are today so to those that ask about how the Duramax projects are going-- my answer is "they are". Yes, they are taking time-- the larger the project the more it will take to bring it to conclusion.

Today, we are fitting the forward floors. The dash is still fitting as is the engine cover but with 3 guys on it, maybe we can get things squared away. Between doing all of that work, we also need to pay bills so that slows the process that much more. As long as progress is happening we have to persevere!

With time "falling back", the day is a bit on the less hot side, not cool yet just having less heat is welcome. Johnny should be bringing my lap top in this morning so I will be able to post pics, stay tuned-- I have some to show. Have a great day, the sun is coming up earlier now so I need to gauge my computer time to that. Talk to ya later

I got away from this but here are a few things we run into during the day for you to consider on your coach

The "Wind Dragon" pulled into the shop and stopped under it's own power but being a new purchase, I always recommend the new owner have the "B&B's" done. That's bearings and brakes checked. Yes, it stopped OK, so what is "OK" and does a new GMC owner know what is OK for their coach.

Pulling the drums the first thing you see are cracks running along the shoe liner

, now look closer and you will see a black carpet of brake dust stuck to the wheel cylinder. That dark color is brake fluid sticking it to the cylinder and backing plate. You can actually see the dark fluid working it's way down on this cylinder

and this one is really "fur covered"

! So that's 3 out of 4, whats my bet the 4th one has troubles too? So if you see any trouble in your rear brakes, do them all. This is a must for anyone purchasing a coach-- check out the "B&B's". Like I said, the coach stopped, probably had to have fluid added periodically-- not too often but hey, a brake system does not "use" brake fluid, if you have to add fluid at all you really need to look into the issue.

Next, Craig and Eric helped by Json are renewing the roof AC units on the Wind Dragon. Step one is to get the old "roof shaker" down which we've found a great way to do that. Just toss the dang thing off!

Hey, I don't care what happens to that ole thing, it's done it's job so lets just get it off the roof and move on! Then we find under the footprint of the old roof AC the reason the coach leaked

The rear cross seam had popped so the sealant was not doing it's job and hey, the screws plugging the holes in the roof were leaking, the one rusted to death is a dead giveaway

. The seam will have to be cleaned out and resealed, the screws will be removed and blind rivets sealed in place with be installed.

Next we move over to that good looking Explorer coach Larry brought in for some work. He wanted us to check his front suspension-- and good thing!

"shaking" the front end there was some serious movement, Jason went "diver down"

to find the bolts holding the lower ball joint really loose. Good thing Larry felt something. Guys, you most "ping" or destroy the threads on those attaching bolt or they WILL back out! No foolin, this is something that just has to be done. Jack up your coach, put a bar under the wheel and while you look at the lower ball joint have a friend pull up on the bar which moves the wheel up and down. If you have any trouble with a loose ball joint, you will see it right off. You can find it out in your driveway--- or on the road, your choice!

Finally but certainly not the least-- we installed one of our alternator light trigger circuits in Bill's coach yesterday

, no-- an "APC" does not do the same protection to your electrical system as totally bypassing that toaster wire in your harness with this simple 3 wire retrofit. I'm sorry but this is just the simple fact of the matter. Had someone call and ask that question actually yesterday while I was wiring this circuit up. Really, it's not really that hard, pull off the back of your dash and call me where you can look through the windshield into the back of the dash. In 5 minutes I can show you what you need to do to protect your coach. The parts are cheap and when it's done, you really can sleep easier. No disrespect to anyone not doing this but it really is something you should do and if you have had no problems thus far with this, won't it be great to know you never will?

OK, the sun is up and I'm outa here. Have a great day, give your coach a hug, we all need one now and then and do what you can to keep your coach in reliable condition.

Thanks for the comments on the pulse digital generator and the project. I enjoy doing stuff like that probably more than I should. It's always less profitable to do "one off" or first time stuff like that. Hey, it seems like I jump at that stuff and I'm sorry but thats the stuff that makes me "jump". I like pushing the limits, it usually is the main thing that keeps me in hot water but hey, you gotta break a few eggs to mke an omelet! So, am I saying I'm a short order cook!

It will be interesting to see where the generator industry takes the information we discovered in that project, I'll certainly do my part to stay on top of things here.

Today, Kevin is doing some finish paint work on the 23d we had been talking about it needing. Yes, it looked really cool and all but there was some original body damage we both felt could have been fixed better so he took the bull by the horns and went for it. We moved the 23d over near Kevin's place so he could focus more on that and the dash mold project.

Now come on, isn't this thing one of the baddest GMC's you've ever seen-- well you must also remember Raymonds 26' coach and put it up there too! These machines seem like they are here forever-- all I can seay is they both fit into that breaking many eggs for the biggest GMC omelet you have ever seen! BTW, thanks Dan and others for the comments on these projects. It's always darkest before the dawn, trust me when I tell ya we want these puppies home but with all of the awesome work in them, I just cannot let them out before it's all done the best. Stay tuned for more.

Today, I am finishing up a "toy box" lift dedicated bed mod in Larry's coach. Craig is doing a maserator on Bill's machine and we're installing a couple of low profile Carrier AC units on the "Wind Dragon" which BTW is a pretty interesting coach built up for a principal of Hunter sail boats by their production team.

We're pushing to get a volume of work out by Friday, the weather seems to be holding so I need to get out there and do some work. With Steve out on vaca, I'm a sawdust covered, fingers worn out trim worker this past week.

Again, thanks for all the input from posts, I try my best to read every one that comes in. See ya later

Several of you have contacted me wondering if I was OK. Don;t worry guys, I've been parting my morning between answering Emails and trying to get work done in the shop myself so something had to take a second seat. Sorry, for worrying you. Actually, some of the stuff we are into right now does not photo very well. When you are fitting things together in fiberglass, there is a point when it looks really crappy-- that would be right now. Making a dash for the Duramax coaches that looks original but is all made up is like building a set for a movie, one that has to actually work! Being the dash, something that will not only be seen and touched but is the main centerpiece of the coach is a very important and difficult thing to make look good. Billy Joel says "you have to spend money to look trashy", I would say it is hard to look original when it isn't!

We've also been trying to pay a few bills getting some mechanical things done and maintenance issues on some other coaches. hey, we can;t always just play!

There has been a thread on the GMC Net that I felt important to follow. It's most important that we all band together as GMC enthusiasts, to keep our classic machine in the forefront and not religate it to a museum as has happened to many unique machines such as ours in the past. Banding together means not having petty bickering, politics and bull crap get between what really the important things. Non profit organizations have a way of attracting some who would try and "run for the greyhound" stepping on others as they go-- this is not a good thing and it's important I feel when this happens to have everyone again band together to show solidarity. The group on the internet interested in the GMC is a great group of guys, we don't always agree with each other but you can do that in America and we don't need to come to blows over it. I'm happy maybe we all understand more of how to get along, thanks for both sides of the issue for having compassion for the other and moving on. There were good posts, Rick W. and others hit the nail. So lets all chill out and get back to the blissful fun we all enjoy on the list.

So today kevin is "fiberglassman", building some of our famous bumper overlays, some T skirts and continuing the saga of the Duramax dash-- I'll see if pics are good enough to publish.

Here are pics of Saturdays delivery of the pulse digital generator mod we put into a really unique Airstream coach named by Airstream "The Family Funeral Coach"!

This coach was designed for use at a funeral home, yes the flowers went in the back-- the casket in the side and the family hopped inside for a last ride. Today with Perry's 14 kids, it's their station wagon. They needed though a roof AC unit and generator to travel and keep his troops calm. The generator manly was for the 13.5K BTU roof AC unit, we put a low profile pinguine up there. This is a test of a first in the industry-- a pulse digital inverter designed generator adapted into a continuous use application. This could be the direction of this industry for the future. Thanks to Perry for letting us use him and his machine as a "lab rat". Thanks to all who brought this project to completion. If you are interested in more about this technology, give me a call.

And here is a little exercise in flat screen placement in Larry's coach.

The flat screen stores on this rotating stand and will remove to use in 2 other locations in the coach. We picked up 35 off the air "digital channels from Larry's already installed TV antenna sitting in our lot

Ditial off the air is a very cool thing, you need this!

OK, gotta go, have much happening-- know we're OK here, thanks for the worry. The Duramax projects are still moving, we're on other paths as well. Call if I can help, come back again and I hope to see you then

Another "outa time" day today the sun is already up after I got all the questions coming in on Emails answered. I gotta get out there!

Wanted to show you some of Kevin's handy work. From this

to this

Great job man! Now we get on to some other repairs on the coach that it's here for.

Like I said, I'm loosing my day, supposed to be in the 80's around here-- love the heat! See ya later

Boy, I sure got folks cranked up on some of the stuff we're messing with. Sold all of the Marcel's holder uppers I ordered in on the first order! The $75 figure might have been a bit too low-- hey, some things you win and others you give, I hope the suppliers don;t raise their cost-- it's what always happens! Have had spirited conversations on the radiator thing. Let me say this-- hands down an aluminum radiator has a better heat transfer, no argument there. I just do not like to be out there on the road in the middle of nowhere-- catch a "Jackelope" in the radiator and would not be able to take my rig to the closest radiator shop and get a fix. These coaches are just too heavy to push and a tow is gonna dent your wallet! There are new technologies in everything but I still want to keep my fortress repairable by "Bubba". It's one of the great things about our machine-- they are one of the last useable units that can be fixed with a set of Sears tools and I wanna keep it that way. The new rads we are seeking can be fixed, not just replaced when something bad happens. I have to prepare folks for bad because ____ happens!

Yesterday Kevin & I started in on a fit thats been a long time coming

This is the real deal, not the plug. It looks "rough" but it's the fit we seek.

The Duramax dash will look like an original GMC dash. It's a different size though and will fit different. It's really hard to make something look like what it's not! We're fitting this first to Ken's 23' coach, Raymond's 26' coach is just too damned finished off to get nasty inside cutting and sanding fiberglass. The dash fit should fit both though so have no fear Raymond, we're getting there. Here is the concept: The new dash being almost 42" front to back needs to be broken up. The forward area has the awesome job of access to the big ole motor. It has 2 removable panels for that. Then the dash and a pad area of @ 12" will break up the dash length and give your eyes a place to go. The fiberglass panel will be padded and seamed by Omar and will give the dash it's look. Below that we will have the engine cover and lower dash area will tie into the padded panel. Divide and conquer is the plan. Next Kevin will match the pass. side to the made up dash panel. When everything fits together we will file and sand them smooth then give them to Omar for the cover.

Another blue sky day, another chance to succeed, another chance to do good things. Hope yours gives you that chance, we'll be stroking hard to make good use of it. We have 2 Explorer coaches in right now for some mods, I'll do some pics for you. Some nice machines! See ya later

Was all ready to write up some stuff then got caught up in posts and trying to support the net with some info sorry but there is only so much time.

Got several posts on the "Marcel's holder uppers". Seems there were several of you out there wanting a new "mouse trap" on holding those doors up. What-- you're tired of propping the door up on your head! One guy posted asking me where I got the parts for the kit-- hey bunky, you can buy it from me! It's the time I spent figuring it all out and the cost of the parts. You cannot go out and buy the parts for the price I charge-- guys, why is it so hard to just support the person that came up with the kit? Sorry, just had to blow a little steam off there! Likewise on other things, look the GNMC specialty dealer netwrok is here to help you guys find those weird parts no one else will have or help you find. There should be a lagitimate income derived from helping and if dealers are not greedy and price their products fair you should in turn support their efforts. Go ask someone who owns a Revcon or an FMC if they wold like to have a specialty dealer to help them locate parts that work for their coaches. The GMC community is blessed with the fact that there were enough GMC coaches produced that a business is viable supplying parts for the community-- that is if they use them!

If you an enthusiast and love to "do it yourself" there is no reason why you can't let the dealer network help you do your best-- matter of fact you might just find having support helps you do better than you could without the help! OK, I'm off the box.

The sun is up and with having Steve on vacation, I need to get out there and get my hands dirty. I have some AV work in the middle on Larry's coach, some mechanical stuff, some other interior plumbing and electrical issues that I need to help the guys with. I'll try and do some pics for you today. Thanks for dropping by, we're peddling hard here. Have a great day yourself.

51 deg. yesterday we a real shock to us reptiles down here in the south. That is approaching the temp where we need to hybernate! Thank goodness the sun warmed us up and today it was 57 this morning as I rode in on the bike. One thing about riding a motorcycle in the cold-- when you get off, it feels much warmer! Today is supposed to get 81-- now thats good stuff for me!

With the cold and the amount of Emails in my box, I blew my window to talk to you guys here yesterday. I have both computers up now so I'm bouncing back and forth trying to do both.

Yesterday we had liftoff! Gerry P. as pilot, "Tarheal" headed north to it's new home

and it's new reason to be. Craig shut the door and gave Gerry a good luck h

as 3:30 yesterday Tar Heal made it out to the road and around the corner

for it's run to Conn. where it will be stripped out, seats installed and will please it's new owner as a shuttle bus at an auto auction. There will be 2 more shuttled north for the 3 coach fleet at the auction. The interior of this baby was really nice, too bad it will line a dumpster up north but the coach will have a lease on it's life and as all machines need it will have a reason to be, a purpose in life and the attention they all need to keep on keeping on. Got a call from Gerry this morning, good reports put him up in upper North Carolina this morning. The coach, he said, is running better as he goes. proof positive it is not only getting it's road legs back but is enthusiastically excited to get back on the road and not sitting around in our lot.

We didn't just slap it on the butt and send Gerry out there on the superslab the way the coach was-- no, we pulled the motor down to the block, replaced the valve seals with umbrella ones, blocked off the intake crossover, replaced the carb., timing chain, PS & water pump, thermostat, brake master, lines and hoses, fluids, tires trued and balanced, added a dual air bag system, bearings, seals, battery yea-- Gerry had many new weapons to battle the open road with so I felt pretty good as the machine went into the wind for the run north. See, you can't just jump in a coach you buy and go-- they are all 30+ years old and you must verify condition and bring many up to reliability. You guys looking to purchase a coach remember this-- DO NOT expect to purchase a coach and just drive it off . Trust but verify, I don't care what the seller says, you just can't put yourself in harms way without renewing many vital parts.

OK, here is a "squeeky wheel" that got the grease! For decades now, the struggle to safely hold up the generator and compartment doors has raged. Way back in CLASCO days, I was selling a kit that frankly would break those delicate doors if installed wrong or if the door had any cracks. Hey, today what door does not have a crack or some weak point! I had stopped selling the gas strut hold up kits, I just did not want to put my customers in harms way with what was out there. This has been my feeling up until now on those hold up kits-- they just were not safe. Well, after Marcel B. has been bugging my ear wanting me to come up with a new gas strut kit-- around here at least that squeeky wheel finally turned and I have proved up a new gas strut compartment hold up kit that I feel is safe. Here is the prototype of my new kit

We are using an new low pressure, long throw gas strut with aluminum reinforcement brackets. This unit was designed specifically to be safe, to not damage the door-- to hold the door up and to hold it down to make locking the fasteners easy. The struts are on a ball mount so there is no bind. I call this "Marcel's holder uppers" after the guy who kept at me till I got it done. Thanks Marcel for the continued calls, your kit will be leaving here soon! Those of you who are interested in a set of Marcel's holder uppers give me a call. I will be ordering in the raw materials this week. Cost is coming, I need to see what it will cost in volume to buy the pieces/parts. The big news on this kit is it will work and not break anything so there ya go, another small victory for the GMC and the Co-op.

Just contacted my suppliers, looks like the complete kit for both the generator and LP doors, screws, instructions and all the parts will go for $75. Tell me if you are interested I'm bringing in parts for 10 kits now.

OK, so the day is on, Kevin my fiberglass and painter hurt his back over the weekend and was not worth much yesterday. With help from modern science and the pharmaceutical industry he is here and we're going after the dash design on the Duramax coaches-- a real big priority for me right now. Craig, Eric & Jeff will keep the rest of the shop flowing while I steal away with Kevin so we're off and running. Have a great day, thanks for the visit and lets have fun!

BTW, yes Mark, that is your coach I mocked up "Marcel's holder uppers" on so yes, you will also have that feature on your coach.

Oh, wanted to tell you about another part we are having a prototype made up. One of the replacing parts for our coach is the radiator. You may not think about it as a "consumable" but the whole idea of a radiator is to increase the surface area in the cooling system so heat can dissipate efficiently. Corrosion from instide and out, damge from rocks and friction all wear on the radiator makes them a serious thing to maintain in our coach.

There are a couple of options on radiators-- and isn't it good we live in America where we all can do things any way we like. For several reasons I have opted to stay with the original design and material radiators and here is my reasoning:

1. an original material radiator can be repaired in the field, new plastic can aluminum radiators cannot. When you catch a rock in your radiator, you must have it repaired where you stop thus your radiator must be made of copper, copper can be repaired and even recored at any radiator shop. Having this option, to me, is critical.

2. A copper radiator is not nearly as susceptible to damage from electrolysis (thats a differential voltage from ground). With actually 2 DC electical systems and a 110 VAC electrical system on board that are all 30+ years old, you just don;t want to be in harms way on this point.

3. Being a maintenance issue, your radiator will someday fail. When that happens (and you just gotta think this way) you need to know what will come next. With a copper core radiator, you have the unit simply recored and rebuilt. A radiator made of another material must be totally replaced with no parts reused. Are you sure you will have another radiator to replace yours? There is only one "off shelf" radiator available and it's only on one shelf not widely distributed. You need to know wherever you are you can either buy or have a radiator repaired or replaced where you are.

All of this can be done with a copper radiator. AND now, we are going to have "New" copper radiators for you from the Co-op! Yes, a new radiator we hope will be available! Not available yet we are working on this so if you are in the market for a new radiator stand by-- we will have something for you in copper very soon. These units will be field repairable and replacable which answers my number one issue with a radiator for your coach. You will not sign a death warrant for your coach when the other material radiator fails which someday will have to. Here is our prototype radiator-- stay tuned for details on this new part

You are only as good as the weakest link in your chain and a truer phrase cannot be found for the work around here. The links of my "chain" is not only made up of the people I have but also the the parts suppliers able, the tools we have to work with, the vehicles we are working on, the facility we work in and the weather we have to work around. If any one of these issues turns agianst us--- well there we are. The weather has been hot but with the weather turning cooler the rains come in and wham-- we're caught up in working wet which is a pretty depression thing. The coaches we work on get older every day so I never expect them to let up and give us a break. Parts are dropping into the realm of discontinued every month which complicates our situation. As an example with Honda no longer supplying our beloved EV-6010 water cooled generators we're having to work over all these new ideas. Would be great to say it "fit like a glove" but as in the OJ case-- fitting is a relative term! We have struggled for 3 days now adapting this digital generator. Last night is fired up and ran with the coach fuel tank, under it's own power (the on board power converter was wasted so thatt too has to do it's job). We added a relay controlled electric fuel pump and forced induction active air handler--- these air cooled puppies do create heat! After all of this we have a level of reliable operation. The manufacturer gave little useable help and actually has asked for our discovery-- hey wait, do I want to divulge all the hell we went through? We'll see! This is but one issue and with the rest of everything on hold because of having to dodge rain and staying on this project enough to get it out of the way it just stresses me a bit having to devote what is needed to get to a resolution. We do have success though and sitting in the coach while the AC pumped away was very gratifying.

To those attending the ES rally next week, guys I sure wish I could be there. There is just no way to get out of here right now, the pressures of getting this volume of work done and keeping our bills paid makes me stay at the shop. I feel this will be a turning point in the life of Eastern States, I understand there are many younger first timers going to the rally. "Good-on-ya", do what you can to keep the club vital for the future. God luck and my thoughts will be with you.

As I said, our issues at the shop is not one of no work-- quite the contrary-- we have the work but we must do that work to pay for all of the experimentation and first time stuff we have under taken. Those projects never actually pay for the time it takes to make them go. So guys with the special projects in here, hang with us, stay tuned for progress and know we are peddling as hard as we can.

We are in negotiations with some new manufacturers who have capability to produce several obsolete product for the GMC community. When a part goes out of general manufacture, the next tier is to have those components sourced through limited production manufacturers, thats what we have a line on now. Stay tuned for some pretty exciting things. As a hint, we have a radiator manufacturer interested in designing a bolt in replacement standard construction radiator-- one that can be repaired in the field as opposed to an aluminum one. my recommendation has always been run a radiator that can be repaired in the field-- for this it needs to be made of standard solderable materials. Aluminum cannot be repaired at a local radiator shop and when you have an aluminum radiator mod in your coach, the longevity of your coach as a viable means of transportation is now tied directly to the life of your radiator--- not a good long term scenario. While realizing this concept throws me under the bus with some folks-- what can I say, I really want to put into my customers hands a serviceable unit. Stay tuned for that. This is one part we're working on.

Another recent victory has been with our sensatized booster. So many have reports they just loved what we did with this part that we are now ramping up our production of this part and will be having more on the shelf ready to shop. With purchasing in volume, we hope to keep the cost from going out of sight as it has happened to so many other vital parts.

These are things that are important for us to keep up with to keep our classic coaches on the road. I know all of this may be a bit boring to read and with no pics today, I'm taking the risk of turning some of you off-- have no fear I will get back to posting pics soon. All of this stuff builds up though and sooner or later I have to let it out. See this daily posting is as much for me as it is for you, I need this venue to help relieve some of my tension as much maybe as you need to hear GMC content so this is a win-win for us both. Thanks for being a part, the Emails I get from you are great and important feedback. Thanks, my gout is gone for now and they guys that have to deal with it know what I mean. Thanks to several for their routines, I will get some black cherry juice and thanks for being a part of the "co-op".

I feel like I'm letting you guys down a bit but the reality is we are working harder than ever on some really interesting thigs it's just not much for you to look at.

Yes, Dan, I guess I am keeping you guys on the edge of your seat on this digital generator thing--- sorry but the reality is it's funny how the harder folks try to identify things with specifications the harder it gets to relate them to the real world! What I mean is when you work with overseas products )as much as I hate it those folks over there are coming out with the cutting edge stuff), I mean what are we as consumers here in America supposed to do--- heck, check the label on your shorts, bet they are from some far east country--- but the same as anything from over there the specifications seem to stretch a bit to get us American consumers to bite.

I have run into unexpected results on the pulse digital generator in everyday use. Yes, we looked at the output waveform and yes, it is a really smooth pure sine wave. The unit fires up like a champ-- from a key fob wireless remote no less. Yes, it can be made to be deathly quiet, the 270 cc motor runs up and even when you put on too much load and the breaker pops, it does not lug down that much. There is a huge issue right now about small motor pollution and this puppy is 50 state legal which is a "green thing"---- but this this is a huge butt in my book, it is output resistance sensative meaning you cannot use a long cable to connect it to your coach. Also, it does not like a surge meaning piston style compressors are out. It will not run the old war horse hanging onto your roof. You must use actually a specific unit, a 13.5 BTU Dometic Pinguine-- nope, the hotshot new Carrier 15,00 BTU unit, the one I figured would be the efficient new unit that would run for sure cycles the protection circuit not all the time but once in a while and thats no good. It may run the 13.5 BTU Carrier but I have found the Pinguine to be the unit it likes.

I speculate all of this is because the unit is not a dynamo driven device rather an complicated electronic component one who actually touches the appliance and thus is effected by it. This still can work and the unit still can be a component in an efficient on board efficient electrical system but-- and it's this way in anything that seems unbelievable, the old addige holds again true "If it looks too good to be true it probably is". If you read the spec sheet on all of this stuff coming to us from overseas they all use words like best and lowest, better, cheaper and longer lasting. it's all put there to get us to buy, the trick is to figure out which one comes closest to it's claims. Walk into Harbour Freight-- do not expect that every tool on their shelf will do all the things it says on the box. No, you have to look at the unit and try and figure out which on has a chance of actually doing it's job. I bought a drill bit set once, the sttel was obviously not hardened because if they had been that 1/8" drill bit would have broken-- it bent, I mean how can a hardened drill bit bend! Ah, the box did not say "hardened". See, you must be aware of what you are looking for. Those folks over there have the ability of making really first rate tools--- and they do. Unfortunatly, they also make things I think expressly to fool us and price them where we can't resist buying them. And until we stop buying that crap from them they will keep making it. So relating that back to this generator, it does work, it does do all the things reported it just will not do it foe any appliance you connect to it. "TIC", a wise man who lives in Australia-- ( no names mentioned) said this acronym fits-- Things in China are different--- meaning you must really investigate some of the stuff coming out of those places. This may sound a bit like a slam, no I am simply stating a fact that you just can't jump all feet in on some product that seems like it will out perform anything previously produced. This Digital generator will do pretty much as presented-- that is if you pay attention to what you are doing. I am still looking at this as a new departure, a new concept in on board power generator but I must put some fine print on it's use.

Actually late last evening, Nelson helped me cut the output vents on the unit we are installing and I fired that mother up in it's new home. The first comment out of both of our faces as the generator sat there doing it's thing was "Wow, that's quiet"! And it was, I could step inside the coach, actually as far away as 40 feet and stop then right away start up ther generator using the wireless key fob-- how cool was that! It stumbles for just a split second before ramping up it's RPM and the roof AC unit fired right up, sat there an ran, compressor on with the blower on hi. The power converter was running and all was well. It works! Now, lets see how long-- I ran the unit for several hours, a time I felt it would heat up and shut off if there was a heat issue. It is hot a crap around here right now so I think the unit handles it's heat OK. We installed a megaphone style heat rake to the unit to help pull the heat away from it.

This is how it goes anytime you try new things, it has been this way with the impossible Duramax coaches, the skylights in Mark's machine, it was this way when we engineer