Phillip welded on Steve’s coach most of the day yesterday. You will remember the pretty serious frame rust we had 
It was still dark getting to the shop this morning so this pic is a little dark but you can see how the damage was repaired 
Today, the back side of the frame will be sealed then covered with rust killer and sealer POR-15 which is what the repair above had already been covered 
Looked like this before, you can also see the rust removal, frame straightening and weld bead connecting the sub frame to the ladder rail above compared to the separated frame 
We have pre-bent frame sections we use as repair and patch plates 
Makes damage repairs like this possible. We have more mechanical repair backing up… we only have 1 lift 
Hey Steve, I think we found the oil leak… valve cover gaskets…. we’re still looking…..
This project is complete except for the flooring. The new Mac Dash is in with the dash back together 
Insulation and front area carpet will go in today with a laminate slat board floor… stay tuned for that.
The 57 Belair project is so closeup work it’s hard to see in a pic… the front seats are air conditioned Cady seat……. can you say complicated? 
The seat driver seat memory feature is stupid complicated… the pass side works fine…… we’ll see what we can do….. I should be able to make some neat pics on this project soon… stay tuned.
No one is in yet, it’s nice a quiet around here. Pulling up our “wordpress” program to plunk here, there’s already 295 of you guys lurking around waiting for content…Wow, that neat you guys come and watch what we do. I still have folks ask wheredo I get the time and why do I do this……. an easy answer…. we’re having a good time! If you’re like me, I get up early and while fresh I surf around to see what others are doing. Then I pullup the program……. I’m happy to make this place we can go to do this……. where else could we have this much fun! There is a thread about how new parts are failing… welcome to my world… you can’t get upsetand waste stress…. you just have to deal with it. For us it’s a huge problem…. you are put out having to go back and replace the part ..WE have to replace that part at no labor cost! You think you get upset…. hey, they will give you a new part but we have to suck up the R&R……. is that fair? The world isn’t a fair place and passing stress because something failed… well, it is what it is….. feel for the guy who has to do the same job again for free! Delco alternators and starters are not remanufactured by actually Delco… Hayden makes about every fan clutch on the planet…… cost cutting and driving profits have killed the parts quality. In many ways…..and I do this I’ll install your part… no problem but remember if I do and that part fails it’s double unfair to have me install the new part for free. All of this wraps up in both the customer and tech have to understand these are the parts we have to deal with…. and it’s a problem. Having availability of about everything on Amazon the one thing you cannot do is check the quality and fit before you order it. If it’s wrong then here we go. I don’t inventory and sell parts….. we spend money on parts you can’t get but all the other stuff hey, you go buy it… I’ll give you the numbers! When the parts breaks you can deal with it! Rostra cruise controls last @ 3-4 years….. it has a 90 day warranty……… What happens when it fails after say 2 years? You see the problem…. I have relationships with you guys over 2 years! I feel bad it failed but there’s nothing Rostra will do for me because their short lived part didn’t hold up. Yes, I’m venting here a little…. but you guys on Facebook brought it up. If you buy a part…cheap from Amazon…. hey I know, it’s hard not to and in fact most people WILL buy things from on line places… there are many of them. If you do this expect issues… maybe not but maybe so. They have no idea what that part does, how to install, adjust and maintain the part…. you just get the part and hoping it works OK. LED lights…. quality is all over the place….. Had a customer purchase those 1157 LED tail light bulbs….. screwed up the rest of the coach electrical operation being internally shorted…… never used! Don’t nuy those cheapo LED lights and expect any warranty or longevity. You would think they would last forever… I mean no moving or physical parts right? Not true, they burn out, they break, wires fall off…….. THEY DO NOT LAST FOREVER! Look, it all comes down to working together. Buy a cheapo part and that’s what you have…. cheapo. Heck, your not protected by even buysing name brand anymore! When you buy a replacement part… install it immediately and run it through it’s paces. If it’s DOA then take it back…. they’re used to it. They are also used to turning off their ears when you yell at them having to put the new part in. No reason to say it…. everyone knows it …it’s the pool we all play in…. Make sure the problem isn’t something else and then just take it back…… don’t waste your breath and your stress…….. parts are not as quality as they used to be….. just in case you haven’t been able to read between the lines yet…… Heck, fuel and oils aren’t the same as they used to be. The reason I’m now all over fuel injection is not for power, economy or any of that… it’s to adapt our coach motors to run on the cool aide that’s passed of as gasoline today. Let’s eat more corn……. make it a base foodstuff for the hungry and get it out of our fuel supply! Yesterday I heard Minnesota is mandating E85 fuel explusively in a year. The conventional Rochester Quadra-jet carb will not work on E85….. the fuel will not atomize! EVERYTHING IS CHANGING and we have to change to meet the challenge. You need 1500ppm of ZDDP or your the internal friction in your motor will eat it. You need fuel injection to physically atomize this “cold” fuel we now have. We need silicone lined fuel hoses…… we need to run our old big blocks leaner to burn that crap…. we need 16 or 17″ rims nd tires… only 1 tire left for you 16.5″ steel rim users……. the original air bags are no longer available (thank goodness) now we can retrofit to something much better. Or generators are falling to the side… we need newer ones………….I could go on, it’s a problem but this is where we live to accept it and don’t blame the mechanic……. may be but it more than usual be the crappy part! OK, Im done… hope none of that got on ya but sometime I just gotta let it out! One more important part of this rant… this is a very narrow.. niche business. There are not the backing to spend big bucks on growing the industry… much of it is on the shop owners back. Small businesses live close to the ground … hey we’re trying to just stay alive…. there isn;’the profit in this most CPA’s say is healthy…. labor is a money sucking pig anymore……. what RV dealerships are over $110 an hour????? That’s insane…. but remember you’re getting old when you can’t justify what something cost now adays…….. and that happens every day!
OK, so it’s 8:30, the guys are here and I need to go. Good talking to you today….. hope I didn’t splatter much of the rant on ya…. it’s just a tough place to make a living today… be happy you are retired if you are……. you may not be able to make it today! See ya tomorrow….
Jim, I hear what you’re saying and am amazed and thankful that you keep plugging along. I live a few miles out of Tacoma WA, have a ‘75 Eleganza II that I’ve been trying to restore for the past 4 years. There are so few places willing to do the work here, and those who will charge a fortune. I really suffered shell shock in the beginning, now I barely blink at the repair bills, and around here they don’t replace anything for free, they just don’t charge for the replacement parts. Had the front end rebuilt (before I knew about Manny’s new deal) and got 290miles before the seals failed on the new differential. They apologized, fixed them, and handed me a bill for $1500 labor. The tow back to their shop cost me $900- not all covered by the insurance. You feel the pressure and I feel bad for you, but from this side of the fence I deal with businesses that refuse to work on my rig, or like the latest outfit, have wasted a year with absolutely no progress. They just shrugged and said that I’m a “special case”and they have to take care of their regular customers with newer equipment. In 4 years I’ve managed one 5 day trip, all the others were aborted due to maintenance.