GMC Motorhome, GMC diesel coach you can live with

Today’s post is superhuge,  It’s done… Manny’s 6.5 GM turbo-diesel is now on the road…. It took us a year but working out all the quirk details to make this install as professional and serviceable as possible… well you have to break some eggs to make an omelet……. a diesel omlet.  So without further ague… let me introduce Co-op 6.5 diesel # 2…… Number one status will be reserved for Cedric’s 1973 #41…. but this IS the first one on the road so I can say “number 1” on those terms.  This is a pretty mild mannered beautiful example being one of @ 40 coaches renovated by Explorer Vans back in the middle 90’s.   

An extremely well kept coach after the renovation but this coach is hiding a secret  …. under this engine cover  using the original21 year old carpet… the cover lifted 1 inch as you can see

 this ….. is occupying the space   Gentlemen and ladies… this is a NEW.. all NEW GM designed AM General produced 6.5 mechanically injected turbo-diesel crate motor made to fit a military Hum V vehicle.  Not wanting to attract a web crawler but this motor is JAN spec., will operate after the EM blast from a neutron bomb.. so easy to use even those with our military vehicles can start and run them….. gentlemen and again ladies Manny has outdone himself completely… over the top and far beyond… here is a diesel thast can be maintained by Bubba OR Scooter!!!!!  It is the first diesel motor any diesel mechanic who went to diesel school learned concepts on.  In straight terms…. it can be fixed on the road, any part you would need is probably on the shelf and most mechanics can jump right in without much discovery time.  This one project solved the problems with repowering the GMC Motorhome for at least 10 years past it’s now gas configuration. 

IT   FITS …. and it works…… it’s not cheap but what is that really works?  I would have to tell you and what can I say but just like the Duramax/Allison coaches we built, the double slide this is also for the guy who says I NEED that.    Oh yeah and another hidded goodie in this GMC Motorhome is what’s inside this compartment  To be a full fledged diesel powered motorhome is must have a diesel generator or it’s just not real  

ON A SLIDE … a Kubota belt driven, marine application water cooled diesel generator…. yep, there ya go.  We need to work on the muffler a bit.. here we used an original Onan pipe stopper  but by golly it’s done 

I’ll be doing some personal drive tests this weekend for sure…. man, I just can’t wait to hear the waste gate crank up that turbo!!!!!  This HAS to be a BINFORD breakthrough new product! 

OK, ok.. I’ll talk about cost… first though understand this is a real deal… all the way, full tilt buggy really useful, serviceable, engineered using AM General and Manny to beat this bugger out!  And it can be duplicated so remember all that. 

All that said, considering the generator.. fuel delivery system replumbing, purchase of the motor hardware, having modifications done to the motor and transmission… a stronger transmission, a 273 diff. gear for the RPM range you run at…. you will have $40,000 in it all.  This is a good number in that the coach came in what can I say under it’s own power and mechanically, cosmetically perfect condition.  OK so you gassers immediately pull out a calculator to see if that will be more cost effective than buying “mow gas”…. STOP IT!!!!!  This project was not under the cheapest budget to make the motorhome move… it’s going to LA by Omaha and not stopping for breakfast!  It is a toy for a boy… or girl who can afford it.  Forget trying to get a 6.5 diesel and doing it yourself .. there were CMC designed and built parts that allows this to work…. yeah.. if you are a machinist with a welding shop that curs CAD files and welds parts maybe you could…. It should not be in a “kit” .  Manny understood this when we partnered with him to make the install duplicable.   This is the “real deal” and cannot be repeated at home.  Now those alpha males out there are wanting to show me they can do it.  Hey, go ahead and use the rest of your useful life at a pursuit you may never finish.     Guys I’m serious about IT!!! If you want a turbo-diesel GMC Motorhome then here it is… get one and go out and use it!  Spend your time using it not laying under it!  This is the cost to sit at the table….. not me it’s just what it takes!  

The day is on, I gotta go… here’s a pic of the headliner in Willie & Nanct’s “Savoy Brown” interior    and those vacuum form bulkheads just look awesome.  Stay tuned for more…..

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