GMC Motorhome, paint and trim work

Aaahhh, so you nay sayers ARE following me…..  it’s good to know those that are sceptics of the veracity of the Co-op are watching.  You guys would chuckle at how petty some other people in the GMC community are.  As my partner said, Don’t bring yourself down to their level…. you know what you do, who you are and how you are helping folks.  There will always be negative people out there.  They are immaterial to you progress.  Talk on SOF’s..

So for the rest of you who enjoy life and want to support those that support you… move in close to you lap top screen and lets continue to have fun.  Isn’t it great that I can talk to loosers at the same time I can show the rest of you how life really is.   The world is full of those people, the thing we all who are not like that need to do is hold your friendships close and those that speak negative… get them behind you!

Hey news on the upcoming Western States rally.  I’m always excited to visit my friends on the left coast … it seems to me there are progressive thinkers in that bunch.  OK so lemme give you a hint on which side of the line you’re on… if your first thought was “hey, what about the rest of the community…. you would be a negative thinker so don’t bother me.  Anymore they don’t bother me as long as you guys recognize them for what they are.

So it’s Saturday… my day and the shop is mine.  I enjoy this work and some things I particularly enjoy doing myself.  Before I get into that though, lemme add a little to the roof painting thread.  The guys worked hard yesterday and have the roof well on it’s way to completion.

Here the roof is stripped, holes filled, DA sanded to our bite surface and the aluminum etching primer is applied to the bare metal  ..If this process is not added to painting a GMC with it’s aluminum surfaces, paint may look like it sticks but standard base color or even basic primer will NOT bond to aluminum.  If this process is not done within a year the paint will start to peal off.  Might take a bit but IT WILL NOT STICK period!  Then, several thin layers of base goes on to assure good adhesion.  Here is the roof with the first layers of color   Extra color on the sides.. the top is easy to cover, laying paint on the curved edges allows the paint to come next not to run.  Sure, we could have spent more money… and on big restoration we do to reverse plate and fill the old TV antenna hole as an example.  There are many levels and in this case those penetrations are secure so good adhering etching primer and base will adhere to the paintable sealer we used.  If this is not done during your paint finish you didn’t get your money’s worth.  You must understand, it’s not what to do as being the difficult thing it’s deciding where to stop!  We need a quality finish, one that sticks, is smooth and in the case of the roof certainly it needs to not leak.  Stay tuned for more as the guys follow the process……

Now, on to another project, this one being a full blown interior and exterior.  Nanct & Willie ‘s coach is coming together.  On the front end, we painted their original grill using the chocolate brown and Cream Broulet  (killed the spelling on that one!) white.    Headlight bezels are also treated in this paint scheme and I hope to have those on today.  While doing this assembly, Danavan went about pulling out all the nasty wiring the previous owner had put into the coach.    You can see the pile of wiring on the floor.  How does this come about?  So you pick up some doodad you feel your coach needs.  You figure out where you want it and how you think it should be connected.  Testing your theory …. how bout that it works!  Then you figure heck, it works and my connections are shorting out…. lets just tie it up and leave it…… and that’s the beginning.  Pretty soon you have “ghosts in the machine”.  Wires going everywhere and a year later you too have no idea what all that is!  Then you sell the coach and the next guy meets your rats nest.  That’s the crap we must now pull out.  Guys please… new things are nice and showering your baby with that stuff is great but guys… please do it right!  do not use scotch locks, THEY ARE A BAD CONNECTION WAITING TO HAPPEN.  kEEP THE COLORS OF WIRE YOU USE CONSISTENT… I MEAN HOW CAN YOU TRACE A BLUE WIRE THAT TURNS TO RED THEN WHITE!!!!!!  Just get that all out of there and promise to never do it again.  Danavan is about done under the hood, still a little left to add but from here   I think you can see we’re on the right track   So yesterday I got further criticized for showing how we do things…..  lemme answer in French… “Fuma La Bush”  (you know I kills THAT spelling) but basically lemme say I don’t care!  Hey, you guys wanna see this?  Let me know, it seems that loosers always are heard louder.  I need to hear a little support along with the shit I have to endure.

So lemme go further and piss those guys off even further:

Refinishing of the entry door is one of my special projects.  Willie and Nancies coach is coming right along, here is their new entry door latch and new lock assembly    Brand spankin new and pretty.  This is a Kenworth compartment latch but it must be modified to work.  Look at the back of the assembly and see where the interior latch pin had to be cut off and welded to the new latch  The latch cost is @ $175 but then you must have a really good welder cut off then weld the inside pin onto the new latch without burning it up!  The lock mechanism is separate but look…. our locks are “Made in America”, there are those made in China.  A new lock must work well… forever, it’s the only way to get in the coach besides… buy American if you can   and look, it’s not old stock… manufacture was 4.4.16!  Cost is @ $50.  With all this installed, I cut the emergency opening on the interior panel and this morning I’ll vinyl cover it and install it.  Stay tuned for that.

This is really what it’s about to have, maintain and drive a GMC Motorhome.  Those that rig stuff, use substandard parts or simply don’t do it right … are wasting their time and money.  Don’t be one of those.

Crap, I’ve blown the cool part of the day talking to you… I need to get in front of a fan and get to work. 

Thanks you for all of your support.. and the rest of you I don’t really care.  Oh wait I forgot about talking about the upcoming Western States rally…. I’m scheduled to do a couple of talks…. this shop is sucking the life from me!  I’m not going to be able to be at the rally BUT I will be doing my talks vis Skype.  Ever been to a Skype seminar?  Well, go to Coos Bay and let me be your first.  It’s sorta fun and the interaction makes it a very good way to share ideas from across the country.  It was tough calling Jerry Work who had offered his CLASCO coach for me to drive over from his place…. AND with a new self learning inexpensive brand new fuel injection system!  I have stayed away from the complicated and involved FI systems after the dozen or so I installed a couple of years back.  Progress marches on and finally they may have a fuel injection system I may be willing to live with.  Jerry is doing some talks on this system and a new LP/petrol FI system for the Ole Onan generator trying to keep the surviving ones alive.  I thing these talks will be most interesting…  I’m gonna miss it but Jerry has sent me his documents and I like what I see.   Check it out at the rally and tell Jerry hi for me.

OK, that’s gotta be it… work.. work..work you fool!  Thanks again for your support, lemme hear from you.  Everybody needs a bump up once in a while…. me too.  See ya tomorrow…

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