My P30 project

[cncsparky]

Someone suggested two orings also, I will install when I service the tranny after several hundred miles.  Haven't heard about installing a spring, but seems like a good idea.  We did install the red stripe adjustable modulator.  The original GM tranny pan has a magnet.

Gear vendors OD is neat, but not for me.  I'd rather spend that kind of money on EFI and a 4L80E. 

[Froggy1936]

Sparky I highly reccomend the 4L80E Even with all the electrical work for the original computor This is a fantastic tranny that really has a brain of its own It is always in the right gear under all conditions.  But on the FI do not use a OBD I syestem Use only a syestem that has an injector for ea cly . The OBD I is like going from a 4 barrell carburator to a 2 barrell  There is no performance and so far very little MPG improvement over the Quadrajet As you are always wide open to gain speed And the 2 injectors are not adequate They work well at speeds above 60 MPH but not too good at lower speeds . I have 2 codes for problems that i have not had time to investigate yet 1 Is temp sensor wich is new ? and the other is O2 sensor wich is also new but may have lost heater function as i wired it to be constantly on wile engine is running . The exaust smells really rich during warm up but goes away after warmed Best so far is 8.75 MPG @ 60+ MPH avg Trans will achive OD on level road @ 60MPH @ 2100 RPM Will also run @ 1300 RPM @ 40 MPH   Best Quadrajet mileage was 12 MPG on level road between Houston and San Antonio with AC off @ 55 MPH hot summer day with Turbo 400 3 speed  So i am shooting for 15 MPG with OD But its difficult to find 100 mi of level road around here  Frank  Correction made !

[cncsparky]

Froggy, what rear gear ratio do you have?  I think mine is 4.56.  3000 @ 65mph.  Would be nice to run a few hundred R's lower.

I've always wanted to play with the Megasquirt diy efi controllers, along with the tranny controller.  A multiport manifold and throttle body are the main expenses for me to convert over. 

[Froggy1936]

Hi sparky  I have 4:10 gears W 16.5 wheels I have to check into multiport injection wich should be a bolt on addition Trans should not care !  Also found out a Chevrolet V6 AC compressor / PS bracket shoud be a bolt on fix for my Dash Air ! Frank

[Froggy1936]

Current partial list  W4:10 gears and 16.5 wheels Veh weight 12200 lbs
40MPH - 1300 RPM
55MPH - 1975 RPM
60MPH - 2100 RPM
65MPH - 2200 RPM
68MPH - 2300 RPM
70MPH - 2400 RPM
All speeds from 1995 Speedometer (reads 2MPH high ) compared to GPS reading 1995 Van had 16 in tires   Frank

[cncsparky]

Just an update on my project.  We got the RV back home over labor day weekend!  300 mile trip went fine, no problems.

Final diagnosis on the TH400 failure, the rear case bushing was very worn, that along with the two bad bearings in the extension housing, allowing the output shaft to move around excessively and destroying the governor gear. 

Now, on to other projects.........

Edit - on page 5 I had changed my speedometer gear in the tranny and didn't update.  After changing by 3 teeth, the speedo is now dead on compared to my GPS  .

[cncsparky]

Its been a while since an update  W% .  Here are a couple of projects I did last year.

While prepping for our big weeklong vacation (before the tranny blew), I noticed a strong odor in the coach.  It was ammonia  .  Fridge stopped working  .  Two days before leaving.  Read on the forums where people were replacing the expensive RV fridges with small home/apartment units.  Thats what I did. 

Old one



Empty hole. 



New unit.  Got it at Lowe's for around $300.



Installed.  Still have some trim work and need a better way of securing it down but it made the trip and worked great!

[cncsparky]

The vent over the bathroom developed a hole in it.  Remember a small hail storm at some point last summer, probably did it.



Used a hot air blower and scraper to get the big part of the sealant off.  Unscrewed and removed the old vent.  Acetone seemed to work best at cleaning up.  Also used a 3" red roloc discs on a die grinder to clean the aluminum and give the eternabond a good place to stick.



Guess I didn't get a final pic.  I siliconed the new vent flange, screwed it down, then after cleaning silcone that oozed out I eternabond tape sealed the vent. 



Its a Fantastic vent with fan.  The fan is amazing, it pulls lots of air through the coach.  Planning to replace the other two units on my RV. 

[eXodus]

i like the residential fridge, i also got the 10 cubic from lowes

a couple of years ago this hadn't been possible. inverter had been expensive, fridges  neede way to much power, but tis has changed.

had been on a rv show last weekend and every new coach over 150.000k has a residential fridge, the cheaper had still the absorption style but i think they will disappear over time. 12v dc is the future.

[Rickf1985]

I don't think they are going to disappear. Absorption fridges use next to nothing for energy and very little gas so they are still the best thing to have for boondocking and small campers like truck campers. When you think about it, if treated correctly they last decades. There are many 60's and 70's campers out there still using the original fridges.

[eXodus]

yeah rick, we will see.


I now for sure that there are a couple Chinese manufactures currently rolling out 12v DC compressor refrigerator which are running of a solar-panel for the use in lesser developed countries. They are taking up less then 300wh for a 10 cubic feet a day.


So these would be even more interesting for boon-dockers. Get a DC fridge, get it to your house battery, hook up a 100w panel (which produces an average of 400wh per day) and you should be good for indefinite dry camping. The nice thing about a solar power fridge, the solar panel produces the most power when the fridge needs the most power.


A good compressor type fridge should die never. We still got a Deep freezer from my Grandma which is also getting about 40 years old now.
For truck campers even more interesting, since you don't have to level.

[Froggy1936]

Absortion refrigerators, Have been around for along time, The science is very old . My father had 1 in his kitchen (new) in 1950 It was still operating flawlessly when he passed away in 1985, We left it in the house when we sold it It may still be runing ? The only drawback they have for RV use is they must be level when parked !  12 V motors pull a lot of amps to get there work done ! Stay tuned there will be van answer in about 50 yrs   Frank

[eXodus]

an absorption Style refrigerator needs tons of energy ! A cheap compressor refrigerator has an COP Coefficient of performance of 3, a better one  has 5


this means of one kwh which goes into the fridge it transfers between 3 and 5 kwh of heat out of the fridge.


An absorption style fridge has between COP 0.7 and 1.6.  The only nice thing is,  one pound of propane are 6.9kwh of energy. So in a normal RV Propane tank you are carrying around a lot energy. Which a battery can not provide yet.


8 amps running ? is not that much.

[FastGlassman69]

Glad you took the time to remind us about safety! I put my 1988 chieftain up on a pair of HF 6 tonners and pulled the front wheels then put a pair of craftsman 3 tonners under the front hubs, was just getting ready to get under her when I was adjusting the right hub stand and she slowly slid 2 feet sideways off the jacklanding on her belly ! I immediatly returned those 6 ton stands as the bent andgot the 12 ton ones and bought 2 4 ton floorjacks too. I used to take chances working on my tractor -trailers when I was 22-45 yo but not anymore! Thanks, Bobby

[Rickf1985]

You have to have a solid footing under any stand. If the footing is not solid then any stand can fail. They are designed to hold weight straight up but if they are on an angle then they are useless.

[jeno]

i just removed thetwo air pumps and was wondering the belt numbers you gave are thay for no air pumps? the egr block off what is the reson for that and does that help the engine thanks jeno

[cncsparky]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier.

The belt numbers I listed worked on my rig after I removed both pumps.  Unless you changed the alternator mount like I did, the alternator belt won't work for you.

The EGR is purely an emissions device.  If you removed most vacuum lines from your engine, you will want to block it off. 

[Rickf1985]

Be aware that blocking off and or disconnecting the EGR could cause the engine to start pinging. If you hear it pinging then just back the timing off a couple degrees. Do not ignore it or you will be replacing a lot of spark plugs and eventually a piston or two.

[GONMAD]

You can use the GM HEI module that has 5 pins, the 5th pin is for ignition retard. When connected t a knock sensor it automatically & instantly pull the timing back to prevent detonation. This trick is also good for high gear retard on a racing machine as well & can be activated with a switch on the throttle or by hand. This 'trick' has saved many engines from failure due to pre ignition. I used to 'ARM' this device with the Nitrous switch on one of my high performance race cars & even installed one on a custom mopar distributor remotely mounting the module on a computer heat sink under the dash. I just thought this might help Guys. C YA! GONMAD

[Rickf1985]

Good info, I had heard of that before but never done it. Is that pin grounded to retard?

[cncsparky]

That is good info Gonmad, did not know that.  I've modified my distributor with a custom curve, detailed in an earlier post.  Not sure which module is factory installed in a ZZ4 distributor?

[GONMAD]

Hey Guy's, The retard is grounded into the knock sensor which is activated when knock occurs but can be hooked to a toggle switch or a micro-switch on the throttle for activation at WOT. As for which module to use in most applications, pretty much any of the units with a prefix 999 will work better than any others. Make sure you use only genuine GM modules or the desired results aren't as good. I don't have the number for the 5 pin module right off hand but I'll do a search to find it. Hope this helps some.C YA! GONMAD