Project Winnebago: an RV that is nearly as old as me

[Jonbbrew]

Link to my RV photos from this weekend: http://www.perlgurl.net/blog/?p=1642 or on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1573077402992886.1073741876.1429261130707848&type=3


Still working on the motorcycle racing photos and the big glog entry, but that will get you to the RV specific photos

Guts! I just get scared going somewhere within 20 miles of my house with spotty cell service in my rig. You go!

[Rickf1985]

Very nice. The curtains would be nice considering this time of year you are getting very little dark time. What, about 4 1/2 hours?

[perlgurl]

Very nice. The curtains would be nice considering this time of year you are getting very little dark time. What, about 4 1/2 hours?

According to the scientists we have 19+ hours of daylight right now, but the other time is more twilight/dusk than actual nighttime darkness. IMHO there is no real darkness at this point and I twitch due to the lack of darkness until about August when the lovely darkness comes back. 

I'll be making curtains in the next week so that my next trip out it will be far more dark inside the RV while I am sleeping

[perlgurl]

Project summary: RV floor water damage repairs in prep for a new water tank

I knew I had a soft spot in my RV floor next to my water tank / couch/bed; this issue was discovered when I was looking at my RV prior to purchase but I figured it seemed to be a small spot that could be easily repaired.  I also recently decided to install a new water tank and pump so in the process of pulling out the old steel tank and compressor, I realized the water damage was a much bigger issue than I thought so we decided to repair the floor first.
The damage that went all the way to the aluminum skin ended up being 18”x16” of the 3/4 “ structural board with the top layer being 23” x 27” of the ¼” board.   

It turns out I like demo work! I probably had more fun ripping the floorboards out and finding the edges of the water damage than anything else, all of which needed to be done manually with a hammer and chisel .  We were trying to be super careful and not damage the aluminum skin so this took us a couple  hours of demo work.  After a quick run to the home improvement store to get supplies the next day, the repair itself only took under two hours total.  The floor is now very strong. 

I’m heading out again this weekend and we didn’t want to rush the modifications that the couch/bed need in order to put the water tank in, so that will be next week.  I’ll also have questions I’ll post in the appropriate area since I’m not fully understanding how to plumb the tank.  I’ve searched for ‘water” and gone back five pages or results, but so far I’m still a little confused about how the water will get in and out.  A topic for another thread though!

This first four photos are the "before" shots:

[perlgurl]

These are photos of the floor in various stages of demo.  It's fairly clean of debris because I also like to  use the shop vac as I go

Also, we tried to dry fit the bed on the new tank to give us an idea of how much wood we would need to make the couch/bed stick out another 4 inches, so I'm including a photo with the preliminary view of how that will all fit together.

[perlgurl]

Some caulking to fill in where the aluminum skin had been damaged (not by me!), put in our "not exactly square but fits the space" piece of underlayer with loads of construction glue on top and then cover with the 1/4 inch top board with millions of screws to hold it all together. 

[xerofall]

Pretty sure that's not going to go anywhere   :)rotflmao

[Rickf1985]

I sure hope it never has to go anywhere! Let's see, you are roughly 4000 miles from me......................... Yep, I'm safe. Women do tend to like to be destructive beings. :)rotflmao :)rotflmao :)rotflmao :)rotflmao

The hook up is easy, post up in the plumbing section and we will get you hooked right up.

[perlgurl]

More things achieved today! I made curtains for the two biggest windows in the RV. Still have the little door window and the bathroom to make, but there are things in place that are good enough for this weekend to keep it dark at night so I can sleep in the "Land of the Midnight Sun".


The lighter curtains are the older ones. Too light, too long and too bland for my taste.


The darker curtains are the new curtains I made and the ones by the table are the first set I made of the two sets. Lots of sewing words were said during the making of this set of curtains, especially after I determined the tunnel I made for both curtains was too narrow and I had to rip stitches to make it wider. But they are so pretty!


New curtains to help keep the daylight at night out of my eyes. Might need to get magnets for the bottom edges of the curtains to close them up to the metal frame of the windows though.

[perlgurl]

I'm heading out tonight but I managed to make one more curtain before I have to leave. 

New bathroom curtains, mostly straight! I ran out of the striped fabric so only one side has stripes and I think I want the whole outside to match and have the dark blue on the inside, especially since this is technically a different room from the rest of the coach.  I might flip this around to have the stripes inside after the weekend though.   

These are the before and after pics.

[Rickf1985]

Take some pics at night and show how light it is. I still remember that when I was up there. I was driving a truck and wondering why I was so tired and realized it was close to midnight and still light!

[perlgurl]

The good news first:

Curtain success! Blocked out most of the light for most of the night, but around 5am my friend noticed the light coming in so I might still do velcro dots at the bottom of the curtains since they are right above were the beds are. I also definitely need to make a cover for the vent in the coach since lights comes through there. And I need a real solution for covering the driving area since the RV came with light colored curtains with do nothing but get in the way so I've been draping a flannel sheet over the area but it's a bit of a pain to deal with so I'll be back on the sewing machine soon to make more curtains!


And now for the not-so-good news on this 400 mile trip:


The RV is bleeding oil.  Made it to Delta Junction and even passed a couple of vehicles, but about 20 miles past  Delta I noticed it was running weird, seemed to be low on power and making whirring noises if I pushed it too hard (meaning at this point, going past 50mph or going uphill).  So we stopped and looked at this mess all over the top of the engine, not fully understanding what type of fluid it was.  At least I was caravanning with my friend so I limped the RV to Tanacross not knowing what the fluid all over the top of the engine was and once we got there we got some help determining that it was oil covering my engine and there was none registering on the dipstick. (In my defense there are two ways to access the engine, from the front and from inside the RV and we checked what looked to be like a dipstick from inside the RV which had plenty of fluid ; it turns out that was the transmission oil dipstick).

I made it back to Fairbanks safely due very much to the purchase and use of two gallons of oil plus a five gallon gas can and five gallons of gas to top off the tank and ensure I got to Delta Junction and stopping to check every 50 miles to make sure I had oil on the way back.  The RV is going back to the shop Wednesday and I’m hoping it is just valve gaskets and not head gaskets that need replacing.

[xerofall]

Yeah, you're gonna want to keep up on that oil...

W% W% D:oH!

[Rickf1985]

You were the first one to pop to mind when she said it was slowing down!
Joyce, I certainly hope there was no damage done but when it gets to the point of losing power that is not a good sign. I see your crankcase breather is just hanging out there in the breeze, that will blow some oil vapor around under heavy load or a lot more if the PVC valve is clogged. It has been a long time since I worked on a Dodge gasser but I seen to remember the oil pressure sender is up there on the back top of the block? That could be leaking also but would probably not blow forward. Valve cover gaskets don't usually just start leaking that bad all of a sudden unless the PCV valve went bad or something else went to cause high crankcase pressure. They usually leak at the bottom of the valve cove more than the top. Once you find the leak be sure you know the cause.  And do a oil pressure check with a mechanical gauge to be sure the bearing were not damaged.

[perlgurl]

While I'm okay at debugging the appliances and coach systems I'm not really ready to try my hand at large engine maintenance so right before my first trip out I had a tuneup done on the engine.  I specifically asked them to check on the oil and they did. 

When I paid for my nearly $1k tuneup and told them I was planning on heading out on several trips this summer  ranging from 200-400 miles on each round trip they told me "that engine is in great shape.....you will be fine running around all of Alaska if you want!" so I felt pretty good about the fact that I didn't check fluids before this last trip. 

MY BAD.

The RV is going back to that shop and they are going to look at it for me.  Once I know more I'll be sure to let you all know.  The shop I plan to use has done other work for me and I was pleased with it so I'm expecting they will fix it and let me know what the issue was caused by. 

Also, I'm glad this happened on one of the 'race' weekend trips; my friends race motorcycles on a closed track in Tanacross so at least I was heading to a location with lots of other folks including many that were mechanically inclined and even more fortunately there were some that were quite knowledgeable about my engine; one had even been a Winnebago mechanic "back in the day"!

They said the same words Rick said: PVC valve (and something about a rubber busing missing maybe?), and while they weren't clear on what I think you are identifying as the crankcase breather they did note that it was odd that it was not attached to anything, plus there was a overflow hose from the radiator that usually hands down in the front of the engine which had either blown back into the engine area and was getting whacked by the fan or it got put back in the engine area on accident; either way we fixed that problem. I learned quite a bit about my engine in the 20-30 minutes they spent trying to help me determine what the fluid was and the best way to ensure I got home which was still 200 miles away.

As for the "loss of power" - I'm not sure if that is just me now knowing how fast my RV should go or not; on my other trips I've learned it tops out at about 60 unless I'm on a flat straight road that maybe slopes downhill then I can get it up to 65.  Hills are really hard on it and I seem to go down to about 40-45.  I've tried shifting down to 2nd gear to get up the hills and that makes the engine sound better, but I'm still not going at full speed up any hills. 

On the way back on this trip I didn't seem to experience any loss of power, other than the regular issue I just mentioned with hills.  I'm finding it makes more sense to just go about 55 and then my friends in the caravan had to slow down for me (they tend to make this drive much faster than I can and I just had to tell them to slow down!)

[Rickf1985]

You say the overflow hose was in the fan, are you sure it was oil and not antifreeze on the engine? I am guessing with that many motorheads around you are pretty sure. The crankcase breather is mounted on the valve cover and in your picture the hose is going to nothing. Usually it would go to the air cleaner but you do not have the stock air cleaner. It might actually run a bit better with the stock air cleaner and a hose from the snorkel out to cool air in the front. Right now you are just sucking in hot air above the engine.


1 K for a tune up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I need to move up there and open shop!!!!! Unless there was a lot more than a tune up that job is 300.00 at the most.
Now if that included going over the entire RV, brakes, driveline and everything then I can understand it.

[xerofall]

Everything in Alaska is more expensive... I feel for those poor souls who pay $40 bucks for a birthday cake.

Finding a stock air cleaner is going to be hard, there's a local guy here in Utah looking for one, if anyone had ideas on a source or what vehicle's cleaner could work in place of the stock one, I'll listen. 

[Rickf1985]

Probably most any older car with a four barrel carb. You just have to measure the maximum height you can use. Try to find one with dual intakes, Chevy pick-ups from the early eighties with 6.2 diesels come to mind. I think they use the 4 1/2 inch hole. I would have to measure the height of mine and see if it is usable for you. I will try to get that for you tomorrow. There should be plenty of them around and they will flow more air then any of those engines can use.

[perlgurl]

You say the overflow hose was in the fan, are you sure it was oil and not antifreeze on the engine? I am guessing with that many motorheads around you are pretty sure. The crankcase breather is mounted on the valve cover and in your picture the hose is going to nothing. Usually it would go to the air cleaner but you do not have the stock air cleaner. It might actually run a bit better with the stock air cleaner and a hose from the snorkel out to cool air in the front. Right now you are just sucking in hot air above the engine.

I thought originally it might just be really dirty coolant when I first pulled over, but then the guys assured me it was oil with just a couple of flecks of coolants splattered in the oil, likely from that overflow hose.  The thing that confirmed there was no oil was checking the oil dipstick in the front only to find NONE reading at all. Zip. Zero. Scary.

[perlgurl]

And I need to get a new air filter too.  One of guys said I definitely needed a bigger one.  I will refrain from making jokes about bigger is better

[perlgurl]

This top photo is the crankcase breather hose, yes?  It is just for air, right?

And these are close ups of the mess made on the engine.  Ick and yuck!

[Rickf1985]

That is the crankcase breather and yes, it lets filtered air into the crankcase to replace what is being pulled out through the PCV valve. The problem is this, At full throttle there is little to no engine vacuum and high crankcase pressure so instead of pulling air in it will be blowing vapor out. I some evidence of that but not bad. I do see the majority of your oil leak though and it looks like you have a bad gasket on the oil fill cap on the valve cover. Get a new oil fill cap. On the bill they kind of violated you on the distributor cap, plug and LABOR! I know prices are high in Alaska but wow. I don't see any mention of brakes or anything other than a quick visual and a tune up, two hours at the most.

Looking at the pictures again I do see where the valve cover gaskets are leaking so new gaskets and an oil cap.

I need to correct myself here, I went back to look at the bill to see if I could see the labor rate which I cannot but I do see where they say they checked the brake thickness. This vehicle has drum brakes I believe? That would add quite a but of time since the rear axles have to come out and the front hubs have to come off. Still high but getting closer.

The gaskets should not take a competent mechanic more than an hour and a half.

And that intake manifold appears to be an aluminum manifold with a Holley carb on it. I know some of the older Dodges used the Holley but I am not aware of any that used the aluminum intake. Dave?

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Both 413 and 440 have the distributor in the front.  318 had the distributor in the rear like hers.  The 318 originally had a Carter BBD 2 barrel.  I agree with you Rick,  That it looks like someone installed a Holley 4 barrel and manifold.  Only the 413-1 came with either a 4150C or 4160C Holley 4 barrel.

Thing is though, mst of the oil I see on the top of the engine looks old and dirty making me feel it has been building for a long time rather than one trip.  What does the bottom of the engine look like (oil pan)?  I am thinking a front main seal leak.

Having a 318 maybe why she feels it lacks power.

[LJ-TJ]

Having some experience with a 318 in a 21' 1975 Winnebago Brave. In the hills of New York and Pennsylvania and Ohio. There's no better way to put it other than there dogs. 40/45 is about right. I know this because now I have a 440 in a 21' 1975 Winnebago Brave and she blows up the those hills. Shoot she doesn't even breath heavy. Hm?   

[Rickf1985]

True TJ except this one has had the manifold and carb changed. Those 318's are pretty peppy with a 4 barrel on them and that is not really a lot of weight there. Who knows if anything else in the engine was changed like the cam? With stock manifolds I would guess it is just the manifold and carb but if that carb is set up and jetted right and if all four barrels are working then it should have plenty of power.
Joyce, What I used to do you may not be able to do because of environmental reasons up there but if you can get several cans of Gunk engine cleaner and /or Castrol Super Clean and clean the engine off of all of the oil and crap then dry and dust the engine with baby powder. Then take it for a short ride and look it over. You will see real quick where the oil is starting to get the baby powder dirty.