Winter Vacation, 2016-2017

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks Rick!

It was a couple of hundred mile trip today and the rig is running great!  Tires are all good too.

We drove until almost 4 and are staying the night at the Flying J just to the west of Tallahassee.  We already fueled up and parked the rig, and took the pups out...and grabbed dinner (I love their bacon double cheeseburgers and Patti loves their chicken wings).

About 196 miles of Florida panhandle to go!

Kev

[TerryH]

May warm weather, fair winds, light traffic, short hills, no mechanical issues, good food and pleasant drivers on the road accompany you.

[Froggy1936]

Any detours from this summers floods or from Andrew ?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Not that I know of Frank.  I-10 is clear sailing.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

It was a smooth and uneventful trip today, around 250 miles or so, from the Flying J in Tallahassee, FL, to the Flying J in Gulfport, Mississippi.  Everything is running perfectly and all systems are a go!  When we got here we filled up the rig, pulled into an RV slip, took the pups out...and then I took Patti to dinner at Denny's!  Yum!  WAY too much food, so we needed to-go boxes.  We'll be staying here the night and leaving in the morning, back on I-10 West.  We might even make the border of Texas tomorrow, but we aren't in a hurry.

Kev

[joanfenn]

Wishing you a safe trip with no surprises.  Give the pups a scratch for me.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Will do Joan!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Traffic was so light, relatively speaking, that we had smooth sailing right through Houston, and ended up staying the night at the Flying J in Brookshire, TX.  They don't have RV slips at this one, but they had plenty of pull-through parking in between the semi trucks.  Sure was a hot and humid night for sleeping though!  I ran my little 12 volt turbo fan all night long.

First thing I have to do this morning is check my carburetor high idle drop down screw, or whatever you call it.  I noticed on this last leg of the journey that it kept hanging up at high idle, even when driving, so I kept having to kick it down.  I'll check the vacuum lines as well, but there aren't too many of those left on this rig.

After I get that settled and check everything for travel, we'll gas up...and then drive the 100 miles or so to San Antonio's Flying J and gas up again...and then drive a few more hours and stay in an RV park.  Sure makes showers and whatnot more convenient!

Oh...and on a funny note.  I bought one of those tire thumpers at the Flying J a couple of days ago for quick morning tire checks.  Patti took one look at that minature baseball bat, grabbed it and said "Mine!  I'm gonna name you Lucille!"  I told her she was not allowed to wrap the end in barbed wire....lol!!!

Kev

[Rickf1985]

You do know they are not really "tire thumpers" don't you? W%   You "can" use them for that but I prefer a steel rod to get better feel. The bat is going to bounce off of any tire with more than 50 lbs. of air in it.

Check to make sure your choke is coming all the way off, that may be what is holding the high idle on. Electric choke wire may be loose or shorting out somewhere.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL Rick!  I think you might have hit the nail on the head, and not with the tire thumper!  Details below!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So it looks like we will be staying in Brookshire, TX until Wednesday morning!  Almost had an engine fire with some serious electrical damage!

I opened up the doghouse to adjust the carburetor and look for anything unusual since it was acting funny...and CRAP!!!  One of the AIR tubes on the driver's side of the engine that I knew was broken at the manifold decided to ALMOST give up the ghost at the big tube that joins all for of the rest of the tubes, and it pivoted down and the open end that WAS pointing at the manifold plug was RIGHT in front of two of my new sparkplug wires, and the big cluster of wires right behind it!  It acted like a blow torch!  It pretty much severed those 2 plug wires, and made the rest of that wire cluster pretty toasty and melty (and also froze up my parking brake cable).  DAMMIT!!!  I took the plug out of the manifold and it came out surprisingly easily, although it was definitely tight.  I disconnected the Blazer and drove down to the auto parts store (leaving the rig and Patti and the pups and cat still at the Flying J parking lot).  They had ONE Dorman 65384 M22-1.50 oil pan plug in stock, and said the warehouse had 3 more in stock.  Which he can have here either Monday, or more likely on Tuesday morning since it is the weekend.  So I bought that one plug, another new sparkplug wire set (since this shop doesn't have individual ones) and some muffler repair putty, ordered the other 3 manifold plugs, and then drove back to the Flying J.  I installed the one plug and stuffed the end of the pipe as best I could with the muffler putty, replaced the two wires, and started the engine...and of course the putty didn't hold and shot out of the end.  But I had zip tied the wires and the melty wire harness out of harms way, enough to limp us to the Houston West RV Park one exit down (still in Brookshire, TX).  Choke was still acting up so I'm thinking that over the next 2 days I will be repairing that wiring harness!!!  On the off chance that it was necessary, I got on Amazon to order 4 more manifold plugs, and they only had 3 in stock that would get here on Monday and not after Christmas!  I figured that worst case scenario I could take one of the old plugs down to a welding shop and have them plug it up with a big fat weld and then use it as the last one. 

So...when I take off the AIR tubes on the driver's side and plug them up, is there anything wrong with leaving the passenger side the way it is until we reach Arizona?  Would it cause some sort of imbalance that could damage the engine in any way?  Not a big deal since the passenger side is WAY easier to work on that the driver's side...but if it isn't necessary I was thinking of waiting. 

Any thoughts?

And all of this might have happened for a reason.  It was extremely windy today and while today was hot and humid, there is a cold spell coming down tonight that is supposed to carry with it wind chills of around 15 degrees. 

Kev

[Rickf1985]

In case you do not see the other thread you can leave the other manifold alone. Better off that way so you don't open a can of worms there! All those tubes do is inject air into the exhaust so there is no detriment to the engine, it does not even know what is going on that far down the line. I can't believe you were still using the A.I.R. system! That is the longest surviving RV system around! You are still going to be blowing air out of the tubes unless you have already disabled the pumps, it is only air and will do no harm either. The air coming from the pump will be cool air. If you have dual air pumps then that one will be the one with the alternator on it, you can go with a shorter belt without taking the pump out but you do have to remove the pump pulley for belt clearance. If you want to disconnect the other pump just cut the belt, it is it's own belt.

[M & J]

Mines still connected and operating Rick. On an 87.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

BRRRRRRRRR!!!  Who turned on the AC?  Yesterday it was warm and humid...and the weather forecasters weren't kidding about the cold front that came in!  High winds rocking the rig, and its around 32 degrees outside.  Kind of glad my parts aren't going to be here until Tuesday because that's when it warms us...lol!  I think I'll tackle that wiring harness tomorrow.

Kev

[Rickf1985]

Definitely fix the harness! You never know when a slightly crisp harness will decide to let out all the magic smoke, usually with a bad ending.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Okay!!!

After going down to the post office to mail out some last minute Christmas catapult orders, and after going down to get some groceries...I came back to get to work on removing the driver's side AIR tubes and manifold plugs.

First thing I did was remove the hose and get the wiring out of the way, and then purposely broke off the hose nipple from the airbox on top of the AIR tubes.  That way I would have clearance to bend it up and down and side to side to break it off the tubes (once I removed the bracket bolt).  It took quite a few bends back and forth, but finally it broke free.

Next step was to remove the spark plug wires from that side of the manifold to keep them out of harm's way and the metal heat shields that protect the spark plug wire boots. 

Now...how to break off or saw off the AIR tubes?  Not enough room to get in my grinder wheel.  So I grabbed my hack saw and while I was at it I grabbed my Lennex PVC saw since the teeth are the same as a hack saw, but it way longer and doesn't have a carrier in the way.  Bam!  Cut through the tubes like butter!  Didn't even seem to damage the teeth.  SWEET!

Next step was the last three AIR plugs.  I couldn't get enough leverage, and someone sometime had borrowed my 1/2 breaker bar and U-joint and never returned them.  So back to the hardware store, and then back to the RV.  It did the trick!  It took a while, but all 3 of the remaining plugs are removed.

Next step was to tackle that fried wiring harness.  Fortunately it was only 6 wires, so I replaced them one at a time to make sure I didn't mix any up, and then taped them all up with electrical tape to protect them.

Lastly, I checked all the fuses.  And sure enough!  The choke fuse was blown!  So I replaced that as well.

All I have to do tomorrow is go to the auto parts store to pick up the block off plugs and then come back to camp and install them with high temp RTV sealer.  Then put the spark plug protectors and wires back on, zip tie the rest of the wires out of the way, ensure that I am getting 12 volts to the choke, and we'll be ready to hit the road first thing Wednesday morning!

I want to make sure we get to Tombstone, AZ by Christmas Eve!!!

Kev

[HandyDan]

Christmas in Tombstone again?  Are you expecting snow?

[Rickf1985]

I'll bet your gas mileage was a bit brutal with the choke half closed!!!!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yep Dan!  We skipped Tombstone last year...and I really missed it.  We'll arrive there Christmas Eve and stay at the Wells Fargo RV Park...and then depart the day after New Years Day.  Patti wants to go see Old Tucson after the holidays.

And no idea Rick...this problem started shortly before we arrived at the Flying J in Brookshire, TX.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I sure am glad I removed all the plugs yesterday and repaired the wiring harness...because today turned into a major adventure getting this repaired!

First thing this morning I went down to the auto parts store and picked up my three remaining Dorman oil pan plugs, and then back to the RV.

I decided to install the first plug at cylinder 1...because it was the hardest to get to.  I coated the threads with JB Weld red high temp silicone, and it went in easily and I tightened it down.

The next hardest to reach was cylinder 3...and that went right in.

The final one, cylinder 5, was easy to reach, so I figured, hey!  No problem!  BIG problem!!!  The threads were buggered!  When I removed the old plug I noticed that it had originally been cross threaded, but was hoping I could get the new plug to catch.  Nope!  I tried and tried and tried, and it just wouldn't go in...and I didn't want to damage the new plug threads!

So back to the auto parts store to see if they had a tap that would work with M22-1.50 threading.  Nope!  Not even close!  So they suggested I drive up to Katy, TX to the Grainger store.  I took the 12 mile drive and they tried to look up a tap that would work.  After about a half hour of searching, they found one!  200+ bucks and it would take a week to get here!  No thanks!  So they sent me to Fastenal in Old Katy, TX.  No luck there either, but they DID have a 7/8 course thread tap that would fit tightly in the hole...but the shortest bolt they had was 3".  I bought the tap and they gave me the bolt, and I drove back to Brookshire, TX. 

On the way back I stopped in the local hardware store, and they had a 2" 7/8 course thread bolt...so shorter is better in this application, so I bought it.

Back to camp, and time to finish this project!

I soaked the tap in cutting oil, and inserted it in the hole.  I couldn't get my tap handle in there, but across the flats I was able to effectively us the open end of a 3/4" wrench.  It worked!  It cut the threads like butter!

So I removed the tap and wiped out the hole with paper towels.  And then coated the 2" 7/8 bolt threads liberally with JB Weld high temp red sealant.  It threaded in easily by hand, and I was able to tighten it down tight with my channel locks (I don't have a wrench that big...lol!).

I then put the spark plug wires back in place, and zip tied everything carefully out of the way.  I also took care to make sure the wiring harness and plug wires were out of harm's way in case any of the new plugs rattled loose.

Time to start the engine...VROOM!!!  And super quiet!  I checked voltage to the choke and it was close to 12 volts. 

Repair DONE!!!

Next I decided to change out the peat moss in the toilet, since the peat moss bin was in the back of the truck, and I had to put the tools away.  I finished that, and filled 4 one gallon ziplock bags with peat moss so I wouldn't have to access the bin for a while...and then put all the tools away in the back of the truck.

After a garbage run to the dumpster using the truck, I hooked the truck back up to the RV, disconnected the drive shaft, and got it all ready to go first thing in the morning.

And that was today's adventures, and the conclusion of the repair! 

Following are some pictures of the project.  Yeah, I know that big bolt looks funny...but it works!!!

















And that's it!  Runs great and quiet, choke kicks down like it should, everything is put away, truck is hooked back up, and we are ready to hit the road first thing in the morning!!!

Christmas in Tombstone!  We can't dilly dally anymore though.  We lost a few days to this repair.  So we have to make it Fort Stockton tomorrow, and then Anthony, TX the next day, and then Lordsburg, NM the following...which will put us in Tombstone on Christmas Eve.

I might even skip Anthony, TX and drive right through from Fort Stockton to Lordsburg....we'll see how froggy I'm feeling!

Kev

[M & J]

Now I see how you plugged the holes in the manifold where the air tubes were. Others have gotten those huge plugs out and and threaded plugs in. Looks like you threaded yours in to the hole left from the air tubes. Pictures were helpful  Thanks again. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks M&J!  I'm seriously considering a major upgrade this year in Arizona.  I'm thinking of replacing my intake manifold with an Edlebrock intake manifold, and installing good headers and full flow quiet mufflers to improve horsepower and slightly improve MPG.  Which is one of the reasons I put off taking out the AIR system in the first place. 

Kev

[Rickf1985]

When you pulled out the air fittings you did take out the inner pieces that protrude into the manifolds didn't you? They are the air injectors and they put the air right at the valve exit. If you did not take them out they should not do any harm but once you get a chance I would pull the plugs out and do it since they will be rattling around in there and eventually break off. They "Should just blow down the exhaust but they are awful close to those exhaust valves.

[legomybago]

The air injectors are a huge exhaust restriction, I couldn't believe it the first time I pulled one of these manifolds off.

[Froggy1936]

No repair to the Em brake cable ?  Merry Christmas and safe travels ! Frank