Tour of the 1976 Executive

[Sasquatch]

Well, after 12 days and 2500 miles I am home.  The old girl made it there and back with only a few small issues.  The air bag leak which I described above, a radiator cap failed causing a mess, and my motor mounts finally gave up the ghost completely.  But after 41 years and 111,000 miles, I cant blame them.  New ones are on order.

Driving wise I pushed her a bit this trip.  I usually like to cruise secondary roads at about 60 mph, which gives me mileage in the 7's and 8's.  This trip, especially on the way home where I was being followed (pushed) by my parents in their 2004 diesel pusher Executive, I was running 65-70 while fighting horrible headwinds and my mileage suffered.  For the trip I saw a high of 8.8 mpg and a low of 5.41.  Trip average sits about 6.25 mpg.  She is a heavy coach at nearly 15k lbs loaded and considering the speeds we kept up, I guess that mileage is not bad.

I have quite a list of upgrades/repairs to do to her now.  I spend a lot of time looking at new high end coaches and what is being done with them, then incorporating those items into mine.  One of the big projects is to pull all the windows out of the coach and tear them apart and rebuild them.  I need to get all the seals out and then search to find replacements.  That should be a job....  They are rattling and not sealing too well after all these years.  Then lighting upgrades, window coverings, entertainment system.... the list is long. 

Bottom line is that I chose a classic coach to spend time and $$ on.  Some have classic cars, I have a classic coach.

[cook elandan]

Just want to keep tabs on this thread.  Thanks for all the information.

[Winnebago Warrior 94]

Money is just money and it's great to fix up or do upgrades  to stuff you love .I say if it makes you happy  nothing wrong with that ..she is really pretty ..have you ever painted her before or is that the original  paint ..you can tell she is well taken care of and it shows ..it's  nice to put your heart and soul into something 

[Sasquatch]

Still on the original paint.  It is not in horrible condition, but I am saving up for a complete respray.  Will use good paint and tons of prep.  I have also decided to keep the original colors and paint scheme for that retro look.  At least she looks classic on the outside.  Virtually new and modern on the inside.

[Winnebago Warrior 94]

I'm planning on keeping mine close to original too ..your paint looks great ..do that is why I was wondering if it has been repainted . .I think I'm going to use the roller meat he'd for mine when I redo it ..I'd like to keep the original   decals on mine and just repaint or re vinyl the ones that need it ..most of mine or in great shape ..the inside of mine is still in good condition  so I'm keeping  that ..the only thing I may change it the wall board in the bathroom . .I may paint over it ..it's kinda stained and they used  different   wall boards different  designs ..it's will just paint it if I change it

[Bill Hime]

Sasquatch,
Great looking rig! I think your love affair with it, is what this is all about, building a relationship with something through your hands and imagination.
I don't see any interior pics. Am I not looking in the right place?
We are picking up our 76 Chieftain Saturday to start our own love affair!


Hope to pick your brain as we step into this journey


Bill & Sateash Hime

[Sasquatch]

Sasquatch,
Great looking rig! I think your love affair with it, is what this is all about, building a relationship with something through your hands and imagination.
I don't see any interior pics. Am I not looking in the right place?
We are picking up our 76 Chieftain Saturday to start our own love affair!


Hope to pick your brain as we step into this journey


Bill & Sateash Hime

The photos are mid way down on the first page of this thread. 

Getting ready to go out tomorrow morning for a weekend.  I love this coach.  Grandpa was the original owner so it has been in the family since new.  I have had it for 20 years now.

[Sasquatch]

Note: I am going to post this in the general section as well just as a warning to others to check their fuel system on a regular basis.

Sometimes God gets our attention to save us from disaster...

On the way to Sun Valley the coach acted like it ran out of gas.  Pulled to the side of the road to diagnose.  Could not find any issues with the fueling system at all.  Plenty of fuel, filters flowed well (scientific blow test), etc.  Then it fired up and got us to our destination without issue.  But I could not leave it at that.  Something happened.  In the camp ground I went through the entire fuel system step by step and found a frightening thing.  The high pressure fuel line right at the engine had split all the way down one side.  They had not started leaking yet, but it was right there ready to go.  This would have sprayed 50psi fuel right on the right side of the motor.  Can we say fire danger??  A run to the parts store and 4' of fuel injection hose later and it was repaired.

The coach came home without a fuss, never missing a beat even in the 100 degree temperatures.  You can chalk it up to coincidence, but I believe God got my attention with the fuel issue knowing full well I would inspect the entire system before returning home.  I can say with confidence that not only do I believe that we would not have made it home (the splits were that deep), that my pride and joy would have been lost to fire, maybe even claiming the lives of us and one or more of my two cats riding with us (my only children).

A side note.  This is the first time I towed my car since I installed the injection system.  I flat tow a 2001 Mercedes ML430 SUV.  This rig is over 5,000 lbs.  (I use a Remco lube pump for the transmission).  The trip was about 50% freeway where I ran 65 mph, and 50% mountain two lane roads where I ran 55-65 mph.  I averaged 6.8 mpg.  Pretty impressive.

[Bill Hime]

Wow that's really good gas mileage under those circumstances. What a blessing to find the ensuing catastrophe before it occurred!

Bill