Project Gracie

[ibdilbert01]

The 1970 Chieftain has a new name, originally I was going to call her Gertrude, but the name just didn't seem right, so now its officially Gracie.   With the 72 Brave the one thing I regret was not taking more pictures as we made repairs and modifications.   Gracie is in extremely good condition, but there are still many repairs and some improvements to be made.   So this time around, I'm going to make an attempt at taking more pictures of the before and after.

On Winnie (The 72) we had a storage box on the back bumper that made a great place to put the wood.  We made the box slide out of the way so you could open the rear trunk as well.   The box sat on the right.




In the pic below, you can see how it was designed to slide to the right, allowing the rear trunk to open. 



Gracie has a ladder on the right, so we are going to do the same thing, but put the box on the left.  Gracie also had a welded on small motorcycle rack welded to the back bumper that we removed.  So far we took off the bumper, cut off the motorcycle mounts and redesigned the hitch a bit. 





I'll keep uploading pictures as we continue this project.

[Oz]

Not to get ahead of the game but, will you be adding solar, bowing the roof, and adding that cool, camera/video/gps/drone control/radar set-up too?

[LJ-TJ]

Mark you got way to much time on your hands. I think your do for another classic bago. :)rotflmao

[ibdilbert01]

Tacked together, just needs finished, sanded and painted. 




Mark, you know me all to well!   

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

It's always the quiet ones ya gotta keep your eye on!   

[LJ-TJ]

How many noticed the umbrella stand base he used for a pip stand to help hold up the other end of the bumper in the third picture. Yeah never know when your going to see something new. Brilliant.

[cosmic]

I was to fixed on that moped with the side panniers.  Just in case you need to carry a dozen beer cans. lol :)rotflmao

[ibdilbert01]

Hey now, one of those paniers holds the starter battery!!!  The other one holds the beer, and lunch....   


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7YM6L__b6s

[Oz]

Military ammo cans - this project covers everything!

[ibdilbert01]

Ready to prime and paint.





A fellow who I sold tires to last week hooked me up with a freshly rebuilt big block 727.   So today was spent doing some driving.   It will make a great spare for the "just in case"....   D:oH! 

[ibdilbert01]

Starting to come together!   

[ibdilbert01]

I've got two single seats in Gracie, my 72 had a single and a double.   Gracie was ordered with a double, but got switched out with a single sometime in its life.   So i'm going to move the double from the 72 and put it into Gracie.   I've already talked to the upholster shop, going to have them put a flying W on the back of the double too!   


Did find the original carpet under the seat mount!   Green Shag!!!   

[Oz]

Cool!  Looks like you found an original Star Trek "tribble" there...

[ibdilbert01]

Cool!  Looks like you found an original Star Trek "tribble" there...

Yikes!!  Lets hope they don't breed!!!   

Today I started working on the electrical stuff.   Ran #12 Romex in armored conduit along the frame rail all the way back to the fuse panel.    This inverter is mounted under the dinette seat just behind the drivers seat.   It also sits directly above the battery box, so running power cables to the inverter will be short and sweet.





Something I noticed when drilling a hold through the floor is the structure of this 70 winnebago is different than my 72.  My 72 Winnebago was two sheets of plywood with luan on top.   This one as you can see in the picture is two sheets of maybe 3/8th plywood with Styrofoam in the middle. 

[Oz]

Ah... I see you drilled a core sample... like drilling for oil.  So we see the transition from straight plywood to thermo-panel flooring ocurred sometime between '71 and '72. 

When you say "armored" conduit, what does that mean?  Is it the kind that is a metal sleeve as used in indudstrial applications?

[ibdilbert01]

In my case the progression is backwards, or maybe a Chieftain thing?

The 72 brave, just two sheets of plywood.

The 70 Chieftain, thermopanel floor.   

Armored Conduit is just this stuff....

[LJ-TJ]

Conduit is a great idea for anyone looking for a way to run wires from front to back on their rig. I did that in the crispy bago before it burnt and it made life so much easier when it came time to run wires to the rear or when I had to add wires. Well done.

[ibdilbert01]

Gracie's rear end has a MOR/ryde suspension that includes 4 shocks.   The PO had air shocks installed and they were old and leaky.   We decided to replace them with new air shocks.   

They were a mix of Monroes and Gabrials.



Now they are all Monroe Max-Air

[Stripe]

Here is a link to the photos I took of my Mor-Ryde.. 

https://plus.google.com/photos/117266653547607681099/albums/5866979081047023729?authkey=CIq54sifgpW5ZA

[ibdilbert01]

Thanks for the pics!  I have not seen many mor/ryde configurations and wanted to see if it was the same as mine. 


You appear to have this configuration...
http://www.morryde.com/downloads/technical/MO-MotorHome%20Service%20Manual.pdf


Oddly I have this configuration...  (double the pads, designed for school busses.   i?? )
http://www.morryde.com/downloads/technical/MO-School%20Bus%20Service%20Manual.pdf

[ibdilbert01]

The long overhang behind the back wheels gets into trouble every now and then.    You can see int he pics where over the years she has rubbed the pavement damaging the trim on the skirt.    We made some skid wheels to protect the back end.   Thats heavy wall 3" C running across the bottom with home made wheels.







Standing up behind the rig you hardly notice them.

[Stripe]

  HOT DAMN Now I have a Shock number for cross reference!!      I owe ya a cold one ibdilbert01!!!

Have you driven your rig since the new shock install? If so, how was the ride?

On the same subject, your probably lucky to have the double setup, especially with the hardware your installing.  Loved the Moped ammo box thing BTW!

CMM500

[ibdilbert01]

I have not test drove it yet, but will be taking it to the muffler shop fist thing in the morning.   It'll be about 120 mile round trip, so I should get a good feel if there is an improvement or not.    I used Monroe Max-Air Part #MA739.   It had a mix of those and Gabries (PN 49105) on it when I got it. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Darn dude!  Nice welding job!  Want to make some extra cash this summer?  Ohio is right along our route to New York.  I need some frame reenforcements welded on the 92 YJ...LOL!  We won't even need hookups...semi serious here if you want to dive into a Jeep project with me.  And if you have jacks that can lift the back of our RV high enough, I'd even consider paying you to help me raise the Mor/Ryde suspension height...an easy job IF you have the jacks, which I don't on the road.

Great job on Gracie so far!

Kev

[ibdilbert01]

Hey Kev, any chance you'll be in the area during the Jimco Jam?    Wouldn't be the first time we took on a project during the jam!