The Madness has Begun! Restoration of a 1973 Winnebago D18 Brave!

[ralis]

Hi All,

The wife and I believed it would be fun to own an RV in order to travel the US and visit haunted attractions during the Halloween season.

The wife thought a 1973 Winnebago D18 was cute.  The wife gets what the wife wants!

I bought the RV.  The PO wanted $3500; I paid $2900.  It ran, had a tune-up, new brake lines and brake shoes, and a new floor.  The PO had converted the wheels to 16" and it had 7 new tires.  We took it for a spin around the storage lot and discovered it did not stop well. It also needed a new roof.  I knew because of this website the repairs would be no problem because of the wonderful resources and members here.

I thought to myself, "What a great deal. A new roof, some brake work and a paint job, then we're off!"

Katie, my wife, decided to document the process.

Here is a link:

https://youtu.be/uc7D6Omq1iQ

[LJ-TJ]

 D:oH! Holy Cow!

[postman]

Ralis,


WAY COOL youtube. Wishing you luck.

[joev]

Looks like you guys are going to do a great job of this keep us updated

[Schmitti]

Wow, that reminds me directly of our Winnebago restoration . The movies to, you can also see on Youtube or find here in the forum .http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php/topic,9946.0.html

Thomas

[ralis]

Thank you, We are looking for all the information and Inspiration we can find! I am on my way to view your posts

[Rickf1985]

Oh you will find inspiration from Thomas's posts. If it could possibly go wrong it did for him and he overcame it all.

[intofire1]

Like your YouTube video. Good Luck.
Gil

[Schmitti]

@ Rick ... I'm in the face so red with shame

@ralis ... do not be surprised when reading please, here in Germany there are a few other laws, as far as the approval for the road . Nevertheless I wish you a lot of fun reading & watching. Also when building on your Winni ... and always nice to have the camera ... here in the forum pictures / movies are very much welcome

Thomas

[ralis]

Here is Part 2

on You tube

https://youtu.be/RghxnS6VY2Q

Thanks All!

[Rickf1985]

I AM IMPRESSED!!! The attention to detail on the engine disassembly is really going to pay off in the end. I would strongly suggest going with an Edelbrock intake manifold and carburetor and cam package since you have the entire engine torn down. That will give you a lot more bottom end grunt and working with a 318 in that motor home you are going to need all the help you can get. I am not talking about a race setup, look at the Edelbrock Performer series manifold, carb and cam.


Also the video was very well done! Keep up the good work.

[LJ-TJ]

Amazing, absolutely amazing. You got me hooked. You guys are doing an amazing job. Can't wait to see how you built your brake fluid trap door. Looks excellent. Keep up the good work. Especially the videos.

[khantroll]

Your videos are awesome! I have subscribed, and I can't wait until you start on the coach work.


Thanks!

[turbinebronze]

Hi Rick,
  I've thought about an aftermarket intake on my 318-3, but I'm worried about the cooling of the heads. If you remember, on a standard 318 the intake has an exhaust crossover built into it. It passes under the carb from head to head. With the 318-3 that same exhaust passage is used as a coolant passage-way to the heads. There is a pipe plumbed from that tall water pump housing to the intake just under the carb, dumping coolant into the intake, and then into the heads.
  You might be able to tap the aftermarket intake to accept the water pipe. I just haven't heard of anyone doing that.  Hm?
  Just my 2 cents, Craig.

[Rickf1985]

The exhaust crossover was only there for one of two purposes, one and the main reason was the EGR valve. Unless you are running EGR then you do not have to worry about that and the other reason was to warm the carb and this was usually accomplished in other ways by hot air risers from the exhaust. If there are water passages in the manifold for head and engine cooling they will be built into the Edelbrock manifold. Edelbrock never changes the design of the cooling system or anything other than EGR and if they do the EGR it is duly noted.

[turbinebronze]

Hi Rick,
  I understand and agree. My concern is the extra cooling the 318-3 industrial engine has from the coolant being added into the heads. That 318-3 engine is not very popular, and is different than the pass car 318. All I can find on these heads are from car guys that want to run them because they have a small combustion chamber (57cc compared to 69cc in the pass car). They talk of just blocking off the crossover like some do with hipo applications to eliminate the carb heat and EGR. But they aren't trying to move a house for miles with those motors...
  I did go to the Edelbrock website and they do not list the 318-3 engine.
  I haven't seen (or read) of anyone putting an aftermarket intake on a 318-3. I'd like to know the outcome of it. My 318-3 could use the shot in the arm... 

[Rickf1985]

Call Edelbrock, their tech people are top notch.

[ralis]

Oh My! Part Three is up on youtube:

https://youtu.be/fT41OLB1c5c

it just won't end!

[Schmitti]

Nice 

Thomas

[LJ-TJ]

NO,NO,NO! You can't do this to us. You got us hooked. A hole year. Ah! What a fantastic job you guys are doing. You can't leave us just blowing in the breeze. Love the way you put the access panel in the floor for the master cylinder. Brilliant. The detail of how your doing things and the parts and tools is superb. I shall be waiting with baited breath.in panting anticipation  until the next episode. This is like going to the Saturday matinee and following a Buck Rodgers cereal. Oooooops just thought I don't think your old enough to know who Buck Rodgers was. >GRIN< :)rotflmao Thanks again Kiddo your doing a fine job.

[ralis]

Well.... it has been more than a year and a lot has happened. We have not given up on Althea the Brave! My wife puts the videos together and has all the pics but I found some on my phone so here is the cab tear down
We both work a lot and I travel all over the world so things with Althea are slow

[ralis]

Spoiler Alert! We did rebuilt the engine. Well we took it to a mopar specialist in Palm Spring and they did a the machine work. They recommended a US supplier for high quality rebuild parts and my Father in law rebuilt the engine. It is back in and runs!

When repainting engine parts I went to Michaels art supply and bought an assortment of corks to plug up various holes

[ralis]

Like I said a lot has happened, we had to take the whole damn thing apart to get the dash out! The entire RV is built around the dash!

The floor was rotted where the walls attached. So this is a complete restoration. So far:
Painted the frame
Had the leaf springs re-arched in front, new ones in back and new shock absorbers
New breaks all around
Engine rebuilt and installed
Transmission rebuilt and installed
Gas tank dropped, rust removed and tank coated -reinstalled
Power steering box rebuilt and installed
All window frames cleaned and polished
New floor installed
New exhaust installed

I don't have all the pics with me and Katie has not had the time to make a new video yet
Not to mention we are remodeling our Kitchen, bath and laundry room! Thank goodness for my father in Law! He is tackling most of that!

[Oz]

Major deal, right there.   Awesome job building those supports to hold the side walls!

[khantroll]

 

How did you even do that? That is amazining!

Also, I can finally explain to my wife how these things are made!