My 1978 GMC motorhome
- Thread starter Mike_H
- Start date
Thanks for looking! I actually found one last night on old air products. I had done an image search previously, but on a wing and prayer, did it again. This time I landed in a Buick forum and someone linked it directly in that forum.
https://www.oldairproducts.com/product/23-5905-actuator
Little break this weekend. Went to visit my In-Laws and deliver a "new" Jeep to him. My dad decided to get a 4 dr JL and was selling his 2 dr JK. My Father in Law decided to buy it from him, So, I drove the JK 500+ miles to the UP to deliver it. Its been a while since I've been up here for Winter. I know intellectually what 200-300 inches of snow a season is, but I'm always in awe when I actually experience it...The banks and piles are incredible...
For reference, I'm 6'2", and standing as close to the bottom of this snow pile as I can get...Its 10' tall or more...
For reference, I'm 6'2", and standing as close to the bottom of this snow pile as I can get...Its 10' tall or more...
I grew up around Detroit and had some memorable UP winter experiences in the past.
Let’s see the machine that made the pile
Let’s see the machine that made the pile
Back to reality, been working on finishing the Dash overhaul. All my pieces are now painted. I think they turned out great. They are not 100% perfect, but WAY better than they were, and I'm probably the only one who will notice the issues. I also tried a new product on these pieces. I did so much sanding to make my repairs disappear, I sanded through the texture in most of the repair areas. Tried SEM texture repair paint. It worked incredibly well. Better than the way I've done it in the past with Bedliner.
Here is the passenger side
Driver's Side
And a texture close up. This area was completely smooth
That about finishes all the dash parts needed for this project. My next step is finishing insulation in the coach, then the wire harness. To that end, I'm installing Dynamat (actually, some left over Noico from another project) over the huge flat sheets of aluminum. Got the dash done over the last couple days.
Still need to piece together the footwell area. Over this, I'll install some traditional thermal and soundproofing insulation (thick wool blanket looking stuff). My wife wants to install the sound damper stuff over the plywood flooring too after hearing how well the Noico reduced the vibration in the sheet metal Dash. I think we will, just to help with resonance. I'm a bit concerned about weight, but the cabin of this thing is LOUD, and anything we can do to stem that noise reduces fatigue while driving.
I also brought the wire harness home with me so I can meld the new with the old. Things that don't get pictured, but take a huge amount of time is those little detail things. The dash had 5 (!) 1" holes in it, for wire pass throughs. No grommets, cord grips, bushings, or anything. Just a big hole for air leakage. I spent about 2 hours working on plugging those up with some grommets. For every "big" project I do, there are three of four of those mini-projects that suck up a few hours here and there. Things like stripping old adhesive and cleaning the aluminum before the Noico can be installed. Chasing down circuits and rebuilding the harness, etc. I know I have a TON of work left, but I feel like I'm picking up steam here. I have good momentum, and it feels nice to make real progress.
Here is the passenger side
Driver's Side
And a texture close up. This area was completely smooth
That about finishes all the dash parts needed for this project. My next step is finishing insulation in the coach, then the wire harness. To that end, I'm installing Dynamat (actually, some left over Noico from another project) over the huge flat sheets of aluminum. Got the dash done over the last couple days.
Still need to piece together the footwell area. Over this, I'll install some traditional thermal and soundproofing insulation (thick wool blanket looking stuff). My wife wants to install the sound damper stuff over the plywood flooring too after hearing how well the Noico reduced the vibration in the sheet metal Dash. I think we will, just to help with resonance. I'm a bit concerned about weight, but the cabin of this thing is LOUD, and anything we can do to stem that noise reduces fatigue while driving.
I also brought the wire harness home with me so I can meld the new with the old. Things that don't get pictured, but take a huge amount of time is those little detail things. The dash had 5 (!) 1" holes in it, for wire pass throughs. No grommets, cord grips, bushings, or anything. Just a big hole for air leakage. I spent about 2 hours working on plugging those up with some grommets. For every "big" project I do, there are three of four of those mini-projects that suck up a few hours here and there. Things like stripping old adhesive and cleaning the aluminum before the Noico can be installed. Chasing down circuits and rebuilding the harness, etc. I know I have a TON of work left, but I feel like I'm picking up steam here. I have good momentum, and it feels nice to make real progress.
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This thread must have been kicked off of my alert list, anyway looks like you did some good work on that dash, and that old plastic isn't easy to work with. Probably a little late for you, but for anyone else needing dash stuff Just Dashes does good work. https://www.justdashes.com/ I've seen a handful done there, and they all looked good. They are a little pricey, but finished product is good.
I stumbled into Just Dashes already. Looks like they do cool stuff. I'm going to try my hand at doing the vinyl first, but if it goes to shit, I'll give them a call. I was able to remove the old, brittle stuff from the padding without too much damage, so that is a plus. I don't have the right equipment to heat and stretch a single piece for the IP bezel, so I'll have to sew three pieces together, I think.
I also ordered a whole bunch of alcantara samples for my steering wheel today...
Got the last of the mass damped surface treatment done yesterday. I highly recommend you do this, if you have the opportunity to strip a dash down. The aluminum structure is all flat sheet and will have a tendency to resonate. I think the most impactful area is probably the footwell where the Accel and Brake pedals are. That area is VERY resonate and you can really hear the difference before and after the application of the insulation. Note, I elected to NOT do the sides, since they are already spray foamed. That in and of itself will quell the vibrations in those panels, plus they have some rigidity due to the structure formed into them. I may stick a some material on the plastic covers though.
Next project...wire harness. Got it unwrapped last night and used zip ties to control all the break-outs from the main trunk. Now I need to label circuits in the factory harness. Then, I'll start comparing and blending my new harness with the Old. Eventually, I'll lay this out on a sheet of plywood or cardboard.
Next project...wire harness. Got it unwrapped last night and used zip ties to control all the break-outs from the main trunk. Now I need to label circuits in the factory harness. Then, I'll start comparing and blending my new harness with the Old. Eventually, I'll lay this out on a sheet of plywood or cardboard.
That is and always has been the most intimidating part of a project to me. Mechanical, I can do, Laying down decent paint, I can do that too. Running highways for the pesky pixies to run in, not so much. Usually at least one of them bites me before I'm done.
Mike, when I built harnesses for race vehicles, the plywood sheet with smooth nails standing up out of it was the bomb. You can create channels to lay the wires in. I wish I had pictures, but I don't. But you probably already know that. Pointing it out for other readers, mainly.
After I exercised the generator I remembered I had bought some Hot Shots oil for it last year so I went ahead and changed it. I have a Cummins/Onan QD3200 (diesel) which is air cooled and in hot weather I've experienced shut downs due to oil temp and inverter overtemp. I was running some older Rotella 15/40 CJ spec oil that I had left from my 7.3 and I've been managing the heat situation by adding a Permacool electric fan and reducing the load to just the AC unit (while driving). I also cut some large holes in the wheel opening just in front of the generator and made a cover for it so I can open it when needed. All this has helped but I still have issues when the outside temps get into triple digits. I like to use the coach air and leave the dash air off when driving to make things easier on the 3l diesel, especially towing the Jeep.
I'm not usually a fan of snake oil type products but going to give this a shot (no pun intended). It will be the first time I have tried a full synthetic also. I don't recall anything about your generator but they do make one for gasoline generators as well..
I'm not usually a fan of snake oil type products but going to give this a shot (no pun intended). It will be the first time I have tried a full synthetic also. I don't recall anything about your generator but they do make one for gasoline generators as well..
The synthetic oil should tolerate a wider heat range, I think usually about 40 degrees both directions, so that will be good. It will be interesting to see if it helps with cooling. Post back when you find out.
still working on wiring...
First things first, I spent a few hours labeling connectors and individual circuits, as well as their direction to something or from the fuse block. This will help me when I integrate the new harness. The plan is to remove the individual wires and replace them, terminals and all, where I can. I have about 90% of al the wires labeled. Some of them are not going through the fuse panel, so they will just stay put.
Next was to lay out the harness on a board with nails to take the place of my zip ties which are marking the different breakout locations. With the clarity of a full nite's sleep, I may need to redo this...I was thinking I needed to lay out both harnesses next to each other, but instead, they need to be on top of one another, so I don't need to be biased so far left. That would give me the opportunity to clean up all the connectors and grouping s on the left side too. Still not too late, since I haven't clipped my zip ties.
And, with ALL this work happening...I made another decision. I do NOT want to tear into this again, so I did some shopping last night. These two things are on there way next week
My dash will be getting the "Trans-Am" treatment.
I really want the tach. Having the water, volts, and oil will be nice (since I don't really have those either). The only thing I'll be missing at that point is a transmission temp gage. I have one to install, but I may look for something more factory that can also be integrated in the dash. This is going to require a bit of design work to make it all fit though...I know my idiot lights will need to change out. Probably point lights with simple labels, but I'm not sure yet. The real estate the factory set-up takes is valuable. I also believe I will use my factory Speedo. Mainly because it includes the transmission range indicator, but it also has the accurate milage and I don't have to get on any lists anywhere, looking up how to monkey with the milage in the T/A speedo. All decisions will be finalized when I actually get the stuff though. Got all this stuff for less than 150 bucks, so I'm pretty happy with that, especially considering how expensive aftermarket gauges are. The ones I bought are "untested" but they are mechanical, so I should be able to make them work.
Today's plan is get the harness integrated. Its ambitious, so we'll see how far I actually get.
First things first, I spent a few hours labeling connectors and individual circuits, as well as their direction to something or from the fuse block. This will help me when I integrate the new harness. The plan is to remove the individual wires and replace them, terminals and all, where I can. I have about 90% of al the wires labeled. Some of them are not going through the fuse panel, so they will just stay put.
Next was to lay out the harness on a board with nails to take the place of my zip ties which are marking the different breakout locations. With the clarity of a full nite's sleep, I may need to redo this...I was thinking I needed to lay out both harnesses next to each other, but instead, they need to be on top of one another, so I don't need to be biased so far left. That would give me the opportunity to clean up all the connectors and grouping s on the left side too. Still not too late, since I haven't clipped my zip ties.
And, with ALL this work happening...I made another decision. I do NOT want to tear into this again, so I did some shopping last night. These two things are on there way next week
My dash will be getting the "Trans-Am" treatment.
I really want the tach. Having the water, volts, and oil will be nice (since I don't really have those either). The only thing I'll be missing at that point is a transmission temp gage. I have one to install, but I may look for something more factory that can also be integrated in the dash. This is going to require a bit of design work to make it all fit though...I know my idiot lights will need to change out. Probably point lights with simple labels, but I'm not sure yet. The real estate the factory set-up takes is valuable. I also believe I will use my factory Speedo. Mainly because it includes the transmission range indicator, but it also has the accurate milage and I don't have to get on any lists anywhere, looking up how to monkey with the milage in the T/A speedo. All decisions will be finalized when I actually get the stuff though. Got all this stuff for less than 150 bucks, so I'm pretty happy with that, especially considering how expensive aftermarket gauges are. The ones I bought are "untested" but they are mechanical, so I should be able to make them work.
Today's plan is get the harness integrated. Its ambitious, so we'll see how far I actually get.
My dash will be getting the "Trans-Am" treatment.
I love it, but I'm a little biased. Where are you putting the Bird? Each side?
You can, 1 - hook up a drill motor and let her spin to the number you want, or 2 - disassemble the dial as is and reassemble showing the numbers you want. I assume you knew both of those already and know it's a legal gray area.
Oh, a bird on each side would be cool! But no, no birds on this. She don’t have the go to back up the look, lol.
