Good News, Bad News

Good news, bad news has been the way of everything the last couple days it seems.

Earlier this week I ordered the new exhaust parts for the motorhome, and also the new master cylinder. Unfortunately, the muffler got 'left behind' and didn't arrive with everything else. It will arrive tomorrow, and I got a small refund for the situation.

The above picture is of my new master cylinder for the brakes. If you've never changed one it's really quite easy. Disconnect the two lines going in, and then there's two bolts holding it the the big black thing (power booster) next to it. If you don't have a power booster you would have to a little more with the linkage to the brake pedal but still not hard! And then bleed the brakes to get any air out of the lines.

Thankfully, I diagnosed that one right the first time. And my brakes are now fixed. They used to stop, but when at an intersection my brake pedal would lose pressure and sink to the floor after about 15 seconds. No more. I've actually sat with the motorhome in Drive for 10 minutes and the brake pedal applied (while diagnosing something else) and the brake pedal stayed firm the entire time. I also took it for a drive again and it was nice not to have to repump the brakes at stop signs.

My dad and I finally compression tested all the cylinders today too. I've been afraid to do it, for the very reason that happened. Two of the cylinders have way lower pressure than the others. That's a bad thing. As for the fix, I'm still looking into what I might need to do. Might be my first major-ish engine work. Either way, it distracted me from my big goal of doing exhaust work today and I ended up pulling the valve covers off. The valve cover gaskets have been leaking and I had replacements for them to put on anyway. I didn't see any problems that stood out. Above picture is my driver's side valve cover. And the inside is below.

 

 

I cleaned it up quite a bit, but not great. The picture is before cleaning. No after pictures. Second picture is the old gasket. Very hard. brittle, and was pretty much in two pieces before I even tried to get it out. I've actually never removed a valve cover myself before, but again a very easy project. 5 small bolts per cover. Main thing is to not over tighten when reinstalling.

 

That's what's hiding under the valve cover. Otherwise, I didn't get anything done with the exhaust like I had planned. I did work on it, but ended the day with no major accomplishments. The bolts from the manifold to the pipe are proving difficult to get out. The first one was super easy and gave me false hope. The muffler and tailpipe weren't separating either. In the end I think I'll be cutting everything off. Just need to figure out what kind of cutting device I can get in there to cut the bolts off from the manifold/pipe. Small space.

 

I'll probably be putting 'real' work into the engine now, but it's also an option to just ignore the issue and keep driving it as is. Could last a long time. Might fail tomorrow.

 

Somehow I've become better at posting YouTube videos than I am at taking pictures and keeping updates here. I never would have thought that would happen, and I'm doing my best to keep both going and informative. The downside is that some things are being mentioned one place and not the other. As always, you can see my most recent YouTube videos over on the right side of the page.



Today slightly feels like I hit a major setback with the compression issues, but I'm still more excited than ever and feel like it can't possibly be too much longer before this stops being about vehicle repair and more about the actual goal of living in a motorhome!

New Carb Installed / Pending Exhaust Work?

So.. The good news I guess is that I got the new carb installed, and I actually got everything running again. Since the new carb had 2 less vacuum ports I listened to the guys at work and just bypassed the vacuum amplifier junk completely. So now one port goes to the distributor and one goes to the transmission. I've noticed no real downfall yet.

It actually does seem to run better, but how much better is hard to say. I think I'm pretty close to getting it running as well as I can at this point and I'll either have to accept that or ditch out of the entire plan. Currently I'm not planning to ditch out.

One annoying side note that has occured is a whining. Sometimes I might even call it a whistling. Which could obviously be some sort of vacuum leak. But if it's a WHINE, then I seem to wonder if it's the new power steering pump or possibly the alternator. It seems to be coming from the front area.

Anyway, I feel my focus now shifting to the exhaust. Which leaks. The exhaust manifold gasket on the passenger side doesn't look that bad, but I think one corner is leaking. Then there's the Y-Pipe that someone apparently cut at some time and put a flex pipe in. That flex pipe leaks pretty nicely. The only part of the exhaust system that seems fine is the muffler, but I get into that 'Well, I might as well just do it all' mindset. I'm looking at $250 when it's all said and done with shipping. That's an awful lot of money to me.

BUT, in theory, I spend that money, do that work, and then all that's left to buy is a new master cylinder and I'll probably be confident enough to start living in this thing. Hahaha. Maybe in the end I just have a damn fine vehicle to sell to someone. "Look at all them new parts!"

New Carb vs Old Carb

My new rebuilt carb came today. After looking it over and getting the old one taken off I've, so far, noticed three main differences. Two of the vacuum ports on the front of the carb simply do not exist. So I have to figure out how big of a deal that is. And then the third difference is the cruise control linkage. Which I should probably be able to take off of the old one, but it's not that simple.

One of the two vacuum lines won't be a huge deal I don't think. I'm pretty sure that line was the one capped off with a golf tee when I bought it, and if I remember correctly I drove it the entire way home with it capped off.

This is just a teaser post. I will post more after I assess the situation better and have more time. One more day of work and then I have some days off.

Oh, and while taking the old carb off I have definitely noticed some major gasket leaks in it, and one of the mounting nuts was already loose. So my confidence in the new carb at least making a pretty good difference is rising.

Distributed

So, the other day my grandpa was over and he was talking about points and setting gaps and whatnot and I was pretty sure this thing didn't have points, but it got me looking into the 'pickup'. It looked easy enough to change out, so I bought it. Well, there was a clip on the underside that of it that held it down, which I ended up breaking. It's a weird clip that I assume I'd have an awful time trying to find a replacement for. One side of the clip was never found, so I assumed it was somewhere down in there waiting to cause an issue. In the end, I decided to just buy a whole new distributor.

I was worried about replacing it because you have to keep everything lined up exactly the same and blah blah. I swapped this out in less than 20 minutes with zero problems. Here's the hole it goes in, and the gears inside that you need to line things back up with.

 

Another scary obstacle overcome. I think. I guess I'll find out for sure a little later on. Here's the new one installed (minus cap and rotor).

 

 

 

I've been a bit bummed out about my progress, and the money I'm spending while seemingly getting no where. I took stock last night and decided that this really is something I still want to do (live in a motorhome) and that it's worth it to me to keep pumping more money into the project at this point.

 

The distributor really didn't cost me that much money. It was more the fear of messing it up that kept me from wanting to do it. 



On top of that new purchase, I have a new remanufactured carb on its way to me from Minnesota. Compared to the distributor, the carb is a lot more money. By far the most expensive one item I've purchased for the motorhome so far. I was planning on just buying a carb rebuild kit and rebuilding my original one but that would take time to do, and do right. This way I'll be able to just swap them out a lot quicker. And I'm really hoping that my rough idle problems are history after that. My new carb comes on Wednesday, but probably won't be able to install it until Friday. I can still rebuild my original one to keep as a spare.

Almost forgot to mention that I changed out my speedometer cable the other day. Went pretty easy, except the end that connects to my cruise control mechanism has too large of a connector. It works, but as it is, could fall out at any moment. I examined my old one when I took it out and I probably can make that one work again so I might reinstall that one, or else just try to rig the new one up somehow so it can't fall out.

I've decided that, for now, I'm done putting money into or working on anything that isn't related to getting the engine running properly. If I can't get it running properly than nothing else will matter anyway.

Steering with Power

Today was my one day off, and I really should be asleep because I was asked to come in an hour earlier than scheduled so I have to wake up at 5am. Ugh. Too early for me. I have to work the next 6 days.

Anyway, I gave up on checking the timing. Even with the power steering pump removed it was impossible to see the marks. The power steering bracket would have needed to be removed if I wanted even a chance of checking, but the last bolt for that is tied into the water pump and a river of coolant ensued so I quickly tightened it back up and said forget it.

So on to installing the new power steering pump. But wait! First I needed to replace the alternator belt. Easy and quick. Installing the new power steering pump took way longer than it should have, and a lot of cussing. I got a new PS hose installed too, even though it was quite a bit different than the original, it worked just the same and in the end I actually prefer the way it's routed now.

I had a new choke thermostat to install but the linkage is way too long and I'm pretty sure it's not going to work at all. I gave up on that project fairly quickly without looking into it too deeply.

Oh hey. I finally went to get the title transferred into my name today. And even put plates and insurance on the motorhome. More money per month for something I'm not actually driving yet. Sucks, but oh well.

I did take the motorhome for two drives today. Just short ones, but it was nice to be out on the road in it. I haven't driven it on the road since driving it home. Unfortunately my speedometer has stopped working. I guess something happened to it when I was fixing the dash lights. I'm pretty bummed about that one.

I don't think I'd mind driving the motorhome to work a few times as it is, except the brakes are still iffy. My drive to work has a lot of stoplights, and when I come to a stop my brake pedal gets soft after about 30 seconds and I have to let up and repump the brakes. Hoping it's just air in the lines still and not a leaking rear wheel cylinder.

No pics this update, a bummer. But a new exciting YouTube video of me talking was posted tonight.

Memorial Day Weekend

Greetings!

Up front, I did not get all that I intended to get done this weekend. However, I did do a bit of being lazy and I enjoyed that quite splendidly. That said, let's go over what I did manage to get done.

First up, I got the new waste tank vent installed. The old one was busted, but really what could that do? So I get rain water in my waste tanks? Not ideal but not awful either. The main issue was all the old caulking was bad and I'm pretty sure was the source of a pretty nice leak. The new vent is one of those Camco swivel ones, and it doesn't actually swivel all the way around due to its location, so it's kind of pointless. If I wanted it to swivel I would have had to add a section of pipe to raise it up. I was mostly concerned with fixing a leak, and using what I had already bought.

 

 

 

Not the best or prettiest job in the world but no caulking job is set it and forget it, so I'll be checking it off and on anyway.

Next up, I put a screen over the top of fridge vent to keep the critters and bugs out. I just caulked it down around the edges and it should work just fine. I will be back up there in a while as I plan to snake my solar panel wires down that vent when I get those moved over from the van. Also, check out the picture of the NEST I dug out of on top of the fridge. Glad I put a screen up there now!

Speaking of the fridge, I'm not sure if it's working. I know the freezer portion is cooling off a lot but the actual fridge part doesn't seem to be. Maybe I'm not waiting long enough? I've waited at least an hour, I think even two hours.

The screen door got new screen too. I'm going with aluminum screen because I actually kind of like how it looks and because my cats should have a much harder time destroying it. They've always been very good around screens for me, though.

 

 

I had to step back on Sunday and work on something NOT motorhome related, just to keep myself sane. I'm a little frustrated and at a loss as to where to start to try to figure out my engine troubles. Now I have a new choke thermostat arriving on Wednesday, and I would be ecstatic if it fixed things. That being said, I still want to check the timing but need to buy a timing light.

 

Putting the new power steering pump on was one of the big projects planned for this weekend also but I really was hesitant to dive into that one. I started it this afternoon. The old pump came out pretty easily.

 

 

The big problem with that one being I had to pull the pulley off and put it on the new pump. A trip to Autozone to rent a power steering pulley puller and I got right to work on it. The old pulley came off with some difficulty, but I got it off. By then the drizzling rain was persistant and I had to do laundry for the week so I called it a day before I got to install the new pump. This kind of works out for me in a few ways because now I can buy the new belts I really should get installed before I put it all back together, and it gives me a chance to buy a timing light and look things over with the pump off. I think it'll probably be easier to look at all of that with the power steering pump removed.

 

 

 

Back to work for 3 days, and then I get Friday off. After that, I don't know yet.

Piling Up

My to-do list is piling up, even though I really should probably try to get the engine to run better before any of the other stuff gets done. Haha. Not only is the list piling up, but my supplies are too.

I've got new aluminum screen that I want to put on the windows and screen door. Also, I want to get some screen up across the fridge vent opening. That really was the main reason I bought some but I'll have enough to redo screens too.

Next up, I have some new hose for the water pump so that I can get rid of that leak. A simple 10 minute project for that.

I may or may not have already gone ahead and purchased a bit of new flooring. Vinyl planks. I need to buy more but I'm splitting that purchase up. More of a mental thing that anything else. I couldn't wrap my mind around spending that much in one swoop for flooring when I know I can just get sheet vinyl for way cheaper.

A new black water tank vent is already purchased. The old vent cap was busted off and all the caulking around the pipe up there is junk. This one is pretty high up on my list as the leak is fairly significant. I got one of those fancy Camco vents that looks like a torpedo and rotates with the wind. We had one for sale at work, and no one has ever bought one (in the entire history of the store I work at). So I figured why not. Side note about leaks, it looks like the leak by the fridge, which I assumed was from the fridge vent, has been fixed by the recaulking I did.

The new power steering pump came in today, and I got the new power steering hose in the mail yesterday. I've never done a power steering pump before so that one will take some research and looking into the situation. Plus, I have to pull the pulley off the old pump and press it on the new one somehow. Fun.

I think I'll try not to buy anything else until I can get what I've already got done. With any luck I'll knock quite a few of those off the list this weekend.