Mostly just saying hi

Started by AliceKelly, November 30, 2019, 10:26 PM

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AliceKelly

So. MY wife and I were homeless last. Month.  We saved what we could and baught a trashed 1984 winebago minowini 20 ft class c built on. A chevy g30 chassis.  She runs kinda OK.  There's a lot of work to do. Someone before us took a sawsall and chopped out the sink/oven left the. Lp lines and water lines Un. Capped  the genset 3.0 muffler is falling off and. I'm struggling with EMMISSIONS in Denver Co.  Mainly just introducing myself as I'm probably going to need a ton of advice... Wink wink smooches

LJ-TJ

 :)ThmbUp All right finally a homeless person with some common cents. Get a roof over your heads. Get dry and warm so you can focus on your next move. Boy did you come to the right place. You'll find everything from frugal and thrifty to crazy excessive here. I'm betting there's a hole lot of folks here willing to guide you with frugal and thrifty in mind. Willing to coach you on how to repair stuff on your own and were to scroung stuff. There's not a lot on your rig that you can't fix yourself. Just take your time and be patient. What part of the country are you living in. Welcome aboard. Oh! P.S. Understand one thing. The only dumb question here is the one you don't ask. ;)

Rickf1985

Uh, TJ, They said they are struggling with emission here in Denver Co. so I think it would be a good guess that they are in Denver? W% :)rotflmao
Welcome to the nuthouse and we will do all we can to try to improve your situation. What is your skill set as far as doing the work needed on both the vehicle and the RV? The original mufflers for those old Onan generators are hard to find and expensive when you do find them so you might want to improvise there. I have a stove and oven unit I would give you but I am in NJ so that is kind of moot point. I would cut the liner off clean and cap it so you can use things like the hot water heater and furnace. You can substitute a Coleman camp stove for the original, I used one of them for a year in a rental house that did not have a stove in it.

Elandan2

As Rick said, the original mufflers for generators are expensive, but there are other options. I used a garden tractor muffler for our genny, and I have read of people using motorcycle mufflers. I can imagine there is a pile of original equipment Harley Davidson mufflers somewhere.
Rick and Tracy Ellerbeck

tmsnyder

Not homeless any more! Congrats!


Even if you have to keep all the emissions stuff in place to meet your state's requirements you should be able to get that running well with pretty straightforward work, mostly elbow work.   


Making sure you have clean fuel is a critical first step.  No engine will run well with contaminated fuel.


A simple tune up of the engine; air filter, plugs, cap rotor, wires will usually go a long way.


And the inexpensive but time consuming process of looking at every thing that makes the engine run well that might not be working so well after years of neglect.  Things like, is the mechanical advance on the distributor working freely?  You can fix a lot with just a little patience, puttering, wiggling and oiling, cleaning and reassembling.

LJ-TJ

 D:oH! DUH! Didn't say I was the brightest bulb in the pack or the sharpest knife in the drawer. Alice I might not be the guy to take opinions from. ???

Rickf1985

Being a Chevy it is going to have A.I.R pumps, or at least one pump and they have a habit of seizing up so be sure that is working since that will go a long ways towards geting you through emissions. Also check the hoses that go down to the vapor canister usually mounted down low on the passenger side of the radiator support. Make sure they are all connected and in good shape. Usually there is a vacuum diagram on the side of the air cleaner for the emissions lines to show their routing.

wvallen

If you title it in South Dakota, can't you bypass the emissions tests? 

ClydesdaleKevin

Good luck and welcome to the best vintage RV site on the planet!


Kev
Kev and Patti, the furry kids, our 1981 Ford F-100 Custom tow vehicle, and our 1995 Itasca Suncruiser Diesel Pusher.

AliceKelly

I posted Two times. Tried to include the pics of inside.  The Pic was to big and. It  blew my entire post.  I wrote it by hand on a cell phone twice in the dark.  After an hour and a half I got a little tried and went to bed.


I badly need a smog pump and quadrajet r4-m4mc. CaN anyone suggest a parts yard that might have parts. For this ol gurl?


Ps I'll try to stay on replies better

AliceKelly

On. Side note thank all of you for the tips and welcoming.  I'm all stressed out over EMMISSIONS but I saw an inspector Monday said he would pass me if I got the. Smog pump back running and got the. Smoke to stop pretty sure a carb rebuild would help the gassy smelling smoke


In any case you guys rock!!!  Be back later.  Think I'll spend. Today hunting old parts



AliceKelly


Skill set wise my family business was roofing and construction till I was around 21.  Went to college for CO. Puter science.  I've done 12v cable installation and some trouble shooting. I
Thinking cabinets etc will be. Much like drywall and insulation just use. Lighter. Materials like thin paneling and small screws.  I hate staples. The lp lines I'm going to treat like brake lines..  Put on fittings and flare them. Then seal with plummets tape.  I don't like the. Idea of permanently soldering caps in.  FIRE BAD!



Quote from: Rickf1985 on December 01, 2019, 08:41 AM
Uh, TJ, They said they are struggling with emission here in Denver Co. so I think it would be a good guess that they are in Denver? W% :)rotflmao
Welcome to the nuthouse and we will do all we can to try to improve your situation. What is your skill set as far as doing the work needed on both the vehicle and the RV? The original mufflers for those old Onan generators are hard to find and expensive when you do find them so you might want to improvise there. I have a stove and oven unit I would give you but I am in NJ so that is kind of moot point. I would cut the liner off clean and cap it so you can use things like the hot water heater and furnace. You can substitute a Coleman camp stove for the original, I used one of them for a year in a rental house that did not have a stove in it.

tmsnyder

Ah, you fell for the old 'make a great big post, spend a bunch of time on it, and lose the whole thing b/c it timed out or the picture was too big' trick.  That one never gets old on this forum.  My favorite is when the font gets real small for no apparent reason.

LJ-TJ

So the way I get around that if I'm going to add a pictuer is. After writing I highlight the letter. Past it to Note Pad. Then I send the letter and the photo. If it gets rejected and comes back wiped out. I go over to the note pad, highlight it, copy it, then go back to the site and past it in the box. BUT I DON'T include the pictuers this time when I send it. After that I just try to send the pics on their own. Hm?
Is the smoke black? If so it might just be the engine is running to rich? Hm?

Rickf1985

You say it smells gasy? Is it missing on one cylinder? Before you get too deep into the emissions stuff make sure the engine is mechanically sound. I would normally recommend a leakdown test but I am going to assume that you are not in a position to be buying tools or test equipment even if it is cheap. If you want to send me a phone number by PM I may be able to help you out a little better by going over some things in real time instead of bouncing back and forth on here. The propane lines need to be single flared to 45 degrees and no tape. As for where the stove was you can flare the line and install a valve so that you can just add a section of line later on and have a shut off valve for the stove. Or you can flare it and get a block off plug that goes on there in place of any other connection.

AliceKelly

I found a via le core M4mc carb and a. Rebuild kit for. It.  Won't be here till the 21st.  Need an electric choke converter gaskets and a bucket of carb cleaner.  The. Smoke is blue but it hits. On all cylinders I am considering an intake manifold and exhaust manifolds or at least a new gasket on each side.  But I'm. Thinking to run a. Few cans of seafoam through the oil tyranny and fuel to see if I can get some of the crud out.  She. Runs real nice and hauls balls. And stops on a. Dime.    I think it's more of an engine that sat for 5 years thing and. Just needs tlc

ClydesdaleKevin

Quote from: AliceKelly on December 04, 2019, 05:25 PM
I found a via le core M4mc carb and a. Rebuild kit for. It.  Won't be here till the 21st.  Need an electric choke converter gaskets and a bucket of carb cleaner.  The. Smoke is blue but it hits. On all cylinders I am considering an intake manifold and exhaust manifolds or at least a new gasket on each side.  But I'm. Thinking to run a. Few cans of seafoam through the oil tyranny and fuel to see if I can get some of the crud out.  She. Runs real nice and hauls balls. And stops on a. Dime.    I think it's more of an engine that sat for 5 years thing and. Just needs tlc

How old is the gas?  If it has also been sitting for 5 years, that might be a part of your problem...even if the old gas is mixed in with new gas that you added to the tank.

Kev
Kev and Patti, the furry kids, our 1981 Ford F-100 Custom tow vehicle, and our 1995 Itasca Suncruiser Diesel Pusher.

Rickf1985

If the gas is five years old that is a real problem because that was ethanol gas and that can explain a lot about things like  bad fuel pump and probably degraded lines and the smoke although blue smoke is oil and Chevies are famous for bad valve seals. Adding new gas to the old or Seafoam to the old will not helop, you need to drop the tank and get that old gas out of there. Ifyou have an electric pump then hotwire it to run all the time and run the tank dry into cans and dispose of it. I would not go spending a lot of money on intake and exhaust manifold gaskets. Believe me you do NOT want to try to get those exhaust manifolds off! Do the valve covers have the bolts around the edge or through the top? That will tell me if it is a Vortec engine or not, I think it is too old and if it is too old then the chances of an intake manifold leak are slim. NOW, if you are talking about an oil leak on the sides over the exhaust that is Valve cover gaskets.

AliceKelly

That's not very good news.  When I got her she only had a gallon to get me to the station.  Since then I've run 2 full tanks through her.  So if the. Smoke won't stop with a new carb and seafoam she needs more serious work

Rickf1985

Ok, That's a different story. If you know it only had a very little in it and you have since run two full tanks through it then don't worry about bad gas. Todays gas with ethanol in it is very aggressive at cleaning. which means stock up on fuel filters because you will probably need to change it every couple tanks of gas for a little while until all the gunk is cleaned out. If the smoke is blue and I am going to bet it smells like oil I will say you need valve seals.

AliceKelly

Ya I watched a couple videos on valve seals.  I've done head gaskets and the seals are easy and cheap but taking all the crap down to get the heads of is a other story.  I'm almost thinking wounder about what the cost would be if I baught complete heads and gaskets and paid someone else to just drop new heads on.  Another suggestion I got was run thicker oil and add oil sealer n hope it's enough to pass.  Admittedly the oil is sooper old now.  At least 5 year old oil. Hadn't gotten to changing it or flushing the tyranny yet.... Should I at least change. Oil before ripping her guts apart?

Rickf1985

You don't have to pull the heads to do the valve seals. You can do it with air pressure and the right tools or you can cheat with clothesline and a cheap valve spring compressor.  How many miles are on this?

AliceKelly

19000 surprisingly.  I saw something saying to try sooper thick oil.   Plus this oil is at least 5 years old.  Possibly a lot more.

AliceKelly

I'm thi king every tube.  Every seal. Every rubber part is dried out and messed up.

Rickf1985

I will agree on all of the rubber parts but oil does not go bad like gas from age. What could happen is you could get water in the crankcase from condensation in that climate. If the oil was not milky after running then you don't have water in it. An oil change is always a good idea on any used vehicle though. All rubber should be replaced, hoses, gas lines, belts, tires. with that mileage the engine should be in good shape mechanically so stop thinking of taking it all apart. Clean oil, new plugs and wires and a new PCV valve. With that mileage the air cleaner is probably not even dirty but I would replace it, they may have gone to Burning Man!!!! Can you say dust on steroids!!! :)rotflmao If the valve covers have to come off be sure to check the drain back holes for gunk but I doubt it with that low mileage.