Introduction and coach information

[Sasquatch]

Hello.  Found this site a few days ago and have poured over the Dodge related forums.  What a great resource for information.

I live in Boise, ID and have a 1976 Executive 26' on an M500 Chassis.  It is a unique coach in that my grandfather purchased this coach new and has been through him, my parents and now my wife and I who have had it for the last 15 years.  The coach has been in regular service it's entire life.  Maintenance and upgrades kept up to date.  She is a great runner.  In fact, I am posting this while sitting in her vacationing at McCall Idaho for the week.

Last winter I rebuilt the drive train as it has had 102k miles her.  Rebuilding the motor the bearings looked good with only minimal signs of wear.  Nothing looked out of order in the entire motor.  I did install a custom cam for Torque, and a high volume oil pump at that time.  The motor had previously been outfitted with 1 3/4" Doug Thorley long tube headers, Edelbrock intake and 1407 carb, MSD ignition, and super coil.

I then dropped the fuel tanks and was going to have them flushed, but under inspection they were spotless inside.  I mean spotless.  So I replaced all the fuel lines, new electric booster pump with bypass, mechanical pump on the motor, and a high volume cartridge style fuel filter.

I rebuilt the power steering pump and sent the steering box off to a company in MI for rebuild (no more play in the steering wheel  ).

On to the brakes.  Had the rotors and drums turned, bought rebuilt calipers, new pads, new wheel bearings, and all new rubber hoses around the entire coach.  Then spent a couple of hours bleeding the whole system out.

Topped everything off with all new radiator hoses and a freshly flushed radiator.

I have about $2500 into that project with me do all the work. 

Other notable upgrades to the coach have been:
Firestone ride-rite air bags all the way around matched with Bilstein shocks.
225/70/19.5 radials on the original Budd rims
SmarTire tire pressure monitoring system
Vorad front and side collision avoidance radar system
Completely remodeled interior.

Here are a few photos.


New calipers, bearings, seals, brake hoses, yummy.


Rebuilt engine in place.


The rod bearing in the worst shape, after 102k miles and 34 years.


What is next?  I am wanting to do some research on replacing the 727 transmission with a newer over drive unit for better highway travel.  Then switching to aftermarket fuel injection to bring the fuel system up to date.  Need to find threads on here where people have done it and what their results are.

Anyway, nice forum, I hope I can add to it.

[Oz]

Incredibly awesome work!  I'm sure you have a LOT to share.  Welcome to CWVRV.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

There is a lot of information on the internet about converting from carburator to either TBI or Port fuel injection.  Unfortunantly there is almost nothing specific to convertering the 440.  As you may know, the 440-3 has a special intake to head configuration that is different from a car 440-1.  Not sure what is still available in the aftermarket intake manifold arena for the 440-3.  Because of that, I have been limiting my research into a TBI conversion.  You already have a Edelbrock manifold with a squarebore carb so that is a leg up already from the intake air flow perspective.  Additionally, I do not want to modify the fuel tanks to install in tank fuel pumps that would be needed for Port Fuel Injection.  So, to that end you have can either perform a junk yard GM 454 TBI conversion from a 87-91 Chevy/GM truck or aftermarket Howel or Edelbrock setup.
1.  You will need at least 650 CFM of air flow.  That was a stock 454 TBI setup (51mm).  The smaller engines used lower CFM ratings.  One of the aftermarket 4 barrel TBI units is overkill for your application.  You simply do not pull that much air through the engine.
2.  There is a few weeks learning curve for just trying to understand how to modify the the ECU software.  That does not include the hardware investment for the tools to do it.  For a 454 conversion, I would want to use an emulator (Ostrich or Romulator) at first so I would not have to keep reburning chips.  There are a lot of books on the market about EFI conversion.  The only one I have found that actually explains what the different software values are you have to change are is "Designing and Tuning High-Performance Fuel Injection Systems"http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/182-2636456-4552533?asin=B002P8GVXU&AFID=Froogle_df&LNM=|B002P8GVXU&CPNG=movies&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B002P8GVXU&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001.  Books like "Performance Fuel Injection Systems" http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&biw=1494&bih=797&q=fuel+injection+books&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11296845692933635763&sa=X&ei=ptw_TsK1C4Tw0gH34PCaCw&ved=0CFgQ8wIwAA# spend more time trying to sell you on a set of products.  If you do not understandhow to implement the product you are doomed to be lost.  With that said, both those books are written by people who have access to Dynometers and advocate the use of a Dynometer for tuning.  Most of us common folk cannot afford the services of a Dynometer.  Another book I have not bought yet is "V-8 Conversion Manual for Chevrolet TPI & TBI Engine Swap" http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Chevrolet_TPI_TBI_V-8.html.  I think it maybe more oriented towards the shadetree mechanic.
3.  After market conversion kits will run $1300 to $2500.   To acquire all the pieces for a Junk yard conversion it will run you $600 - $1000.  People tend to forget about the all the extras like chip programmer, software, etc.   Tunerpro 5 is a excellant little program http://www.tunerpro.net/.  I had to use it when I had problems with the ABS brake system in my 92 Chevy Lumina APV  (OBD1).    However, because it is a generic EFI tuning program, it comes with a learning curve.  The are few turnkey options.  I had to understand the data stream and tweek the setup so that I could read the ABS data.  Then again, for less that $100 I was able to do those things that require a $1000 GM OBD1 tool which a few and far between.   All because of a "dirty" wheel speed sensor.   Even todays OBD2 based systems available to the general public do not read ABS.  You have to drop another $150 or more for an ABS reader.  Even then read the fine print carefully to determine if it will work on your vehicle.  Here is a very informative site that provides a good overview of the "concepts" involved with TBI conversion http://www.binderplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47254  While it based on a smaller IH engine, the "concepts" are the same.  The same ECU is used for all engine sizes bubt you have to use the larger 454 TBI Throttle body.  BE sure and look at wiring diagrams becasue the 454 setup (truck and motorhome) is a tad different.
4.  You will find mention on the net about converting a 440 to EFI however, that is about the all you see. Is mention of people who have converted a 413 or 440.  I have yet to really find specifics.  Will you have a big increase in gas milage?  Questionable.  Given you have already changed the intake, installed an RV cam, and added headers, you may see more than most.  You would be tuning to take advantage of your increased air flow characteristics.  Still, it may only be a 1-3 mpg increase.

518 Transmission upgrade - http://www.transmissioncenter.net/SwapInformation.htm

Hope this helps as a staring point.
Dave
PS: will come back and fix my grammer when I have more time.   

[Sasquatch]

Thanks for the input.  The TBI conversion I would choose is from a company who's link I have on my home computer (sorry).  They are out of Michigan or Minnesota I believe.  They use the GM TBI unit and build it custom for your application including programming.  Cost is around $1300 complete.

But since my Edelbrock is running so well now, I think I would do a transmission swap first.  I still need some questions answered about the swap, like how to deal with the driveshaft mounted parking brake, and if the A518 will really hold up to a loaded RV as I have heard countless problems with these trannies..

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

I have never done the conversion or even researched it so I am as green on that one as you.

Dave