Rebuilding grandpa's ole 1979 georgieboy cruise air 30' class A

[kansascat]

Glad to have stumbled across this forum, just wish i had found it last spring. My grand parents bought this RV when it was just a couple years old. They used it to snow bird in southern texas in their retirment years. It was the last RV of several they had thru the years as they always enjoyed camping and traveling. They started out with a mid 50's vintage ford bus thet grandpa did a beautiful conversion on into a RV and changed it ovcer to small block chevy engine and tranny. My earliest memories of camping when very yound was in that bus. Anyway, grandmas passed in the mid 90's, so the GB didnt make any more trips to texas, but it did go to the lake a few more times before grandpas health started failing. He passed away in Jan 2000. . The ole RV, which was his pride and joy was left sitting in the driveway of the house, which my uncle, his son inherited. He lives in another city 3 hours away and does not camp, so it just sat there.......for 15 years, untouched for the most part as did the house. Mother nature was not kind, and a hail storm or two found it also. Leaks developed and damage was done. Tire went flat or nearly so, and gas turned into a nasty greenish brown slime. Finally last March uncle contacted me and asked if i knew anyone who would be interested in the RV as he wanted it gone from the friveway so repairs could be done to the garage roof which it had blocked. I said yes, i wanted it...so he gave it to me. A change of oil and fliters. Removal of spark plus and cyl lube applied in each hole. Drained the front aux fuel tank as it had a drain plug, a rebuild of the quadrajet on the front porch, and a new battery and rubber gas hoses and she fired right up and ran well. Test drive around the block resulted in a front caliper notreleasing which was the rubber flex hose, so replaced it and made another test rub around the block with no problems, so i drove it home 25 miles.....a very bumpy ride as all the tires were severly flat sided, and stayed that way.
Since then i can pretty much say i have gone thru and rebuilt and or replaced almost everything on it mechanicly. Shocks had rust pitted on the cyls so started leaking as did the steering stabilizer. Front sping air backs shattered into pieces so replaced them, and a ball joint that broke when tightening it back up...that could have been interesting had it broke while on the highway. Anyway, if i can figure out how to post pics here ill share a few showing some of what i did to the coach during its rebuild.

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[kansascat]

Another try at the pics

[kansascat]

More to come, but past bedtime now.

[DaveVA78Chieftain]

Welcome to our little piece of the web.  Looks like you have gotten deep into this project.  Always great when there are so many memories invested in it to bring back to life.  Keep up the great work!

Dave

[M & J]

 

[LJ-TJ]

Yeah me toooooo. Well done. Nice job. Welcome aboard.

[tiinytina]

Impressive!

[kansascat]

Last night i shared the ppics of the rear end of the coach. This evening ill try adding some pics showing some of what i did to the front end of the coach. Its issues ended up being just a serious as the rear end, but was more of a challenge to rebuild do to all the additional things like the most poorly designed wiring ive ever seen, and the various shapes and grill and hood and lights etc. The biggest dificulty was the fact that the Georgie boys had a big plastic "nose: panel and it was brittle from UV exposer for 35 years and already had a couple good sized cracks in it. My solution was to simply design and build my own "face: for it. I also upgraded all wood structure that was in high risk of having moisture contact especially when driving in the rain with CCA treated pine rather then the balsa wood the factory used which turns into dust when gotten wet a few times. All lower edges all the way around the coach are now framed up using cca pine as it all the noce below the windshield as rain will blow thru the grill when driving. I also cover the inside of the structure with a heavy white plastic sheeting designed for bathroom walls i think rather then the luan wood the factory used so there really is nothing in contact with moisture that can rot not up front. I spent several days just rebuilding the wiring. I took apart the heater housing and cleaned the fins and coils and replaced the foam they used for seals and long ago disentegrated, with rubber. I disassembled and lubricated the shafts and arms for the windshield wipers and arms.  I fabricated fairings to force all the air coming thru the gril to go thru the radiator. I build aluminum tread plate lined storage boxes on each side of the radiator opening to carry spare oil cans and other fluids. I also removed the engine a/c components including the condensor. I moved the tranny cooler that was in front of the radiator up to the back side of the grill, then added a new haynes HD tranny cooler on the other side just behind the grill and put a elec cooling fan on it along with the radiator factory cooler. Now the radiator can get full flow of air with only the engines oil cooler covering a small part of it. I rebuilt the battery box which is located in front of the radiator but between the frame rails and put a heavy rubber liner in it. I threw away the clamped on battery cable ends and soldered on HD copper ends and ran the positive cable that goes down to the starter thru a piece of heater hose also as it had been rubbing on things and starting to wear into the insulation, and routed it for more clearance from the exhaust manifold. I had new glasses put in the windshield assy while it was out. the old ones were not broken, but being 35 years old i figured they were brittle plus they were clear and i wanted to upgrade to the modern shade which they call green tinted.  The old rubber gaskets that held the glass into the frame was shot, so the new glasses are held in with urethane sealant like the newer cars are, so hopefully will never leak. All this was along with tearing out all the rotten wood framework, reinsulating it...beter than before, and reskinning. You might notice the trim on my rig is unique. I dont like the cheap RV trim that the screws go thru the middle and a plastic trim strip covers them...which can leak in around the screw heads. I made each piece of my trim from aluminum stock. Drilled and countersunk each hole and attached them with stainless steel screws. Maybe not as pretty, at least untill the paint job is done, but much more solid and should last forever. Enough of my rambling...on with the pics.

[Rickf1985]

I can't open those files.

[kansascat]

pics

[kansascat]

more

[Rickf1985]

Now they seem to be opening, sometimes. Must be Win10 or just my computer.

[kansascat]

and a few more

[Rickf1985]

WOW!!! I am impressed!

[kansascat]

The coach 12" up were also cut off and rebuilt due to wood rot. The factory did not cover and protect from moisture the bottom edge of the sides, so every time it was driven on wet roads the spray was soaking the cheap wood. Now its all cca pine, plus i took galvanised flashing and made a cover that i slid up under the inside metal skin and broke it over 90 degrees to cover the bottom edge I also laid a bead of windshield urethane on the bottom edge before stapling the new cover onto it so its now water tight. The everything underneath was under coated. All outside access doors were also taken apart and rebuilt with plywood rather than the sawdust board the factory used, and new aluminum skins that were fully sealed around all the edges during assembly so again it should be water tight.

[kansascat]

more side repair pics

[kansascat]

The entry door also got the rebuild treatment as rot had gottenn into it also.

[M & J]

Whoa. Talk about a nose job!

[kansascat]

more

[kansascat]

Even the screen door got some improvements. New fine mesh screen to keep gnats out, and aluminum cleaned up.

[kansascat]

All exterior lights were updated to new LED units and i also added the chrome metal gaurds to protect them from limbs and or hail if it ever gets caught out. All wiring connections were soldered and heat shrinked. The new lights draw soooo much less power, i can leave the park lights on all night and not run the batter down, which is nice if parking in a rest area etc. I also added side mounted turn signals up at the front so people in the blind spots will know they are about to be run over when i change lanes.  LOL The tail lights were a brand new design with built in backup lights in the center of them. pretty cool, and really bright.

[kansascat]

The outside storage compartment also needed rebuilt. The bottom was not protected from moisture so it had gotten rotten in places, plus i discovered it was not insulated at all...right beneath the main bed a big uninsulated box. It had to have been chilly back there on a cold night. The generator enclosire was also never insulated...but it is now, and besides being warmer in cold weather, its now quieter when the genny is running

[kansascat]

The inside also has received some luvin as well. The old carpet was removed and a heavy sound deadning underlayment put down, and over that we installed a lifetime laminate flooring that also had a foam backing for even more insulation and sound deadening. My wonderful wife spend many hours scraping off the glued down carpet pad. What a mess, but it sure looks nice now, and much easier to keep clean.

[kansascat]

Inside of the back part having been completely removed and rebuild meant the inside also all had to be redone. New paneling, reworked plumning and wiring. Removed the roof vent in fvor of a small ceiling fan with light....love a fan over my bed at night....new paint on the ceiling since it got new luan wood during the rebuild. Went with matching cherry wood trim rather then the cheap plastic stuff the factory used. While finish carpentry is not my strong area, i think it came out pretty nice. My wife refurbished the cabinetry woodwork. Its all real cherry wood rather then sawdust board covered with vinyl wood grain. Just one of the many nice advantages of these older coaches.

[LJ-TJ]

WOW! What an inspiration to others and an example of what can be done if you put your mind to it. You've really got something to be proud of. Well done mate.