Fucking Millenials

[Bigshankhank]

What is with this tiny house bullshit? Whatever the so-called "logic" behind it, my eldest daughter, being as millenial as they get (how many of her boyfriends are entrepreneurs with beards? Its a number between All and Seriously-every-fucking-one-of-them) decided to get on board this particular train and get herself a vintage RV. This despite the fact that she knows jack shit-all about mechanical stuff, but hey dad can do that stuff so tow it to his house and let him go to town.

For anyone who has never dealt with CoPart auto auctions, I would steer you clear of them. Sadly I did not know anything about them prior to this experience, nor did my kid. Wherever the fuck she found this thing, she and friend convinced themselves that it ran and was a perfect candidate for rolling around the country doing freelance marketing and solving small town Big-Boss style problems with kung fu (I guess). Regardless, they had this thing stuck out in an open field with a busted windshield and a low low price, so she bought it before her brain released the chemicals that would drive any other child who grew up in a loving supportive household to ask her parents advice first before making a major purchase. And so it showed up on my doorstep because would ya know it the dammed thing didn't actually run! But, they had it parked in an area that according to some obscure reference on their website was reserved for vehicles that ran. OK no the ad didn't explicitly state that it ran, compared to other ads for RVs that did make that specific point in the text, but I assumed that A = C because B.
So here it sits literally dripping solid rust on my driveway


Big ass diesel engine, and so many water leaks inside the "house" (I learned that's what you call the RV part of a van-based RVs) that all of the furniture inside is rotting, along with the floor deck. And whoever dumped it at the auction yard stripped the fridge and generator because they were probably each worth more than the entire vehicle when sold separately. But clean slate I guess, we will need to gut it, seal up the leaks (so many leaks) and will probably do up a solar array for power, and then build some new cabinetry and figure out the appliances.
Oh yeah, and with a fresh pair of batteries and some new fuel, goddammit if it didn't actually start. Yes I drove it around my neighborhood with almost zero fucking brakes and 15 year old cracked-ass tires because fuck these old people that live around here and don't like me having junk in my driveway. This is my little girl's dream and Dad is gonna restore the fuck out of it. My wife may not see much of me for a while, but such is the life of a shadetree mechanic widow.
I really do love this kind of shit.

[Rench]

Outstanding sir! I applaud you! Where's the slow clap gif,!?!?!?

-Rench

[red]

Yes I drove it around my neighborhood with almost zero fucking brakes and 15 year old cracked-ass tires because fuck these old people that live around here and don't like me having junk in my driveway. This is my little girl's dream and Dad is gonna restore the fuck out of it. My wife may not see much of me for a while, but such is the life of a shadetree mechanic widow.
I really do love this kind of shit.

jangleplatz!

[Bigshankhank]

jangleplatz!

Does the forum still do that automatically?

jangleplatz! Awesome awesome

OK, well it worked the first time, not sure if it was the added punctuation that tripped the filter?

[Rench]

To my knowledge, all coding Easter eggs were kept intact during management switch-over. jangleplatz!

-Rench

[DerGolgo]

Lesseee. jangleplatz! Awesome? Awesome. Awesome

Edit: I had actually been convinced I had uninstalled this particular little gem. Huh.

Also, having not just a hip "vintage" ride, but one that was dragged from a field a fixed up by the wise driveway mechanic, rather than any commercial and also sane alternative will probably add at least as much hip-cred as the hand-made cavinetry.
Just make sure you wear a flannel shirt an do something to create a huge shower of sparks. You know, for authenticity.

[Jaeger]

... This is my little girl's dream and Dad is gonna restore the fuck out of it. My wife may not see much of me for a while, but such is the life of a shadetree mechanic widow.
I really do love this kind of shit.

How the fuck did I miss this post earlier?

Well done, sir! You're an inspiration to other Fathers of Daughters... but don't talk to me about the bearded beaus. I'm not ready for that shit yet.

--Jaeger

[Pattio]

What's funny to me is that whenever I channel surf across a tiny house tv show for a few minutes, and watch people spending 30,000 bucks building a little wood framed house on a trailer with a chemical potty and charming shingles, I always blurt out ' why don't these people just buy a freaking RV!'

So therefore this purchase actually follows the most astute advice I had to offer.

[Bigshankhank]

Gonna gut this thing like a carp
Before (set your phasers to "Swanky";


After:

[rc26]

Wow, you did gut the fuck out of it.

[Bigshankhank]

This project remains slowly in motion. It had a charging problem, plus my daughter dropping out of the work force cut funds to a minimum but she is working again and we are back in the game. Before it got parked last time, she found some new tires (16.5' rims are a rare setup and there are only two tires available), so that's nice. Her boyfriend rebuilt the alternator and we think the charging system is fixed now (its reading 13.7-13.9 at idle where it was holding just over 12v before), plus if you read above the brakes were garbage. Daughter has ordered a new master along with pads and shoes. I bench bled the master cylinder because I was bored and it takes like 20 minutes so why not. Probably going ot have to wait until the holidays are over in order to install everything and flush the brakes. I bled them once several months ago and there aren't any apparent leaks at any of the wheel cylinders, this will be a more in-depth test of the integrity of the relevant seals. Hopefully the booster is good. After this we do shocks, belts, hoses, flush the radiator and start working on the vehicle wiring so that we at least have a mechanically sound and safe van, then its on to the house!

[Merlyn]

This project remains slowly in motion. It had a charging problem, plus my daughter dropping out of the work force cut funds to a minimum but she is working again and we are back in the game. Before it got parked last time, she found some new tires (16.5' rims are a rare setup and there are only two tires available), so that's nice. Her boyfriend rebuilt the alternator and we think the charging system is fixed now (its reading 13.7-13.9 at idle where it was holding just over 12v before), plus if you read above the brakes were garbage. Daughter has ordered a new master along with pads and shoes. I bench bled the master cylinder because I was bored and it takes like 20 minutes so why not. Probably going ot have to wait until the holidays are over in order to install everything and flush the brakes. I bled them once several months ago and there aren't any apparent leaks at any of the wheel cylinders, this will be a more in-depth test of the integrity of the relevant seals. Hopefully the booster is good. After this we do shocks, belts, hoses, flush the radiator and start working on the vehicle wiring so that we at least have a mechanically sound and safe van, then its on to the house!

That thing is laid out really well it's going to be a gem!

You, Sir, are a fine example of fatherhood, and I salute you.

Merlyn

[Bigshankhank]

Hmmm, replace?


YES


This seems like a pretty straightforward thing to do, except that in the process of removing the old master cylinder, the steel brake line to the proportioning valve revealed its degredation due to rust and came apart. Due to the tight confines of the valve location preventing me from simply removing the damaged line, I had to remove the entire valve, remove the damaged lines (two of them are in bad enough shape to warrant replacement), reinstall the valve and good lines, and run out to get the necessary replacement parts and tools.


We also have new pads & shoes, once these new parts are installed and new fluid flushed throughout I will assess the brakes and decide if the calipers needs replacement. It brakes fairly well, we shall see.

Also, and this is a strange one, but while working beneath the engine compartment, the end of my wrench knocked loose this little gem

I honestly have no idea where it came from, there is no empty housing from which this would have fallen, certainly nothing which appears to be missing a tiny little motor/coil. It was literally just sitting loose on part of the frame. Any ideas?

Lastly, I am chasing a longstanding lighting problem. The right taillight works on both the low and high wattage functions (running & brake/signal lights), however the left light only works on the low wattage circuit. Swapping the known good bulbs from the right side to the left does not change anything, in fact ALL six taillight bulbs work when tested on the right side. Current focus is getting this vehicle safe, so these lights are high on the priority list.

Wait, forgot something else. There was a pair of old fog lights a PO had mounted below the front fender and chickensh!t wired into the harness (you can see the white wire to them taped to the front-most metal brake line in the master cylinder picture). One had been torn off leaving just a mounting bracket when we got the rig, and the other was smashed housing with no lense. They just irritated me leaving the remnants there, so while below I cut them loose from the harness and removed the brackets and light. That's when I realized they were wired in to the secondary fuel pump circuit. So I had to reconnect that little necessity.

[Bigshankhank]

O' holy fuckballs this thing is going to kill me, but at the same time it continues to progress. New brake line fabricated, all lines & proportioning valve reinstalled, master cylinder installed, new pads & grease on the front calipers (one of which has a buster piston seal so it will require replacement/rebuild at some point) and a little further digging into the rear drums. I feared that someone along the line with this rig had attempted to loosen the bleed nipples with a pair of pliers, and sure as shootin' I was right. Bugger all, these will require replacement as well. That will have to wait until tomorrow when shit opens up again.
For now, my mechanic muscles are screaming at me for all the reaching, stretching, up and down off the creeper, pulling and pushing wrenches. Plus jet black sludge beneath the fingernails. I love it.

[Bo_9]

That armature looks like one out of a blower motor for the heat and ac.

[Bigshankhank]

That armature looks like one out of a blower motor for the heat and ac.

That's a possibility I will have to look further in to. Thank you for the suggestion.

All in all, I was able to get the bleed nipples on the rear brakes loosened, and managed to bleed everything from the back to the front. It made a YUGE improvement in stopping power. I am sure that with time, and a brake system working with the correct amount of pressure that other components & seals will be prone to failure (as stated above, we already have one piston seal blown out) but for now, improvement is a big deal. We will have to bring it home for another long weekend of wrenching and while the rear wheels are off to replace the brake shoes go ahead and do all four shocks, flush & refill the rear diff, and probably just commit to replacing both calipers & both rear cylinders as preventative maintenance. And then bleed it all over again one last time. Then I am certain the rubber brake lines will fail.

[Bigshankhank]

Engine belts were changed this weekend. We were going to dig in to the rear brakes, until I realized it was necessary to remove the hubs/axles in order to get the drums off. So we fell back to the belts as a consolation prize to say we did something.

[guitargeek]

I sure hope your kid got this thing for cheap cheap cheap!

[Bigshankhank]

I sure hope your kid got this thing for cheap cheap cheap!

A few hundred bucks. However if you have ever purchased a car through CoPart auto auctions (they are nationwide) trust me when I tell you that you will pay far more than just the purchase price. In fact, she paid more in fees than she paid for the RV.
In all honesty, if she had gotten it for just the auction price, she got a hell of a deal based on where we are today with it. The fees are lost investment at this point.

[jae]

for that rear end, isn't the axle just bolted to the hub, such that all you have to do to remove the axle is unbolt and pull (essentially)?

[Bigshankhank]

for that rear end, isn't the axle just bolted to the hub, such that all you have to do to remove the axle is unbolt and pull (essentially)?

I think, having done more research, that that is all that will be necessary. However sitting in the driveway with the rear end on stands and the wheels lying on the ground, the service manuals we have refer the process of removing the drums away from Brakes and over to the section about completely overhauling the rear diff and the deeper we read the more involved it seemed. Since our HOA bitches if we leave it in the driveway for too long, we just reinstalled the dual wheels, torqued the lug nuts back on and fell back to doing the belts. Which was enough of a challenge because Chevy decided to place the bolt that allows a mechanic to loosen and release tension on the compressor pulley in a position that is only accessible from the dog house inside the van, while the other pulley bolts are accessible from the engine bay, and the manuals do not refer to this little detail. Once we figured that out, the belts are as straightforward as any other vehicle, but we wrestled with that problem for a while.

[guitargeek]

Vans suck to work on.

RVs are giant vans.

[Bigshankhank]

Covered in diesel fuel.
Knuckles bloodied.
I was warned.
Nevertheless, I persisted
...to diagnose the fuel delivery problems which are plaguing this thing. Rough idle, blowing white smoke, stalling after less than a minute of idling. All signs of air in the fuel injectors caused by cracks in the rubber lines, compounded by dirty fuel filters. So that was how I spent my weekend, replacing filters (there are 2), removing and replacing old fuel lines with new, bleeding air at the injectors, cleaning the remants of what was apparently some small rodent's stash of acorns out of the nooks and crannies of the engine block. Idle was instantly smoother. White smoke and stalling, however, continues. So, it is either old fuel (of which there was an unknown amount in the tank when we got it), another leak somewhere that I did not find, and/or a failing fuel pump (there are also 2 pumps). Next up, test the two pumps followed by redirecting the fuel lines to a small secondary tank filled with new fuel.
The daughter is getting frustrated that we are not further along. Before she purchased this thing, she didn't seem to draw a distinction between "Running" and "Runs well, needs nothing", much less "Safe to operate on public streets". I think she honestly thought this would be a simple matter of gutting and rebuilding the interior and viola, instant hipster-home. Oh she is getting a harsh lesson in why-you-ask-dad-about-things-like-this-before-you-spend-your-money-on-them. We'll get there.

[Pintgudge]

How is it that SHE is getting a harsh lesson, when you are the one bleeding, sore, covered in diesel, listening to "Why isn't it done yet?"' AND doing all the work?

Just curious, but I bet you are a great dad!

[Bigshankhank]

Scouring the internet got me a complete manual for both the GM van portion of this thing (which was easy, in fact I have three different manuals for the van) as well as a complete manual from the RV manufacturer. Unfortunately, the wiring diagrams from the GM manuals only cover the van and thus are not relevant once you get behind the front seats. And the wiring diagram in the RV manual is terrible. Complete, but it is a scan of a hand drawn wiring map, black and white and barely legible. So, in the interest in not losing my mind while trying to sort this thing out, I spent the last week asking around, squinting really fucking hard, and color coded the wiring diagram myself. There are still a few areas where I could not clearly decipher what color some wires are (denoted by the green text boxes) and once I locate each of the individual plugs and connection points within the RV itself I will notate them accordingly for future reference but for the most part this tool will make life so much easier. Upon this rock I shall build my church...

[Bigshankhank]

Lift pump replacement day. The PO (one of them) had installed this electric pump inline and left the OEM one just hanging there, useless and neglected. The wiring to it was pretty sloppy. Maybe this is a part of my stalling problems, better to go back to the engineered condition and start from there.


New pump vs old one.


Clean gasket surfaces and new handmade bracket gasket (the pump came with the pump gasket, but not one for the bracket).


I know what you are thinking, where is the rod? Rest assured it went back in, from reading here and in the book I slopped a bunch of grease on it and it held itself deep into its pocket well enough to get the pump lever underneath it when I installed it.

Replaced the rubber inlet hose with new. Since the outlet pipe was connected to the inline pump, the PO had cut off the flare to make the rubber hose connection. So, I had to flare the end with the line in place, no small task. My forearms are killing me but I got it.


Fully installed, now I get to bleed air out of the injectors again, but I needed a break to eat something.

[Bigshankhank]

So now I've got good fuel pressure but the glow plug controller is shot. Upgraded to a later model controller on the recommendation of some internet diesel gurus, still trying to sort the wiring but I hope to hell to get this thing running again, I would really like the space in my driveway back.

[Bigshankhank]

Ancient proverb: In the world of the vexed, a man who is calm would be king. At least until his vexed citizens stoned him to death for being such a prick.

I am amongst those who are vexed, and it is because of this dammed machine. Mechanical lift pump = New. Glow Plug Controller = New. Fuel filters = New. Fuel lines = New. Air purged from fuel lines/injectors = Done. Motherpusbucket still won't start. It is starting to sound like the injector pump is bad. This is a bad thing because remand. injector pumps are $450+. To the junkyards!

[Mk3]

Vexed? You study flags now? (Vexillology)...

[Bigshankhank]

I may be the biggest dumbass in the room.