1979 Winnebago Chieftain Complete Gut & Remodel

[linford]

I bought my second 1979 Winnebago Brave about the same time that you bought your Chieftain. It was in California and I was in Florida. It's now at our second home in Mexico and I'm thinking of tearing into it. My wife found this site and your great description of your work. So is it done now? I'd love to see photos but I can't complain because I'm not good at posting them, either. This is a big forum. I hope you'll stay active on the board and be there when I start on mine because I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions!

[Lokahi117]

Dont give up bud. The thing to remember is that when this is done it will be way better than any unit you could new from the factory, let alone a used one. This is why I bought my unit that was in really rough shape inside and out as well. Because I, like you, know that when i finish it will be top quality thoughout. And no way someone would do this the way you will.
Im curious about the foam you said was squeaking. I am putting a new layer of 1" of blue foam board on the inside of my rig. Ill be sealing the gaps and cracks and seams with low expansion spray foam cans. This whole process is in the hopes it will make the unit more airtight and thereby better apt to handle the north dakota winter. I will run a dehumidifier and manually control the ventilation. But.....you mentioned you had to wrap it because of noise. you can either reply here or as I am also doing a complete gut and re do, I would love a phone call from you. I will private message you my phone number. I would love to chat with a fellow rv owner whom is dedicated to making his vintage rv into a quality motorhome, much like restoring a classic car.

[Lokahi117]

turns out i cant find a way to send a private message so my number is 208-272-1276. Im up like 7am to 12am. so call whenever. Look Forward to hearing from you.

[Senior Chief]

Lokahi117-

to send a private message to someone, left-click on the members name in their post- a drop down menu will show up with "send a private message to..." as one of the options.

[recycled55]

Shouldn't that read left click?
recycled55

[Senior Chief]

Originally Posted by recycled55

Shouldn't that read left click?
recycled55

Yup, left click.

[otrt]

Wow, I've been away from this forum way too long! I'll have an update on the remodel soon. Stay tuned! Gonna be selling her to a good home.

[otrt]

Years ago my wife and I bought this MH with high hopes of restoring a classic to its former glory. Well, life had other plans for us and it's been sitting for about 3 years and I haven't even looked at it in 2! A combination of fear of what I'd find and 'out of sight, out of mind' kept us away. Tomorrow I plan to do an assessment of its condition and report back here with pics. Here's hoping for the best! My plan now is to just get it running and sell it as a project. The tanks are full of bad gas, so I'll have to look into how to get rid of it responsibly. It would make a great stake out vehicle or mobile jobsite office I suppose. It most certainly shouldn't be used as a mobile meth lab. It's still just a shell, as shown in the latest pics on here. Ahh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

[Tidy Tabby]

This is why I like to restore motorcycles, if you forget about them they just go in to a corner of the garage and don't take up much space!
As for the old fuel, check with your county government, they will typically have a hazardous waste disposal facility. Failing that, check with your local volunteer fire department or if you have a fire academy nearby, as they will often use old flammables for training fires.
Good luck.

[DeOrellana]

Always sad when somebody abandons a project, but sometimes it is the right choice. The amount of work restoring any vehicle is way beyond what you initially imagine. And as Tidy Tabby said, a motor home won't fit in the corner of the garage until you feel like getting back to work on it. I've dug into several vehicles with the best intent only to find out that they weren't worth the work to restore and they ended up being parted out.

Hopefully your project will bring someone else some joy.

[otrt]

Here I go again. Trying to decide if making this thing drive-able is worth the effort. I need to rebuild the carb (it's sitting in my office as a reminder) run a new fuel line to the front tank (I've abandoned the rusty rear tank) and replace the bottom rad hose. Then I need a new battery and fresh gas. Then I plan to run through an engine start-up process: 1) pull plugs and squirt some marvel oil in each cylinder 3) fresh oil & filter 4) pull dist cap & turn over a bit, making sure the dist is turning 5) more mystery oil 6) new plugs if necessary 7) crank and hope for the best. I know there are other steps I should do, but this is the best I can do. I'll try to give an update soon.
Cheers, Paul

[Brob]

Sorry to hear that you didn't get to finish the project. That being said, you did tackle the roof which is typically the main source of interior woes. Hopefully you'll find a buyer who is ready to tackle the rebuild and another classic will still be rolling the roads.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

[otrt]

Some details:

1979 Winnebago Chieftain (29RT)
Dodge 440 motor with ~30 000 miles
Length: 30’
Height: 110”
GVWR: 14 000
Main fuel tank: 45 gal
Aux fuel tank: 35 gal
8 cu ft fridge
6 gal water heater
70 gal fresh water tank
43 gal main (grey) holding tank
?? gal aux (black) holding tank

Replaced items:
Tires (2012)
Rear wheel brake cylinders, drums and shoes
Front rotors and pads
Windshield
Alternator
Distributor cover & rotor
Spark plug wires
Spark plugs
Exterior fasteners updated to stainless steel
Air cleaner and housing
Belts, heater hoses, and vacuum lines
Fuel gauges
Roof vents
Refrigerator vent cover
Tire pressure monitoring system
Bilstein shocks front and rear

Restored items:
Eternabond taped and elastomeric sealed roof
Windows removed and restored including new seals, felt, glass polished, new screens
Valve covers and gaskets
Tail light housings
Interior completely stripped from driver’s area rearward
New wall paneling, new ceiling panels and trim, new carpet
Prewired for low voltage and 110
Roof A/C unit serviced and blows ice cold
Most of ‘Motoraid’ feature removed and replaced with new hoses and clamps - mini radiator and fan retained
Main door and screen door restored

The rest:
Dash A/C has never worked - not sure what’s needed but everything appears to be there
Transmission works fine
Front pull down bed functions well
5000w generator - only started once in 2011 and not touched since
Refrigerator, shower unit, main elec panel, sinks, bed frame, overhead cabinet frames and doors are removed and are in storage.
Stove/range and furnace removed and tossed as these were too rusted/leaky to be made safe.

This would make a solid foundation for a tiny home, mobile office, etc. We'd be sad to see her go but passing it on to someone who has the time and skills to make her roadworthy would be grand. If I could go back in time I still would have bought this, but would have hired some people to help out.

I'll update soon with some maintenance items I'm taking care of: carb rebuild, new fuel lines filters and pump, new rad hoses and flush, etc.

[otrt]

Progress so far this year:

General items completed:
New plugs
new oil & filter
new bottom radiator hose
radiator flush
new deep cycle battery

Fuel system:
rebuilt the carb
All new hard lines and rubber
new fuel filters (one @ carb, fuel pump and tank transfer solenoid)
removed aux fuel tank and discovered waaaay rusty sending unit
new fuel filler tube and hoses

I was able to start it and it runs and sounds perfect! I learned some lessons along the way, like how many quarts of oil a 440 takes. I don't know what I was thinking by buying only 5. Turns out it needs 8! Also, being a Chevy guy and used to just stabbing a new mechanical fuel pump in the hole, I learned that this motor has a push rod to deal with. Couldn't figure out why it was so difficult to tighten the bolts! Yeeesh.

Coming up next:
aux fuel tank service / cleanout
new fuel sending unit
Test drive
Trans service
Smog inspection
renew tags because it's been non-op for several years

My main concern will then turn to the tires. They have maybe 30 miles total on them, but I let them sit out in the elements (Central California so the main enemy is the sun) for years. The sidewalls have some cracking so I may replace them with some Michelins for peace of mind. This rig has the odd 17.5" rim. My intention is to sell it, but I can feel the bug returning. It's burrowing into my mind and saying, "keeeep it, it'll be so sweeeet". Oh Lord help me.

Some pictures for your enjoyment. The trusty 440. Beware the push rod. Fuel tank solenoid. Hooking up new battery in standing water? What could go wrong...