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Old 08-16-2011, 12:27 PM   #533
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yep has the dodge chassis and 440-3 engine. Has an exhaust leak but not sure if it's the very common manifold leak or not. I going to be asking for a lot of help on here so i'm gonna say thanks in advance lol.
hey, thats what its here for.. I constantly ask for advice!
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Old 08-16-2011, 05:47 PM   #534
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[QUOTE=Winnebeater;929317]I will say one thing about ours and that is that the gas mileage is consistent..... consistently BAD. We get 5.5 MPG empty and get 5.5 MPG with holding tanks full and towing our car. I think we're domed. I have looked into a few things, upgrading to a overdrive transmission could get you 1-2 MPG better mileage. Don't seem like much but when you do the math that's 20% or better improvement. If you guys are full timing that may pay for itself fairly quick. The other thing I looked into was upgrading to fuel injection.

One thing with the old carburated units the timing set up sucks and the carbs at this age need some serious attention. I just had my distributor recurved and the carb rebuilt this year. I went from 7-7.5mpg to last check of 8.75mpg and it my be a little higher than that since I advanced the timing another 4*.
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Old 08-16-2011, 07:04 PM   #535
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[QUOTE=BA-in-Mich;932506]
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I will say one thing about ours and that is that the gas mileage is consistent..... consistently BAD. We get 5.5 MPG empty and get 5.5 MPG with holding tanks full and towing our car. I think we're domed. I have looked into a few things, upgrading to a overdrive transmission could get you 1-2 MPG better mileage. Don't seem like much but when you do the math that's 20% or better improvement. If you guys are full timing that may pay for itself fairly quick. The other thing I looked into was upgrading to fuel injection.

One thing with the old carburated units the timing set up sucks and the carbs at this age need some serious attention. I just had my distributor recurved and the carb rebuilt this year. I went from 7-7.5mpg to last check of 8.75mpg and it my be a little higher than that since I advanced the timing another 4*.
What is involved in recurving the distributor, I have never heard of that term before.
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Old 08-17-2011, 01:01 PM   #536
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[QUOTE=Winnebeater;932588]
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What is involved in recurving the distributor, I have never heard of that term before.
Well it has to do with changing out springs and weights inside of the distributor. Jim Elliott clued me in on this. You will need to find a person or a shop that can still do this. It cost me around $125.00 this spring to have it done. When I pulled off the distributor cap one thing I noticed was the weights were sluggish. A little oil on the swivel points probably would have helped but I am glad i went with the recurve/rebuild of the distributor. Carb is another issue. Does it smell like unburned fuel when sitting idleing? It might be a stuck power valve in it or the floats might be soaked. One thing I learned about the Qjet, let somebody that has experience with them do the work.
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Old 08-17-2011, 07:50 PM   #537
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Well it has to do with changing out springs and weights inside of the distributor. Jim Elliott clued me in on this. You will need to find a person or a shop that can still do this. It cost me around $125.00 this spring to have it done. When I pulled off the distributor cap one thing I noticed was the weights were sluggish. A little oil on the swivel points probably would have helped but I am glad i went with the recurve/rebuild of the distributor. Carb is another issue. Does it smell like unburned fuel when sitting idleing? It might be a stuck power valve in it or the floats might be soaked. One thing I learned about the Qjet, let somebody that has experience with them do the work.
After I read your post last night I googled it and found some good info on this topic. I also found the spring kit for $13.99 at my local auto parts store. It looks like the only tools you need is a screwdriver and a advance timing light. I will probably give it a shot this weekend and let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks for the idea!
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Old 08-18-2011, 03:23 PM   #538
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[QUOTE=Winnebeater;933508]
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After I read your post last night I googled it and found some good info on this topic. I also found the spring kit for $13.99 at my local auto parts store. It looks like the only tools you need is a screwdriver and a advance timing light. I will probably give it a shot this weekend and let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks for the idea!
There is an art to this. It normally is done on a distributor machine where the distributor is setting in it and there are meters that display RPM & degree advanced. With my distributor I believe it is around 40*-42* full advanced at 3000 rpm. Engine should run cooler also. If you already bought the kit make sure the springs in the kit look lighter duty than whats in the distributor. As Jim Elliott calls those springs "garage door springs "
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Old 08-18-2011, 07:54 PM   #539
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Here is our home. a 1988 33 foot Diesel Pusher. we have tried to start an xplorers club and currently have found one other person. lol these were custom built by Franks in Michigan. and joined later by Chrysler. we are lucky enough to have all the paperwork and blueprints for it. we average 10 MPG with a thousand mile range. it has a 5.9 cummins turbo diesel, that has 61,000 miles on it and runs like new.
We lost the Mazda in California. long story...... and currently tow a 1986 Suzuki Samauri, a classic in itself, being the first year they were introduced to America.
and we continue to improve the looks both inside and out. we love our home and the open road.
Great old RV!
I really love the old "stremaliner" look of the Foretravel GV's the older Beavers and your Explorer.
Recently sent a picture of Moby to a colleague who stated "It looks like one of those bullet trains, except without the rails"
I am sure that the new style "bus" front end is more space efficient, but there's just something cool about the pointy nosed streamline look.

Outlaw45, Thank You, I am really partial to the older Foretravels myself.

Just got my 3M StripeOff wheel in the mail today, going to set to work on the rear mural and stripes this weekend.
Heading north to Elkhart IN next Friday to select a new (second) jack knife sofa and new day/night bilinds from one of the surplus/ salvage operations up there, may try to stop by the Newmar factory for a look see if I have the extra time, they are in Napanee, not far from Elkhart.
MDH
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Old 08-19-2011, 08:59 AM   #540
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thanks for the compliment, we also liked the bullet train look, plus the fact the windshield has a lower profile, those big windshields are great targets for rocks thrown by cars and trucks. not to mention expensive to replace.
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Old 08-20-2011, 04:04 PM   #541
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[QUOTE=BA-in-Mich;932506]
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Originally Posted by Winnebeater View Post
I will say one thing about ours and that is that the gas mileage is consistent..... consistently BAD. We get 5.5 MPG empty and get 5.5 MPG with holding tanks full and towing our car. I think we're domed. I have looked into a few things, upgrading to a overdrive transmission could get you 1-2 MPG better mileage. Don't seem like much but when you do the math that's 20% or better improvement. If you guys are full timing that may pay for itself fairly quick. The other thing I looked into was upgrading to fuel injection.

One thing with the old carburated units the timing set up sucks and the carbs at this age need some serious attention. I just had my distributor recurved and the carb rebuilt this year. I went from 7-7.5mpg to last check of 8.75mpg and it my be a little higher than that since I advanced the timing another 4*.
I did a ton of research online and bought a kit to dial it in this weekend and and it appears to have already been done. When I started doing my preliminary advance curve plotting so I would have something to compare my changes to I started to notice that the readings that I was getting were oddly familiar to the reading recommended online. I have a base timing of 7 degrees @ 660 RPM. There is no increase in advance till the engine reaches approximately 1000 RPM. At 1000 RPM the advance makes a quick increase to 10 degrees, after that it increases 1 degree per 100 RPM till it maxes out at 24 degrees at 2400 RPM. When I apply the vacuum hose back onto the distributor my max advance is 34 degrees at 2400 RPM. After further inspection I found that the vacuum advance had been replaced with an adjustable unit as well. My only explanation is that the original owner may have had the distributor re-curved when he had the Banks Power Pack installed. What is the maximum advance that you are running on yours? And, what RPM are you reaching that at? What is your loaded traveling weight approximately (I'm @ about 12K)? I also noticed that your motor home is a 1990, and I know that you said that it has a Quadrajet on it, but doesn't that year have TBI injection? Do you have an overdrive trans? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm getting 5.5 MPG and you're claiming 8.75 MPG. My engine, transmission and drive train are in great mechanical condition. I feel that I should be getting better mileage that what I do now. If I could get close to what you are getting that would cut my fuel cost by almost 40%. WOW, I could afford one more vacation a year with savings like that.
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Old 08-20-2011, 08:17 PM   #542
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Well my base timing started out a 8* it is now up to 12-13* vacuum is supposed to be set at 10* but I think it is a little higher than that. Mechanical is is a little sketchy but it is around 20* Total advanced is around 42* or so i am told. All at 2800rpm.All of this has been done by the distributor re-builder and my engine guy..He also found some adjustments on the Qjet way out of whack that he set back in. Engine has never ran better, runs up the hills with no problem. Absolutely no problems starting. My weight dry is supposedly 11.5k and loaded is 14.5k. My unit is the last of the carburated engines. I bought it with 10600 miles 11 years ago it now has 38k+ miles on it. Jim Elliott is the guy in the know about all of this.
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Old 08-21-2011, 10:28 AM   #543
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In case you wondered what all was in our distributors, here you go:




This taken during my rebuild of the distributor.
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Old 08-21-2011, 08:33 PM   #544
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In case you wondered what all was in our distributors, here you go:




This taken during my rebuild of the distributor.

UMMmmmm - no wonder it needed a rebuild - it was missing the advance springs!
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Old 08-23-2011, 04:40 PM   #545
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I thought I would try to upload some pics of my 1979 Winnebago Chieftain. It's been siting a while, so I went out to clean her up a bit. Unfortunately, it was over 90 degree which translated to well over 120 inside and I couldn't get it all done. But I got a good start.



She parked in there so close so side shots of her aren't possible right now. It looks like I need some light covers in the front.


The only water damage I can find is there under the passengers window, I will need to re-do the window seals.


Other than some stains on the cushions, the dinette is in great shape.


One of the flip beds. I do need to change the window shades, they are the original and the pull cords are not working and pieces fall off all over the place.
That's all I got done today, as you can see, I have the whole other half yet to clean.

I hope to have to up and running next week, it has some problems with cutting out when driving, I need to have the plug wires checked.
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Old 08-24-2011, 04:39 PM   #546
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Went back today and finished cleaning it up. Men, I'm wiped, this heat is horrible.
Bunk above the cab. It was a bear to fold up again by myself. Anyone know where I can get bedding for it? It's 47X79.

Kitchen area.



There a couple of wrinkles in the roof, is that something I should be worried about?

Bathroom.



The other flip bed, also in great condition.

Welcome to my home on wheels.
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