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Old 12-15-2018, 11:21 AM   #1
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Repairing The Land Whale (1984 Fleetwood Southwind)

I have a lot of work to do for this old beauty. I thought it might be a good idea to keep it all together in a single thread.

My husband and I purchased a 1984 Fleetwood Southwind mid-remodel with the idea of learning everything as we went along. The rig came equipped with a Chevy 454 engine, four solar panels, and a list of future repairs and upgrades about a mile long.

Our first project was going to be installing a tankless water heater because the old one had been ripped out by the previous owner. I was hoping Home Depot would carry everything we need, since they carried the heater, but it turns out they don't sell the correct exhaust venting material. Currently we are hunting for a store that carries Z Vent in 4 inch diameter pipe that's 3 feet long.

Unfortunately, before the water heater project can be finished, we need to replace some belts that broke on our last start up. Can't be cutting holes in the roof without the rig being level, so we need to get her running again before any more interior remodeling can be completed.

The more time I spend looking at the engine, the more I want to work on it. The gaskets will need replacing, I want new manifolds, the alternator is currently a small solar panel wired through a charge controller to the truck battery, and anything this old is bound to need some system flushes and new fluids (starting with that pesky blinker fluid, lol).

Inside the home, I'm going to replace the futon couch with a giant storage box with cushions on top for seating. The passenger side wall for the living room will become shelving. The bathroom sink was taken out, but we won't be putting it back in. I would rather have the added counter space since the kitchen (only 3 feet away) has a double sink. Instead we will have a doorless cabinet for the litter box. We also get to build a closet between the kitchen and the bathroom after the water heater goes in.

Overall, I'm looking forward to this project and I can't wait to share this Grand Adventure with you all.
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Old 12-15-2018, 12:18 PM   #2
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Are you putting in a residential propane tankless water heater?
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Old 12-15-2018, 01:02 PM   #3
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Send pictures! What a project, can't wait to follow your adventure. My first motorhome was an 89 HR AlumaLite, 454, and some version of the turbohydromatic I beleive. The engine driven fan was so big that when the fan clutch sensed temperature and engaged, that fan ROARED. It sounded like the tranny had downshifted -- so much so that I rigged a tach/dwell thru the doghouse to watch the revs. There was no tach on the dash, so I installed one. That 454 was a bulletproof gas-guzzling beast.
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Old 12-15-2018, 01:33 PM   #4
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When and if you change the tranny filter and fluid, you can id which tranny you have by the shape of the thannys oil pan....google the year and how to id a GM trans...
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Old 12-18-2018, 09:43 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLandWhale View Post
My husband and I purchased a 1984 Fleetwood Southwind mid-remodel with the idea of learning everything as we went along. The rig came equipped with a Chevy 454 engine, four solar panels, and a list of future repairs and upgrades about a mile long.
I have a 1985 Fleetwood Southwind A32. If nobody has removed it you will find a build sheet laminated to the inside of one of the cupboard or closet doors. That will be a big help when you are identifying what you have and what it shipped with.
I have a FULL set of appliance manuals and wiring diagrams, some are on PDF if you need them. I had to reverse engineer the entire 12 volt system before I could understand it and how it worked.
I am presently living in mine 4 nights a week with the beast under a 40-foot tarp so am somewhat limited as to how much I can do at one time... swapping the fresh water tank in one day is one thing, ripping the outer roof off and replacing a lot of the inner roof/ceiling will have to wait a while.
You said that your 454 needs gaskets... mine needs exhaust gaskets and maybe a left exhaust manifold. A friend had a 454 Suburban and ended up installing headers. You said that "the alternator is currently a small solar panel wired through a charge controller to the truck battery"... mine had an aftermarket 105amp alternator wired to a Ford (!) voltage regulator - and that was the Fleetwood stock configuration.
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Old 12-19-2018, 09:11 PM   #6
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The manuals would be amazing! I've been looking everywhere for information specific to our year or at least close, but it's been difficult to piecemeal it all together. Right now I have to change the belts and I really need a diagram for the single smog pump configuration. Everything shows me the newer double version.
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Old 12-20-2018, 01:29 AM   #7
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The manuals would be amazing! I've been looking everywhere for information specific to our year or at least close, but it's been difficult to piecemeal it all together.
I spent $50 on a chassis manual and $36 on wiring diagrams, then discovered that they were available for free if I'd looked harder.

If the moderator would PM me with a FTP directory URL I could upload a bunch of stuff to him, then he can make them available to everyone.

Otherwise I could drop a flash drive in the snail mail to you.
You could copy the stuff off of it and return the drive, but that wouldn't help the next guy/gal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TheLandWhale View Post
Right now I have to change the belts and I really need a diagram for the single smog pump configuration. Everything shows me the newer double version.
The system was convinced that my JPG file was something else so I had to make it into a PDF.

This system has some file size limitations as to what can be uploaded... I have other useful files that I could have sent but a 3mb limit on PDFs is a bit small... I could have sent a full list (4 pages) of belts and tensions.

I have a few ideas that might help, PM me with a name and phone number please.

Mike
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Chev-p30-page-2-4.pdf (403.5 KB, 61 views)
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Semi-retired technogeek...electronics / computer / 2-way / ham radio... WA6ILQ (45+years)
1985 Fleetwood 32' Southwind (Chev P30/454/TH400), dubbed "Lazarus" by friends... I resurrected it from the dead...
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Old 12-21-2018, 10:28 AM   #8
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Are you putting in a residential propane tankless water heater?
Well, it doesn't call itself "portable" but it doesn't need electricity, either, only propane and water.
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Old 12-21-2018, 10:29 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by bob caldwell View Post
When and if you change the tranny filter and fluid, you can id which tranny you have by the shape of the thannys oil pan....google the year and how to id a GM trans...
It's definitely on the list, given her age. Flushing all the systems and changing all the filters will happen sooner or later.
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Old 12-21-2018, 10:32 AM   #10
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I will PM you, too, but would Google Drive work to upload and share files here? The page you shared looks like the one in the P30 manual I found online, and that pump you circled is the one I suspected we don't have.
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