Transtar by Champion

[Tidy Tabby]

Originally Posted by RCM

This might help. Still going through all digital files. I scanned for my dad still have not found the transtar.
http://www.73-87chevytrucks.com/tech...ice_Manual.pdf

Awesome link, thank you. There is never too much information!

[Deano56]

Originally Posted by LilJen

Here are some pics of our Transtar. The previous owner completely rebuilt everything. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the white paint covering the original wood! I'm trying to decide if I want to take on that project getting rid of teh white wash!

well, it looks bright and clean. That would be a job getting back to wood if, it is all wood. Doors and drawer fronts most likely are. Maybe enjoy it for a while

[Tidy Tabby]

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.

[GOLDWINGER2]

The part that you knocked off of the frame is an armature for a small electric motor. Like the ones that powered slot cars many years ago.
J

[Tidy Tabby]

Originally Posted by GOLDWINGER2

The part that you knocked off of the frame is an armature for a small electric motor. Like the ones that powered slot cars many years ago.
J

Actually the first thing I thought was a slot racing car, but this is pretty big (about 2" overall length & 3/4' diameter). My other thought was the washer fluid pump, but my pump is intact, however since this was loose inside the engine compartment it is possible that it was replaced and this original was "lost" during the swap. Also, why would someone replace just the armature of the pump and not the entire pump assembly? The mystery continues.

At any rate, after replacing the broken brake line, swapping in the new master cylinder, replacing the pads on the front calipers and doing a complete flush starting at the back wheels, up to the fronts then bleeding the all of the lines at the proportioning valve and finally at the master, the brakes are super improved. During inspection the passenger front caliper looks like it has a blown seal and will need replacement, or maybe we will get ambitious and rebuild both of them but reman replacements are so cheap nowadays that rebuilding and painting them at home is no longer really a good use of my time. We ended up running out of time to replace the shoes & springs in the rear, so those parts will remain on the bench until further notice along with inspecting the drums and rear cylinders (though no leaks were apparent after bleeding), and to be perfectly honest I was thrilled that despite the corrosion I was able to pull the bleed valves loose without destroying them. I will likely replace the cylinders and nipples regardless once we get into the rear end. As I said, the braking power is seriously improved from when I drove it to the house last week, and its not like we are planning any road trips anytime soon.
I don't relish the idea of having to pull all the wheels off and going through the brakes again, if our HOA wasn't such a PITA about keeping it at home for more than a few days at a time we would be much further along, but que sera sera.

[timkustom]

My theory on the mystery armature is that it's just a leftover from something else. Those typically don't get "knocked out". Probably "stuck" to something metal (frame maybe) because of the magnets.

I've found all kinds of weird things left under hoods.

[Tidy Tabby]

Originally Posted by timkustom

My theory on the mystery armature is that it's just a leftover from something else. Those typically don't get "knocked out". Probably "stuck" to something metal (frame maybe) because of the magnets.

I've found all kinds of weird things left under hoods.

That's kind of my thought on it. We haven't yet dug into the engine electrical stuff yet, so maybe this will become important eventually.

[Tidy Tabby]

So my little girl got the rear cylinders, and we already have the shoes and hardware kit for the drums, though sadly we got the dreaded "Move your sh!t" letter from the HOA so it is back in the storage yard again.

[Tidy Tabby]

Got the rear end on stands, pulled the wheels off one side all prepared to swap the rear brake shoes, hardware and cylinders. I have done brakes on a bunch of vehicles, discs and drums, but never on a dually axle, and once I realized that we would need oil seals and gaskets to reassemble the ends of the axles, well we will have to revisit that goal.
As it happened we also had replacement engine belts so those went on and we can say we did something productive this weekend.

[Tidy Tabby]

Work continues on this old rabbit.
I grabbed a plug adapter and tested the house electrical and hot damn but the rooftop A/C and water pump worked, as well as all of the interior lights (at least, those that didn't come out when we stripped the cabinetry). Also, the daughter had a guy come down and apply a new roof to it and seal up with windows. I must admit I am not thrilled with the work he did if only because he coated the aluminum roof rack AND the snazzy rear wing, which could alter our downforce characteristics at speed. Seriously, that's like getting a new roof on your house and putting shingles on the satellite dish.
Anyway, mechanically it has new belts and hoses inside the engine bay, I still want to replace the shocks as this thing is super bouncy, and then its on to the interior.

[Tidy Tabby]

Struggling a bit with this right now. The end of "season" is on us meaning several other homeowners in the neighborhood have their rigs in their driveways, so the HOA has been lax about kicking us all out. This is a good thing, as the Transtar has developed a fueling problem I have not sorted out, so it's been home for the last week. It was running super rough, and stalling after three or four minutes of idling. I have replaced all of the rubber fuel lines, as well as the filters, and cracked loose the injectors to bleed any remaining air out. This has had the effect of smoothing out the idle, but unfortunately it is still stalling. Starts right back up, and stalls over and over again. Thinking fuel pump. For reference, this has the 6.2l Detroit Diesel engine (non-turbo). It is plagued with electrical problems, so it is possible that the lifter pump is gone, allowing the main pump to pressurize the lines but not maintain them.

Any thoughts?

[Tidy Tabby]

Originally Posted by LilJen

I've attached the wire diagram. it is for a 1984, 23' transtar. I have the original manual, and the pics are pretty terrible! I hope you can make something of this!

let me know if it uploaded. its a PDF file

FWIW I have searched and searched and this hand-written copy is the best I've found, including the copy of the manual I bought off eBay. I am going through and color coding this to make it simpler to use. I am about 1/2 way complete, and will be printing it on a large sheet of paper to keep in the rig with the manuals once its done. I will post up a new .pdf file as well.

[Tidy Tabby]

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, as many of you have probably discovered before with these old van-based rigs, 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. It is complete, but it is at best 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 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. Once I have verified all of my notes and located everything, I will be happy to post up a complete .pdf format copy of this for anyone else working on a Transtar.
Upon this rock I shall build my church...

[Chips_Mahoy]

I joined because I found this thread while trying to find a manual for the 82 TranStar I've recently gotten. I'm enjoying your rebuild and the information the others are sharing. Mine had wall to wall to floor and the doors covered in shag carpet. I've already started removing it and the linoleum under it. Probably won't gut the interior right now, but will give it a good freshening up. It's also got some minor body damage that I'll be fixing. My rig's main usage will be for race weekends at my son's races. I'm too old to sleep on the ground or in the back of my truck now!!

Looking forward to reading more of your progress!