Do I have a workhorse.

[pallettagger]

Hi
This might be a dumb question but I'm somewhat confused.
I have a 2000 Fleetwood flair.
With a 1999 p30 chevy chassis and a 454 L29 engine.
I thought I had a workhorse engine.

What makes the engine a workhorse engine?

How can I tell if my engine is a workhorse or a vortex engine ?

Just had my engine replaced about 4 years ago by a Chevrolet dealership (that I have no faith in).

Is there a difference when ordering parts?

mr. Goodwrinch I'm not, so thanks for any answers.

Gerard

[TandW]

Workhorse chassis utilize a lot of GM and Chevy parts including the engine. Offhand, I don't remember what year Chevy sold off their RV chassis division to Workhorse. Some expert here knows.

[Mark_K5LXP]

Workhorse was formed in 1999 and manufactured an updated P30, called the P32. The VIN will tell you specifically what chassis you have. The 454 was used until the 496/8.1L was introduced around 2001. By all indications you have a chevy P30. Parts availability might actually be better for the older P30's, as when the workhorse production line stopped around 2008 a number of parts unique to workhorse became immediately in limited supply. The 454 and 496 engines, and 4L80/4L85/Allison transmissions will likely enjoy long term support but workhorse specific P32, W22 and W24 chassis parts will be getting harder to get as time goes on.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[George Schweikle]

Workhorse never made gas engines; they used the Chevrolet 454 (7.4) & 496 (8.1) in Workhorse motorhome chassis. Regarding production dates, Google is your friend:

In the year 2001, the 8.1-liter Vortec 8100 V8 engine was introduced. Its 496 cubic-inch displacement overshadowed all of the previous production big-block engines. Though the Vortec 8100 was a success and a fan favorite, the engine was eventually discontinued in December 2009, according to Motor Trend.

Originally Posted by pallettagger

...

With a 1999 p30 chevy chassis and a 454 L29 engine.

I thought I had a workhorse engine.

What makes the engine a workhorse engine?

Gerard

[edgray]

Originally Posted by pallettagger

Hi
This might be a dumb question but I'm somewhat confused.
I have a 2000 Fleetwood flair.
With a 1999 p30 chevy chassis and a 454 L29 engine.
I thought I had a workhorse engine.

What makes the engine a workhorse engine?

How can I tell if my engine is a workhorse or a vortex engine ?

Just had my engine replaced about 4 years ago by a Chevrolet dealership (that I have no faith in).

Is there a difference when ordering parts?

mr. Goodwrinch I'm not, so thanks for any answers.

Gerard

IF your chassis was actually made by Workhorse in Union City, IN the chassis vin # will begin with “5B4”. If not, it was made by GM (Chevy) in Detroit. The motor and tranny were both GM products no matter who put it all together.

[Isaac-1]

What you have is likely a 1999 Workhorse P32 Chassis not a Chevy P30 the VIN prefix will tell you as mentioned above, as Workhorse bought out all the rights to the P series chassis and moved production in 1999, with the last year of Chevrolet production being 1998. In addition to buying out the P series chassis line, Workhorse also took over and renumbered all P-series exclusive parts creating a confusing situation for previous year Chevy P series chassis customers. Take for example something like the headlight switch that might have been used on other GM products, this part retained the GM AC-Delco part number, but if you take another part that was exclusive to the P series coach, say perhaps the gear shifter cable that was only used on these coaches, then this part would have been re-numbered as a Workhorse part and sold exclusively through Workhorse even for earlier say 1997 models.


Now for all practical purposes a 1999 Workhorse P32 coach is nearly identical to a 1998 Chevrolet chassis coach, with probably the biggest difference being the Workhorse logo on the Steering wheel instead of the Chevy bowtie. As the model years progressed so did the differences in any number of parts with 2001 being major change year with the P32 getting the 8.1L engine, wide track front end, etc.


The big problem that you will run into when dealing with parts suppliers, is that many of them don't list a 1999+ Workhorse P32 chassis, they will either call it a Chevy P30 / P series going perhaps as late as 2006, or their computer will just show that the P series ended in 1998. I have dealt with this a number of times when looking for a part, I will often tell the parts counter person it is for a 1998 P30 motorhome, even though mine is a 2002 model, I just have to be careful about what part I am looking for, for engine stuff I have to pick a 2002 Chevy truck with 8.1L, though even then there are a few parts that are unique to the Workhorse P series with 8.1L such as the fan clutch which is not used on any other model.

[pallettagger]

Hi
Thanks everyone you've been extremely helpful.
VIN# look up did give me the answer.

Thanks
Geri

[EyezOpen]

I do not believe i would have stated the the below references 3 yrs ago. Before i do so almost every parts Co now relies on a data base to call up old parts..meaning the whole Co is dependent upon the people who load those data bases...real experienced parts personal are far and few between.. there is a lot of confusion out there right now...

1. Amazon....
2. Rock Auto..

Ive rebuilt a entire suspension using Amazon...not one error in product, one enters the product into your garage and it finds and checks any part that you select...and or finds the correct part you are looking for..So far Amazons data base is flawless. P30 is a series in there data base...if your asked for a step van or chassis/base van select chassis. That will or should set you up for RV chassis..step van is another animal.

Good luck out there...by the way amazons free shipping and returns are quite handy and cost effective..

[Isaac-1]

My problem with Amazon is they miss a lot of parts that will actually fit, take brake calipers as an example. If you search by part number they come up, but show as not fitting even though they are a perfect match.

[Mark_K5LXP]

I was under the impression that the P32 denoted the wide-track front end, and the original standard frame would be P30 - chevy or workhorse. Or am I mistaken?


Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

[edgray]

Originally Posted by pallettagger

Hi
Thanks everyone you've been extremely helpful.
VIN# look up did give me the answer.

Thanks
GeriAttachment 374147

The "1 ton nominal" shown as the model is alternative terminology for the P32 series chassis. The sixth position of the chassis vin number will be either a "3" or a "5", both of which which confirms that you have a Workhorse P32 series chassis. Depending on the GVWR, you may have the J71 AAPB. The presence of a "yellow Knob" somewhere near the driver position is confirmation that you do. Absent the knob, you PB is manually applied and MUST be applied to prevent the coach from rolling when you shift to "P" or "N" absent pressure on the brake pedal.

[EyezOpen]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

My problem with Amazon is they miss a lot of parts that will actually fit, take brake calipers as an example. If you search by part number they come up, but show as not fitting even though they are a perfect match.

Yes i get that myself at times, it is simply a data base error or a missed application. There a have a few parts i had this issue with, then its time to check and recheck. Ive learned enough on the p30 series rv chassis's right now i would like to see a work horse up close. I would almost be stunned to see any really true engineering difference in the work horse..

Just two day's ago i stumbled on the fact i have a dana 80 axle in a 82 p chassis...not to much surprises me anymore...

[Joyce M]

My 1988 P-30 rides so sweet!
One time my late wife, Joyce, placed her coffee mug on the counter in Ballard.
When we got to Camping World in Tacoma it was still sitting there and not a drop was spilled.