My 1972 Dodge Titan Project!

[1970s Titans]

Due to winter, the '72 Titan has been sitting in my driveway for a while, but it'll start at any time now with little to no trouble. Since the motor seems to be so good I have plans in the future to replace the original mechanical fuel pump with a new one and finally get some tires on it that aren't older than me. I also straightened out the CB antennas, so they don't brush the trees when I'm backing in anymore.

[1970s Titans]

Here's how it's sitting now. I've also completely cleaned up my yard and gotten both motorhomes in the same place, so my yard is actually looking really nice now. There's just a couple old motorhomes and tires for my neighbors to look at.

[1970s Titans]

I did a whole bunch of work on the '72 yesterday. It started with me finally dropping the right side gas tank. The vehicle has three gas tanks. Two are empty luckily, but one had gas on it for more than 20 years! When I finally got the tank out and started draining it the gas inside was dark rust brown and there was about a half inch of sandy looking crap in the bottom that I still haven't gotten out. And let me just say, it does not smell like gas anymore. I think that problem is why the original fuel pump failed as well. A lot of the old gas lines were completely clogged with gunk. I have a new original style fuel pump on the way, so after I get that, clean the tank, replace all the gas lines and clean the tank switch valve it should work great how it's supposed to.

I also had to deal with the most stubborn oil filter of my life when I did the oil change on it. I tried a wrench, that didn't work, I tried the old belt trick, that didn't work, I tried jamming a screwdriver through it and prying with that, and it still didn't work. I tried beating it with a hammer, all that did was start tearing it open more. So as a last resort I jammed a bigger screwdriver through it, and then used a car jack to try and pry on it and slowly break it loose. It almost started lifting the whole engine before finally making a horrible popping sound and breaking free. I hope I never have to deal with something like that again, but I probably will.

I found out as well that I have a bursted brake line or leaky wheel cylinder or something. There's a whole bunch of wet on one of my tires that you can see in the photo of it from underneath. Uhhhh!

[1970s Titans]

This is the condition of the gas that was in that tank. Obviously it should not look like that. Also the condition of that old fuel line. I was basically able to just tear it off. But the good news is the new fuel pump is here. Yay! Now all I gotta do is replace all the fuel lines and clean that tank.

[tinchariot]

As preventive maintenance you should consider changing all the rubber fuel hoses!
Put a fuel filter before the pump, in an easy access location.
Definitely flush out the fuel tanks!!!

[1970s Titans]

Originally Posted by tinchariot

As preventive maintenance you should consider changing all the rubber fuel hoses!
Put a fuel filter before the pump, in an easy access location.
Definitely flush out the fuel tanks!!!

Don't worry, I'm replacing every single one of those and either cleaning or replacing everything in between.

[guardrail53]

Find a radiator shop that can boil out your gas tank, and pressure test it, save you a lot of grief!
I had a 1974 Shasta 24' class A! It was on the P-30 Chevy chassis! It had a 454 in it with a turbo 400 transmission! It was my first, loved it, wish I still had it!



Looked just like this one, just a different color combo! Rail!

[1970s Titans]

Originally Posted by guardrail53

Find a radiator shop that can boil out your gas tank, and pressure test it, save you a lot of grief!
I had a 1974 Shasta 24' class A! It was on the P-30 Chevy chassis! It had a 454 in it with a turbo 400 transmission! It was my first, loved it, wish I still had it!

Attachment 274213

Looked just like this one, just a different color combo! Rail!

That's a pretty good idea, long as it's not too spendy. That's also an awesome looking rig you had before! I love it!

[1970s Titans]

Check out this awesome rare old Titan motorhome brochure I found online.

[1970s Titans]

Here's a link to my new YouTube channel if anyone's interested. It'll have videos of my motorhomes and other things. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU-...AWZLRccYhB3tjg

[1970s Titans]

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've finally started restoration work on this old beast! It's been keeping me busy during this covid outbreak. It all started a few days ago when I climbed up on the roof to asses some damage. I noticed that the old rubber coating someone did years ago was pretty bad, so I started peeling it off, only to discover about 8000 layers of paint and sealant and caulking and rubberized coating that previous owners have done over the years. The last layer of that crap seriously looked like the guy applied it without even cleaning the roof first! It was insanely dirty under there! Water had also been getting under that layer for the past who knows how long, and had been seaping through inside. So the water damage was about 1000 times worse than I ever expected, and it goes all the way down to floor in some spots! Luckily there's not too much structural damage, but I will have to redo parts of the framework in the ceiling. Somebody in the past also added in roof vents over the passanger and driver seats, which is a neat idea, but they cut through the frame to install those, which is stupid because it's load bearing. They also did a shoddy job installing those things, which caused even more leaks and damage over the years. One of those leaks happened to be directly over the steering wheel, which is really annoying because it caused parts in there to rust, which will make the wheel extremely difficult to remove. And I need to remove the wheel to replace the parts that were destroyed by the guy that got this thing running with me. So overall it's been insane amounts of work, but she'll get there and be back on the road eventually. As far as the drivetrain and everything thing else like that goes it's perfectly fine. Thank god! I'll post photos here pretty soon.

[1970s Titans]

Here's some stuff after I pulled some walls down. The last owner just nailed up new walls directly over the old ones. I also discovered where some rodent had been stashing pine nuts up in between wood layers in the cupboards. You can see some burnt wood too. I'm guessing there was small electrical fire years ago where the stove fan used to be, and thait why they removed it. Dang luckily it didn't burn the whole coach to the ground!

[1970s Titans]

So at this point I had started ripping things down to the frame and insulation. Surprisingly that old spray foam is still pretty clean in most spots, so I plan on leaving most of it. This first picture is up between the frame and rotten ceiling panel before I pulled it down. After I pulled the dinette out I discovered the big hole in the floor which was under one of the seats. Most of that old sub floor is just particle board, and it was so bad in some spots I could pinch it and it would turn to dust.

[1970s Titans]

As work continued the debris pile in my yard just kept getting worse and worse!