How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

[whiteknight001]

I'm new here, and curious.

How many of us in Class C own Dodge B300 incomplete
cab/chassis based RV's? I know two others- Steve aka
Ripsaw, with a 1977 Brougham, and Leroy aka 1978_Dodge
_Delta who owns a 440V8 powered sharp looking 1978
Delta RV. I would like to ask, and offer, help, idea
swapping and comparing notes on our particular RV's
which are based on the Dodge B300 van chassis.

Yeah, I know. These are low tech, podgy old RV's that
would be considered "entry level" for folks like me,
but I have a deep and abiding respect for the quality
of these old "monsters of the open road". And anyone
wanting to pick brains, joke about, share notes or just
brag about our old A- Dodge-io's are certainly welcome
to PM or email me. Between all of us we can form a real
good support group, and help each other with problems
we know we'll encounter with an older vehicle.

Sure. I'd love a new RV. But I'd rather have an older
one already paid for, and a lotta great memories. Call
me frugal, an old hippie, or whatever you will. I'm proud
of my old land yacht.

Mopar Madness Manifest in the flesh,

Mark aka White Knight

P.S. Mine's a '72. Is there an older one out there someone's
motorvating in? Maybe even a Travco? W/K

[Leeann]

Sounds like you did a good job on the trailer wiring, overdrive. And yes, it's over for us, too. It's flurrying as I type...

I need to put the tarp on ours now, before any problems occur. But we want to turn it around first, which'll hopefully happen this weekend.

[ALnCORY]

Sorry Overdrive, getting on to winter here too. No snow down in the valleys but lots of white on the mountains. Still some folks out hunting with campers but its slowing down..... but hey, spring is coming..... eventually.

[overdrive75]

Well, it's official, 2008 camping season is over for me. We got 4+" of snow today and they have put salt on the roads, so the RV is parked. I have had her tarped for the winter for the past 1.5 weeks, but today just really made it real.

Can't wait till next year. I still need to fog the motor and pull the batteries for the long winters rest.

[overdrive75]

So my RV has a rather large class III or IV hitch on it. I can't tell as the lables are faded, however the hitch is newer than the coach. The PO must have only used this for a bike rack as there was no trailer wiring whatso ever. So a few days ago I handled this situation. I thought I would tap the wiring in the back near the lights, but after pulling those off, I decided against this as there was no easy way to route it out of the coach body. So next I looked up front under the hood for the wiring and could not find it. So I start looking around inside the cab, and low and behold there is a small fuse pannel behind the drivers seat for the 12V coach wiring, Left, right, running and back up. Well I didn't want to tap it after those fuses, once again no easy way to get it out of the body. So I start looking under that dash and I find the wires before those fuses, so I tap them under the dash, run the wires out through the fire wall, install separate fuse pannel for run, left and right trailer. I install separate ground and run the 4 flat wire from under hood all the way to back. At the same time I ran a wire for electric brakes and left it hid under the dash. At the back there is a 7 pin plug all wired up and ready for use, with even a 12 volt hot from the coach battery. The only thing missing is the reverse light but non of my trailers have that. So now I am good to go on that front. The only think I really want to do is totally isolate the trailer wiring, but I don't know how yet. But it all works.

[79powerwagon]

Roninhood, the vacuum gauge shows how hard the engine is working. The higher the reading, the less work it is doing (more efficient use of air and fuel).

I did a little experiment with my Power Wagon. There is a spot I drove daily where the road has a sharp "S" curve that climbs rapidly up several 100 feet (common terrain around here). My truck always had enough power to navigate that spot without down-shifting.

My installed vacuum gauge (doesn't everyone run one in all their vehicles? :B ) would show something like 7"hg going through there.

Just for giggles, one time I manually put the truck into 2nd gear going through there, traveling at the same speed I always do if the road conditions are dry. The vacuum gauge jumped up to 18"hg!

So, while the truck moved at the same speed each time, in 2nd gear, the engine was working MUCH less than in 3rd, and was more efficient, even though the rpms were considerably higher.

No two vehicles are the same, and no two drivers are the same. If you spend the $30.00 or so on a dash mounted vacuum gauge, and learn how to read it AND how to interpret it as you are driving, you can actually save gas money by utilizing the engine at it's best available efficiency!

It really does work! As a bonus, you also get an instant read on the mechanical condition of the engine and what kind of shape your tune-up is in BEFORE you need to spend the big bucks in repair!

Of course, this applies mostly to carb'd engines without computer controls, but you can still learn a lot about your driving habits on an EFI vehicle.

Eric

[RobinHoodRV]

79powerwagon wrote:
OD, you can change your gear ratio a bit by installing taller tires on the rear. But before you do that (or call Gear Vendors), hook up a vacuum gauge and drive around a while to see how it responds to your driving habits.

An example, if your driving at 60 and 3000rpms, and you're pulling 15"hg, and then you're driving at 65 and 3200rpms and pulling 17"hg, you are actually MORE efficient at 65 than 60. If the opposite were the case, then you are more efficient at 60mph...

Get what I mean?

Eric

Correct me if I'm wrong but how could you get higher manifold pressure if the only factor that changes is increasing throttle position to increase the RPMs? Wouldn't the increased throttle position lower the manifold pressure?

My understanding is that throttle position on a non-computerized, carbureted vehicle determines manifold pressure. I don't think I have ever seen pressure increases while throttle positions increases unless other factors are involved, like gear changes, or in the instance of newer vehicles timing changes due to computer control, etc.

This is just my understanding and would be very interested in the correct information!

[79powerwagon]

OD, you can change your gear ratio a bit by installing taller tires on the rear. But before you do that (or call Gear Vendors), hook up a vacuum gauge and drive around a while to see how it responds to your driving habits.

An example, if your driving at 60 and 3000rpms, and you're pulling 15"hg, and then you're driving at 65 and 3200rpms and pulling 17"hg, you are actually MORE efficient at 65 than 60. If the opposite were the case, then you are more efficient at 60mph...

Get what I mean?

Eric

[timmac]

Does anyone know how many cfm's a stock 440 radiator fan pulls, I am thinking of installing a double electric fans that pull at 4600 cfm with a shroad, I have a 4 core super cool rad now, will this work or will I need more cfm's..
Flex o lite has the double electric fan, stock number 295 "4600 cfm max",,, they also have a 5500 cfm double fan but its 4 inches to wide for the 79 Dodge rad.

[Fezziwig]

(I'm just unsubscribing, sorry for the interruption)

[79powerwagon]

overdrive75 wrote:
Well, I figured out my speed issues yesterday. This after installing a tachometer on Sunday. The three speed trans in not enough. It needs a 4 speed. At 60 mph the motor is spinning 6000 RPM and at 65 it is spinning 3200. This thing needs a 4th gear to get the motor back down to a speed where it is making some torque. Oh well that isn't going to happen, so I guess I need to slow down a bit.

Can you correct your typo please? :B And run a vacuum gauge while you drive, it'll help you find the operating "sweet spot"...

[overdrive75]

Well, I figured out my speed issues yesterday. This after installing a tachometer on Sunday. The three speed trans in not enough. It needs a 4 speed. At 60 mph the motor is spinning 3000 RPM and at 65 it is spinning 3200. This thing needs a 4th gear to get the motor back down to a speed where it is making some torque. Oh well that isn't going to happen, so I guess I need to slow down a bit.

[goreds2]

Kendas wrote:
Here's another Dodge camper for sale... '66 Dodge CampVan

Very cool! I am a little over 6 foot. It would be hard to stand in though. The old lady could so she can do the cooking. lol

EDIT: Oops, I did not see the overhead extension. 😮

[Leeann]

Hey, if it was just us, we wouldn't care - it's quieter up front 😛 - but the kid literally has to wear the big, obnoxious hearing protection in the back so she doesn't lose any hearing - and some of our trips are 6+ hours!

[79powerwagon]

Dang, Leeann, I'm taking OFF my quiet muffler and installing Smithys! :B Obnoxious, baby!

[Leeann]

Got the 'new' mufflers all installed Saturday - man, what a difference.

Cut them from a '97 Cadillac Seville at the pick-n-pull - they're in great shape. Put them on, fabbed up the rest of the pipe and welded everything but the connection to the crossover pipe (which needs to be easily removable for any future tranny issues).

Started her up and could barely hear her....it's a wonderful thing. Revved up to 3000 rpm: the kid's not going to need hearing protection in the back any more. Even at 3k rpm, all we could hear was the engine fan & intake noise. Inside and out...

😉