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restoring 1987 holaday Rambler

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
I have purchased a 1987 Motor home and am fixing it up as money is available. I have replaced the passenger side brake line and caliper and now have three wheels that lock up when you stomp on the breaks. This is much better then the one or two that were working on the harrowing drive home after the purchase.
The air pumps are being removed at this time as the driver side one is locked up. The passenger side one seems to be working, but there is a hole in the part mounted on the header that is causing a little ticking sound. The header parts will be welded up at a later date when I can bribe my people with a appropriate reward.
I have changed the passenger side spark plugs, the old ones had a gap of around 80 to 85 thousand when I took them out. They did have a nice tan color. The driver side plugs will be replaced next, along with the cap and rotor.
The front air bags are holding pressure, and the front suspension has been greased with new grease. It has some sort of stabilizer made from mounting two large springs on the front and rear of the lower control arm.
I will be asking some ???? when I get to the parts I don't under stand.
717 REPLIES 717

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
now its all taped up

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
does not look like it so far......BUT yo know how that goes lol.

IT is Florida, and rains a lot in the summer. I sat in the thing in some really bad some storms and didn't see any leaks any where. some of the side windows may be leaking, but I don't see any damage any where at this point.

fulltimin
Nomad
Nomad
Hopefully it didn't leak long enough to do the kind of damage inside that mine had.
If you want to do something, you will find a way.
If you don't, you will find an excuse.

-------------------------------------------------

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of experience, comes from bad judgement.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
And on the bedroom window is this one.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
On the widow by the dinning area is this one.

Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Explorer II
fulltimin wrote:
1, 2, 3, ... 28 screws holding that vent in place. 28 different places for a leak to develop. Plus 56" around the outside edges of that 14" hole, and on top of that, mostly useless Dicor. Lol.

And people think I'm nuts for trying to eliminate that? Lol.

In all honesty, had a different method been used for trying to seal those holes, you probably would not have to be doing that now.

Nothing like repairing and upgrading sealant.

Looking good!


It's really not 28 places and 56" of places to leak. Properly sealed there are NO places for water to go. I know you will argue that no hole is better than a properly sealed hole but in reality they are exactly the same. You should see the 100's of rivits in the roof of my bus, along the edges down the sides and front to back. Not a single leak at any of these 30 years later.
What I post is my 2 cents and nothing more. Please don't read anything into my post that's not there. If you disagree, that's OK.
Can't we all just get along?

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
Here is a shot of a couple of the stickers that I have not taken off. I am guessing that it was in the north east for part of its life.

Guessing this is the dealer that sold it to her.


This is the drivers door, there are some barely legible stickers from the city on it also.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
They are not even screws. They are large head pop rivets, with at washer on the inside. There is some sort of brown putty that the put between it all when it was assembled. Nit sure when the last time it was redone. I believe it had been lived in by a older lady in a park down the road in what is now Champions Gate area near I 4. It still had a Current Road Island tag on it, and no title, as Road Island doesn't tag things after around twenty years so. There are tags from the dealer in Road Island still located on the thing.

There seem to be no leaks in the front part. I wish I could sat that about some cars I own that are older, and younger then that it its lol.

fulltimin
Nomad
Nomad
1, 2, 3, ... 28 screws holding that vent in place. 28 different places for a leak to develop. Plus 56" around the outside edges of that 14" hole, and on top of that, mostly useless Dicor. Lol.

And people think I'm nuts for trying to eliminate that? Lol.

In all honesty, had a different method been used for trying to seal those holes, you probably would not have to be doing that now.

Nothing like repairing and upgrading sealant.

Looking good!
If you want to do something, you will find a way.
If you don't, you will find an excuse.

-------------------------------------------------

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of experience, comes from bad judgement.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
If you spend two hours with a scraper and a drill with a brass wire brush, you can get this nice shiny aluminum finish on yout front vent of yo 1987 Holiday Rambler.
I switched to using Brass wire brushes in the drill as the iron based ones were scratching the aluminum finish on my older task on the roof.
for those of you up north, it was around 60 degrees or so when I was doing this. I live just south of WDW In Florida. the glue on the tape was not as sticky as when I did the project in the 90 degree summer heat. I am not sure what temperature is recommended for the tape, put the roof was about 75 or so from the thermometer I placed there

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
And the front of the old cover.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
This is the drivers side of the cover. It has the same indications' of a cover bein there at one time.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
This is the passenger side of the same vent. Notice the plastic piece where there was probably a vent cover at one time.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
Started on the roof again, its not leaking just trying to finish the project. this is the rear of the front vent before starting.

femailyetti
Explorer
Explorer
Not dead, my youngest son, got a 72 VW bug I am helping him with.
hope to restart my project soon.