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Total Rebuild of a 1979 Dodge Class C

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
I would say some of you have seen the start of this build that my brother bgriffey had posted, Well I have now bought the RV from him and plan to post the pixs of the build I have found a lot of rot in this RV I have torn out everything on the inside and have the rear opened up and the skin off the lower driver side, I will be buying a camera for my wife for christmas and im sure she will take the pixs if I can learn HOW to post them on here, Please remember its winter here in Kentucky so it will be slow but we will keep the pixs coming, Like I said this will be a total build from floor to walls and roof and custom inside build so I would appreciate all the help I can get this will be my first build and I will be learning as I go so any info will help. THANKS......Tony Griffey.

A new RV can be very expensive and if you already own an outdated RV then you should just consider a complete RV remodel which can be a significant amount of money cheaper than the cost of a brand new model. If you are retired and use your RV to travel then why not save the money for your travels rather than on spending a large chunk of money on a brand new travelling vacation home. When you decide to have an RV remodel done you can have your old model completely gutted and rebuilt to look just like a newer RV and when the work is done you will not even recognize your old mobile home. Going about having a new RV to travel in this way can save you thousands of dollars and you will not have to worry about the payments on a brand new RV home. Many retired people are travelling this way nowadays so they can travel the country and be comfortable while doing it, and there are many others that own these vehicles that they will take on summer family camping trips. The RVโ€™s that are made today are unbelievable and have all of the luxuries of home at a fraction of the size, these make it great fir families and retired folks to travel comfortably, and having an RV remodel done you can make your old RV look just like a brand new one.

Statistics show that the amount of registered RV homes on the road is growing steadily every year, and much of this is due to the baby boomer generation retiring and wanting to travel the country in comfort and style. Having an RV remodel can make your RV brand new. Some things you may want to consider is having all new beds and appliances put in. Since RV appliances are smaller than your normal home kitchen appliances they are much cheaper, and a complete RV remodel will probably cost you anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000, depending on how many changes are being done. The latter price could even be a little more if you are having your RV completely gutted and redesigned. It will still save you a lot of money over purchasing a new RV home. Another thing to consider during your RV remodel is if you plan on just remodeling the inside or if you want to have the exterior redone as well, and if this is the case the project will cost more money but will still be cheaper than buying a new RV. Most of these vacationing and traveling vehicles have a type of siding on them, and the more modern ones are sometimes made of more durable fibreglasses and plastics, these materials are very nice since you do not ever have to worry about rusting.

If you plan on getting a loan out for this remodeling job then you will first want to get various estimates, much like a home remodeling project. Once you get all the estimates you want you can then apply for the amount of money through your financial institution or credit union. The amount of money you need should not be hard for you to get approved for, especially if you have good credit. If you are a retired individual you most likely can take the money out of your pension or 401 funds, and this would be your best bet due to interest rates. Usually the place where you originally bought the RV can do the remodel for you as well, and if they cannot they can usually refer you to someone who can do the job for you. With the popularity of these vehicles constantly growing there are also many new dealerships and shops that specialize in these vacation vehicles. Having a comfortable vehicle to travel year round in or to just vacation in yearly is a great asset and can also be a great stress reliever. It is also a very popular vehicle for families to use on family camping trips, and the nice thing is that if the kids want to rough it while camping they can just sent their tents up right outside the RV.
Without Trucks,....America Stop's
3,483 REPLIES 3,483

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
Gambit80 wrote:
You guys can send all the rain you don't want down here to Florida. We are in desperate need of it. LOL
I talked to a good friend down there yesterday, Yeah ya'll really need it And Arizona could use it also.
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

Gambit80
Explorer
Explorer
You guys can send all the rain you don't want down here to Florida. We are in desperate need of it. LOL
Me(40), DW(40), DS(21), DS(21)
2015 Forest River Salem 26TBUD
2006 Dodge Ram 2500 QC, 5.9 CTD

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
Yes the weather has sure been strange this spring, Lots of water and lots of big sized tornadoes everywhere, Like O'l Johnny Cash say's,
It's going by the book.

Listen here.
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

lzasitko
Explorer
Explorer
Lots of rain around these parts too, as if we didn't have enough water problems. Last night was around another 1/2" same as Sat night. Few nights ago it started raining and kept going all night, around 1", next day was the kicker... almost 3" in around 4-5 hrs. Street drains couldn't keep up so some roads had enough water that they were closed. Here we have 3 underpasses where the roads go under railway tracks and they tend to fill up, People are still stupid and try driving through and when their car/truck or whatever dies in the bottom of it they can't understand it.... I didn't think it was that deep!

This whole spring has been cool and wet. We have some pretty nice days but so far a lot more rain. From what I gather it is even worst going east from here. Some farms around here will not be able to plant anything this year, lot of fields still under water.

I sure hope it improves soon

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
Wouldn't you know it is raining this morning, The Thunder started about 3:AM and it has been raining ever since.:M
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
lzasitko wrote:
We have a ford F150 van that has a handicapped lift, when we bought it both of the manifolds were cracked and made a fair bit of noise when cold but once hot sealed themselves not too bad. I looked into replacing them with new cast iron oem's but the cost was up there. My son found a set of headers for it at one of the parts places and then I gave a friend of his a case of beer to install them. They fit really good and are pretty tight to the block. I will check with my son (he works for Dodge) and see what he can find out about headers. Do you want full length headers or shorties where they basically replace the cast ones. With full length you would have to redo the exhaust.

Don't run the carpet under the cabinets..... In our stick home some fool decided to put carpet in the bathroom and worst then that ran the carpet under the sink cabinet. Every time the toilet overflowed it would made a real mess. In the end I took the carpet out, Originally I cut the carpet at the cabinet but in the end I had to rip everything out and redo the floor and walls (they had glued the moulded marble backsplash to the walls (wall paper) as well as caulking along the edge. By the time it was off the wallpaper was trashed and then I had to strip the old stuff off, not pleasant. Once I got the sink cabinet out the carpet under it was all mouldy from every time someone spilled anything. If the carpet is installed after the cabinets and in the future you want (need) to change it it makes life a lot easier...
I think the shorty headers would be nice But full length would be OK too, I will be re-doing the rest anyway, What ever he say's will be easy to install that is what I will go with.
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

Replant
Explorer
Explorer
oldtrucker63 wrote:
I installed a lighted switch to the Computer Fan that I built into the wall to vent the House battery box, It works great, I will add a 2ed lighted switch for the fan that I will be building into black water vent pipe, There will be no need for any black tank deodorizers, This fan left running for weeks still would not drain the batteries< they only draw .002 amps so it can be left on with no problem,...I'm going in the morning to get what is needed to build the lower cabinet that holds the sink and stove, I will be building that and installing the sink and stove Fresh water tank and run all of the pluming, OH yeah also will be installing the carpet, I can not build the lower cabinets until the carpet is installed.

Installing the carpet before the cabinets would be a big mistake. It may be easier and look nice but, especially under the sink it will collect and hold water leakage and dust. When the time comes to change the floor covering it will be a huge task. When I got my MH the first thing I did was rip out the dirty, faded carpet. Cutting along the cabinetry, and sometimes into it, was a monumental task which left jagged pieces of carpet showing. I later bought an Dremel type oscillating tool to trim it flush with the cabinets but if I were to put down vinyl flooring instead of Allure the carpet would have shown above the height of the vinyl.
I'm still stuck with an unsightly mess inside the sink cabinet and bed frame. Carpet that was bright blue when new is now different shades of dirty white like someone splashed bleach on it and it's impossible to remove the stuff without removing the kitchen cabinets, water tank, pump, etc.

Here's an example of how the carpet edges show after the carpet is ripped up.

In my case the carpet got water logged and the cabinet face frames which are made of compressed paper, not wood, soaked up some water and swelled. All that has been ripped out.

lzasitko
Explorer
Explorer
We have a ford F150 van that has a handicapped lift, when we bought it both of the manifolds were cracked and made a fair bit of noise when cold but once hot sealed themselves not too bad. I looked into replacing them with new cast iron oem's but the cost was up there. My son found a set of headers for it at one of the parts places and then I gave a friend of his a case of beer to install them. They fit really good and are pretty tight to the block. I will check with my son (he works for Dodge) and see what he can find out about headers. Do you want full length headers or shorties where they basically replace the cast ones. With full length you would have to redo the exhaust.

Don't run the carpet under the cabinets..... In our stick home some fool decided to put carpet in the bathroom and worst then that ran the carpet under the sink cabinet. Every time the toilet overflowed it would made a real mess. In the end I took the carpet out, Originally I cut the carpet at the cabinet but in the end I had to rip everything out and redo the floor and walls (they had glued the moulded marble backsplash to the walls (wall paper) as well as caulking along the edge. By the time it was off the wallpaper was trashed and then I had to strip the old stuff off, not pleasant. Once I got the sink cabinet out the carpet under it was all mouldy from every time someone spilled anything. If the carpet is installed after the cabinets and in the future you want (need) to change it it makes life a lot easier...

skimask
Explorer
Explorer
American_Dream_RV wrote:
Sheared one stud on the passenger side even though I soaked them all with release fluid....Grrrrr

Now I have to find a way of getting it outta the block without shearing it any more....

Regards Steve.

I had one stuck in my head, passenger side rear most stud. I ended up using a torch to heat the heck out of it a few times, basically wrecking the temper of the bolt and after awhile, it was enough to chip it out with an easy out and then re-tap the threads.
Did I mention there was already an "easy out" stuck in the middle of what was left of the old stud? Made a bad job even worse.

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
I installed a lighted switch to the Computer Fan that I built into the wall to vent the House battery box, It works great, I will add a 2ed lighted switch for the fan that I will be building into black water vent pipe, There will be no need for any black tank deodorizers, This fan left running for weeks still would not drain the batteries< they only draw .002 amps so it can be left on with no problem,...I'm going in the morning to get what is needed to build the lower cabinet that holds the sink and stove, I will be building that and installing the sink and stove Fresh water tank and run all of the pluming, OH yeah also will be installing the carpet, I can not build the lower cabinets until the carpet is installed.
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
mobilefleet wrote:
actually looks like a great place for a side terminal battery if you're worried about the posts contacting metal hood. A length of epdm molding from home depot will stop the rainwater getting in the engine. I replaced the cheap foam gaskets (they age and fall apart) in my cargo doors with epdm.
Yes it would be a good ideal to replace them with side post, They need to be replaced anyway, I don't think the old dodge's had any kind of molding around the hood, Although some could be added, How will the EPDM rubber strip your talking about attach to the metal hood,?? Are they held on with glue or what.??
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

mobilefleet
Explorer
Explorer
actually looks like a great place for a side terminal battery if you're worried about the posts contacting metal hood. A length of epdm molding from home depot will stop the rainwater getting in the engine. I replaced the cheap foam gaskets (they age and fall apart) in my cargo doors with epdm.

oldtrucker63
Explorer
Explorer
Yeah that is what I'm going to do also, Just need to find the right headers for this thing, I think the block huger headers would work. Anyone out there replace there's yet,??? Someone that has already done there's will know where to get the headers that fix right, I would like to know where to get a set that will fit for sure.???:h
Without Trucks,....America Stop's

Dan86300zxt
Explorer
Explorer
American_Dream_RV wrote:
How's the rebuild going Old Trucker?

Would love to see more pictures.

My Project is at the stage of replacing those darned Exhaust manifolds...

Got a pair shipped over....Shipping cost more than manifolds...

All new nuts/studs etc and gaskets...

Sheared one stud on the passenger side even though I soaked them all with release fluid....Grrrrr

Now I have to find a way of getting it outta the block without shearing it any more....Regards Steve.


I had the same troubles with two studs on the passenger side to my '77 sportsman 360 when I went through and put new gaskets on.(Which are already leaking again...I believe the passenger side manifold is warped...Time to switch to a set of headers, and redo the exhaust with nicer flowmaster mufflers...:P )
*I took my mig welder and a couple of nuts I had laying around..held the nut to the block with vise grips, welded the inside of the nut to the bolt that was snapped off into the block(a little tricky because the bolt was below the surface of the flange. The combination of the heat from welding and the nut being welded now, made it possible for me to carefully unscrew them out of the block.(they came out very easily and this took my a whole 15 minutes to do the both of them)
**I replaced all of my exhaust hardware with Stainless Steel Bolts, washers and lock washers...made sure to throw a coat of antisieze on there too when I installed them. No more broken studs/bolts for me!!!

Dan

American_Dream_
Explorer
Explorer
Yeah...Why is that? I have been looking into fabricating/welding a lip around the whole upper hood area to stop this.

The thought of water permanently getting in there annoys me.

The hood/battery distance is also an issue for me too.

Bought a new battery of slightly higher capacity and cranking amps, slightly less height that the old one.

I am hoping it resolves the problem.

Steve.