Vintage RV upgrades
Hey everyone! I’m back with more questions. Recently purchased a 1977 dodge Sportsman RV. 43k original miles, in excellent shape for its age. All appliances in working condition. Picked it up for $750...
Forum Discussion
I have great memories with my previous class C which was a 1984 Chevy, very similar. I also had 16.5 wires which I replaced three times in the years I had it. The last time they were harder to find but were still available by order, glad you got all 7. You were smart to go to the 8.75, that's what we did too. I've never heard of them not fitting a class C.
I agree with replacing the convertor, I did a progressive dynamics PD 9260 because the convertor was stand-alone then (not part of the fuse panel like today.) It was a good upgrade. Also add hard-wire CO and propane leak detectors. Keep up on all the maintenance like you said, belts, hoses, filters, fluids and it should be good to go. Keep an eye out for house leaks.
With proper care and maintenance there's no reason it can't be as reliable as anything out there.
The rig was built during 55 mph speed limit so regardless how much power you have you may run out of gearing much above 60, which is fine as you will get much better mileage at 55 then faster anyway.
I would pass on the headers, the engine compartment is cramped and hot already and headers would make it much worse for not much if any gain. That smog-era engine's heads and cam are not going to flow enough to take advantage of headers and may actually make performance worse. I'd focus on maintaining what you have and keeping stock if possible. IF your manifolds are cracked get some new from LMC truck or something. You shouldn't have cat convertors but if you do I'd consider removing those.
I don't think you will be able to run the fridge long through an inverter especially with one house battery. When I am on the inverter the fridge itself draws 55 amps at 12v if I leave the fridge in auto. Compressor fridge will be less but I'm not sure how much less.
We put many miles in our old 84 all over the country and have many great memories from that time. We've upgrade since and yeah its nice to have 2x or 3x the horsepower from a new rig, but once your parked they are all still pretty similar. You might have to go outside to light your water heater instead of pushing a button, but I'm sure you can handle that :) I'm excited for you. Good luck.
I agree with replacing the convertor, I did a progressive dynamics PD 9260 because the convertor was stand-alone then (not part of the fuse panel like today.) It was a good upgrade. Also add hard-wire CO and propane leak detectors. Keep up on all the maintenance like you said, belts, hoses, filters, fluids and it should be good to go. Keep an eye out for house leaks.
With proper care and maintenance there's no reason it can't be as reliable as anything out there.
The rig was built during 55 mph speed limit so regardless how much power you have you may run out of gearing much above 60, which is fine as you will get much better mileage at 55 then faster anyway.
I would pass on the headers, the engine compartment is cramped and hot already and headers would make it much worse for not much if any gain. That smog-era engine's heads and cam are not going to flow enough to take advantage of headers and may actually make performance worse. I'd focus on maintaining what you have and keeping stock if possible. IF your manifolds are cracked get some new from LMC truck or something. You shouldn't have cat convertors but if you do I'd consider removing those.
I don't think you will be able to run the fridge long through an inverter especially with one house battery. When I am on the inverter the fridge itself draws 55 amps at 12v if I leave the fridge in auto. Compressor fridge will be less but I'm not sure how much less.
We put many miles in our old 84 all over the country and have many great memories from that time. We've upgrade since and yeah its nice to have 2x or 3x the horsepower from a new rig, but once your parked they are all still pretty similar. You might have to go outside to light your water heater instead of pushing a button, but I'm sure you can handle that :) I'm excited for you. Good luck.
