Okay, been a while since my last update and I've made a bit of progress...
Sunday I got up on the roof of the camper with a steel bristled brush and cleaned off as much of the old rotten sealer as possible. It needed to be done as it had obviously failed, and you can see the results of the bad roof in the demise of the original interior roofing pictures. There were no real punctures or any heavy damage to the aluminum sheet roof, it's just that the seam sealer had all dried up and cracked which allowed the Central California rains to take their toll on the interior. After about 30 minutes of thorough scrubbing I got most of the old seam sealant out, and roughed up the rest of the remaining material to take a new coat. Shortly thereafter I further prepped the surface by spraying some TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) on the roof and rinsing it off with the garden sprayer. Any leaks that occurred at this stage were inconsequential as the interior is mostly gutted.
First I started with a regular paint brush and a gallon of special RV roofing compound called "Kool Seal" which I got at the local Ace Hardware and heavily dabbed this all around the edges of the roof vents (where you could especially see cracks in the old sealant causing leaks) and around the trim on top which was secured with screws... just to make sure I got enough on all the seams where it will really count. After that I went with a roller and reapplied most of the rest of the gallon of Kool Seal over the remaining part of the roof. This has effectively not only sealed out water, but also sealed down any of the old pookey that was left on the roof from the factory, as well as provided a nice white coat to reflect the sun and keep the coach cool.
On to the inside.... In these pictures you can see what the inside of the coach is looking like with most of the major components removed....
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807209 http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807228 http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807240 http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807276 I'd mentioned earlier that I wanted to convert the original 'water closet' to add the convenience of a shower. In this picture you can see, when you compare it to earlier pictures, that I have removed the toilet, sink basin, linoleum, and walls. I had to remove the walls as a necessity in order to rip out the rotten ceiling. Since the bathroom is so small, I figured that removing the sink would not only free up room to stand for a shower, but I wasn't making it any more inconvenient since there is another sink in the kitchen about 2 feet away!! A fair compromise....
Here you can see the gutted bathroom:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807276 And here you can see how I've cut down a standard residential shower pan to fit into the hole. Miraculously, somehow, I managed to find one for free which was already the correct dimension I needed lengthwise! After some figuring, I got some rough holes cut for the pipes and the toilet as can be seen here:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807939 The toilet will mount back on top of the shower pan and you'll be able to use it basically like a shower seat, since it won't matter if the toilet gets wet. This is the only modification I plan on making to the originality of the camper, and that's only to make it more usable and practical.
Moving on, I figured out why the engine wouldn't turn over......
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807948 http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274807943 Yikes!!
After examining it closely, it looks like it blew a head gasket 25-some-odd years ago, which is what parked it after only 30,000 miles. The coolant leaked into two adjacent cylinders and there it sat.....
I've tried everything to get these pistons free including pool acid to no avail. Even getting to the point of taking the crank out was a puzzle of it's own, since I could not remove the clutch/bellhousing without being able to ROTATE THE CRANKSHAFT, I ended up after a lot of tedium pulling the clutch out with the crank. I'm going to let the machine shop try their might at popping those pistons out.
I was particularly amazed at the condition of the bearings, and do look to reuse them. They are the factory bearings because they have GM part numbers stamped on them, and have little to no scoring, pitting or wear whatsoever. There's not even a lip at the top of the cylinder from wear! I REALLY hope this block can be salvaged but time will tell...
This weekend I'm going to attempt pulling the cab off. Ordinarily this is pretty easy, but on this application is complicated by the fact that there's hardly an inch space between the cab roof and the camper:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery...mp;gid=16984219&&imgid=274810048 So now with the engine out and all the sheetmetal off the front I'm looking toward sliding the cab off the front of the frame.
Comments Welcome and appreciated!
