1975 GMC Palm Beach

Why?

The Misses can't believe it either.

Last September I went from Phoenix, Az to Raleigh, NC in a brand new 2008 Cheverolet Silverado 4x4 pickup. It was nice but after about eight hours it was getting a littteeel cramped. And at 36 hours when we arrived I was stiff and sore. Not as young as I used to be. Can't drive across the states non-stop any more.

That is when I started looking at RV's. Have you looked at the price of them lately? And the size? They are as big as our house... and it ain't got any wheels!

So I started looking at the GMC motor homes of the 70's. When the Misses and I were young and broke we would go shopping at a mall in Ogden, Ut. Next to the mall was a GMC dealership. We would go and look at the Glenbrooks and Elaganza II's.

To bad our income would not support a motor home at the time.

So while I was looking for an RV that didn't cost as much as our house I found three GMC's that were of fairly low milage and in fair condition.

I looked at two in Phoenix, one was too far gone for even me to restore. The other one was a 1977 and very nice. But it had the 403 engine and the guy wanted $21,000. No haggling!

So I contacted a RV dealership in El Paso, Tx. The guy said yup, still for sale. I asked for some more info and then setup an appointment to go look at the RV.

It took seven hours to drve from Phoenix to El Paso. And the Misses was secptical about the RV.

It took a little convencing but she decidied ok, lets buy it. So I made the offer, less than the guy wanted but he wanted to sell.

So we bought a 1975 GMC Palm Beach!

Then I got to drive it home...

1) No heat, in November even in the desert south west it gets cold, the Misses wouldn't tell me how cold it was until we got it home - 43* over the mountains. Took me two days to warm up!

2) The RV has a tendency to wander, it takes both hands to keep it straight. A GMC mechanic told me that the steerig box needs to be replaced.

3) The right hand air bag (the air suspension) has a leak and will leak down while you drive and the air compressor is on a toggle switch not a pressure switch so that added to the control problems.

4) Not all the dash lights work, the stock insturments are dead, and there are addon gages in the dash.

5) The interior is in very good condition, the Misses wants to change the carpet and the drapes. There are some cupboards and wood surfaces that need some attention.

Yup, in need of some TLC and fix'n up.

Just what a retired guy needs to keep him busy!

Stop by and see what we are doing to our Hot Rod...

Or have a look at the web site we are building just for this Adventure:

Our Recreation Vehicle Adventure

Well I have been very busy fixing things on the RV. The main thing at this time is to have HEAT in the RV while we drive.

I have disassembled the dash (see my web pages) and found out why the heat doesn't go anywhere!

Older vehicles used vacuum to open and close little doors inside the vehicle. These are called vacuum actuators. There are four in the RV, one on the heater/AC package in the engine compartment. Then there are three others inside the duct work under the dash.

Out of the three only one worked. And the mechanical device that controls where the vacuum is turned on and off was also in bad shape.

While i have the dash disassembled I also worked on the electrical componets. I installed new dash lights (the lights behind the lables for switches at night), replaced one o fthe insturments (Fuel, Tempature, Oil Pressure, and Generator light) this cost me $45, not bad even though I cleaned up the old one I decide to get a new instrument cluster.

I also have reinsulated and filled some of the holes in the dash that let in a lot of air.

Next I need to remove all the 'add' on gauges the three previous owners have added to the dash over the years. Then remove a dead CB Radio, find another radio because the radio that came in the RV was to far gone to restore.

Once all this restoration is done then I need to do some mechanical work.

The stearing box needs to be replaced, there is about half an inch of play from left to right and right to left with the engine off, all this is do to wear on the stearing box, normal for a six ton front wheel drive vehicle. (It is orginal equipment).

If you are interested in seeing what I have been doing stop by my web site and enjoy the pictures!

Restoration of a 1975 GMC Palm Beach

I was courious about setting up a small network in my RV to be able to work while we are on the road.

After a seach on the internet about internet connections while RV'n I came to the conclusion that there was no such beast!

Yes there are lots of ads for Wi-Fi and internet connections for a RV and where you can get Wi-Fi at certain RV Parks or at certain rest stops on the Intestate Highways but nothing about what you do when you aren't close to a Wi-Fi hot spot or in a RV Park that has internet connections.

So I set out to find a way to have internet anywhere my RV stops and have a secure internet connection also.

I have found a way to do it and after the intial installation the monthy charge isn't anymore than that at home.

So how do you get Internet anywhere at any time?

Satellite!

Yup there are some new companies that offer Satellite uplinks for you home, this is a boon for those people that live outside the city and the local telephone company or cable tv either don't offer internet or the cost is so high you don't want to have it.

The satellite internet has one limitation - speed. The average cost for the connection for the same you pay at home will get you 1.5 Mega Bits Per Second. I would say that this it about twenty or so times faster than a dial-up connection. Not to shabby.

And if you want with a device like Majic Jack you can have a phone connection and not worry about your cell phone bill going outragious while roaming.

See my computer site about the setup of the network and see my RV site about the actual network rack and devices I am installing in my RV!

Internet in your RV?

Satellite Internet

First let me say that I do not feel I was gyped or taken when I bought our 1975 Palm Beach.

Having restored classic muscel cars I knew that a vehicle that was over 30 years old was going to need some work.

Well i am here to tell you that even though the ower had put a lot of money in to fixing up this RV he need to a bit more.

He didn't and now I will -

I have taken about three pounds of wire out of the dash that went to electrical componenets that are not there any more. The bad part about this wire is some of them were hot! That is if they touched something metal that was grounded they could have shorted out and caused a fire! And RV's are really not fire proof!

I am almost done with the Dash restoration, it will do for now but I think in a year or two I will replace the dash with a new fiberglass one, the old plastic is getting very brittle. i have how ever found a kit that works pretty good for patching it up for now.

Once I get another climate control panel and a radio i will be done with the dash. I have ordered them from a guy in Texas - Michael from GMC Motorhome Reclamation Services.

My next project will be to change the steering box and the steering coupling shaft. I checked a couple of places and the cost of the used parts was almost as much as the rebuilt parts. I decided to go with the rebuit and not have to worry about doing the job again.

Then I have two more mechanical projects -

Change out the Oil Pressure and Tempature sending units on the engine, this will make the dash instruments work again.

Then I need to change out the valve for emptying the holding tank and secure the PVC pipe from the holding tank to the back of the RV.

Then I will work on some of the interior stuff -

The refigerator needs new door seals.

The stove and oven need new pilots and maybe burners.

Some of the wood work needs to be fixed -

Whew - but i think I will be on the road by the middle of Febuary!

:)