Come on you didn't think to duct tape a can to the roof and run an hose down to the motor to meter it in as needed?
I actually contemplated a big IV bag on a hanger mounted to the front fender:laughing:
It's a long-er story, but here is the short version:
We have been looking for a van camper since we sold our truck camper last year to help pay for the log house build. In the mid 90's Coachman made a nice conversion that had a mid located head(drivers seats-sofa/kitchen-head-& a dinette in the rear, so the search focused on that particular model. Prices ranged from around $6K-12K depending on condition. A month ago we found one in NC. It was in decent shape, '95 Chev 1 ton, 350 engine, 158K miles, new tires, fridge, rear shocks, exhaust system & battery. Sounds pretty good eh? Well, the bad part is the rust damage underneath along both sides and rear. Most of it had been repaired in the past, but it will need more attention. Negotiations commenced and we settled on $3200. So we drove it home and I pulled it into the shop, put it up on jacks and went through the whole thing.
Replaced
all fluids, even power steering & brake fluid. Changed the tranny filter, fuel & oil filter. Replaced the rear axle seals, pinion seal, rear wheel cylinders, read brake shoes, rear brake lines, oil cooler, distributor cap, rotor, plugs, wires, front shocks. I pulled the 30lb propane tank, wire brushed it, applied rust stabilizer, painted and re-mounted it. Pulled out the broken hot water tank and built a storage box in it's place(who needs hot water if there is only an outside shower?). Replaced the toilet & fridge vent caps on roof, then re-sealed the high top to steel roof seam. Replaced the rear house deep cycle battery.
I did a quick rust attack, de-scaling the undercarriage, then painted it with Permatex rust converter. It will need more work but it was a start. Cleaned the nice classic blue green shag carpet and upholstery then vacuumed from bow to stern. Though about hanging a disco ball but nix'd it for more headroom. Confirmed that the cassette deck actually works:thumbsup:
Drove it around for a couple of days and all systems were a go. Packed it up and off we went. At every fill up I checked fluids & we were good until Rockford Wisconsin. Got off the interstate and oil pressure dropped to zero along with that dreaded "taptaptaptap". Eased it into the truck stop where it took 2.5 quarts of oil:thumbdown:. Took off again only to add 2 more quarts every 2-300 miles. Then in Minneapolis I see radiator fluid all over the ground...yep water pump took a crap. Found a station open on Sat that changed it and the two oil cooler hoses that were leaking badly. Back on the road and yep, still using 2 quarts every 200miles:confused3: No smoke, power is there but I feel a slight miss...hmmm.
While in Canada I start it every few days...."oh no...rad fluid again"......cracked radiator(I hate PLASTIC). Found a shop in town I had the radiator replaced. The shop checked
my fluid mix I said it was at -30. I looked on the thermometer we have on the van and the lowest recorded temp there was .......-34(dang it missed it by "!" much). Pack up to head home still feeding the oil to it. Stop in Wisconsin and see tranny fluid in the snow...."what the .........???". It's a loose connection where the tranny line goes into the radiator. Fix that, now i have tranny fluid all over the RF brakes...off to a auto parts store for a couple of cans of Brake cleener. Off we go again and actually made home although the miss is a little more pronounced, but still NO SMOKE and NO OIL LEAKS.
So I nicknamed the thing "Puddles" since it left one almost every place we stopped. Not to mention the haz-mat trail for 2,600 miles
she's a {classic}beauty...eh????
:anyone:
