1984 Itasca Sunflyer 22' salvage operation

I just got home, a couple hours ago, from my first RV trip...Ever. My wifes cousin was the victim of a surprise birthday party, which we (me, wifey and kids) were malefactors of. We made it up there and back without incident. My wife understands, now, the value of an RV over our pop up for weekend trips.

I had spent the last month of evenings and days off cleaning, replacing and patching and it's a nice feeling to have my family excited about something I've worked so hard on....for once!! :

Here's the short list:
Partially gutted
Carpet removed
Plywood floor Killed (Kilz)
Stick on vinyl tiles installed
Range and furnace R&I (disassembled, pressure washed, repacked with new glass)
Counter tops R&R kitchen and bath. (Found a pile of damaged 4'x8' Formica for $1.99 a sheet)
R&R faucets, kitchen and bath
MUCH rewiring...and deletion  of dubious handiman style wiring
Installed 4Kw genset
Tuned the 454 as best I could. Many vac leaks repaired!
New belts and "nutted" the alternator adjust bolt (stripped out alternator case from over tightening)
Fixed cracked Pump Saver filter housing, cracked by freezing.
R&I toilet. Sterilized with pine sol. Resealed to black tank
Pressure washed and painted the roof with a knock off Kool Coat. Caulked everything
Chased out all the mice!

The hot water heater was acting strange so, once we got to where we were going, I adjusted the flame and broke out the little sight glass. Runs like a charm

It was in the 30s' last night and we're all still alive. Guess the furnace is in good order!

I calculated 8.8 MPG. She could use an overdrive!

I'm camping down in VA Beach.
The RV made it with no trouble other then a sticking caliper. It freed it's self up a little bit but I don't like the brakes at all. I'll pull the wheels off when I get home.
You'll all call me a liar but I worked out 10.5 mpg this time. I kept it below 60mph and it was rainy for part of the trip. We'll see how she does on the way home.
Chiggers got my ankles...which is why I'm up at 4:20 AM! 

Chiggers are BAD this year for some reason. Been getting them in area's that they have never been before. Musta been the warm winter not killing them off.

Be careful with those brakes and enjoy your work!

Steve

RVs can be a tinker-toy but for some that can be fun.  It sounds like you now have a fairly reliable MH.  Good luck and enjoy!

Keeping the speed low really helps in fuel mileage

gashog said:

You'll all call me a liar but I worked out 10.5 mpg this time. I kept it below 60mph.

Click to expand...

I can't call you a liar since I had a 98 Jayco 32 foot class C that got 11 mpg.

What sort of chassis are the Itasca's built on?  Is it some sort of custom setup or is it built on a Chevy/dodge/ford truck or van chassis?  I'm not sure if that's a class-C or A rig..  I've got an '85 class C (Lazy Daze) and had my fun with it.. It's built on the Chevy G30 van chassis with 350 engine (carb'd) and the brakes suck big time -- not that they're worn or anything -- it's just that is how it was done for the big 1 ton vehicles.. Heaven forbid should the belts break and I lose power steering and braking at once.. I've heard horror stories..  Don't get me wrong -- we love the little rig but we've got more work to do -- still got a minor water leak to track down and more rotten wood to fix in the bunk area..  Hopefully yours isn't that needy -- but I didn't have any rats/mice in ours -- 

Its a class A on a P-30 chasis. That's a light commercial frame like the old super duty. It has a 454 rat with th 400 and what feels like 392 or 410 gears. It cruises about 45-50 mph. She's singin at 55!
The brakes are big commercial duty and hydro boost. Not as good as the early 90s fords but they should bring a 7500# rv down pretty quick. It yanks to the right when I step on the brake so the left caliper is stuck. I suspect the backs don't work but the park brake is ok so they might just need adjusting. Maybe i'll crawl under and look tomorrow.
Wow! Lost 3G and phone for a minute. Rough weather here!
Anyway I never saw a 454 in anything get better then 10. Probably hard to keep your foot out of it with all that torque just begging for it. Especially in a chevelle or some such! My dakota pulling my pop up only  gets around 13. I'm jumping for joy!
I missed one leak in the roof but the other dozen or so holes are sealed. Horay kool coat.
My older daughter and I dumped the tanks today. First for both of us.....last for her!
Every thing came out whoosh and the tanks look clean. Must have done something right.
One more week and im headed back north.

Edit: Oh she's rough! I have almost everything working but the roof is in bad shape. Above the head and shower is all rotten and I have that spot that's leaking now.
Also the floor is springy in the back. The roof must have leaked for years. Now I know its worthy, and the wife and kids are sold, ill get to work on all that.

Ahh.. The P30.. I think that is what was used on the same era Airstream class-A's if I recall -- I believe they also had 454's.. I guess it's the big brother to our G30 with the smaller 350.. Be careful when walking the roof if you believe it's been compromised.. I don't know about others but I'd be interested in seeing pics of your progress.. I always find it interesting tinkering with these sorts of rigs -- whether they be to do routine maintenance or wall R&R..

I did take a pic or two. The counter tops are 1/2" plywood covered with formica. The faucets are from Lowes and were on sale for $15 or something.
I stay off the roof mostly. The kayaks go up there though.

This it what it looks like today.

Im home safe.
Drove through the night and arrived yesterday morning at 7:20.
The engine got hot about 20 miles from home so I stopped at the reservoir and filled up the radiator.  Now I have to drain, flush and find out where the coolant is going. I have a feeling a head gasket may be leaking.  I have a new list of repairs to make. The main thing is obviously the roof.

I was wondering; I have searched and the topic doesn't seem to get a lot of lip service.
DIY slide out?

I think I might tackle it.

Oh...I did the calculation once home. 10mpg this time.  Better than I thought since the way back is all uphill.

Do it yourself slide out? Good luck with that. Gonna be expensive and take a while

I can't see how. I've looked at it every which way.
My pop up has a slide out and the most complicated part is the track system.
That box can't weigh more than 100#
I can slide it out with one hand.

I wouldn't go there if I were you.. There are a TON of issues that may not be obvious when you cut a huge hole in the side of the RV -- all of them structural!  Shoot, even mfg's that make RV's with slide outs don't get it right every time -- leaving the rv owner with issues that are very difficult to solve.. I'm not a structural engineer but my hunch is that you'd really need to beef up the wall on that entire side of the rig to support a slide out -- YMMV..

well- when you take out your old sawzall and start cutting in the side- hope you: have mechanism figured out, slide seals ,electrical extensions, plywood, etc. extra perimiter materials for beefing up the hole in your wall, a motor to power your mechanism, and a mechanism to hold that weight. a popup and a class A/C are 2 entirely different issues.

Do not cut it. Fix the problems and enjoy it as is.
J

We just sold our 1993 Sunrise 27ft. It too had the P30 and the 454. Over the course of several ten thousand miles we averaged 10.9MPG. (that is US gallons).

One problem that we had a few time times was "hiccuping". Thanks to another Forum members who had experienced this and found it was the harness, we suggested to our repair place that they try that fix first. This quickly extinguished the dollar signs in their eyes, and we were totally pleased that it fixed our problem as well. When the same problem resurfaced about 40,000 miles later, it turned out to be the harness once again. Just so you know.... ;-)

We sold it last week with 202,850kms on it. Hope your engine, even if noisy, will give you as much service as we got from ours. Or do you have more that 135,000M on it?

Elly

My 454 has 91k on it now. I noticed last year that one tail pipe was steaming more then the other. I also notice that when I start the engine cold, I have to blip the throttle two or three times once the choke has opened. It does clear right up but there is a misfire at first. Wet plug.
I'll get it worked out.
The th400 and 4:10 gears = a cruise speed of about 45mph and just tipping the throttle even at 55-60mph. An early 90's rig would have a 4L80 in it. Big improvement.

As for the slide out, if anyone could do it, it would be me.......but, whatever. I'm talking the talk before im ready to walk the walk.
If I tackle it, I'll document. I can't believe it's that big a deal. What a huge difference that 18" would make if the dining room could just move a little.