Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » newbie rambling about 75 Palm Beach project
| newbie rambling about 75 Palm Beach project [message #196052] |
Mon, 21 January 2013 01:07  |
Jack Ramsey
Messages: 82
Registered: December 2012
Location: Tulare, CA
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Newbie here. Have recently acquired for darn near nothing ($2k) a 75 Palm Beach, long story helping a friend and somehow I get a coach. Central California located-owned , with 100K on the odometer. engine trans rebuilt by real good mechanic at 89K, but coach sitting for last 12 years. 600hrs on the 6Kw Onan with “circuit board needs replacement” (previous owner statement). Front end rebuilt in 1997, when 1 airbag replaced and shocks. New 16.5 steel wheels tires in 97. I think a fresh water tank replaced 94 and hot water heater. Old big single roof mounted AC. Usual plethora of 70’s CB radio antennas and associated wire loose everywhere. No rust, no real leaks apparent, see some wood warping top inside of closet, headliner shot, including panels coming down. Original refrigerator, drivers and passenger seats, side bathroom, and cabinets. Toilet replaced with ceramic in 94. Last owner gutted the dinette, drivers side couch and rear bed-seating stuff, and never got around to finishing. Exterior no dents painted poorly in 97, but stored outside since then, no wax, probably buff out ok.
Engine starts right up, drives great, (I think, no reference), brakes ok for a huge vehicle nothing else electrical works besides the aftermarket tachometer and the slowest pump up of the airbags that I could imagine. (fixed for leaks in 97, but 15yrs later probably needs work)
Now my history. Old factory trained Porsche mechanic from the 70’s (911 mechanical fuel injection my real love through the 928 introduction) Put down the wrenches in the 80’s for old big dish satellite work. Some of you might remember the wizard codes for the VC II, someone had to pull those codes out of head ends. That brought me into the computer industry and been a network engineer for the last 25years, while also doing project management for large infrastructure college building projects (construction). Picked up the wrenches about 10 years ago after getting a good deal on a couple of BMW 12 cyl cars (750 and an 850) and really like fixing vehicles when not doing it for a living. Built a nice shop for this hobby, with a couple of lifts, but nothing to lift a GMC. Started a Solar install company in 2007 and been doing double duty both keeping it alive and now it is holding it’s own, so even more work, but energy management and solar are the future. (I’m not very green)
So now that I have shown that I have the qualification to know better than undertake this project but obviously not the intelligence or common sense to just get one for a reasonable price that has already been gone through. I guess I join the crowd here. I REALLY like the design, the simplicity and the ROOM to work on the systems. They say if you look back at a car and smile after parking it, you have the right car. That is how I feel about the GMC design.
Not that it can’t use some updated technology to make things easier and of course lighter, but keep the reliability of cubic inches and torque. Want to move to throttle body injection, and electronic ignition including knock sensor, but things working now. Looks like air flow in the engine compartment was not a thought in the 70’s so any improvement would help.
Since all the electrical system is currently down, and LED lighting is so efficient, along with the roof AC should be a lot more efficient in the last 35years, that there may be a reason to get more battery, put in an efficient inverter-charger and possibly run darn near everything on DC. I have done this for some of my off grid folks. My latest laptop runs on 18.5v, I know of AC units that run on 24V and most of my solar panels in the 200-250W range have 28-35V DC outputs. Pretty much perfect for charging 2 X 12V batteries in serial but line tapping them to 12V for standard RV equipment. Anyone done this?
The newer DC Air Conditioning units SHOULD not have the huge startup draw the AC units have. Battery balancing-charging may be too complex, and simple sine wave inverters are pretty reliable these days.
The other factor is when I move off the standard available stuff, the price often becomes stupid so efficiency vs $$, and money trumps today. Start a small generator when running AC or plug in. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
DC AC http://www.dcairco.com/index.php/products/trucks/dc-13000
Wheels-Tires: Previous owner bought new 16.5 wheels and hard to find now. The ones I have are way too old to drive on. I know the Alcoa’s are pretty and all that, but functionality is first on my list. I have not seen a posting on any GMC steel 16’s made, or any pics of good looking ones. Don’t want to mess with the offset so in my mind, offset is more important than simple clearance. May not be a relevant on a truck as sports cars, but the physics is the same. Anyone weigh the difference between a well made 16” steel and the Alcoa’s?
All I can come up with now..
Jack
Jack Ramsey
Tulare, CA
TZE165V101526
1975 Palm Beach
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