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| [GMCnet] Considering purchasing a GMC [message #252310] |
Mon, 16 June 2014 13:50  |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
Karma:
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Hi Dan,
You will enjoy your new found life! That is you will enjoy it if you and your family are on the road. A GMC sitting for 7 years is going to need a through going over every system one by one. The chances of that being 17,000 miles are not great, much more likely 117,000 or 217,000. No matter, you will need to go through every system independent of the mileage. Think of it as a house that was built in 1978. What things would you replace or update to make it fit your lifestyle today? Likely all the appliances, furnace and AC, rugs, upholstery, paint and maybe the plumbing fixtures. Now think of that same house living in an earthquake zone for all these years.
Add in the mechanical systems to check out like brakes (including the hard and soft lines, the proportioning valve, master cyl and the four rear slave cyl) in addition to linings, drums and rotors. Then move to tires - replace if over five or six years old no matter what they look like. If it has 16.5" steel wheels your tire choices will be limited to Firestone. 16" aluminum wheels will make your life a lot easier. Next, check the air bags, compressors, air lines, ride height, front end components and alignment. Then check the cooling systems including the radiator, water hoses, belts, fan clutch and thermostat plus the engine and transmission oil cooler lines and the power steering hoses. If any of those go out on the road they will make a mess out of your otherwise fun and enjoyable family outing. The engine, transmission and final drive are the least likely to need attention other than changing fluids and filters, including changing ALL the fuel filters and the fuel
pump, checking the mechanical advance in the distributor, changing the module if it is HEI and putting on new spark plug wires. The ethanol in our fuels will likely have made mush out of all your fuel lines which for a coach that has been setting usually means dropping both fuel tanks for cleaning and replacing all the rubber fuel lines that run all around the coach.
I am not trying to scare you away because all of us who have reliable, good drivers love our GMCs and you and your family will as well. We put between 10,000 and 20,000 miles on our two coaches every year and would not want to miss a minute of these adventures. I am trying to suggest that buying a coach that has been sitting for a number of years can be a daunting starting point unless you have lots of experience with 30 to 40 year old vehicle restoration. Most people find they are much better off paying a lot more to buy one that has had all the reliability work done and has been used on a regular basis. Let us know where you live and we can likely put you in touch with a GMC owner who might be willing to help you look at the one you are interested in and/or steer you to one closer to being in on the road condition. Good luck, join one or more of the many GMC clubs and attend rallies. You will find lots of new friends of all ages to help.
Jerry
Jerry & Sharon Work
Kerby, OR
glwork@mac.com
541-499-1027
http://jerrywork.com
78 Royale
77/94 Clasco
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Message: 11
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 13:34:06 -0400
From: Daniel DeLuca
Subject: [GMCnet] Considering purchasing a GMC
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII
My wife as stumbled upon a 1978 Eleganza ii with 17,000 miles that has been sitting for 7 years, available for a song. I am going to look at it tomorrow, but for all I know the frame could be rusted through. But for a second lets imagine we pick up this thing up. My question is what are are the essential upgrades this is going to need to make it a reasonable driver?
I know the engine is going to need an overhaul, and I will need all new tires. What about the braking system. I have seen a lot written about a reaction arm from AppliedGMC. Is this a good upgrade for the price? Assuming they are not rotted away would the fridge, stove, furnace and AC units be usable or are they the kind of thing that need to be replaced with modern components? Thanks for your wisdom.
Dan
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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