| [GMCnet] 1300 mile trip report [message #281110] |
Tue, 30 June 2015 17:57  |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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We just returned from a two week, 1300 mile trip in the Clasco without so much as a hick up. That S&J engine is also now fully broken in so both coaches now perform about the same. The Royale is still a bit stronger as it has Thorley headers while the the Clasco runs the stock exhaust manifolds and there undoubtedly is some difference in the advance curves as the Royale has a Patterson HEI tuned for that coach while the Clasco has a generic HEI from Bounds. The difference is small. On this trip we never needed to shift into second even though we climbed a bunch of hills between Southern Oregon and the Canadian border going and driving the whole way down the Oregon coast coming back. Same story as the S&J engine in the Royale - never below 3-4” of vacuum so never WOT, never below 50mph on the freeway climbing the passes although we often were lower than 50 along the Oregon coast, never over heated (oil pressure and temp looked to be painted on they were so stable even in the post 100 degree heat we encountered in several places), etc. Only heard the standard duty fan clutch when starting up from a stop with the engine hot or first thing in the morning. The secondaries could be heard as they opened going up the longer/steeper grades.
Even though both coaches have the same gear ratio, wheels and tires, and both have bag risers with the stock one bag system, the Clasco wallows a bit more than the Royale since I removed the huge Caspro rear sway bars and monster steering damper. I have yet to reinstall a stock steering damper on the Clasco while the Royale does have one so that may be part of the reason. The other reason probably relates to the stock suspension on the Clasco that is ride height low in front and back while the Royale is bang on ride heigh and has a one ton front end. Both are a one handed calm drive, but the Royale is just a bit better and more stable. As I have reported before, the Clasco with its stock brakes stops as well if not a bit better than the Royale with the six wheel disk brakes and reaction arms.
All in all a most pleasant ride in a very pleasant coach that turns heads wherever it goes thanks to the “just like it came from the Clasco paint booth” look on the exterior and the smart, clean and modern looking Clasco interior. One of our stops was at the FMCA NW area rally in Coos Bay, OR. The parking people put us right along side the main entry road so we got lots of on-lookers and lots of positive comments from the many visitors who stopped by. We caught up with several GMCers who came just for a day, but were not aware of any other GMCers who were registered for the whole rally. We can’t say enough about the wonderful hospitality of Jerry Wheeler and his wife when we visited them one night to catch up with GMCer Dan Winchester and his son and daughter-in-law who were there with their ocean going fishing boat.
Jerry
Jerry & Sharon Work
Kerby, OR
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
78 Royale
77/94 Clasco
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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| Re: [GMCnet] 1300 mile trip report [message #281357 is a reply to message #281110] |
Thu, 02 July 2015 23:50  |
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ljdavick
Messages: 3548
Registered: March 2007
Location: Fremont, CA
Karma: -3
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Senior Member |
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I love these trip reports. Particularly your attention to detail. I’ll try to write something up once I’ve installed the Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Distributor. We’re planing a road trip in a few weeks and this should make a difference - even with a tired, old, stock 455!
Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, CA
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Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, Ca
Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Dizzy
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