Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] The eagle has landed.
| [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297546] |
Thu, 17 March 2016 13:30  |
Tony
Messages: 59
Registered: January 2016
Karma: 0
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Finally brought the beast home after an unintended, but amazing, extended stay at Blaine and Diane Merrell's place. In my book, that is THEE place to break down!! Huge thanks for their knowledge, talent, generosity and company...and to Ken Burton for phone support and Kon Roche (St Cloud, MN near where I started the journey).
Blaine and Diane, not only fed me but led me/helped through a detailed inspection:
1.) CV joint replacement (left side), Blaine's son Eric got down and dirty too.
2.) Exhaust repair by a local welding savant
3.) Onan muffler re-attachment
4.) ride height and tire inflation to spec
5.) Blaine (a toolmaker) made a steel rod black water gate pull to replace the broken one (better than new)
6.) Blaine's son tracked down a converter issue (powered to ground, discovered when I grabbed an airbag nut!!)
7.) tracked down a soft brake pedal to the gasket that had become fused to the top with rust bubbles poking it up.
8.) fuel line, filters, pump and routing issues
9.) Rescued me after just 15 miles on my first escape attempt. Bad fuel filter and Eric discovered the nastiest dist cap, rotor, advance unit and a faulty ignition module.
10.) Vacuum line issues galore...thankfully this coach came with tons of documentation.
I am surely forgetting something, but those were the main repairs. Runs well save for a header gasket leak on the right side. We didn't get to that, so as chilly as it was I kept a few windows open in order to arrive alive--the fumes made the drive interesting.
Haven't yet joined the local clubs, just FMCA and am hoping to drive to Dothan. Looking forward to meeting friendly faces.
I left the Merrell's early afternoon yesterday planning to stop in Nashville someplace, but push on to Chattanooga for the night. Up early and arrived home in Watkinsville at 10:15 this morning.
Time to clean, organize and start building a list of spares and gaskets.
--Tony Bennett
Watkinsville, GA
1978 GMC Eleganza
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297547 is a reply to message #297546] |
Thu, 17 March 2016 14:04  |
cbryan
Messages: 451
Registered: May 2012
Location: Ennis, Texas
Karma: 3
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Tony,
Congratulations on the epic first journey. Quite the story, but it's so nice pulling into the driveway on the maiden voyage. Drove mine with a failing exhaust valve from California to Texas, but many things were right with the coach, fuel issues bedeviled me. Spoiled with good fuel systems on all my previous cars.
Glad to see you have had such a good start to your experience.
Best,
Carey
Carey from Ennis, Texas
78 Royale, 500 Cadillac, Rance Baxter EFI.
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297548 is a reply to message #297547] |
Thu, 17 March 2016 14:10 |
tphipps
Messages: 3005
Registered: August 2004
Location: Spanish Fort, AL
Karma: 9
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All's well that ends well. And, you have many new friends.
Hope to see you in Dothan. I'll have the ugly white 26' GMC. Always under work.
Tom, MS II
2012 Phoenix Cruiser model 2552
KA4CSG
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297567 is a reply to message #297546] |
Thu, 17 March 2016 20:39 |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma: 9
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Senior Member |
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Tony,
Congratulations on your successful trip. I'm glad you got to meet some of
my old friends along the way.
If you'll check the route to Dothan, you'll find that the shortest one is
almost through Americus. I'm hoping you'll take advantage of that fact and
come by here. We're forming up a caravan, presently 4-6 coaches, for the
116 mile trip from here to Dothan. We have hookups here at our home for a
couple guest coaches (most of the caravan are local), and room for 4-5 more
at my aunt's farm 12 miles away (near our route) so you're welcome to show
up a day or two early.
Our plan at the moment is to depart at about 9 AM on 6 April. The
convention doesn't officially start until the 8th, but special pricing is
available the two previous days, and there are events planned for the 7th.
Arriving early lets us GMC more, as well as pitch in to help with the setup
labor.
Let me know if you can make it and I'll provide detailed information.
Ken Henderson
(229) nine thirty-eight 27 ninety-seven
On Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 2:30 PM, Sailorcto wrote:
> Finally brought the beast home after an unintended, but amazing, extended
> stay at Blaine and Diane Merrell's place.
...
>
> Haven't yet joined the local clubs, just FMCA and am hoping to drive to
> Dothan. Looking forward to meeting friendly faces.
>
> I left the Merrell's early afternoon yesterday planning to stop in
> Nashville someplace, but push on to Chattanooga for the night. Up early
> and arrived home in Watkinsville at 10:15 this morning.
>
> Time to clean, organize and start building a list of spares and gaskets.
>
> --Tony Bennett
> Watkinsville, GA
> 1978 GMC Eleganza
>
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297570 is a reply to message #297546] |
Thu, 17 March 2016 21:45 |
Ken Burton
Messages: 10030
Registered: January 2004
Location: Hebron, Indiana
Karma: 10
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Senior Member |
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I happy to see that you got home without any additional incidents. I told Blaine yesterday on the phone that I would telephone you about two additional items on your coach. After you have had a couple of days to settle down I will telephone you.
I'm glad you also met Eric and Diane. They are both a real big help when working on all things GMC. I thought about driving or flying down there but when I called Blaine said that you were finished working on the coach. It turns out you weren't.
It is a good thing that you bypassed my place and went to Blaine's. You got a lot more done a lot quicker there than we would have here. How about Blaine's Florida room and that 4 post lift? Here we would have been working on the concrete floor.
Ken B.
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297578 is a reply to message #297546] |
Thu, 17 March 2016 22:54 |
kerry pinkerton
Messages: 2565
Registered: July 2012
Location: Harvest, Al
Karma: 15
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Senior Member |
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Glad you made it home Tony and welcome again to the cult. I hope you take Ken Henderson up on his offer. A visit to Ken's shop is a bit like....well, words fail me, but you'll enjoy your visit and learn more than you thought possible. My goal is to someday know as much about GMC's as Ken has forgotten.
Kerry Pinkerton - North Alabama
Had 5 over the years. Currently have a '06 Fleetwood Discovery 39L
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297584 is a reply to message #297546] |
Fri, 18 March 2016 08:01 |
lqqkatjon
Messages: 2324
Registered: October 2010
Location: St. Cloud, MN
Karma: 5
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Senior Member |
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Glad you made it, and the trouble started a little closer to home. Did you get the onan started? I am curious if it was the bracket broken, and why the switches did not work.
Even with the trouble, I still think you did pretty well on that Coach. It sure looks nice, and once you get the bugs worked out, you will have a nice looking coach that also runs well. It was good meeting you.
Jon Roche
75 palm beach
EBL EFI, manny headers, Micro Level, rebuilt most of coach now.
St. Cloud, MN
http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297586 is a reply to message #297546] |
Fri, 18 March 2016 08:23 |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
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We need to gin up a 'lunch bunch' for the GMC folks in the area. Zhookoff mentioned the dairy, also the BBQ joint and burger joint in Flowery Branch belong to Jason who has a new to him 26' coach. The Knowltons are close, and there's more.
--johnny
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
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| Re: [GMCnet] The eagle has landed. [message #297601 is a reply to message #297546] |
Fri, 18 March 2016 10:42 |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma: -74
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Senior Member |
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Started a separate topic. Tony can have his'n back.
--johnny
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
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