What a couple of days! Temperatures have been in the high 90's here for
the past few days. The GMC revealed some weaknesses during our trip to NC,
so I've been getting out EARLY to beat the heat -- and working all day.


Yesterday I R&R'd the left exhaust manifold since that was the "easy" one
that could be reached from the air conditioned cockpit. That wound up
taking most of the day. I'd forgotten that I installed that one without a
gasket. The leak was small, but noticeable, so I installed a Remflex
carbon gasket. Problem was, I had used studs and double brass nuts to
secure the manifold. That made removing the nuts easy, but the studs would
have required removal of the transmission dipstick and possibly other items
to get the manifold off of them. I decided to instead modivy the gasket so
I could drop it onto the studs with the manifold merely slid away 1/2" or
more.

That was a simple task with a fine blade in the band saw, but I learned of
a Remflex feature I hadn't seen before: When I installed them on 455's the
gaskets were extremely fragile; rough handling could easily destroy them.
Not the 14-001 version for the Cad500 -- it's got reinforcement with a fine
steel mesh! It didn't faze the band saw but when I tried to trim a could
of the slots with a knife, I couldn't do so. It's a good improvement.

Since yesterday went so well, I was more ambitious today, despite a higher
forecast temperature. There's inadequate clearance between the hatch rim
and the right rocker cover to access the manifold bolts, so I had to work
from underneath -- thank goodness for my service rack! But what a FILTHY
job. Despite the fact that I pressure washed the engine and undercarriage
last Saturday. Reaching as high as I could reach to undo the bolts (1/2
were no longer studs & brass nuts) directly overhead, then scraping and
wire brushing the head flanges was MISERABLE work! There was a Remflex
gasket on that side, so all that debris wound up, not on the floor, but all
over my nearly-naked body!

Then began about a 3 hour, fruitless, attempt to remove the one stud that
was broken off in the head during my last effort 4-5 years ago. After
using the best drill bits I had, including carbide tipped and Dremel
carbide mills, I had a hole about 1/4" into the stud. All that while
laying on a padded front suspension, using a drill with a 90* attachment to
attempt to reach the stud aimed directly at the right frame rail. I
gave up.

I had to take a nearly all-over bath before eating lunch, then took the
removed manifold to John Beaver who welded a tiny crack near the hottest
end, then resurfaced all 4 flanges, which were considerably distorted.

While waiting for John to repair and deliver the manifold, I undertook the
next task: When I got under the coach to do the pressure washing, I saw
that the coolant hoses to the water heater were dripping where they turned
up into the cabin. I was a little surprised since it had only been 20
years since I put them in there! Anyway, after the 'net advice, I ordered
50' of Gates 5/8" hose to install. I'm glad I did because to reach the
connections to the water heater, I had to drain and remove the fresh water
tank. At the hidden, no connections, end of the tank, I found that one of
the two plugged ports was leaking. No decay has yet begun, but certainly
would have soon. I've got to find a replacement for the screw-in plug
which was broken.

Removing the hoses wasn't the worst job of the day, but I'd sure like to
get ahold of the jerk who installed all those aviation clamps, pipe clamps,
and tywraps 20 years ago. I'd like to attack his private parts ('tho' I
know for sure that wouldn't be very significant these days)! Who'd have
though it would be that difficult to remove Jacobsen screws!?

Another flood of black soapy water came off of me before SHE'd let me eat
supper.

Tomorrow's not supposed to be any cooler, but at least rain is forecast to
maybe make it more comfortable. Re-installing the right manifold and the
new heater hoses MAY get finished. Then I've got to figure out how those
exhaust gases were getting past the hatch seal to reach the CO monitor so
quickly.

Ain't this FUN!?

Ken H.
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