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[GMCnet] My first GMC adventure - long, but has some interesting distributor cover finagling [message #346349] Sun, 11 August 2019 19:54 Go to next message
Jeff Luke is currently offline  Jeff Luke   United States
Messages: 12
Registered: August 2019
Karma: 1
Junior Member
We did it! My first GMC trip in our project coach 77 Royale. Celebrate!
This is our story. (shared on facebook too)

My brother, my 2 boys and I traveled 600 miles to MI, pick up our coach and
bring it back to MA this weekend. Huge road trip adventure! :-)

I couldn't have done it without my pit crew, the wisdom of this group, Jim
Bounds and Mike Thomas. You guys all rock! My wife wanted to come but she
broke a leg and is not able to adventure just now ;-)

We prepared as much as we could remotely by scheduling new new tires, air
bag, coolant pump, oil change, fuel pump, and a lot of little tings Thanks
Mike!

We set out just after noon Saturday and in minutes our first discovery of
the day was the alternator wasn't charging so off to the parts store! Jim
Bounds provided the right part number for me (THANK YOU JIM) and my brother
installed it in the parking lot. We also discovered a generator fuel leak
and replaced the battery cables to reduce resistance.

Rolling again we crossed Ontario headed to NY stopping at about 200 miles
to fuel. Once across the border our adventure started to get lively. We had
a backfire episode and managed to get off the I-90 interstate just in time
to stall, exit the ramp and get to the side of the highway.

Symptom - we were going down a gentle grade so let off the gas a bit
followed by an uphill push. We couldn't restart, we thought it was a
flooding issue so treated it like a bowl adjustment problem and my brother
disassembled the carb and put it back together by flashlight. We managed to
eventually restart but it ran roughly.

We had 2 more episodes during the night where we thought we were flooding
the carb, eventually restarting UNTIL we backfired out a muffler and could
barely get the coach off the highway into a truck plaza.

We were an hour from home and unable to restart, replaced ignition module
and coil, bypass fuel pump

and anything else we could think of. We also were burning black clouds of
smoke and really not finding any options. Time to call Jim Bounds again.

Jim described how the timing gear can slip a tooth and throw the timing out
of kilter. We needed new spark plugs because ours were fouled and we needed
to attempt to adjust the distributor to a new angle to allow us to at least
get some combustion going again and get us to get home. (our chase vehicle
made a run to 4 different part stores in the area to get plugs and some
other parts we might need for the remainder of the trip)

It worked!!!!!! I am sure Jim can explain it better, but we got it started,
headed out on the interstate with my brother hanging over/in the engine
adjusting the distributor about 30 degrees until we stopped the very scary
backfires and had enough power to travel at least 50-60 MPH. Oh, the
muffler was still blown so it was god awful loud and smelly in there. Once
running as best we could get it, we put the cover back on the engine and
didn't stop until we made it home.

We are tired but all had a wonderful adventure!!!! we can hardly wait to
get this coach back together so we can have even greater memories down the
road.

We have a lot of work before us and we are looking forward to great trips
down the road.


The difference between adventure and adversity is attitude.


Jeff Luke,

77 Project Royale
Western MA
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Re: [GMCnet] My first GMC adventure - long, but has some interesting distributor cover finagling [message #346354 is a reply to message #346349] Sun, 11 August 2019 20:59 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Jeanette is currently offline  Jeanette   United States
Messages: 118
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Great story Jeff. Glad u made it home. You will make many more memories w the GMC. Wish you wife to be well soon

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 11, 2019, at 7:54 PM, Jeff Luke via Gmclist wrote:
>
> We did it! My first GMC trip in our project coach 77 Royale. Celebrate!
> This is our story. (shared on facebook too)
>
> My brother, my 2 boys and I traveled 600 miles to MI, pick up our coach and
> bring it back to MA this weekend. Huge road trip adventure! :-)
>
> I couldn't have done it without my pit crew, the wisdom of this group, Jim
> Bounds and Mike Thomas. You guys all rock! My wife wanted to come but she
> broke a leg and is not able to adventure just now ;-)
>
> We prepared as much as we could remotely by scheduling new new tires, air
> bag, coolant pump, oil change, fuel pump, and a lot of little tings Thanks
> Mike!
>
> We set out just after noon Saturday and in minutes our first discovery of
> the day was the alternator wasn't charging so off to the parts store! Jim
> Bounds provided the right part number for me (THANK YOU JIM) and my brother
> installed it in the parking lot. We also discovered a generator fuel leak
> and replaced the battery cables to reduce resistance.
>
> Rolling again we crossed Ontario headed to NY stopping at about 200 miles
> to fuel. Once across the border our adventure started to get lively. We had
> a backfire episode and managed to get off the I-90 interstate just in time
> to stall, exit the ramp and get to the side of the highway.
>
> Symptom - we were going down a gentle grade so let off the gas a bit
> followed by an uphill push. We couldn't restart, we thought it was a
> flooding issue so treated it like a bowl adjustment problem and my brother
> disassembled the carb and put it back together by flashlight. We managed to
> eventually restart but it ran roughly.
>
> We had 2 more episodes during the night where we thought we were flooding
> the carb, eventually restarting UNTIL we backfired out a muffler and could
> barely get the coach off the highway into a truck plaza.
>
> We were an hour from home and unable to restart, replaced ignition module
> and coil, bypass fuel pump
>
> and anything else we could think of. We also were burning black clouds of
> smoke and really not finding any options. Time to call Jim Bounds again.
>
> Jim described how the timing gear can slip a tooth and throw the timing out
> of kilter. We needed new spark plugs because ours were fouled and we needed
> to attempt to adjust the distributor to a new angle to allow us to at least
> get some combustion going again and get us to get home. (our chase vehicle
> made a run to 4 different part stores in the area to get plugs and some
> other parts we might need for the remainder of the trip)
>
> It worked!!!!!! I am sure Jim can explain it better, but we got it started,
> headed out on the interstate with my brother hanging over/in the engine
> adjusting the distributor about 30 degrees until we stopped the very scary
> backfires and had enough power to travel at least 50-60 MPH. Oh, the
> muffler was still blown so it was god awful loud and smelly in there. Once
> running as best we could get it, we put the cover back on the engine and
> didn't stop until we made it home.
>
> We are tired but all had a wonderful adventure!!!! we can hardly wait to
> get this coach back together so we can have even greater memories down the
> road.
>
> We have a lot of work before us and we are looking forward to great trips
> down the road.
>
>
> The difference between adventure and adversity is attitude.
>
>
> Jeff Luke,
>
> 77 Project Royale
> Western MA
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org

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Re: [GMCnet] My first GMC adventure - long, but has some interesting distributor cover finagling [message #346356 is a reply to message #346354] Mon, 12 August 2019 05:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Kingsley Coach is currently offline  Kingsley Coach   United States
Messages: 2691
Registered: March 2009
Location: Nova Scotia Canada
Karma: -34
Senior Member
" had a wonderful adventure!!"

Something tells me you're gonna make a fine GMCer, Jeff !

Mike in NS


On Sun, Aug 11, 2019 at 11:00 PM Jeanette Hodges via Gmclist <
gmclist@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:

> Great story Jeff. Glad u made it home. You will make many more memories w
> the GMC. Wish you wife to be well soon
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Aug 11, 2019, at 7:54 PM, Jeff Luke via Gmclist gmclist@list.gmcnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> We did it! My first GMC trip in our project coach 77 Royale. Celebrate!
>> This is our story. (shared on facebook too)
>>
>> My brother, my 2 boys and I traveled 600 miles to MI, pick up our coach
> and
>> bring it back to MA this weekend. Huge road trip adventure! :-)
>>
>> I couldn't have done it without my pit crew, the wisdom of this group,
> Jim
>> Bounds and Mike Thomas. You guys all rock! My wife wanted to come but she
>> broke a leg and is not able to adventure just now ;-)
>>
>> We prepared as much as we could remotely by scheduling new new tires, air
>> bag, coolant pump, oil change, fuel pump, and a lot of little tings
> Thanks
>> Mike!
>>
>> We set out just after noon Saturday and in minutes our first discovery of
>> the day was the alternator wasn't charging so off to the parts store! Jim
>> Bounds provided the right part number for me (THANK YOU JIM) and my
> brother
>> installed it in the parking lot. We also discovered a generator fuel leak
>> and replaced the battery cables to reduce resistance.
>>
>> Rolling again we crossed Ontario headed to NY stopping at about 200 miles
>> to fuel. Once across the border our adventure started to get lively. We
> had
>> a backfire episode and managed to get off the I-90 interstate just in
> time
>> to stall, exit the ramp and get to the side of the highway.
>>
>> Symptom - we were going down a gentle grade so let off the gas a bit
>> followed by an uphill push. We couldn't restart, we thought it was a
>> flooding issue so treated it like a bowl adjustment problem and my
> brother
>> disassembled the carb and put it back together by flashlight. We managed
> to
>> eventually restart but it ran roughly.
>>
>> We had 2 more episodes during the night where we thought we were flooding
>> the carb, eventually restarting UNTIL we backfired out a muffler and
> could
>> barely get the coach off the highway into a truck plaza.
>>
>> We were an hour from home and unable to restart, replaced ignition module
>> and coil, bypass fuel pump
>>
>> and anything else we could think of. We also were burning black clouds of
>> smoke and really not finding any options. Time to call Jim Bounds again.
>>
>> Jim described how the timing gear can slip a tooth and throw the timing
> out
>> of kilter. We needed new spark plugs because ours were fouled and we
> needed
>> to attempt to adjust the distributor to a new angle to allow us to at
> least
>> get some combustion going again and get us to get home. (our chase
> vehicle
>> made a run to 4 different part stores in the area to get plugs and some
>> other parts we might need for the remainder of the trip)
>>
>> It worked!!!!!! I am sure Jim can explain it better, but we got it
> started,
>> headed out on the interstate with my brother hanging over/in the engine
>> adjusting the distributor about 30 degrees until we stopped the very
> scary
>> backfires and had enough power to travel at least 50-60 MPH. Oh, the
>> muffler was still blown so it was god awful loud and smelly in there.
> Once
>> running as best we could get it, we put the cover back on the engine and
>> didn't stop until we made it home.
>>
>> We are tired but all had a wonderful adventure!!!! we can hardly wait to
>> get this coach back together so we can have even greater memories down
> the
>> road.
>>
>> We have a lot of work before us and we are looking forward to great trips
>> down the road.
>>
>>
>> The difference between adventure and adversity is attitude.
>>
>>
>> Jeff Luke,
>>
>> 77 Project Royale
>> Western MA
>> _______________________________________________
>> GMCnet mailing list
>> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
>> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>


--
Michael Beaton
1977 Kingsley 26-11
1977 Eleganza II 26-3
Antigonish, NS

Life is too short to hold a grudge; slash some tires and call it even !
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Re: [GMCnet] My first GMC adventure - long, but has some interesting distributor cover finagling [message #346359 is a reply to message #346349] Mon, 12 August 2019 06:32 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Russell K. is currently offline  Russell K.   United States
Messages: 178
Registered: October 2016
Location: Dunedin, Florida
Karma: 4
Senior Member
Congratulations Jeff and family! You have the right attitude to be a GMCer. Welcome to the club. Here's to many more GMC adventures down the road, perhaps without all the backfiring.

Safe Travels,
Russell


1978 Eleganza II, Dunedin, Florida
Re: [GMCnet] My first GMC adventure - long, but has some interesting distributor cover finagling [message #346787 is a reply to message #346349] Fri, 23 August 2019 22:51 Go to previous message
ljdavick is currently offline  ljdavick   United States
Messages: 3548
Registered: March 2007
Location: Fremont, CA
Karma: -3
Senior Member
My biggest regret is that we didn’t buy our coach sooner! We missed some very fun years with our daughter, but we made some unforgettable memories on the road. Get it running safely and go. With our coach I had the brake lines replaced and brakes serviced, front bearings greased and new tires, etc., just so we could go, go, go.

Enjoy,

Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, CA
Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Distributor

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Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, Ca
Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Dizzy
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