1988 345 Airstream Engine rebuild

[Jim Keaty]

Please email me any pictures and info on ur project. Jim@jimkeaty.com

[ranchmink]

I have two MoHos. The 79 is a 28' with 502 GM Crate engine and just acquired a 81 with Isuzu Diesel that I am working on. I am going to sell the Diesel. It will be a good MoHo for someone. It only has 85000 miles on it. I am cleaning up the inside now, it needed some TLC. The outside is very good condition with only one major bonk in the right rear. I am going to remove the panel and work out the metal, I am custom car metal worker with all the tools. The hardest part is just getting the panel off carefully and working the metal on an English wheel/hammer and replacing with Olympic rivets and shave them down. Will be my first panel r/r.Good luck on your engine decision.

[perryg114]

The older 7.3L IDI only put out 175HP which is less than your 454. It was a good engine but getting parts and someone who knows how to fix them is getting harder and harder. Many components on these older diesels don't like the low sulfur fuels that have much less lubricity. This means that already hard to find parts are going to wear out faster. I got rid of one of these a few years back and I am glad I did before it got to be more of a money pit that is already was. Diesel engines are very heavy and require some heavy equipment to just to pull one out. I am talking 1200lbs here as opposed to less than half that for a gas engine.

Perry

Originally Posted by submariner

if it would be me, i would definitely change to a diesel. I go with a 7.3 diesel from a school bus. stay with the older non power stroke for simplicity. you can find pretty cheap the entire engine with transmission from old school buses. ( we have a place locally that might part out some buses )
alternative i would consider an older 466 international diesel.those are inline 6 and commercial grade engines.. they will last forever.
in regards to your generator, you can either run your gen on propane, leave a small gas tank or change to a diesel gen.

just my 2 cents

[greglupo55]

Would love the info on that conversion. Sounds good if I decide to keep my 345.