Broken down. Looking for help

[Isuzusweet]

Keith

You've probably figured out by now why I suggest contacting Brad in the first place.

Brad I for one, but not the only one, am very glad you are back from your self imposed exile.

Cheers
Tony

[martin300662]

Originally Posted by Isuzusweet

Keith

Brad I for one, but not the only one, am very glad you are back from your self imposed exile.

Cheers
Tony

We need a 'like' button

[r carl]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

This is what I would install.

Chevrolet Performance 7.4L 454 C.I.D. Engine Assemblies 12339193 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

And for a new one this has forged crank, rods, and pistons.


454 HO Big Block Crate Engine | Chevrolet

[chiefair]

Brad, Thanks again for taking the time to help me out. With a trailer height of 42" I would be 14' tall. Too high to be legal. I think we will make the low bed work. If I remember correctly, the generator exhaust is the lowest hanging obstacle behind the axle. The trailer steps up 14". I can block up the rear wheels enough so the 9 feet behind the axle will clear that 14" step and still be legal height.
Keith


1982 310 motorhome 454
Henniker New Hampshire

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by chiefair

Brad, Thanks again for taking the time to help me out. With a trailer height of 42" I would be 14' tall. Too high to be legal. I think we will make the low bed work. If I remember correctly, the generator exhaust is the lowest hanging obstacle behind the axle. The trailer steps up 14". I can block up the rear wheels enough so the 9 feet behind the axle will clear that 14" step and still be legal height.
Keith


1982 310 motorhome 454
Henniker New Hampshire

Dang, that's right. The 310 is definitely taller than an Argosy. I transported my 74 Argosy on a 42" deck trailer and it just cleared the 13'6" height requirement (at least that's what the trucker hoped!) by an inch or so.

Sorry about that

I think you're right about the genset exhaust being the only thing hanging down at the rear of the coach.

Brad

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by r carl

And for a new one this has forged crank, rods, and pistons.


454 HO Big Block Crate Engine | Chevrolet

IMHO, forged components for an engine that makes less than 300 HP is overkill... WAY overkill.

Two bolt, cast 454s will most always go more than 100K miles without blowing up.

Dollar for dollar, the cheaper engines are a better deal for RV duty.

No pricing on that link, I am thinking probably 8K to 12k?

[J. Morgan]

It is a lot cheaper than I thought....

I would think about it for $5,800...

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/nal-12568774

[Isuzusweet]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

IMHO, forged components for an engine that makes less than 300 HP is overkill... WAY overkill.

Two bolt, cast 454s will most always go more than 100K miles without blowing up.

Dollar for dollar, the cheaper engines are a better deal for RV duty.

With all due respect, have you ever owned a Classic motorhome with a 454 7.4L?

1) Depending on the size moho and how hilly the terrain the moho is driven on, it wouldn't be surprising to hear a 454 in a 345 blowing up with only 50,000 miles on it after being driven through mountainous or hilly terrain. The very first 345 I looked at had 130,000 miles and he was on his third motor, fourth transmission. One motor blew in Tennessee; with our dollar at the time being worth .65 cents US, it was cheaper for him to float the coach to Canada for the engine replacement.

2) The big cost of an engine replacement is the labour to pull and replace the engine. It can easily surpass or be equal to the cost of the engine rebuild or replacement, so spending money on a cheap engine that is not specced out to pull 15,000+ lbs is courting disaster, a lot sooner than later.

IMHO unless you do the work yourself and enjoy banging knuckles in the very tight engine space of a Classic motorhome, I would strongly suggest you buy a very strongly built motor specced out with a RV cam as a replacement.

Cheers
Tony

[J. Morgan]

Motorhome? No. Never owned one,,,

But I do own and have owned plenty of 454 equipped trucks that we routinely load to around 26,000 pounds gross.

Just conveying my experience.

I also have noticed that it takes a lot of people a long, long, time to put 100,000 miles on a motorhome.

What is different from the 454s in these motorhomes than the typical 454s that went in the same era one tons?

I don't know, but I suspect nothing. As far as I know, forged components were not offered in passenger 454s at least from the mid seventies.

If these motorhomes had used a real truck engine, they would have used a 427 tall deck engine.

[chiefair]

Thanks to some good friends, my 310 has made it back home.
I appreciate the help And advice from everyone here.


1982 310 motorhome 454
Henniker New Hampshire

[Keyair]

Awesome pic!

[tjdonahoe]

Check with chevy dealer for complete new engine,usually the cheapest route to go, that is what we did with the truck engines when a 427 give out...

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by chiefair

Thanks to some good friends, my 310 has made it back home. Attachment 245039
I appreciate the help And advice from everyone here.


1982 310 motorhome 454
Henniker New Hampshire

Congrats!! Do you mind sharing what kind of bids you got from Uship for the 1000 mile trip?

[martin300662]

I would say the first task would be to pull the top of the engine and keep your fingers crossed it is something repairable in place....if not start dismantling to get the engine out.

Whether you rebuild (to a motorhome spec), drop in a used motor (and you are more any welcome to the 454 in my donor but would have to come take it outt) or drop in a Chevy Performance crate engine (454 HO Big Block Crate Engine) is totally down to budget, but lower budget = higher risk of failure (and a repeat situation) down the road.

[Keyair]

Whatever you do, it needs to be a 4 bolt main block. They are just stronger. Mine had a 6,000 mile old Jasper reman unit in it when I bought it. We will see if it survives miles or my itch to put a Cummins 6bt in there and double my mpg! There is a company out here in CA that builds a very nice BBC motor that is in the $2500 range. It makes 400hp and 500ftlb but that is on a more car based cam... I bet they could put an RV cam it it.. I will post the link when I am in front of my computer.

[halftimer]

Pay the extra bucks for a jasper engine have warranty on motor and labor nationwide

[chiefair]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Congrats!! Do you mind sharing what kind of bids you got from Uship for the 1000 mile trip?

I did not receive a single quote on uship. I also listed it on the site Brad used (yesterday's tractors) and had no response.

I found a shop who would make repairs in South Bend, IN but they could not get it in for 2 weeks to give me an estimate. I am glad I was able to get it home.

I hope none of you require their services, but Bestway Towing in South Bend was exceptional. The owner and all of his crew were very kind to us. He gave me a reduced price on the storage fee. He used 2 wreckers and 3 guys to help me load onto the lowbed without any additional charge. There are still good people out there in the world.


1982 310 motorhome 454
Henniker New Hampshire

[Melody Ranch]

I sure am glad you got it home...and met some good Folks along the way.

[Keyair]

Originally Posted by halftimer

Pay the extra bucks for a jasper engine have warranty on motor and labor nationwide

Good advice too.

[dadstoy]

139,189.

And that's not "beers on the wall"

139,189 miles on my 1982 Airstream 280 original Chevy 454 engine.

There are three reasons why my engine has lasted for 139,189 miles (and hopefully a lot more to come).

1. It has never been severely overheated. I know in the past that the temp gauge needle has been buried but not to the point of boil over.

2. The oil has been changed on the average of every 3000 miles.

3. The Chevy 454 is a great work horse engine!


Here is what I would do if my 454 took a dump...

Replace it with a diesel? NO!
I couldn't afford it and the return on investment would never pencil out. Now of course I would if I got a donation from Donald Trump and was asked to only attend his next wedding in return. And it would be a modern day diesel. But let's face it, most of us old Airstream MH owners are on a "budget", otherwise even though I love these old coaches, if I had the money, I would own a new million dollar diesel pusher, not a 30 year old Airstream.

Next, I would carry a wooden paddle with me at all times...you know, the one that our mother's paddled our butts with when we where children (and in a time when that was not considered child abuse)!

The wooden paddle would be used to hit myself in the back of the head every time the thought of "high performance" entered my little brain.

At a cruising speed of around 60mph, my 454 turns about 3000rpms. That's not going to change with the gearing of the rear end and no budget to add a Gear Vendor unit. When heading up those 8 mile long 5 percent grades going over the Siskiyou's between California and Oregon, in second gear and with the loud peddle pressed firmly to the floor, the rpm range is between 3500 and 3900. I would say that the average operating range is between 2200 and 3000rpms.

What I would want then is to build a motor with lots of torque in this operational range and with gas mileage in mind. I would also build a motor within a budget that would be reasonable for the application it was to be used in...pulling an RV down the highway. For me this means very little in the way of "high performance" parts. High performance engines are designed to run in the 6000 - 8000+ rpm range, not an RV engine by any means.

Many top engine builders such as David Vizard state that four bolt main 454 blocks are over kill for anything under 600hp and 625 pounds of torque. I spoke with Cliff Ruggles, the premier Quadrajet carb builder, on the phone one day and asked him if I should replace my stock intake manifold with an Edlebrock Performer. He said if I replaced my stock manifold, I would be wasting my money and that I would regret it in performance and gas mileage. I was going to replace my stock HEI ignition coil with an expensive high performance coil until I did the research from the manufactures and found out that the stock unit works fine up to 6000rpms and that's when the high performance units are required to maintain an adequate spark. The one aftermarket component that I do believe is well worth the expense is the Banks exhaust or a Banks type of exhaust as many other have attested to and which I have on my 454.

If my block was still usable, I would continue to use it. I would do all the work myself except of course the machining. If my block, crank and rods were not usable, I would consider a crate engine, but most are not designed for RV usage, so I would be very careful in my choice.

My 30+ year old 454 with 139,189 miles on it is still running strong! It idles smooth and I don't see smoke out the tail pipe. Yes, it burns it's requisite amount of oil, but hey its a Chevy 454 from an era long ago. But then my Polaris RZR ATV burns maybe 3 times as much oil.

Keeping all this in mind has allowed me to spend those hard earned dollars on my toy where I do usually run it with the load pedal to the floor...my RZR. There are however disadvantages of running a high performance vehicle where one likes to hear that loud exhaust such as the $2000 I just spent rebuilding the clutch, rebuilding the shocks, replacing all suspension bushings, balls joints and tie rod ends. This is a result of running that pedal to the floor. Last year I installed a header and tuner system on it and although it sounds great (and loud), I swear it has cut my gas mileage in half!

Of course, I will have to take all this back if my 454 blows on our next trip to Yosemite in October!