ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[PugetDude]

Our heartfelt condolences, Mike.

 

[Benzlover]

My sincerest condolences Mike.

 

[bugnut]

Mike, condolences on the loss of your sister.

house and curbing look good!

 

[bigdave_185]

The curbing looks really nice Mike, I wish I would have done some islands in my yard for some trees and such, I hate the leaves but the shade is worth it

 

[Boosted1]

Mike, Sorry for your loss.

 

[steves_001]

Hey Mike, Like the others before me, I too am sorry for your loss. Tough deal no matter how you look at it.

On a positive note, the yard looks great! Well done.

 

[LXCam]

Our condolences as well Mike, close or not losing a family member is difficult on many levels.

 

[signcrafter]

Sorry to hear about your sister Mike. You're correct how as we get older our mortality starts to sink in more and more. I've known a handful of people that have gotten sick and got sick and tired of being sick. Had a neighbor recently that found out he had cancer and did one chemo treatment and said he didn't want to go thru with the rest and passed away very shortly after that.

Yard looks good Mike! I'm sure there were some hard days work getting all that done. Will say a prayer for you and your family. Enjoy your time with your new addition to your family almost here.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thank you everyone for your kind words and condolences. The last week and a half have been filled with a lot of feelings all over the place. From joyous memories of growing up, to fear for my own soul and mortality to recognizing how short life really is and how blessed I am to have such a wonderful wife and family in which to go through it all with, as well as an expanding family here within the next couple of weeks.

The Lord truly has blessed me beyond measure and my cup runneth over.

 

[JJC]

Sorry for your loss Mike. Thoughts and prayers for you and your Family

 

[JonBoehman]

So sorry for your loss Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks guys. I appreciate that.

 

[zmotorsports]

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Saturday morning coffee on the deck before beginning work in the shop. It's probably the placebo effect, but I really enjoyed a "finished" yard over the weekend. Unfortunately, it looks like due to the dry winter we had our secondary water is being cut by 20%. That's going to be tight, but I have finished both the last two years at 74% and 78% respectively, so I "should" be able to accomplish it without the yard suffering, especially where I just eliminated 8 sprinkler heads along the house and shop.




So, a couple of weeks ago I showed the replacement of the flange on the bathroom floor of our coach that I had replaced after smoke testing it and discovering a leak at the flange from a crack. I also mentioned project creep got ahold of me. Well, I was going to just reinstall the porcelain toilet and wrap it up, but I thought I'd spruce up the bathroom a little. The original wall covering in our Monaco is holding up well on the walls, however, in the bathroom they used a darker color wallpaper about 6" in width as an overlay to create somewhat of a chair rail look. This small 6" overlay was starting to peel at one end and was looking a bit "tired", plus the lower square box that was created to cover up electrical and plumbing runs, also had the covering starting to peel. In the Executive and Signature models, this lower box is made of matching hardwood to match the cabinets, but in the Dynasty they merely used wallpaper to cover it. It has held up well, but the edges were starting to fail.

I'll repost what the bathroom started out like here. The screws have already been removed from the lower box cover.



With the toilet out and replacing the flange I started to experience project creep. I thought I would replace the wallpaper "chair rail" strip with something a little nicer. I took the wife to look at options and in the end I decided that rather than merely just replacing the small 6" strip, that I would recover the walls from the chair rail down as well as try to match the walnut cabinetry as close as possible and replace the covered box on the bottom with matching hardwood, like the Exec's and Sig's have.


So after a few nights of removing the wallpaper, sanding the walls, cutting, gluing and installing the 4mm LVP on the walls, this is what it looked like by Saturday morning.


So after my morning coffee, I set up outside to begin the final stage of the bathroom remodel. I borrowed my son's table saw, router and sander and set up my miter saw to begin the work.


I started by ripping down the planks to create the vertical piece for the boxed enclosure between the vanity and the wall. It only required a couple of small, notched sections to account for some lower trim pieces.


Test fit and then the top piece could be measured and cut.


I had a couple of options as far as planks for the top piece. One piece was much lighter in grain, one piece had a darker section along one edge and this piece had a darker section pretty much down the middle. Both the wife and I preferred the dark down the middle, so this piece was cut to length and test fit. With the test fitment looking good it was permanently installed and then I could turn my attention to the small area across from it behind the toilet.


With some leftover pieces I cut the two areas across from the box where the vent pipe goes up the wall and prepped them for test fitment and final installation. The small outside corner piece will be stained and cover the edges once finished.


Both lower sections completed.



The toilet is ready to reinstall, but I thought I would wait for the trim pieces to be installed and then the toilet will be the last thing to go in, just to make it a little easier to work around.

Stay tuned for a few more pictures.

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on.

For the top edge to transition from the LVP to the original wall, I bought some oak strips that I thought I would use the router to cut a small recess on the backside for a nice tight fitment.


After a couple of test passes, I ended up taking about .100" off by 3/8" of the 3/4" trim.


This created a nice transition between the two and once the step was cut in, I just had to cut the lengths with the corresponding angles.


The corners received some quarter round pieces.


With all of the pieces cut and numbered on the backside, they were then sanded and prepped for stain and clear.





Thanks for looking.

 

[HEEP]

Amazing how one thing leads to another. I love the attention to detail. Great job on this.

Bill

 

[CGarage]

Great job on this. You really modernized the look of the bathroom.

After seeing the pre-existing bathroom, it screamed 90s Americana!

I seem to recall reading that a major industry in the U.S. state of Indiana is construction of coaches and RVs, and a large number of manufacturers are clustered in this area. Being in the middle of America, the interior design finishes and details of the coaches I have seen seemed to reflect their origins…..and more often than not it is NOT in a contemporary way.

Great job as always and a much better aesthetic.

I am in awe as to how much work it is to maintain a RV properly.

 

[zmotorsports]

Amazing how one thing leads to another. I love the attention to detail. Great job on this.

Bill

Thank you Bill. Yeah, project creep is alive and well on this one.

Great job on this. You really modernized the look of the bathroom.

After seeing the pre-existing bathroom, it screamed 90s Americana!

I seem to recall reading that a major industry in the U.S. state of Indiana is construction of coaches and RVs, and a large number of manufacturers are clustered in this area. Being in the middle of America, the interior design finishes and details of the coaches I have seen seemed to reflect their origins…..and more often than not it is NOT in a contemporary way.

Great job as always and a much better aesthetic.

I am in awe as to how much work it is to maintain a RV properly.

Thank you. Yes, owning an RV is a lot of work if you plan on doing it yourself or you had better have deep pockets if you hire it out, but then you have to worry about quality of workmanship when you hand over the keys to an independent shop or even worse a chain shop as the attention to detail and pride is really lacking these days.


Yes, Indiana is the "heartland" of RV manufacturers, Elkhart specifically seems to be the RV capitol of the country. Our Monaco coach was actually built in Oregon. In my opinion, the coaches built in Junction City, Bend and Coburg, Oregon were a cut above as they did things a bit differently than those built in Elkhart, IN.

The coach builders in Oregon, Country Coach, Monaco and Beaver in particular utilized proprietary chassis and did most everything in-house from the chassis up. The chassis were built specifically for one particular coach model, size and floorplan whereas most other diesel pusher coaches used a chassis such as Spartan or Freightliner or even Gillig (pre-2000~ish) and then built the house or the "box" on top of said chassis.

Personally, I think you get a better end result when you control the foundation upward, but that's just my opinion. Unfortunately, all those builders in Oregon didn't make it past the collapse in 2009 and are no longer in business. Country Coach went out of business completely and Monaco (which also owned Holiday Rambler, Safari and Beaver coaches) was sold to Navistar when it filed for bankruptcy at their collapse and then sold again around 2013 to Allied Specialty Vehicles which a couple years later rebranded themselves to the now REV Group, but they are NOT the same coach as pre-2009 coaches.

All that beings said, I'm NOT a fan of the more "modern" coach interiors. I like the solid oak, walnut, maple or cherry woodwork in the older coaches vs. the white or grey modern interiors. The dark colors give a more "warm" feeling in my opinion. I see so many people buying these 2000-2008~ish coaches and either gutting them and starting over or painting the high-end solid cabinets white or some other **** that in my opinion destroys the appearance and integrity of the original craftsmanship and feel of the coach. Again, just my opinion.

I was not wanting to go with a "modern" feel to our bathroom, just to give it a little facelift to cover up some of the failing wallpaper areas, which is why I am staying with the stained wood trim and added the matching solid wood to the lower boxed enclosure.

I saw a thread a few days ago where someone was asking about a 2003 HR Navigator that they had come across. The gentleman that was selling it was older and was the original owner and had all documentation and just selling due to health issues. That coach is pretty much the sister coach to ours with the exception that it has the larger Cummins ISM engine and the 4000 Series Allison transmission, but other than that is pretty much identical to our 2003 Dynasty, even equipped with the Onan 10kw genset and Aqua-Hot. The person was questioning buying a 24 year coach because of how "dated" the interior and exterior paint was. I replied that I would take that Navigator with the solid bones 20 to 1 over any of the junk being manufactured today and other than freshen up maybe the carpet or upholstery, I wouldn't touch the high end solid cabinetry or anything that makes it the sought after coach that it is. The guy replied saying he just couldn't get past the old and dated interior. I guess I'm missing something.

 

[Jayman17]

The changes in the coach look good Mike, nice job! Back yard looks good too.

 

[CGarage]

Mike, as always, I agree with you on all points.

As far as interior taste, that is subjective. To each their own, but what you have done looks warm and modern. The wallpaper made it appear dated.

I like cherry and walnut, too. Oak, must be quarter sawn and dyed dark or white for me to find it acceptable. But those are just my opinions.

 

[CGarage]

……….. but then you have to worry about quality of workmanship when you hand over the keys to an independent shop or even worse a chain shop as the attention to detail and pride is really lacking these days.

The business practices over the past 20 years in the U.S. seems to reflect this above, especially in the automotive space. And the mechanics / technicians / service writers want to charge a premium for the job, and will accept it even if they do not have the tools and know-how to perform the job professionally.


This is one reason why I have gotten into buying tools, so I can make sure my jobs are done correctly and so I can have quality control over the work.

The new auto dealerships and new car warranty is such a double edged sword nowadays. I have seen a lot of screwups at dealerships.

Sad times.

 

[ntsqd]

Some people don't see anything deeper than how it looks. Unfortunately the RV industry knows this and caters to it. Junk that won't last 5 years, but looks really good and contemporary right now is the vast bulk of what is produced. I've found that I have to look for the niche builders to find stuff made with pride and style that will (hopefully) last decades.

Grandad lived ~18 miles from Bend, OR. He used to go to Beaver's parts dept. for better RV components for his Airstream trailers and then his GMC Coach.

 

[ScepterToad]

Very nice job on the coach bathroom Mike!

I also think that the new coaches are not that great either. My BIL has that 2017 Thor and it's nice to look at, but as soon as you touch it, cheap is the only thing that comes to mind. I'll take the solid wood of our 2007 Scepter any day!

Now, some other high end manufacturers are using the solid wood these days, and their materials and craftsmanship are second to none. But, you only get that if you're spending big $$$.

 

[zanyad]

Nice job on that bathroom refresh, Mike!

 

[steves_001]

Bathroom looks great! Nice job!

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm fairly pleased with the way it's turning out.

 

[bugnut]

Mike, liking the update bathroom!

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, liking the update bathroom!

Thanks Joel.

I was able to get a couple coats of the stain applied to the trim pieces last night. In between mowing the lawn and removing the DirecTV satellite dish from the house. Yeah, the wife wasn't pleased to arrive home and find me on a ladder. There was hell to pay.

 

[ScepterToad]

That looks like it'll turn out pretty sharp Mike!

 

[zmotorsports]

That looks like it'll turn out pretty sharp Mike!

Thanks Keith.

 

[zmotorsports]

Yesterday morning I received a panicked phone call from my wife just as she was supposed to be leaving for work. She said her car was making a "whirring" noise and tried letting me listen to it through the phone, but I could not hear anything. I told her I would run home and swap her vehicles as she hates driving the Jeep because it "makes her nervous". She called back almost immediately and said after she shut the engine off and restarted it the noise quit, but I still didn't want her driving it her 45 miles to work, so I met her partway and swapped her for the truck. I couldn't hear the noise after multiple startups so I had nothing to go off of. I figured I would drive it home and just give everything a once over and as I stopped for fuel to fill it up near our home, when I restarted it, it made the noise. However, I couldn't get the hood opened fast enough and it had stopped, but it sounded like an electric drill motor so I was thinking maybe the alternator.

Upon arriving home I tore into it and nothing really jumped out at me, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking alternator as it has 209k miles on the original. I slipped the serpentine belt off and went around it and the alternator did have an odd feel to it, but nothing else jumped out at me. I'm not one to just swap out parts, especially for high quality OEM parts that have a proven history in a vehicle, but everything pointed to the alternator. I was able to find a Denso remanned unit and the OEM one is a Denso as well, so I ran and grabbed it, but first I tested the battery and although it tested good, it was at the low side of "good" and is coming up on 4 years old. If it were mine, I would have run it a bit longer, but being the wife's car and I don't want her to have issues on the road during her commute, I figured I would grab a new battery as well, so off to the parts store.




In order to snake the alternator out of the engine bay, I had to move the coolant surge tank out of the way, then it still wouldn't quite fit, so I had to remove the ECM bracket and ECM as an assembly, then it was able to fit under the A/C line and out the void where the ECM resides. All of the planets had to align and the correct orientation of the alternator had to be just right, but it came out.


Replacement Denso was identical.


These slip bushings for alternators always seem to be moved just enough that the new alternator won't slip right in. This one missed by probably only a few thousandths is all, it just wouldn't fit between the tangs on the bracket.


I see so many people reach for a hammer as the first remedy for these bushings, but I don't like beating on them as the ears they are pressed into are usually the first thing to break off. Here's a little trick that I have used a lot and works great. Take a shallow socket that barely fits over the OD of the bushing and a bolt long enough to reach through the socket and the bushing.


Then back it up with a nut and tighten slightly, which will press the bushing outward very easily and without damaging the bracket or the bushing.


Then the alternator will slip right in between the tangs on the bracket without any drama.


Alternator installed, wiring reconnected, belt reinstalled and ECM and coolant surge tank back in place ready for a test fire.



The next service I noted that it needs a major service as the timing belt, water pump, coolant flush and serpentine belt and pulley will all get replaced, so much of this will need to come apart again in a few thousand miles. But at least the wife has her car back and she's happy.


Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Just as I was wrapping up the wife's car she arrived home from work and came out to the shop to check on the progress. She was very happy her car was up and running again and I found the issue.

She also wanted to see how the stained trim would look in the coach so I took a couple of pieces into the coach and snapped a couple of pictures.

This will be the border trim around the LVP.


And this one matched excellent as it will be the lower corner trim piece over the boxed areas.



I still need to apply some clear to the trim pieces, but I am pleased with how they look so far.

Thanks for looking.

 

[larry4406]

Yesterday morning I received a panicked phone call from my wife just as she was supposed to be leaving for work. She said her car was making a "whirring" noise and tried letting me listen to it through the phone, but I could not hear anything. I told her I would run home and swap her vehicles as she hates driving the Jeep because it "makes her nervous". She called back almost immediately and said after she shut the engine off and restarted it the noise quit, but I still didn't want her driving it her 45 miles to work, so I met her partway and swapped her for the truck. I couldn't hear the noise after multiple startups so I had nothing to go off of. I figured I would drive it home and just give everything a once over and as I stopped for fuel to fill it up near our home, when I restarted it, it made the noise. However, I couldn't get the hood opened fast enough and it had stopped, but it sounded like an electric drill motor so I was thinking maybe the alternator.

Upon arriving home I tore into it and nothing really jumped out at me, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking alternator as it has 209k miles on the original. I slipped the serpentine belt off and went around it and the alternator did have an odd feel to it, but nothing else jumped out at me. I'm not one to just swap out parts, especially for high quality OEM parts that have a proven history in a vehicle, but everything pointed to the alternator. I was able to find a Denso remanned unit and the OEM one is a Denso as well, so I ran and grabbed it, but first I tested the battery and although it tested good, it was at the low side of "good" and is coming up on 4 years old. If it were mine, I would have run it a bit longer, but being the wife's car and I don't want her to have issues on the road during her commute, I figured I would grab a new battery as well, so off to the parts store.




In order to snake the alternator out of the engine bay, I had to move the coolant surge tank out of the way, then it still wouldn't quite fit, so I had to remove the ECM bracket and ECM as an assembly, then it was able to fit under the A/C line and out the void where the ECM resides. All of the planets had to align and the correct orientation of the alternator had to be just right, but it came out.


Replacement Denso was identical.


These slip bushings for alternators always seem to be moved just enough that the new alternator won't slip right in. This one missed by probably only a few thousandths is all, it just wouldn't fit between the tangs on the bracket.


I see so many people reach for a hammer as the first remedy for these bushings, but I don't like beating on them as the ears they are pressed into are usually the first thing to break off. Here's a little trick that I have used a lot and works great. Take a shallow socket that barely fits over the OD of the bushing and a bolt long enough to reach through the socket and the bushing.


Then back it up with a nut and tighten slightly, which will press the bushing outward very easily and without damaging the bracket or the bushing.


Then the alternator will slip right in between the tangs on the bracket without any drama.


Alternator installed, wiring reconnected, belt reinstalled and ECM and coolant surge tank back in place ready for a test fire.



The next service I noted that it needs a major service as the timing belt, water pump, coolant flush and serpentine belt and pulley will all get replaced, so much of this will need to come apart again in a few thousand miles. But at least the wife has her car back and she's happy.


Thanks for looking.

I like that socket, bolt, nut, and washer trick to adjust the bushing. I have used a hammer before never thinking about "what if the ear breaks off".

 

[ntsqd]

That is slick. I've used a pry-bar and a deep impact socket to push them out, but sometimes finding a socket of just the right length isn't possible.

 

[madison069]

I'm accused of hoarding bolts, but I call my bolt collection "tools that I haven't made yet"!

 

[signcrafter]

Thanks for sharing the socket trick Mike. Camper is looking good too!

Any theory on why the alt was making that noise on random start ups?

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for sharing the socket trick Mike. Camper is looking good too!

Any theory on why the alt was making that noise on random start ups?

Thanks Scott.

The socket/bolt trick is something I learned many years ago from my mentor and I have found it a much better option than using a hammer so not only is it better in terms of not creating damage to the bushing or bracket, but most of the time it is easier due to space constraints, especially on many modern vehicles where the alternator is not up on top of the belt train any longer.


As for the alternator, I think it was a bearing issue in this particular situation. Seeing as how she said this noise has happened a couple of times now over the past several weeks but each time it quit almost immediately and each time it was first thing in the morning. Yesterday it just lasted a bit longer and didn't quit until she shut the engine down and restarted. When I heard the noise after refueling, it sounded electrical and I remember I had one do something similar on a Toyota many years ago when a diode failed, but it wasn't intermittent and I could unplug the connector to the field and it the noise would quit. This was similar but different, if that makes sense.

I guess it was a combination of past experience and gut that pointed me to the alternator, and the fact that it had over 200k miles, which is also uncommon for an alternator. Granted, there are alternators that last that long, or longer, but they are not the norm.

Not sure if that answers your question or not, but the only thing I can think of that would come and go once it spun up would be a bearing issue. I also didn't want to skimp on the alternator so fortunately I was able to find another Denso vs. a generic rebuild.


**Scott, on further explanation, I should say that had I not been in such a time constraint to get the wife's car back to her I would have disassembled and searched for replacement bearings rather than replacing the whole alternator. We used to have an alternator shop nearby that I could get individual components, such as bearings, rectifier bridges and such, but when the owner passed away about 5 years ago, his kids and wife just closed the shop down and that was the last of them in my area. I have rebuilt many alternators and starter motors over my career as a mechanic and actually kind of miss having the ability to source parts so quickly for such items.

 

[signcrafter]

Thanks Scott.

The socket/bolt trick is something I learned many years ago from my mentor and I have found it a much better option than using a hammer so not only is it better in terms of not creating damage to the bushing or bracket, but most of the time it is easier due to space constraints, especially on many modern vehicles where the alternator is not up on top of the belt train any longer.


As for the alternator, I think it was a bearing issue in this particular situation. Seeing as how she said this noise has happened a couple of times now over the past several weeks but each time it quit almost immediately and each time it was first thing in the morning. Yesterday it just lasted a bit longer and didn't quit until she shut the engine down and restarted. When I heard the noise after refueling, it sounded electrical and I remember I had one do something similar on a Toyota many years ago when a diode failed, but it wasn't intermittent and I could unplug the connector to the field and it the noise would quit. This was similar but different, if that makes sense.

I guess it was a combination of past experience and gut that pointed me to the alternator, and the fact that it had over 200k miles, which is also uncommon for an alternator. Granted, there are alternators that last that long, or longer, but they are not the norm.

Not sure if that answers your question or not, but the only thing I can think of that would come and go once it spun up would be a bearing issue. I also didn't want to skimp on the alternator so fortunately I was able to find another Denso vs. a generic rebuild.


**Scott, on further explanation, I should say that had I not been in such a time constraint to get the wife's car back to her I would have disassembled and searched for replacement bearings rather than replacing the whole alternator. We used to have an alternator shop nearby that I could get individual components, such as bearings, rectifier bridges and such, but when the owner passed away about 5 years ago, his kids and wife just closed the shop down and that was the last of them in my area. I have rebuilt many alternators and starter motors over my career as a mechanic and actually kind of miss having the ability to source parts so quickly for such items.

Thanks for the explanation Mike, was just curious about the intermittent and for my own learning.

We also had an automotive electrical shop that was really good but a couple years ago they sold to another company that also bought a small tire/repair shop in town. Both have gone downhill significantly. ***** to loose those conveniences and knowledge local.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the explanation Mike, was just curious about the intermittent and for my own learning.

We also had an automotive electrical shop that was really good but a couple years ago they sold to another company that also bought a small tire/repair shop in town. Both have gone downhill significantly. ***** to loose those conveniences and knowledge local.

Thanks Scott. We're all here to learn and grow so I hope I am able to provide as much as I am gaining here.

I agree that it ***** to lose these small businesses, especially when we've become so accustomed to not only their inventory, but their vast amounts of knowledge. I know the shop I dealt with saw things weekly that I would see maybe once and it was so nice to have a good rapport with them that a quick phone call cleared up some suspicions or confirmed some diagnosis. Gone are those days, unfortunately.

 

[CGarage]

Thanks for the explanation Mike, was just curious about the intermittent and for my own learning.

We also had an automotive electrical shop that was really good but a couple years ago they sold to another company that also bought a small tire/repair shop in town. Both have gone downhill significantly. ***** to loose those conveniences and knowledge local.

Can you describe the auto electric shop. Curious to learn about this and the specialization.

 

[zmotorsports]

Can you describe the auto electric shop. Curious to learn about this and the specialization.

Basically just an alternator and starter motor rebuild shop, but they also stocked and sold individual parts/components, such as diode rectifiers/bridges, bearings, brushes and bendix's. Anything related to charging and/or starting systems.