79' 454ci stuff/RV mechanical input

[marty79]

this week starting on mechanics of my RV and just looking for some input.
I ordered a HD New water pump that was self explanatory!
Thermostat??? ADVISE please. 180? 195? regular? High Flow? keeping in mind this thing has to climb the steep mountain grade every time we come home with either the toy jeep or DD jeep behind it so pretty much always going to have a jeep behind it.
Double up on Trans cooler? I have an extra one laying around so should I use it. Factory setup has a pretty big 16x16ish trans cooler and 12x12ish oil cooler there already.

Brakes: Is it worth the money for drilled and slotted rotors or just resurface them and run the best titanium pads and shoes they offer for it.
Intake manifold: 48Kmiles and it looks "pretty dry" but 37years old. Leave it or change it while I'm messing with cooling system...(would be good time to polish and port it a little too and make some block off plates).
Thank you for advise and help on this...(getting close to driving conditions now. Fired right up for the first time in 2months that it's been sitting!)

 

[marty79]

btw anyone ever done water pump on one of these? this "doghouse" does not give enough room to access hardly anything from up top so it looks like you just have to jack up the front, lay directly under it on your back and just work from that angle?
if anyone has any other tips or tricks that would be great as it looks like such a simple task isn't going to be so "simple" lol as far as labor goes.

 

[GotWood]

I think the grill is usually removed relatively easily.

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

I wouldn't mess with the intake unless it needs it.

I would run a stock style thermostat also, since the engine is stock.

Extra trans cooler shouldn't hurt. If you could mount it away from the rad with an electric fan, that's help even more. Also make sure the current coolers are working correctly/flushed.

I would leave the stock style rotors on it. Spend the money upgrading/replacing the the booster/master/caliper. Is it vacuum or hydro boost?

I would change/flush the brake fluid and ps fluid if it's hydro

 

[krehel24]

I spent a week inside one of these! Take the grill off and pull the radiator out, climb in and get to work!!!! While you are there do the timing chain and anything else you can think of on the front of the engine! The job sucks and is uncomfortable so try to do it once!!

 

[marty79]

I think the grill is usually removed relatively easily.

there is none really...whole front end is freaking fiberglass one piece so crapped out of luck with that idea!

 

[marty79]

I wouldn't mess with the intake unless it needs it.

I would run a stock style thermostat also, since the engine is stock.

Extra trans cooler shouldn't hurt. If you could mount it away from the rad with an electric fan, that's help even more. Also make sure the current coolers are working correctly/flushed.

I would leave the stock style rotors on it. Spend the money upgrading/replacing the the booster/master/caliper. Is it vacuum or hydro boost?

I would change/flush the brake fluid and ps fluid if it's hydro

will leave intake alone.
???Can I use the a/c condenser for a One Big Trans cooler..it's huge and has the big round tubes throughout it not the flat ones, that would surely be way better and already sitting in front of radiator mounted??
It's Hydro brakes (which are very weird...brakes are very "touchy" towards the last 30%of pedal travel and brakes pretty hard/stops good even with old pads and rusted rotors lol...good to know so far though.

 

[marty79]

I spent a week inside one of these! Take the grill off and pull the radiator out, climb in and get to work!!!! While you are there do the timing chain and anything else you can think of on the front of the engine! The job sucks and is uncomfortable so try to do it once!!

well I am doing everything on front of engine but Timing Chain?? 48Kmiles is that really necessary? I was going to do water pump, T-stat, remove air pump, remove compressor, and hope to get underdrive pulleys for some more added torque along with loosing the other accessories and undesired belts just dragging the motor down.
Long tube headers will follow in the future and that is when intake will get swapped along with bigger carb.
Timing Chain will not get touched until WAY down the road when it needs it and upgrade the cam and probably pull the heads at that time for port and polish...this is if things stay on the right direction and we keep using it as much as I hope to!

 

[krehel24]

The timing chain set is cheap and is very easy to do, my point was only that while you are right there doing the water pump for an extra $100 or less and about an hour or so added time it would be worth it to me. The timing chain guide and tensioner is probably rotten and soon fall apart.. @marty79 can you post a pic of the front? I can't belive there is no way to get to the radiator from the front...

 

[marty79]

Take the grill off and pull the radiator out,

I'm also trying to avoid pulling radiator unless I change it. That huge thing looks pain in the ass and I'm afraid I'd break it removing it and right now it's working good and looks good for 37yr old copper radiator.
I climbed under it today and no luck accessing anything from underneath it period. SO, looks like lay down over the motor for some of it and the rest do through the passenger wheel well as it is open and has some descent visibility.
I can't even tell how the radiator would come out since the whole front end is One Solid piece of fiberglass top to bottom so unless i cut that, ain't happening. No way to jack high enough to pull it from the bottom so....yeah, that's an interesting headache in itself. I see some models had removable front end but I didn't get that lucky with this one.

 

[drkelly]

Keep the A/C system.

 

[marty79]

@marty79 can you post a pic of the front? I can't belive there is no way to get to the radiator from the front...

wish there was dude but if it comes out the front, LOTS of crap including cutting some steel out of the way, fiberglass and too much junk to list.
I swear when they built this thing, they didn't care AT ALL about how things will be fixed and removed. They just slapped everything where it could go and dropped the body down on it and done, sell it and let that be the owners probelm lol

 

[marty79]

Keep the A/C system.

Thought about this but for my build purpose, it will never get used as I don't use one ever in my cars that have had working A/C and the roof unit has been replaced and works awesome. I don't want any more drag on the motor than it has to and nothing extra to go wrong that is not needed. The few less mechanical things on it the less things to break and go wrong plus every little mod put together makes a bigger difference in the end and I LOVE Simplicity! just my preference always has been

 

[krehel24]

@marty79 ok you missed what I said! That big ass removable panel right below the windshield wipers, open, and CLIMB IN! You are not seeing something there IS a way to remove the radiator and trust me it sucks but you literally have to climb in and twist you body like a yoga master. I couldn't stand up straight for an hour after I worked on one..

 

[marty79]

@marty79 ok you missed what I said! That big ass removable panel right below the windshield wipers, open, and CLIMB IN! You are not seeing something there IS a way to remove the radiator and trust me it sucks but you literally have to climb in and twist you body like a yoga master. I couldn't stand up straight for an hour after I worked on one..

OHH ha ha ha ha ha THAT THING haha very funny sir!! With my bad knees, NO CAN DO for this guy. Not worth me throwing out my knees/locking them up again. When this happens, I can't walk or bend for almost a week last time and I would (no joke) get stuck in there not being able to get out once my knees lock up (yep they are that bad lol) so I have to find different ways to work on stuff that is easiest on my knees to avoid this.

 

[marty79]

@krehel24 like your comment "yoga master"

 

[krehel24]

Yea I wasn't kidding about having to climb in!!! My wife is a yoga teacher, so that was the first thing that came to mind! Lol

 

[marty79]

Yea I wasn't kidding about having to climb in!!! My wife is a yoga teacher, so that was the first thing that came to mind! Lol

you think I'm crazy when I say this but IF and IF I was going to do all that, I would cut the whole "grill area" out of the way to work comfortably on everything there one time then make a whole custom frill for it which would give it much better air flow anyways but am going to try and keep from that thought becoming an action hehe. gonna be fun day tomorrow, the wife is going to hang out inside with me next to the tools reading so she can hand me sockets and wrenches as I'm hung over the motor lol until blood rushes to my head and pass out

 

[marty79]

I would change/flush the brake fluid and ps fluid if it's hydro

how should this be done..just like any power steering drain and fill type of deal and should I add in Lucas when refilling

 

[kaiser715]

Snagged a front-end pic from the other thread....

Zoomed in, it looks like a horizontal seam the the lower corners of the 'hood'. Looks like that panel from there down removes (grill/headlamp/parklamp area)?????

 

[paradisePWoffrd]

how should this be done..just like any power steering drain and fill type of deal and should I add in Lucas when refilling

Just like any other PS drain. Might need to crack loose the lines at the hydroboost to get them to drain. I would not add lucas. I would put in some synthetic PS fluid.

I would also crack open/disconnect the brakes lines and change the fluid in them also. Brake fluid absorbs a ton of moisture. Also check all the brake/PS hoses for cracking or softness and replace as necessary.

 

[marty79]

Snagged a front-end pic from the other thread....

Zoomed in, it looks like a horizontal seam the the lower corners of the 'hood'. Looks like that panel from there down removes (grill/headlamp/parklamp area)?????

It looks like it but it doesn't. Thanks for all your help bud. I got it done today and wasn't that bad from the inside actually. Once I removed the air cleaner, the big huge compressor and bracket, alternator and bracket, all the heater lines and a/c lines and some other crap, it was pretty easy from there on as far as water pump itself goes. surprisingly the shroud and fan came off pretty easy out the top inside so I think the radiator comes out through the inside too for when that has to come out someday but it looks really good on the outside.
I stopped when got to putting belts back on so I wanna get new ones and shorter ones too..no a/c and no air pump..the air pump is what was so darn loud cause the front bearings was shot on it and sounded like crap just turning by hand. I'm not fond of the pulleys don't line up all the way??
Power steering to crank ....Alternator to water pump to crank...both are off like 1/16"ish so does that matter with these V-belts? It looks like that is just the way it is as everything is original.

 

[marty79]

what saved me was having a 3x3ft piece of that memory foam mattress pad left over from the bench bed and layed on stomach on top of the motor with that and was at least little more comfy...had all the sockets and wrenches there suspended that i knew I would need.
Would like to know if the A/C condenser can be used as Trans Cooler....that thing is huge and would free up the little cooler for power steering.