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Old 06-13-2018, 06:32 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Vegas 27.7
State: California
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Brand New Vegas 3 Month Makeover Finished...

Ok so I have a pile of pictures during this process, but it might be months until I got around to picking through them all and posting some of them online! Instead I figured I'd just throw these pictures I took the other day of it "finished". Lol. It's never gonna be finished but it's 90% to where we want it to be.

I gutted the cab down to where there was basically nothing left in it. Went through from the wheels up and rebuild/modified/installed new stuff/secured from falling off just about everything on the entire coach. In my wife's words, "It's not the same vehicle we drove home from the dealership." I agree. It's insane how much quieter, smoother, more solid feeling, stronger (tuned engine), and of course more usable the entire package is. This what what I had in my head when we bought it. It's now pretty much ready to rock! (Literally. There's 3200 watts worth of amps and like 16 speakers in it! hahaha.)

Enjoy!

















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Old 06-13-2018, 06:37 PM   #2
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Next bunch...

















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Old 06-13-2018, 06:45 PM   #3
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Few more...

























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Old 06-13-2018, 07:00 PM   #4
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That looks great. What is your in-dash PC? Looks like Shuttle PC or something similar?
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:12 PM   #5
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Wow!!
I honestly don't know what else to say...
Congratulations; for a job well-done!
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:14 PM   #6
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Nice Work!
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:20 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by JamieGeek View Post
That looks great. What is your in-dash PC? Looks like Shuttle PC or something similar?
Dell Optiplex 7050. i7, 256 ssd. The monitor is a 22" Viewsonic touch screen. The backup/side cameras monitor is a 12", it stays on all the time when driving.

I have the computer and monitor running off the 110v inverter, but I'm going to switch them over to running off of 12 volts. The monitor is native 12 volts, all I need to run the computer is a 12 to 19 volt converter, which I already have waiting. All my audio goes through USB to a 24 bit Digital to Analog converter and then to two separate amps. The two black and silver knobs at the top of the panel I made are for volume and subwoofer control. You can't really see them in the pics, but I made both those knobs from aluminum round stock on my lathe.
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:29 PM   #8
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Thanks guys!!! I realize it's gonna take awhile for me to climb out of the reputation hole I dug for myself with my slide plate drama. hahaha.



This should almost be a "what's different in this picture" game! I was just looking at the first two pictures and realized there's like 6 mods in those alone. Only Vegas owners will notice most of them. There wasn't much I touched or took apart that I didn't change or modify in one way or another.
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:33 PM   #9
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so how much for someone to drop off to you and have you upgrade?
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:36 PM   #10
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I agree...
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:47 PM   #11
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so how much for someone to drop off to you and have you upgrade?
hahahaha. I'm not sure you'd like the price tag when I was all done! I think about just one piece like that black center dash panel and what's in it. Parts and labor would probably be around $5k. Seriously. I spent about $400 on those custom switches alone. Everything else is hand made, lots of labor there. Building that center assembly that I covered with brown vinyl took a couple weeks. I made it out of fiberglass, it weighs like 20lbs vs. the few ounces the stock crap did.

LOTS of labor. For me it's free. When I do fabrication work for others it's between $50 to $100 an hour depending on what I'm doing. For something like this it's kind of a "Yikes" thing when you tell somebody what it would cost them for me to do theirs.


Found a pic... there's a "little" wiring involved with what I did...
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:54 PM   #12
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exactly- but you could do it 3x as fast next time!
It is like those car fabrication shows on TV that tell you the cost of parts, but don't put in the labor costs at all....
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Old 06-13-2018, 07:57 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by lazinskm View Post
exactly- but you could do it 3x as fast next time!
It is like those car fabrication shows on TV that tell you the cost of parts, but don't put in the labor costs at all....
Yeah and being somewhat in that business, I can tell you what the finished products from those shows actually look like! OMG if you think Thor throws together stuff! Those things look great on TV, not so great in person.
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Old 06-13-2018, 10:42 PM   #14
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So why didn't you just order a custom coach from a manufacturer for whom you have more respect?
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Old 06-13-2018, 11:20 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by Fish and Dear View Post
So why didn't you just order a custom coach from a manufacturer for whom you have more respect?
Same reason I did this...


https://youtu.be/2q9BuzNRc3Q
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Old 06-14-2018, 12:47 AM   #16
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Your wife is a very patient, understanding woman.
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Old 06-14-2018, 05:25 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by BradnKaren View Post
Your wife is a very patient, understanding woman.
You have no idea! We got married at 21 and we're still best friends. It helps that she likes cars too. Her daily commute car is the fastest production station wagon in the world. lol. She smiles every time she fires up that big supercharged V8!

So yeah, she's always 100% behind me in any of these crazy projects I dream up. She absolutely loves this Vegas now that it's had a few of my ideas put into it.

Fish and Dear- My point with the link to my car video is that nobody made what I wanted, so I had to make my own. I made a vehicle that did not exist even remotely in the form I ended up with. The Vegas is the same way, I like the overall design and premise, it just needed some "massaging". There isn't a custom coach that I would have preferred, or wanted to pay for over what I got in this modified Vegas. Even with all the work I did, we're still in this RV under $100k, and it's gonna do most everything we need it to do, and do it efficiently.

Sure, I don't have a whole lot of respect for Thor's business practices or assembly quality, but they gave me a good platform to build on. I like the "RUV" idea, it's a good size for what we need. It will tow and launch our 21' boat easily. I also couldn't have built a cab like that in a Class C. I can't use the size of a Class A or like the ride/handling/noise either. The other really big difference in this Vegas is wind and road noise. This RV is the quietest I've ever driven. The lack of wind noise even at 80 is amazing. With the suspension work I did, it's also the smoothest and most stable. The huge windshield and side windows alone are a major plus over other coaches, especially Class C's. The platform and premise is good. The assembly quality? Yeah, it sucks. But I can fix that. I can't turn a Class C or a Class A into a Vegas.

This is what my wife drives everyday...
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Old 06-14-2018, 12:22 PM   #18
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Fantastic job. Looks great. BTW, been camping lately?
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Old 06-14-2018, 12:42 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by gmtech16450yz View Post
Yeah and being somewhat in that business, I can tell you what the finished products from those shows actually look like! OMG if you think Thor throws together stuff! Those things look great on TV, not so great in person.
We call them "20/20" cars: they look great from 20 feet away; when you're driving by at 20 mph!
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Old 06-14-2018, 01:23 PM   #20
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Holy cow on the makeover.
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