Haha. How's that for an entry?
I was going to put this in the introductions section, but this is the section I'll most likely be posting in most of the time.
My name is John, or as I'm slightly known around the web, gmtech16450yz. As my screen name suggests, I've been a GM Master Tech for 33 years, I recently quit for awhile just to relax and work on new projects of my own. Too young to fully retire and our union pension I've paid into for 33 years will probably be gone in 10 years when I can finally get any of it.
Instead of filling my first post with a bunch of junk, if anyone wants to find out what I'm about just google my screen name, gmtech16450yz. I'll put a couple links in here at the bottom too, if you only look at one of them, WATCH THE VIDEO. lol. You won't be disappointed.
Soooo, We just bought a Vegas 27.7. We bought our first motorhome when my wife and I were first married back in the early '80's. It was a '73 Tioga 19 foot class C, we had it for over 20 YEARS and went on 150 trips in it, over 100k miles. We loved that little thing. It was still like mint when we sold it about 10 years ago.
The Vegas will also be a good fit for us, but not until I spend a TON of hours on it fixing all the issues! Holy cr@p I've never seen shoddy workmanship to this level in my entire career! Insane! Sure makes you wonder about good old American workers and the direction they've gone in compared to earlier decades. Disappointing isn't even a strong enough word.
I've already spent dozens of hours "fixing" underneath wiring, falling apart panels, front fiberglass cap not attached, poorly routed exhaust, pinched fuel hoses and filler, ready to short out harnesses, 110v power lines wrapped between leaf springs and wheels, etc, etc, etc....... I've also already done Bilsteins, Helwigs, Firestone airbags and a steering stabilizer. I ordered camber/caster bushings and I'll finish my alignment when I put them in. I've already wired in an inverter and a volt/amp meter for the junk coach batteries they put in it. (On my list to replace them too. Ugh.)
The mod I'm doing now is I've completely gutted the front interior to "fix" the horrible assembly and design. I'll be insulating and soundproofing all the under dash areas and the upper front cap areas. There's NOTHING behind any of this stuff as far as sound deadening or insulation. It's actually quite a joke. I took most of the dash apart by hand, the fasteners were so loose I didn't even need tools! I'll be fabricating my own center dash assembly since what came in the Vegas is kind of useless. I'm planning on a huge monitor in the center for a Windows PC and the backup camera also. The stock radio will NOT be going back in.
I'll try to keep you guys updated with pictures and info on my mods. I'm kind of hit or miss though, sometimes I'm too busy to hang out in the forums for days or even weeks. I'm terrible with PM's too, so sorry in advance if I end up not getting back to any of you right away. haha.
What I lack in those areas though, I make up for elsewhere... You guys are going to learn A TON about these motorhomes from me. BTW I've already downloaded the engine calibrations and I can tell you all there is a lot to be gained in power and mileage with tuning. It has a 60 second delay for power enrichment for one thing, and with no knock detection and tuned for 87 octane, there is room for improvement if anyone is looking for it. (Look on the HPTuners website, I've been a main contributor on there for probably a decade and have taught a lot of guys new things about tuning and how to use the tuning programs and hardware.) Let's just say I know a little about how to make engines run better! lol. I've built and tuned everything from 1930's cars and trucks to GTS cars that have raced in the Long Beach Gran Prix. I had my hands on a couple Indy cars too. One of my last projects was doing engine mods to a gas leaf blower. Higher compression, porting and a silencer from a Yamaha YZ85 and the thing is quieter than stock and blows like a MOFO! haha. So once I get some miles on this Ford V10, I'll be able to help you all as best I can.
Here are a couple links,
I have a Yamaha jet boat, I've helped those guys out a lot. This is just one of my threads on there...
https://jetboaters.net/threads/resul...he-boat.16388/
Here's the video I mentioned, it's worth watching...
https://youtu.be/2q9BuzNRc3Q
This is what our brand new Vegas looks like right now... lol.
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