RV Tips

The first is one that works great -- and the price is right! You see, we have this RV-sized dog (a Chihuahua) who goes where we go -- and goes where she goes, and we have to pick "it" up because the next camper may be barefoot. :>) Invariably, I forget to take a plastic bag or paper towel along when I take her out, and have to go back to the Retirement Villa (RV = Prowler 26H TT) to get one.

The other day I was sitting at the picnic table and noticed that the bumper on the curb side has the same rubber stopper with a hole in it as the one on the street side for the sewer hose storage. I decided to get a string of plastic bags from the grocery store that they use to wrap veggies in and stuff them in the bumper with the last one hanging out so that I could pull them out one at a time and tear one off.

It works like a champ! Now, I just take Chocolate Chip out and "snatch" a bag as I go past the bumper..... And, best of all, when I try to pay for the bags in the grocer's they always say, "No charge!"

Stabilizer Jacks - Don Justice

The second tip cost a little bit, but sure makes setting up and taking down easier, and I'm lazy by nature. It has to do with cranking the stabilizers up and down.

I took a big spike that was in my nail box at home, hack sawed the head off, and bent about 1/2 inch of the tip at 90 degrees. Then I bought a 3/8 reversible drill at a pawn shop for $12 and I don't have to crank the jacks up and down anymore! I chucked the nail in the drill and use it to power the jacks up and down.

Red Hot Manifolds - Chris Wrzenski

Ok, I have extensive and recent experience on this one.

I own a 1985 class A (1984 chassis)with a GMC P-30-32 chassis and had the problem and have solved it at relatively low cost.

The story, as I have best been able to determine is that when GM designed the engine it did not meet the pollution requirements because of unburned gasoline being emitted from the engine. The major reason for this was that GM did not provide enough combustion air to the carburetor. If yours is fuel injected or throttle body I'm not sure, but it sounds like the same problem.
So to solve the pollution problem, in all their wisdom, GM added the air pump and injected air in the exhaust manifolds right next to the exhaust valves. Guess what, the gas that had not been burned in the engine, burned in the exhaust manifolds when the oxygen was added by the air from the air pumps. It is in effect a catalytic converter w/o the platinum. It cooks the manifolds and burns the exhaust valves.

So Banks and others have engineered a great expensive fix. I looked over the Banks system and the engineering data and here is what I did with much success. The manifolds now run cool and there is considerable more power above 30mph and I get 2+ more mpg. I now get and can prove it at about 65mph, and towing a 2200 lb Escort, 10+ mpg average.

Basically you have to increase the air intake to the carburetor.

(1) Replace the air cleaner with a K&N high flow low restriction filter. This is what Banks does. The air filter for mine cost about $35 from Camping World or Parts America. The filter goes 50,000 miles and then you clean it and re-oil it for about $7.

(2)You get more, and more dense air, into the air filter(ram air)Banks does this. Here is what I did. Went to a plumbings and heating store and got about a 7"dia by 8'long piece of flexible, I think aluminium, tube for less than $7. I squeezed it over the snout of the air cleaner and routed it over the radiator and down in front of the grill. I put an appropriate sized plastic flower pot(bottom cut out) on the end that attaches to the grill which gives it about 2" larger funnel shape. It is important not to tightly seal the flexible tube to the snout of the air cleaner as you don't want to blow the air cleaner apart at high speeds. I use a firm but loose plastic tie strap to hold it in place. Now the engine gets high density air from in front of the fan. At speeds of over about 30 there is ram air in the carburetor and you notice the increased power difference and better gas milage. The engine is quieter in the cab without the air intake noise.

You may also have to adjust your choke back,(there is a screw on the side that will release the choke sooner.Too much gas in the cyl can cause it to pass by the rings and contaminate the oil. Don't disconnect the air pump, because now with no unburned gas in the manifold, the air pump now cools the manifolds.

(3)Gm now sells a newly designed exhaust manifold for $127, and about $36 for the new air tubes which you will surely need. There is also a newly designed exhaust manifold gasket. It is 3 sheets of stainless steel. The new fix (there is a GM service bulletin on this) also includes studs not the old bolts. All are studs except the one diarrheal behind the oil dip stick tube on the passenger side remains a bolt. You will soon figure out why. If your gasket is not leaking you probably don't need this but my bet is you will need it on the passenger side as this is where the vacuum controlled damper is just below the exhaust manifold. This damper closes off the exhaust until the engine is up to temp. This causes excessive heat in the manifolds. If you need a new one of these they cost more than the manifold. I was lucky and I just resurfaced my old damper. I left the damper in and functioning, some disable the damper in the open mode. We live in the North and we need the damper to stay functiioning. To disable the damper all you need to do is remove the vacuum, as the default position is open. The proper doughnut in the exhaust pipe and bolts from GM are critical. Either get them from GM or NAPA. the doughnut is about $17 but the bolts I only foud at GM.

The exhaust system needs to be dual and shortened to come out in front of the rear wheels with 2 1/2" pipe. Remember each bend especially the "U" over the rear axle produces about a 30% restriction in flow. Because I couldn't get the correct muffelers locally in a hurry, I put on a couple of $20ea cheep mufflers from Parts America. They are high flow low restriction because they are cheep and have few baffles. They are noisey and have a low rumble and my wife says get these off.! After much research, we will soon order 2- #289-17699 DynoMax mufflers(pg 52-V) from JEG'S ($64.99ea)1-800-345-4545.

You need to decrease the back pressure in the exhaust system