Hello, 

Just stumbled on this forum and it is a great resource for those of us who love doing our own work.  I notice that most of the rigs on this site are of a much newer vintage than ours, I though you all might get a kick out of my project.

My grandfather bought this coach new, and I remember spending summers in it as a child.  My parents inherited it when grandpa passed, and then later passed it to my wife and I in 1996.  This coach has been regularly used, maintained, and upgraded since it was new, so it never degraded into an “old coach in the back yard” situation.

I have written these posts for a motorcycle forum I belong to and am just posting them here for your enjoyment as well.  They span the last two years of work.

Enjoy.

My wife and I have owned our 1976 26′ Executive motor coach since 1996.  Before that my father owned it for about 10 years.  Before that, my grandfather was the original owner.  It is a one family owned rig.  It has always been used, cared for, and tastefully updated through the years and we have no intention of getting rid of her any time soon.  Paid for is a good thing.

She looks good for an old coach and still draws attention at the RV rallies I used to attend with my previous employment.

A bit of history on the Executive coach.  Executive Industries made coaches from the early 70’s until Monaco bought them out in the 80’s.  The Executive line is now owned by Monaco.  I was told by numerous “old timer” RVers at various rallies that the Executive really was something special.  It was the king of the class A gas powered rigs in the 70’s.  One gent told me that the Executive is what they all dreamed of owning when they were getting into RVing, but all they could afford was Winnebagos.  

That quality of build is still evident today.  She drives pretty nice.  The quality of the interior is better than many coaches built today.  Solid woods, high quality finishes, and many touches that were ahead of the times like large refrigerators and central vacuum systems.

Over the years there have been many updates to this coach to keep it current.

-Flat screen TV/DVD player

-New upholstery, cushions and curtains

-New captains chairs

-Updated electrical systems

-Updated battery capacities

-Air bag suspension upgrade

-Bilstein shocks

-Radial tires

-Vorad collision avoidance radar system (yes, I am serious)

-GPS system w/Sirius satellite radio

-Many power improvements to the Chrysler 440 engine.

So many more updates that would take pages to list.  Which brings me to now.  I have a few main goals to accomplish with this major service.

1.  Replace the cam.  About 30k miles ago my father had the heads rebuilt and under the advisement of a friend, installed a Crane RV cam.  Big mistake.  This cam starts to produce torque at 2500 rpm, which is much too high.  It cackles and lopes at idle.  Sounds like a dragster.  It already has Thorley 1 5/8 long tube headers, Edlebrock intake/carb, and a MSD ignition.

So the cam is being replaced with a Comp Cams unit that builds torque from 1,000 rpms.  Hopefully that will help with low end power.  While I am getting to the cam, I am replacing all hoses/belts, water pump, thermostat, gaskets, seals and checking the rod and main bearings.  Did a compression test and all holes are hovering between 120-133 psi, so I do not need to re ring it yet.

2.  Replace the steering box to get rid of the wander caused from a worn box.

3.  Pull the fuel tanks and flush them.  Using the opportunity to replace all fuel lines, and do a better job installing the axillary fuel pump.  

4.  Install a TripTek Tire wireless tire pressure/temperature monitoring system.

5.  Replace the front brakes, and all flexible brake lines.  Pack the front wheel bearings.

Let the wild ruckus begin:

Pull the coach into the shop and wash it down.  Nice to have a temperature controlled shop to use (thanks Dad!).

Start pulling the front end apart.  Boy they built things like tanks back then.  Nothing light weight here.  The radiator probably weighed 50 lbs alone.

[Image Removed by User]

First major removal project is the steering box.  It is kicking my butt.  The way it is mounted you can not get a pitman arm puller on the arm to remove it.  Not that it would do any good.  That sucker is on there and I still dont know how I am going to get it off.  

I have it rigged up that the nut is off the arm, and the box is unbolted.  I am using the hole in the 3/8″ plate that the shaft goes through as a kind of bearing separator, and am using a 20 ton jack to press the shaft out of the pitman arm.  Nothing is working as of yet.  I have applied a lot of heat, force, and cussing with no success.

The nut is backed off on the shaft, I just left it on so that when it gives it can only move about 3/16″ so the steering box does not go flying off the mount.

I will update more later.

I think I have it figured out now. Pretty painful to do, will take me a while.

Friday, March 5th. Last night I inspected a rod bearing and a main bearing to see what needed to be changed. The coach has 103k on an old carburetor equipped 440, so I was not holding out any hope that I could just run it as is. It has been lugging around a 14k lb coach it’s whole life. The main bearings looked perfect. :clap :clap The rod bearings, well, they were in need of a change, but all in all, they were not too bad. Can someone explain the spotting like this? This was the #4 bearing, and the #5 was the same. All the others showed various levels of ‘normal’ wear.

All the crank journals looked beautiful, and since there was no real issues with the bearings, I just slid in a set of new standard ones.

Next project? Camshaft.

Oh, I didn't mean to paste the link directly into the post. Try using the image toolbar button above (next to the horseshoe looking button) and paste the direct URL to the image in the little box that pops up. Then your images should appear in the post.

Everything I am touching that was made with rubber or plastic is just falling apart in my hands.  Or, it is so hard that you have to bust it apart with a hammer and a chisel to get off.

Tonight's project was to build the manifold for the axillary fuel pump and to get one of the two fuel tanks on the ground.  I did succeed in that endeavor, but it fought me all the way.

The fuel pump was easy, if not fun, actually.  I have never used a flaring tool before to build metal lines.  It went pretty smooth.  The aux. pump is for times when it is really hot and the E10 fuels are having problems with the carburetor.  The pump can be switched on to pressurize the mechanical pump reducing the chance of a vapor lock situation.  

Included in the kit is a one way check valve that you install so that when the engine is running on it's own it can pull fuel and bypass the electric pump.  But if you need to kick it on, the fuel will force feed the mechanical pump.

So I built this nice manifold system so I can get rid of the pile of rubber hoses that fed the old system.  Pretty cool, eh?:evil 

I am also running metal fuel lines all the way to the tanks to eliminate the chance of cracked lines sucking air or creating leaks.

Time to tackle the main tank.  I have it about 75% empty and borrowed an atv jack to lower it.  Here is where the problems started.  The main fuel filler hose was so hard that I could not get it to budge off of either the neck or the filler spout.  I finally had to drive it off with a punch and a hammer.  Same with the vent hose.

After much cussing I had the beast on the ground.

The fuel lines for both the engine and generator were full of cracks.  No surprise as they were 34 years old.:deal   But I did get some good news though.  I held my breath and looked down into the tank with a flash light expecting to see 34 years of rust and corrosion on the inside of the tank.  They were spotless.  Looked like the inside of a shiny beer can.  

Tomorrow night; the auxiliary tank.

Here is a parting shot of the engine.  Almost ready to run.

Since my last update I got the fuel tanks plumbed and installed. But not without issues. I tend to loose my focus when distracted. That is why I have been working on this project only in the evenings when I can ignore the phone. Case in point:

I was getting ready to lift the main tank back into position. I had it in place and I was completing the hookup of the fuel lines to the generator, engine, and the vent hose before lifting. Phone rings, I look over and it is Dad. Oh well, I answer the call. After the call I pick up where I left off and lift the tank back into position with the ATV jack. It takes me about 20 minutes to get it all bolted into place when I roll over and what do I see laying on the ground? The vent hose.  (insert lots of 4 letter words here)

Out comes the tank again, hose installed, final checks and back into place.  I guess I did not need that hour anyway.

One of the things I am doing with this project is to relocate and reroute many of the systems for easy service.  While I am hoping I get another 34 years of relative trouble free service, stuff happens.  Things break.  And they break in the most unforgiving places.  So I am doing my best to make all the systems on this coach easily serviceable.  While on a trip, on the side of the interstate in 100 degree weather.

My new fuel system.  From the tanks to the selector valve, into the auxiliary fuel pump, to the main fuel pump, to the new canister fuel filter, to the carb.  I pulled all the lines away from the engine to minimize heat.

Since I removed what was left of the 70's era emission control system I had to deal with the fuel tank vents.  I “T'd” them together then routed a hose up high, then down, installing a fuel filter to make sure no dirt was sucked up.  How is this?  Never saw parts from NAPA made in Russia before.

New fuel filler hoses and the filler fittings were installed completing the fuel system.  :clap 

Last thing for today was installing new heater hoses, the PS pump and new lines, alternator and finally the fan clutch with fan.

I think she is going to be making noise within a few days.  I want to get the front brakes, bearings and hoses done first so I can get it on the ground before firing the engine.  For safety reasons.

And the story continues……  

First an update.  After a year of use since the chassis rebuild, the coach is driving great.  I am only going to do two more mods to the engine and call it good.  One is fuel injection.  I am so sick and tired of a carb that it is time for a change.  Then I am putting on an electric fan to get rid of the noisy fan clutch and oem fan.  I am using a fan from a Lincoln Mark 8 which actually flows just about as much air as the stock fan at the RPM's I run.

On to the interior, before shots:

All in all not bad for 35 years old, but it is time for new.  All new flooring, replace counter tops, sinks, wall paper, and swap out the dinette for a couch and floating tables.  We are also putting in a new Dometic fridge.  Ours is showing it's age, and having the auto start and switching of the ones is going to be really nice.  It is a Christmas gift from our parents.  Thanks mom and dad!

Dig the original carpet that was hiding under the seats….

Been busy in the old girl.  Finally hit the end of destruction and will be starting the assembly mode today.  Pulled the rest of the old carpet and pad.  Removed the shower door, toilet, counter tops and peeled all the wallpaper.  I will be doing wall prep today to get ready for painting.  The counter tops will be going to the cabinet maker tomorrow to use as patterns for new ones.  Then on to the new subfloor and flooring.