CASA COUNTDOWN
About Me
- Name: Nicholas Bowen
- Location: Placerville, California, United States
Friday, July 21, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
SOOR AGENDA
UNDER THE PIER ---------------- City of Charleston - wild life under the pier $1.00
CRABBING ------------------------ City of Charleston - how to crab off of the pier $1.00
CLAMMING----------------------- Rosemary teaching how to Clam, - need $6.00 permit
SEA FOOD DINNER --------------Clams, Crab, DFF Turkey, Dogs, Hamburgers
TECH STUFF TO SEE
- 454 CONVERSION
- Kanomata Quadra Bagger
- B&F Curtis -- products
- Tandy / Rose 4 Bagger
- Fantastic Fan Install
- 34 mm Master Cyl
- Front Bogie Disk Brake
- Onan DVD
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
COOL THINGS TO DO AT SOOR
Monday, July 17, 2006
COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE WAY TO SOOR
Saturday, July 15, 2006
COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE WAY TO SOOR
COOL THINGS TO DO ON THE WAY TO SOOR
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Passenger Seat Desk
The least used space in the GMC has always been the Passenger Seat area. On the road and while we are camped I have always wanted a flat desk and a place to work that did not take up the table or living area.
Gene Ransom, once told me he built a swing-out desk for his wife to work on while they were traveling. So with that idea, I have started on my Mezzanine desk.
Here are the beginning pictures of the prototype of this desk. I have used it on two trips (one to Casa ) and it has worked very well.
To see the work in progress, look here
http://tinyurl.com/r5qs4
The plan was to implement the following features:
1 Flat dash while running down the road for feet and navigation computer (no more sliding off of the dash)
2 Power station to provide (I hate cables all over)
12 volts
110 inverter
110 shore power
5 volt Ipod power
USB ports
Cable Storage
Cell phone storage
Audio plug (Ipod)
3 Slide away under the Dash Mat
4 Hard surface that will match the table and dash for for writing,computing and food
5 Can be used sitting straight or at 90 degrees
6 Will not interfere with the engine hatch cover
7 Will not interfere with the TV / DVD player
8 Desk can be removed, it is attached by blocks in the slot behind the windshield. (pix to follow)
9 Drink holder
The idea is that this desk will not be visible in the retracted position. The Dash will now be flat so the co-pilot can put her feet up there or work on projects. No longer will I have to clean off my computer, printer, manuals, antennas, etc while we are camped. I now have my own space where I can get on free WIFI at 4AM from the campground..... priceless.
Well, there is more to come, but I thought you might like to see what I showed at the Casa rally ;>)
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
CASA KNOCK SENSOR PLACEMENT
Several folks here on the left coast, have been complaining that their MSD knock detectors have been getting extraneous signals from our noisy engines. Most have placed the detector in a hole in the rear of an engine head.
C. Botts said his dyno folks moved his sensor to the front motor mount to a more quiet location. We all did a lot of theorizing about how to drill a hole in the motor mount, so while I had his GMC trapped at the Casa rally, I crawled under and I think this is where they put the sensor
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/gallery/showalbum.php?uuid=mrerf&aid=59
http://tinyurl.com/jd73s
This spot is on the passenger side of the engine just above the short shaft drive line. There is an empty hole there on my coach so this looks like a possibility.
Now Larry Schaffer said he was going to test this location, but he has not been heard from yet. I thought someone else might be interested in trying this location and if you do not have a knock detector, this url also points to Emery's knock detector you could build.
If you want to know what the heck a knock sensor is, you can read here
http://users.california.com/~eagle/knock.html
if you are going to use a knock controlled spark advance efi, you should also be interested in this placement.
good luck and check back when you have some data
gene
Monday, May 08, 2006
WHY DO A FRONT END CONVERSION ?
There are lots of other reasons these hubs might be better:
1) Much larger front brakes and huge calipers
2) Completely sealed bearing cassettes...no maintance
3) Gets the front track in line with the rear without spacers
4) Rotors come off without disassembling the whole front hub
5) Better outboard CV joints that are readily available
6) Gets rid of lower A-arm weak outter end
7) Uses modern ball joints...heavier duty
8) Can design in all the caster you think you might want
Drawbacks...
1) To do it correctly, you need to move the upper A-arm mounts about 2" up or
will have radical neg. camber on jounce and rebound
2) New custom driveshafts, tierods and brakelines are needed
3) Brake balancer may also be needed
I'm sure there is more but this is the "Quick" list.
I have mine all mocked up but real work keeps getting in the way.
Bruce in SB
Saturday, May 06, 2006
BILL HUBLER'S NEW FRONT SUSPENSION
I think he said these come from a 1 Ton Truck. He welded the new Parts to the old control arms.
Bill is a very creative builder. In his real life, he has been building turbine Crop Dusters
As always, the devil is in the details. He said the axles had to be special made to match the spline in the final drive. Cost hundreds of dollars to get these made. He is thinking of the next version, and is making a fixture to help in the alignment. With this version, he wanted more Caster, and he welded it in, but would like more. Wow this is not for your average bolt-it-on owner
Just in case you did not know, this is the same Bill Hubler who did the diesel conversion. Here is a link to his presentation at a rally
http://www.bdub.net/Diesel.pdf
Very interesting reading for the details, like it took cutting up 3 pans to the drive line through the pan in the proper location. His engine is shown below.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
CAMPING WORLD - GOOD PLACE TO VISIT
How could you resist a stop at Camping World while at the Rally
http://www.campingworld.com/stores/stores.cfm?store=25
You can even stop overnight if you are late.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
CAMP DUTCH OVEN COOKOFF
At the Pacific cruisers Quartzsite "5 buck" rally, Bob Lamey and Ed Staal brought their Dutch ovens' and fed the owners of the 30 GMCs' at the rally. It was excellent and fun. They even talked Freddi into cooking one night. Stew, Chulapas, soup, the food was excellent. Now Dutch Oven cooking takes hours, and is sort of like watching grass grow, so you have lots of time to visit and do rally stuff.
So I am thinking, if we had a Dutch Oven demonstration and Cookoff at the Casa Rally one day, there would be tons of food for a Potluck and lots of new recipes tested. Ummmmm, there should be lots of that Gilroy Garlic available. I will run this by the Rally Master.
If you look at this web page of Byron's
http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/dutch-oven-recipes.htm
you will see how this cooking is done and the unlimited types of food that can be cooked.
So bring your 20 briquettes, Dutch Oven, and oil drain pan (you have to put the charcoal in something) and try this traditional family cooking.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
BONFANTE GARDENS
This attraction is near the rally. Look carefully at the times and days they are open. You will not see trees and gardens like these in other places
http://www.bonfantegardens.com/gardens.html
http://www.arborsmith.com/treecircus.html
COUNT DOWN TO THE CASA RALLY
There are many things to do and see at the GMCWS Casa de Fruta rally. Keep returning to this Blog to see what is going on.
These gardens is one example of things you might want to see on the way to the Casa Rally.
Here is their web page and some other links to view
http://www.undergroundgardens.com/
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/forest.htm
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php3?tip_AttractionNo==4590