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 ;>)

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

WHY DO A FRONT END CONVERSION ?

Here are some great notes on why do a conversion From Bruce

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

BILL HUBLER'S NEW FRONT SUSPENSION

Here are some pictures of the new knuckles / hubs /ETC

that Bill Hubler has adapted to his GMC.

Bill is a very creative and friendly owner. He was eager to share his ideas and describe the difficulties of his projects. He has more on the way for our coaches, but is looking forward to some down time floating on the oceans of Mexico ;>)

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.