1990 Fleetwood Flair IDI swap?

[smolkin]

There is a really good deal on a 1990 Fleetwood Flair 26' motorhome near here, and it got my brain goblins workin'...has anyone here ever swapped an IDI for the 460 on one of these, or heard of such a thing? It's built on an E-350 chassis, and I'll be looking at it tomorrow to check it out further. Main thing is I'm not sure how easy they made it to get the engine out...

Just coming back from a 3000-mile trip (Portland, OR to Mobile, AL) and I've been bitten by the RV bug, BAD. Any thoughts?

 

[typ4]

Bummer, should have got ahold of me while in portland, im 30 minutes away.
.The swap is very straightforward, oil cooler, driver exh manifold, engine mounts are van specific. Uhaul has new mounts, is it a c6? if so ,easy to find a diesel trans.
fuel filter is mounted different also. Ive gone both ways with this swap but it was some time ago.
I cant remember if the frame pads needed changed or not as the van has a different crossmember, bet someone will know.

 

[smolkin]

Bummer, should have got ahold of me while in portland, im 30 minutes away.

I thought about trying to meet up with some OR BOOBs but I was too ashamed...I wasn't in the IDI, we used my brother's Buick
And we broke down in Flagstaff on the way back...thought about asking about a good shop on oilburners but once again, ashamed to be seen in a gasser...

For the record, I LOVED the northwest, and I will be back or die trying!

Mainly, it was the hotel costs that got me thinking about an RV. It's been so long since I took a good road trip that I was completely unprepared for how much they've gone up. I was thinking 50-60 a night for a cheap louse-free double occupancy...and ended up spending twice that. So now I'm in the market for either a smaller slide-in camper or a diesel RV...after reading archived info on others' experiences with slide-ins on a F250, I'm leaning towards the IDI motorhome idea.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

Heard of one? I own one!

I have a 1987 26ft Corsair motorhome on an E350 chassis, with a 6.9L, C6 in it. Original setup.

Had it for 13 years now, and love it. Gets around 11-13mpg with the C6 and 3.54's doing 60mph. Have hit 14mpg a few times on the coast lines.


To swap a truck engine into a van, heres what you need to do swap over from a van engine.

- Oil cooler
- Drivers side exhaust manifold
- fuel filter head (bolts down on the intake, on the drivers side)
- Longer van dipsticks

And ofcourse the bigger diesel van rad. I'm not sure how the rad supports work tho, I have 3 vans, all are diesels, don't have a gas one to compare it to.


IDI campers are very rare tho, but I see one pop up for sale here every now and then. Always was much more common to see diesel campers in Canada than the US from what i've seen.


Here she be!

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And this is what you'd be dealing with....

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[Shadetreemechanic]

Flair is a class A, right. Should be easier than the class C swap once you figure out how to get it slid into position.

 

[smolkin]

Gets around 11-13mpg with the C6 and 3.54's doing 60mph. Have hit 14mpg a few times on the coast lines.

I'm not sure about the thing's gearing or trans other than it's an automatic. But mileage is what I'm going for (and the ability to burn bio) so that sounds encouraging!

 

[typ4]

That is a nice MOHO, but it needs a turbo.

 

[smolkin]

Well I just looked at the Fleetwood, and as I suspected it's a bit of a fixer-upper. The batteries need replacement, and I'm giving the seller a week to prove to me it will drive off the lot. The engine bay is not anything like an F-series or even the few E-series I've seen, it actually has quite a lot of room but you pretty much have to take off the front panels and radiator to get in there. I can see that it would be a lot easier than an a Class C swap, for sure.

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The Good- solid floors recently redone; no broken windows; no active roof leaks (yet); good tires; Onan Genset works; rear bed in great shape; bathroom in great shape; roof A/C works

The Not-So-Good- fridge, stove not working off LP; one scary-lookin spot on the roof that will leak soon; captain chairs wobbly up front; DC/AC inverter needs replace; needs new kitchen counter; some separation of ext. sheathing by fresh water hookup (leak?)

I'm offering him $2500. Most other ones I've seen are going for 3 times that.

Bottom line is, even if this particular Flair is not the one, I'm really jazzed about getting one of these and swapping in the 7.3. Oh yeah, it has the 460/C6 combo...but I would love to have OD, and my E4OD has about 10K on its rebuild (from 2010) and has never given me a single problem. Not sure of the GVWR on the RV but the trans should be able to handle it, right? I mean, it's on an E350 chassis and they came with E4OD option, right? Any thoughts? I have a week or 2 to figure out the game plan.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

Yep those 89 and on models had the E4OD.... never seen one make it past 100k on the original built tho in a camper.

 

[oregon96psd]

Why did they build them on that stupid e series platform? The extra couple feet of the f series wouldnt hurt anything, and at least then you can work on the things in a real engine compartment.

 

[smolkin]

Why did they build them on that stupid e series platform? The extra couple feet of the f series wouldnt hurt anything, and at least then you can work on the things in a real engine compartment.

I couldn't get a good pic of the engine compartment but the only thing about it that bothers me is the weird brake master cyl and booster sitting on top of the radiator on a special bracket. But once that bracket and the rad. and top rad. support are unbolted, it appears to have way more clearance around the top and sides of the engine than even an F-series. I'll post pics when I have them, but it sure does look like it's got enough room for a 7.3, maybe even... a 466DT? (NO, brain goblins, NO! BAD GOBLINS!!!)

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

If you decide the flair is too much work you can just buy this,
http://nashville.craigslist.org/rvs/3972822199.html

The stack makes it for me.

 

[Silver Burner]

I too have a diesel Class C. If you want a really high quality motorhome, try to find a Born Free. By percentage, I think there are more Born Free diesels than most other brands. Mine is a 93 factory turbo-diesel serpentine setup with a custom cowl hood with a nice steel box and a panel filter out of a 77-84 Porsche 911.

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[IDIDieselJohn]

Are you sure yours is a factory turbo setup....?

No IDI van left the factory with a turbo.

 

[Silver Burner]

Are you sure yours is a factory turbo setup....?

No IDI van left the factory with a turbo.

I was actually not aware of that. Did they put turbo blocks in at least? Mine is a 93 and it appears to be an ATS 093 turbo in there, so I just figured it was a factory turbo. I could be way off though. I need to pull the cover and take a pic for you guys so I can know for sure anyhow.