Buying 85 IDI ATS turbo motorhome!

[Cubey]

Post some pictures of the rot, it is all fixable. Old Mister Bill was the master rv repair guy on here, but even with him gone there are several of us who have worked on some. Unfortunately I don't think that make had anything but a wooden frame, so you need to be careful taking it apart so you can get measurements to figure out how it should go back.

Yep its wood.

This is the part I put the clear flextape on. I need a little more at the right side, or silicone. There wasn't much wood in the wall for the bolts for the trim to go into, something like wood paneling thick. It has rigid styrofoam insulation in there mostly. I guess they tried to build it as light as possible. I can't see the framing very much.

Down below this area, there is an access hatch for the purpose of getting under the tub for wires/pipes and it doesn't look totally rotten, unless I didn't look close.

There is some rot around the fridge, water heater and water inlet. The inner vent for the fridge isn't too bad, i got the trim piece over the seams remounted pretty good by driving extra long screws in. They aren't anywhere near the fridge coils so its safe.

I'm not sure that it's heavily structurally rotted yet, but rather the thin paneling bits. I'm working hard to seal everything I can before it rains a lot again.

But anyway, i can't drive long screws in this spot because they'd go through to the shower, which is directly on the other side of that wall. I tried to look for studs but couldn't see any except by the window. It's thin, flexible fiberglass so its kind of flexy without being totally flat like its supposed to. As long as the flextape sticks, it shouldn't leak. It's the 4" width tape.

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[Shadetreemechanic]

To clarify old mister bill is alive and well.
You may be thinking of Oldbull8 or possibly towcat. But I believe oldbull8 was the one that worked at a camper place for a long time.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Thank you for correcting my false obit. You are right I was thinking of oldbull8.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

Seems like you are dealing with wall/window leaks. How is the roof?

 

[Cubey]

Seems like you are dealing with wall/window leaks. How is the roof?

It was roof leaks that went unattended for a long time. The roof vent in the bathroom is pretty new. There were leaks in the cabover but not as bad. It has a dome cover over it's vent for the cab over vent. The AC might need a new seal too.

I'm going to strip all the incorrect use of cheap silicone off the roof and apply Dicor. I might just replace the two plumbing vents too, they are only $5 each.

I'm pretty familiar with sealing RV roofs. It's fiberglass, so no rubber roof issues at least.

 

[Clb]

Everything is fixable...

A new roof membrane ( type ) for a 26' rv installed here is +-5k
An 8 year old 26' 5er is 10k

But you are into the thing deep as you stated for not checking first, shop work you could have done yourself, chalk it up to education.
Fwiw
I did an old class c cutaway for a guy, dude was a student, He was gunna park it near the school and live in it cheap...

(DISCLAIMER)I told him it had little structural rigidity and he said he understood.
That worked fine, until he started driving it.)

he wanted me to gut it and stack the kitchen back into it.
He then put in a cot to sleep in and a desk and book shelving.

Lasted thru school fine.
Then the drive vibration blew out the door first and then windows.
Its been junked now.

So take this with ya...
Set diagonal bracing whenever ya can.

 

[Cubey]

There is actually some metal framing in this. I don't know how much, but this is about mid way down on the driver's side, half way up the wall:

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I need to pretty much rip out the ceiling in the closet and bathroom (the rear end) and redo it. I see a poorly patched spot up top, a roof rack mounting point, not being held down and not sealed properly. Once I rip put that ceiling, I can address that.

Someone did some roof bracing already but to exactly what degree, I don't know yet. But you can see the end of a newer board in the ceiling:

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[IDIBRONCO]

So it's a C6 after all:

I know that I'm late to this, but there never should have been a doubt. As far as I know, there was no such thing as a C4 behind a big block engine (or diesel).

 

[Cubey]

I know that I'm late to this, but there never should have been a doubt. As far as I know, there was no such thing as a C4 behind a big block engine (or diesel).

Googling the code G, it appeared to be C4 based on it. My 87 F250 uses code K for it's C6.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Right. I'm just going by the engine that's in there, not what the sticker says.

 

[gandalf]

There is a question I'm not sure anyone has asked. Is this the original engine? Did some one perhaps replace a wimpy little gasser and C4 with this engine and a C6? Check the doorcode. Does it say there is a diesel in there?

 

[Cubey]

There is a question I'm not sure anyone has asked. Is this the original engine? Did some one perhaps replace a wimpy little gasser and C4 with this engine and a C6? Check the doorcode. Does it say there is a diesel in there?

No. The door tag doesn't list the engine, but the VIN contains that info, and it's engine code is the 6.9L. It has the really old ATS turbo stickers on the fenders too.

Plus the dash says diesel only, has the wait to start light, etc.

It seems that Ford just changed the C6 trans mode from G to K sonetime between the 85 E350 and the 87 F250.

 

[Cubey]

I got the generator running despite a dead fuel pump. Onan equipped these with a Facet fuel pump, fancy!

For now, I ordered an $8 cheap fuel pump off eBay. If that makes it run good, I might buy a better one to have on hand in case the cheap one dies.

I got it started with starting fluid and gravity feeding it gas. I'm guessing the surging is from no constant fuel pressure.

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[Oledirtypearl86]

Did it power the rv

 

[Cubey]

Did it power the rv

I didn't check. I didn't want to risk harming anything with it surging like it was. It feeds a 30A outlet in a cabinet where you plug the RV cord into. Primitive, eh?

After I get the engine running smoothly, I will check the voltage at the outlet with a multimeter to be sure its stable and not too high or low before I plug the RV into it.

 

[Cubey]

Here are some pictures of the van kit air filter setup for the ATS 085 turbo. This makes it obvious why there is no air box lid: there is no room

The silver piece around the edge of the filter has the hold down clips, that's the extent of the air box lid. Just something to keep the air filter from bouncing out.

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