IDI conversion in a Class A motor home

[IDIDieselJohn]

......you can always wait till one pops up for sale.....



..your hair is gonna have time to turn white before finding one

Their unbelievably rare!

 

[GenLightening]

Sounds like an interesting project. Kind of peeves me that they stuck gassers in these hogs anyway. It's not like a 454 or 460 is any quieter going down the highway. The 454 in ours makes your ears ring after 10 or 15 minutes. I don't have the time nor the resources to do the swap, especially since mine is a GM and not a Ford chassis. I don't drive it enough to justify the swap.

Probably be easier to fit in that than my in truck.

 

[oldmisterbill]

Its in the thought stage now.With my home project money is tite -I mean tight. The coach fom the road looks emmaculate.The owners have a reputation of being **** about thier posessions.What I gather is every thing works likenew except the engine.Its always struck me funny how so many Class A engines go bad B4 100,000 miles. We are thinking about finances B4 we look closley at it. I think it could part out for the price. Was always kept under a shelter. Time will tell.

Oh yes if I did the swap that would leave a CC dually for parts.:-(
Years ago I had a winnie with a 413 sure liked the fuel.Hated to stop. I have to gibve the engine credit it never had any problms like cracked manifolds (thanks 454 Chevys),just service & drive.

 

[OLDBULL8]

What is the name of the MH and what year? You just about have to remove the front axle, radiator and engine cross member and pull/lift the engine up from underneath. The fuel tank prolly has the electric pump in it. Wasn't there a guy on here that put a IDI in a class C or was it on the TDS. He is in Canada? He would know about the engine fit to the crossmember. I'm thinking the Class A Ford are all on the F350 chassis up to a certain length. My class C weighs around 11400 26 ft., it's on a F350.

Some of the newer Class A, is on the Workhorse chassis. IIRC

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

If it's a 1988 - newer, it will be on a F-Super Duty chassis (F450).

All the ones I worked on from those years ~ 88-95 were all on F450 Chassis's with the 460, E4OD, 4.63 gears Dana 80 rear axle with huge disk brakes and park brake drum on the tranny.

 

[redmondjp]

Its in the thought stage now.With my home project money is tite -I mean tight. The coach fom the road looks emmaculate.The owners have a reputation of being **** about thier posessions.What I gather is every thing works likenew except the engine.Its always struck me funny how so many Class A engines go bad B4 100,000 miles. We are thinking about finances B4 we look closley at it. I think it could part out for the price. Was always kept under a shelter. Time will tell.

Oh yes if I did the swap that would leave a CC dually for parts.:-(
Years ago I had a winnie with a 413 sure liked the fuel.Hated to stop. I have to gibve the engine credit it never had any problms like cracked manifolds (thanks 454 Chevys),just service & drive.

Well, I know that this is heresy on this forum, but if money is really that tight and you want to get it and get it running again quickly, you can (at least around here) find people selling good running 460s for well under $1K (esp. now that fuel prices are up). Then you'd have it, you could actually use it, while you save the $ and accumulate the parts for the diesel swap.

Now I'll turn the "wait to start" light back on and we can continue the discussion

 

[subway]

i hate to say it but if money is really that tight i would pass. unless there is a need that i am missing i would not want to stretch my finances thin for a "toy" so to speak, and one that will need work in somewhat uncharted territories.

projects always cost 2-3 times what you are expecting.

on the flip side if you still want to go for it, it sounds like it could be a sweat deal. i think i would find another donar truck though rather than robbing my own like it sounds like you are doing.

 

[oldmisterbill]

i hate to say it but if money is really that tight i would pass. unless there is a need that i am missing i would not want to stretch my finances thin for a "toy" so to speak, and one that will need work in somewhat uncharted territories.

projects always cost 2-3 times what you are expecting.

on the flip side if you still want to go for it, it sounds like it could be a sweat deal. i think i would find another donor truck though rather than robbing my own like it sounds like you are doing.

We definatly have a serious need for it porbably in the future. Your right I am contemplating stripping my truck. Lots of situations here for us to consider,along with a bunch of variables. Priortys etc. What travel plans we have in the future.Ease of traveling with our health issues. What role does the old girl play in out future.

There is still a lot of info to gather.Right now it,s in the "thought stage" Who knows the 460 may not be that bad off. My funds may not allow it at this time.Maybe there is a profit to be made? Its not the time to look at it yet, not many people know it could be for sale.Silence is a good virtue.I still have a lot to do to our property to finish our summer project.A close friend saw it while he was cleaning up some storm damage-he was very impressed with the condition. "like new " sitting in its carport.

We want to spend some time on the road while we still can. The North East has been calling me to spend some time there -my siblings aren't doing well. We will see.

 

[RLDSL]

It would be a heck of a lot easier and cheaper to just rebuild the engine that's in the thing rather than go into a major conversion . It would eat more fuel later, but would cost probably a couple of grand less on the front end getting it going even though you have a good engine.

 

[icanfixall]

Buy a 5th wheel for the conversion costs. Then you can travel somewhere. Drop the 5th wheel and drive around seeing things. Can't do that with a motorhome unless you trailer or tow a car. then you usually need to make things road worthy... Its like setting up camp. then breaking it down to drive anyplace. Tow it. Set it up... Drive around... No problem...

 

[OLDBULL8]

X2 on the 5th wheel. Wish I'd have kept my 5er instead of the old Class C MH. There will be a lot of them for sale shortly if this economy keeps going like it is. I see a lot of them in this area already on CL. Winter time or after the camping season ends is the time to buy.

 

[RLDSL]

I'd have to agree on the 5th wheel arangement. It's the easiest to hitch /unhitch and as mentioned, when you get somewhere, you pull into a park, drop the beast and roll out and play tourist. On our last big trip last fall after 3 months on the road, we got it down to where my son and i could pull in to an RV park and drop our 5er and have it leveled and hooked up to the power in 5 minutes and be rolling back out so we could hit whatever local attraction it was that we were trying to get to ( we'd hook the water and sewer up later when we got back) Hooking up we got down to about10 minutes if in a hurry ( and my 5er doesn't have a regular 5th wheel coupler, it's a gooseneck, but it's darn near as easy to hookup. With the Atwood coupler I have on it, I just back into it, just like a 5er

The big motorhome setup, it real unruly. you are either stuck driving it all over or you have to rig a small car to tow behind with all the hassle and expense that goes with that and it is major, you wind up with a combination that you can't back up, and you either need a manual tranny car or an auto box and a tow dollyand if a manual you probably need to spend a *** on a trans lubricator, etc, and depending on the weight of teh thing, most put brake actuators on them$$$ by the time you finish rigging the toad, you could have bought a pretty darn nice 5er

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

x3 on 5er.

I love my IDI MH, but there still is many places I didn't get to go visit, or stop cause there was no RV parking, or no RV's allowed etc. and i've never towed a car behind mine to go camping.

Cause really we don't camp, we travel, were always on the road. We do have our bicycles but still, theres only so much you can do with those.


Now the good thing about a MH is I really don't need a campground to stay over night as you would with a 5er if you were to unpin and go touring with the truck.

I usually stay in Wal-Marts, Home Depots etc. overnight, it's free!

 

[oldmisterbill]

I have had CXlass A's,C's & bumperpulls.I loved the Class A,but for many years wanted a 5r. In my situation now I think I would get a bumperpull if I went with a trailer.However a class A would be great with one of the medical conditions I have to deal with.Currently we are getting a lot of tests run & am praying the Dr's come up with a way to control it.(uncureable) Trailer of what ever sort are in my opinion the most pratical $$ wise and convience wise,in MHO. I have 2 vehicles that acanpull a bumper pull & 1 that can pull a fith wheel. Lets face it the CC is the most comfortable way to travel.Even without a trailer I would rather travel by truck than car. Yet a fuel efficent car is great for some trips. Time will tell and the cament guy comng this afternoon to give me an estimate for some footings,will have a big voice in my plans $$. Gotta build a retaimg wall to control water flow,then some more french drains.

 

[Blind Driver2]

I just want this: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=991180&highlight=toter

Best of all worlds