It was running well when I bought it in 1995 and we used it quite a bit, including living in it for the summer after I retired from the Air Force. For reasons too lengthy to go into here, I left it sit in a field for eight years. After replacing the starter and rebuilding the carb I was able to move eighteen miles to my new home.
Interestingly, the battery, a new Sears DieHard, was in good condition and only needed a little recharging, even though it sat through seven Fairbanks winters, with our usual spells of 40 & 50 below zero temperatures.
I again left it sit for a year and a half before I tried starting it again. After replacing a rotted fuel line it start right up, although the torque converter appears to be slipping due to age and neglect.
It's worth noting that, out of six vehicles, it was our only operational means of transportation. (The others are a mid-70s Mustang II, 1980 Bronco, 1987 F-150, 1990 van, and early 90s Escort.) The reason for the abundance of non-functioning vehicles is another vvveeerrryyy lllooonnnggg story and has nothing to do with the fact that they're all Fords.
Anyhow, the fact that the motorhome pulled through for us has caused my wife to decide she likes the old beast and wants to keep it. Even better, she said I can tear it apart and do a complete restoration and rebuild, something I've wanted to do to a motorhome/camper/whatever since I was in high school.
Currently, I've started tearing it apart and planning the rebuild, working around our lovely spring weather. (It snowed several inches over the weekend and then hit 50 degrees today.)
Oh yeah, the van is running and I'm working on the F-150. The Mustang II and Escort belong to my daughter and I'm leaving those to her to fix. (She's an okay shadetree mechanic for her age.) The Bronco is a jealous and vengeful thing and I'm afraid of what it's going to do because I'm spending all this time on other vehicles. (It's fits of revenge are lengendary and everybody's afraid to ride in it, let alone drive it.)
I'm hoping to write some magazine articles as an outgrowth of my research and experiences on the motorhome project.
Gotta run. It's 2:00 a.m. and I've spend most of the day banging around the Internet looking for info for this project.
Griff
1970 Explorer Class A on a 1969 Dodge M300 chassis with 318 cu. in. (split year)
1972 Executive Class A on a Dodge M375 chassis with 413 cu. in.
1973 Explorer Class A on a Dodge RM350 (R4) chassis with 318 engine & tranny from 1970 Explorer Class A
I have seen listings for headers to fit Dodge 440 engines in Class A's and B-model van as far back as the late 60's. Their kinda hard to find so try googling headers dodge 440. Adding the chassis type seems to cause more misses than hits.
Finding headers for a 1969 M300 chassis with a 318 engine was harder. Most sites assumed a 1969 Dodge Class A would have a 413 or 440. I was able to find three manufacturers that listed headers for that year/model/engine. Heddman was one of course and for $155 was the cheapest. Doug Thorley was another and an outfit in the Seattle area was the third. The last two listed their headers in the $400-500 range but both also used heavier tubing (14 ga.) and thicker flanges than the Heddmans.
Headers have a tendency to wear out/burn out over time. If this is a problem for you, stick with the stock cast iron manifolds. If your willing to have to eventually replace them, then choice boils down to how long you want to go before replacing them and how much your willing to spend. Heddman headers have been around a long time so they must be providing a reasonable product for the price. On the downside, Heddman caters more to the hot rod crowd with designs that favor high rpm power rather than the low end torque needed by most RVers.
Thorley has also been around a long time and is known for providing a solid product, albeit at a high cost. Also, Thorley headers are targetted more towards street preformance, with an emphasis on maintaining or improving low end torque while improving economy and performance at legal street and highway speeds. Also, I have reason to believe Thorley will work with you if you have a unique application.
I have not verified it but the third outfit appears to be more of a custom fabricator with jigs and schematics for different types of headers. As such, they probably best for odd applications or unique requirements. Designwise, their headers are similar to Thorley's.
For myself, I want the headers to be a "fix and forget" installation and I'm will to pay more for that. Also, a trusted mechanic friend has a set of Thorleys on the 460 engine in his F-250 and he loves them. He uses the truck to tow his boat between Fairbanks and Valdez, a distance of 350-400 miles. A couple of things worth noting: His boat is a big saltwater rig and his truck is almost too small to be towing it that distance. (He really should have a F-350 or -450 for the job.) As an experience mechanic, he barely tolerates the stuff he finds on most vehicles and only really loves his wife and his tools. For his to praise a truck part is significant.
On this basis, I intend to go with the Thorleys because of Doug Thorley's reputation, the heavier tubing, and the thicker flanges. However, I'm going to look into having them made with even thicker flanges. (I hate exhaust leaks and thicker flanges are less likely to warp.) Also, Thorley only lists back to 1970 and I'll need to make sure the headers will fit my 1969 chassis. (They should, research indicates the 1968 to 1971 M300 chassis were identical.)
If the Thorleys won't work or I can't get them with a thicker flange, I'll check with the outfit near Seattle. (I have their address somewhere, I just can't find it right now.)
If neither of those pan out, I'll look into the Heddmans by comparing the idle to 5000 rpm curve with the stock manifolds.
Hope this helps.
Griff
I have been running a set of the Thorley Tri-Y headers for a couple of yearss now on my 78 clipper with the 440 engine. thou I haven't put a huge amount of miles on my rig I feel they are worth the money.
nice heavy construction and they are plated for futher rust protection. I did have a small issue with fit on the Rt header down where the flange gose past the lower A arm rear support bracket. I needed to cut about an inch form the bracket. The cut didn't affect the bracket as far as a safety stand point. This could have been something strange with my Clipper? The engine runs cooler and the power at low end is good. they sound pretty good too.
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/grin.gif "grin")
Rodney
Visit my website
1978 American Clipper 21 ft. 440 Dodge.
I just picked up a set of Doug Thorley tri ys. I have the 360 small block.
I was planning on using a 2.5 inch dual system with crossover. I'm considering Flowmaster, Dynaflo or Thrush mufflers.
I heard that its bad for valves to keep the backpressure too low. Would you know if this proposed system is efficient without causing engine trouble?
Also headers radiate more heat than the cast manifold. Did you have to shield or protect engine components, or the dog house?
new v'er wrote:
Mr. Mopar
I just picked up a set of Doug Thorley tri ys. I have the 360 small block.
I was planning on using a 2.5 inch dual system with crossover. I'm considering Flowmaster, Dynaflo or Thrush mufflers.
I heard that its bad for valves to keep the backpressure too low. Would you know if this proposed system is efficient without causing engine trouble?
Also headers radiate more heat than the cast manifold. Did you have to shield or protect engine components, or the dog house?
Mr. Mopar
I just picked up a set of Doug Thorley tri ys. I have the 360 small block.
I was planning on using a 2.5 inch dual system with crossover. I'm considering Flowmaster, Dynaflo or Thrush mufflers.
I heard that its bad for valves to keep the backpressure too low. Would you know if this proposed system is efficient without causing engine trouble?
Also headers radiate more heat than the cast manifold. Did you have to shield or protect engine components, or the dog house?
Running bare (or no) headers is the usual cause of "back pressure" problems which is typically a case of cold air hitting the hot exhaust valves and warping or breaking them.
Low back pressure can also be called exhaust scavenging which is good. Large pipes and a crossover are important to a efficient exhaust system and your set-up is exactly what i intend to go with.
Yes, higher heat is a problem. I'm planning, at a minimum, to insulate the starter and sparkplug wires. I'm considering a friend's idea, which is to put in ductwork and a fan to pull hot air out of the top of the engine compartment. He says his setup made the engine run better and seemed to improve power and economy.
I feel that getting the cast iron manifolds off the engine and installing the headers have made for better heat disapation rather than creating more heat. in the case of the 440 instalation and the configuration of the tri y headers I did nothing for extra heat sheilds starter or other wise and so far things are working fine. I tried the ducting work and had 2 fans to try and pull the hot air from the dog house but didn't see any real difference?? I my have given up to soon and could have tried some other locations for the duct work but there just isn't room to do much modifications. what I do if when I stop after a long haul is simply open the hood to let the heat escape.
I do think an electric fan in front of the radiator may be a good idea after the rig is stopped to push the hot air from the dog house area but from my personal experence the electric fan didn't keep the engine cool enough and a good clutch fan and the fan shroud works best. the big problem with the electric fan is again not much room to install it and I don't like to use the zip ties which go thru the radiator as they will in time work loose and damage the radiator core.
I would use a good muffler designed for a motor home or truck to handle the extreme back pressure. a muffler made of light steel will not last and will colapse in a short time.
A person could have the headers ceramic coated or you could wrap them with a heat tape called cool it but the tape I have found will cause the headers to rust and rot faster than with out them being wraped.
after I rebuild the engine in my home I left the A/C and all the components off of the engine and left the condenser off as well for better air flow I feel this both has helped keep my Clipper running cool. keep us posted on your progress.
Rodney
The info is good stuff.
Doug Thorley folks state something like wrapping a header is like wearing a coat in the heat of a desert. They say it voids the warranty due to hot spots.
The electric fan is an issue. A mechanic stated that there is a way to increase fuel mileage by removing the engine fan and install electric fans.
I hear in your comments that this may prove out to be inadequate.
Regarding your LOT in Life: Build something on it ... or park your Dodge on it.">
Bill & Laurie
1976 Dodge Sportsman Midas Mini 226
He did say it was much more important to have a cool source of air for the intake, be it carburetor, EFI, or TBI. He said that adding a snorkel from the front of the vehicle to the air breather helps a lot if your vehicle doesn't already have one. Just make sure it won't accidentally direct rain into the intake.
Do you have any contact with the Camp LIWA youth camp folks in Fairbanks?
Raindad