Coast Resorts Open Roads Forum: Anyone interested in 83 Pace Arrow Tear down and Rebuild?


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fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

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Joined: 12/14/2003

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Posted: 09/12/17 07:07pm

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Still did not get a chance today to get back out and test the plywood, Por 15, and steel tubing.

Hope to be able to do that tomorrow.

Here is a shot of removing the plywood from over the co-pilot's window. It's amazing how far plywood will bend without breaking. This stuff is 1/2" and was stuck very well to the 1/8" plywood which was glued on the outside.

Not bad for 34 year old glue...

Sorry for the lousy pic. Hey, even a poor one is better than none, right?

[image]

* This post was edited 09/12/17 07:14pm by fulltimin *

If you want to do something, you will find a way.
If you don't, you will find an excuse.

-------------------------------------------------

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of experience, comes from bad judgement.

fulltimin

Home is where we Park It.

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Posted: 09/12/17 07:15pm

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And here we have the glue on the backside of the plywood, that was just pulled off.

Most of it is pretty well in tact.

Looks pretty good when there is no water damage...Lol.

[image]

oyvind

San Francisco

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Posted: 09/12/17 07:42pm

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We're having trouble with cooling on our 85 Pace Arrow (identical to yours) - how's your engine configured in terms of radiators and fans?

Ours only has the clutch fan, and since I'll have to take out the core (it's leaking), I'm considering adding some ducting and extra fans for the oil cooler and A/C condenser, and maybe place the auxiliary cores somewhere they're not stealing air flow from the main core.

Ours also has water damage up front, so we'll be tearing down all the wood work and redoing walls and floor, adding sound/heat proofing in the process (RattleTrap seems promising), and replacing/modifying the doghouse since ours is warped and pretty ugly.

Keep the posts coming!

fulltimin

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Posted: 09/12/17 08:26pm

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oyvind wrote:

There is nothing special about our cooling. It has the clutch fan, no electric fans.

One thing ours does have is the rubber on top the radiator to cover up the air gap between the radiator and the plywood above it. It is screwed to the plywood above the radiator, so air can't really go over the radiator.

One thing I have noticed, since ours has a carburetor is, when needing extra power going up hills, it makes very little difference in power whether I use the primaries only, or floor it to use all 4 barrels.

What it does do, is make a difference is the engine heat. When going up hills, using just the 2 primaries will give us about 85-90% of our power, without overheating the engine. If I kick in the secondaries, I can sit and watch the heat gauge climb, with little performance gain.

I have a heat gauge that gives me heat in numbers, instead of the factory heat gauge.

2 other things I have seen people do, which I have not, because we haven't needed it, is ...

1. Adding plywood on both sides, and top and bottom, (which makes a box), between the back of the grill and the radiator. That way, any air that comes in through the grill, has no place to go, except through the radiator.

And 2. Using a water misting system that blows a small amount of water in front of the radiator, which helps cool things down. Typically, they are more often used in areas of higher altitude, and extreme heat.

I will post a pic here of a fan shroud that was used in the early 1970's on Chevy Monte Carlo's. They had a mile long hood, with the radiator up front. So, they needed a shroud to make sure the air would flow through the radiator. The fan was at the rear of the shroud, very close to it.

This is about the same thing as making a plywood box to force air through the radiator, only in front of the radiator, instead of behind it.

[image]

Also, there are radiators made for the 454 engine that have, I believe 4 cores instead of 3.

Enjoy your rebuild.

fulltimin

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Posted: 09/13/17 06:47pm

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Finally got to check out the plywood, steel, and Por 15 today. After having them clamped for a couple of days, and letting it cure I put them in the press and proceeded to pump away until the joint gave way.

220 lbs isn't bad, but it's not like the 2 pieces of plywood either. Below is a pic, and just a split second after this, the joint gave way. Not quite what I was hoping for, but, hey, it could have been worse.

[image]

fulltimin

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Posted: 09/13/17 06:54pm

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Another thing about Por 15, is that it can be used with fiberglass mat or cloth and used to patch holes, just like you would if you were using epoxy and cloth or mat.

So, I am sure during the course of the rest of this project, there will be some Por 15 used in it. Again, just a satisfied customer, nothing more. No affiliation, no monetary gain, and I am not selling anything.

fulltimin

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Posted: 09/14/17 05:23pm

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Now, on to the passenger side for a little info. Here is a shot of the outside in front of the side entrance door.

As you can see, this also has the same trim, held on by the pop rivets. This is going to come off as well as the drivers side. Had a couple of these leak, or at least something along here did. Nothing as serious as the drivers side.

[image]

fulltimin

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Posted: 09/14/17 05:41pm

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This next pic is of the same area, only from the inside.

On the left is a green circle. That is the new stud I am putting in - not welded yet - getting there. This one will go to the bottom "base plate" of the wall.

The 2 shown in red are studs that go to the base plate, and they go up along the window, all the way to the roof/ceiling. You will notice that the one on the right, is right next to the entrance door.

In the center are the 2 studs, that are under the window, idicated by the yellow circles. Remember the window on the drivers side, had no supports underneath. The only thing there was, insulation glued to paneling and plywood.

You will also notice that the studs from under the window, do not go all the way to the base plate. They stop about 3 inches from the bottom.

The horizontal piece of steel at the bottom of the window studs, is the one that the outside piece of trim is pop riveted to. That gives support to the trim outside.

Also, you will notice that the wall studs do not match up with the floor joists, which are on 2 foot centers, (mostly).

Also notice near the green circle, and the red circle on the left side, have some dark spots on the wall, which indicates water intrusion, as we had a little rain before this pic was taken.

If you also look between the green circle and the left red one, there are 2 screws sticking out through that horizontal piece of steel.

Some genius decided that it would be a good thing to use a 3 1/2" screw, to go through a 2" wall, to hold the bottom leg of the awning on. [image]

femailyetti

South of Disney World

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Posted: 09/15/17 06:40am

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The radiator in my project had four cores when we took it apart. The tubes that carry the fluid were smaller then a standard tube. I believe I posted a picture of the core we took out, but not the new four tube one installed by my friends at Complete Radiator in Orlando, one of the guys has been working there for ever said that back in the day it was very common for them to re-core the radiators with a larger tube four core version, and it helped stop the problems of over heating. He said it added around a gallon to the water capacity when you refilled the radiator system with just that change.