We finally decided on a design for the final look and feel of our house car. It will probably be 2014 before it happens but here are our ideas thanks to some designers.
1965 Dodge Coronet
Great Dale 1st Trial
We discovered that the Great Dale Mileage is somewhere between 8-10 mpg and so our idea to visit all of the CO state parks 1st seems like a really good idea right now.
Here is our first stop at Trinidad Lake State Park on our way to the balloon festival in New Mexico. One of the rangers is a car collector and stopped us on our way out. He apparently does a slide show presentation at the amphitheater of the most colorful vehicles and expected we would make next years list.
Great Dale Utilities
This area under one of the seats had a small,nasty fresh water tank bolted to the side. We added 16 Gallon fresh and grey water tanks with level indication under the sink, a battery, battery charger, true sign-wave inverter. The battery, inverter, and charger can easily be removed for other camping and I took them all to Burning Man last year.
The AC system will automatically switch from the inverter to the shore power, which can be plugged in on either side. The DC voltage can be sent to the new console in the bridge to supply clock power to the radio and or power the stereo when we’re camping.
Ch.Ch.Changes
We successfully drove from Denver to Albuquerque and can finally say that there is real progress being made.
Here are some of the visible changes during the Great Dale Transformation:
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Old Engine
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New Engine
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Old windshield, wipers, and fluid
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New windshield, wipers, and fluid
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Old
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New Gas filler cover, 3″ Exhaust with chrome tips, side marker lights, water inlet, Cargo Pod, and deadbolt lock  |
No Suspension Work was really required |
No Ladder with new spare tire, hitch, tail lights, licence plate light,and rear glass
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Old Entry View
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New Entry View
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Old Bridge View
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New Bridge view with custom console and speaker boxes
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Old Above the Bridge View
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New memory foam bed and curtains
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Bed and Bridge
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New Bed and Bridge
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Old View of the living space
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New View of the Living Space with new curtains and working lights
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Old Ice Box |
New AC/DC Fridge
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Old Ice Box Interior
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New Fridge Interior
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Old Ceiling Fan
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New Ceiling Fan
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Old Gas Lamp
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Old Gas Lamp with Glass
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New Cushions and Curtains Handmade by Lina |
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First Trip
Well it has been quite the journey and I’ll post more details after the small claim court case is settled. I chose the wrong mechanic and had to find a Mopar specialist to fix the mistakes. We’re almost ready for prime time after:
- Replacing the Rear axles
- Replacing the rear brake pads
- Replacing the rear differential (Twice)
- Reconditioning the drive shaft
- Rebuilding the transmission (Twice)
- Replacing the complete fuel system from tank to carb
- Replacing the radiator (3 times) and tweaking the fan system many, many times
- Rebuilding the heads
- Replacing the intake manifold
- Replacing the carburetor
- Replacing the air filter
- Replacing the exhaust
- Replacing all of the gauges and adding some new ones
- Replacing the transmission cooler
- Adding a deeper transmission pan
- Replacing the front brakes with disc brakes
- Replacing all front suspension bushings
- Adding a massive sway bar on the front
- Replacing the front windshields and rear window
- Replacing the windshield wipers
- New ignition system from distributor to plugs
- New gas filler cover
- Added Cruise control
We made it Canon City with no problems and here are some pics on a relatively level plot with no liquor store in the background.
Great Dale’s First Checkup
We left Great Dale with an RV place to check out the frame and make sure she was structurally safe. We couldn’t find any structural issues but the gas tank was pretty scary and might be the first project after a tune-up. Nothing like a ratchet strap to make you feel safe and give you that Ford Pinto vibe.
Otherwise it seems that if there is a place to leak, she’s leaking, but no real surprising issues.
The tire guy was shocked how old the tires were and they had some fun with the rusted/stripped lug nuts. It turns out that the front driver’s side tires are reverse thread which threw them for a loop and we spent an extra couple of hours waiting for it all to be sorted out.
As we were driving back to the RV mechanic, something happened to the passenger-side front tire. I heard some clunking and completely lost the brakes. When I walked around the hood to see what the problem was, I was stunned to see that the wheel seemed to have fallen off the drum but the lugs looked tight.
We got the tire guys over and it turned out the stud fell into the drum and knocked the brake seals off. Luckily there was a mechanic half a block away and they helped us take the drum off and review the damage. We put her back together and limped over to the mechanic’s bay where she’ll get a complete flush of all fluids.
Turns out that reading that older car brakes are dangerous because you lose ALL of the brakes if the fluid leaks out of one brake is completely different than experiencing it. The brakes were already scheduled for an upgrade but I may go Discs all the way around instead of just the front.
Good times!