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Adventures And Restoration Of Our 1973 Travco 220 Motorhome

Friday, June 22, 2012

Project - Broken Exhaust Mainfold Bolts


As you can see by my previous post, it only made since to check out that exhaust leak while we have the passenger floor out. Really, I'm not trying to create work for myself even though my wife states that " If you take any more parts off that thing you won't be able to say you own a RV," it's just the fact that the deeper I go into the project the more things I find that need fixed.
See my post "If It's Not Already New Or Broken It Will Be Soon!"

So here's a recap of my current situation: (NOTE: Days equal possible long stretches of time)
Day 1: Bring the Travco home, looks great! Replace fuel tank and go camping

Day 2:  Replacing the tank was a pipe dream- see post below

Day 3: While I figure out what I'm going to do with the fuel tank, lets work on the electrical and refinish some cabinets.

Day 4: If we are going to refresh the cabinets, why not reupholster the seats and cushions? - Yes, I removed the interior.

Day 5: It's going to cost a bit to recover the interior so why not keep myself busy sanding the repaint off down to the original gel-coat and polishing

Day 6: Cabinets? Fabrics? Exterior? Well we can't go with that 30-year old floor now, can we?

Day 7: Let's remove some of that moldy carpet... Wow! and that rotten wood... and that rusted metal under it all...Hey, thats the ground were looking at!

Day 8: Which brings me to this post. "Project - Broken Exhaust Manifold Bolts"

Yes, three broken bolts, make that four so far, I broke another one and the drivers side manifold is not completely off yet. Have you ever taken a head off a Travco? It's an adventure for sure.

Process: (ALSO NOTE: there could be other steps involved such as taking an antifreeze shower etc. that are not listed here.)
Step 1: Remove air cleaner, intake manifold, water pump housing, which means remove front grill, radiator, condenser, trans cooler, air conditioning compressor and alternator

Step 2: Remove/break off exhaust manifolds, valve covers, valve train, bent push rod- Yes Bent?? and then heads. More on the push rod later.

Step 3: Inspect heads and remove broken bolts

Step 4: reassemble

See, it's no problem I tell my wife.