we need more updates on Jeds Clamper. It is one of the more interesting projects, and the narration is excellent!
Ozzy, it's more of a joke in the neighborhood than here or anywhere else, but....Jed's Clamper was a outgrowth of a idea my wife had....she wanted a motor home to tour the country in, after SHE retires, in another 6 years, IF then...due to the economy...another issue...
so being as I"m mostly retarred, I got toooo much time on my hands...as some of you all lament...please don't inquire my car about that...it's under threat of death to reply....
So last summer wifey poo starts looking for a motor home, we are hardly wealthy by American standards...and so she spots this thing on craigslist...for 600 bux or so....she get him down to 200 bux, it's a '71 P30 motor home chassis built on a dualie axle chebby van platform with 14' of aluminum behind the seats...
NEW 350 SBC engine, believe it or not..and 350 tranny, 411 gears....
so I get it home and in the drive...pix on one of my sites....
and go to work, finding the new engine I give it a reprieve with a smile and a grin...figgering that about 2 grand off the top make it maybe survivable....
strip that top mount a/c which hits the drive at high velocity....seal up the top in several spots...new pop tops....
many trips to junkyards, and so finding FORD rear drums are the same 8 lug pattern, I bolt them to the chebby hubs along with the right backing plates...
and brakes, which are actually larger than the OEM GM brakes....
I have to fight for the rims, but I win....got all that antiquated split rim shit over with and killed off...tubeless radials all around....16" tires, none of that old 16.5 inch crap that no one has....roadside assistance and parts ...
finding the engine new was also the radiator new....
and the water pump is now new....20 bux is cheep insurance...
a CS144 ~150 amp alt was put in place of the POS in there....again junkyard cheep for 20 bux....
got a DODGE VAN a/c compressor, kinda like one on a later C4, with ears on it, not the lateral bolts...a buddy welded up the old York aftermarket a/c comp mount for the 'new compressor'....a new expansion valve and a pressure test, it's ready for charge now...
the camper section of it WAS well rotted out....but the sides top/back are aluminum or fiberglass...rot THAT mommy nature...bitch....
but the leaks did rot the interior wood....so some 100 bux later I have new framing and 3/4 PT plywood all over the bed....and the thing is gutted long time ago...
internet shopping will make parts enough easy for plumbing and electric....
the thing looks GOD AWFUL now....but is due for a paint job soon enough...
only been since August, afterall....
with help from TimAT here, who suffered greatly with countless phone calls over that 700 r4 turbo, I now have overdrive...
I made a gauge cluster for the top center of the dash...5 including tranny temps...a obvious ten buck tranny cooler nice BIG one...
Old rotors are now speaking Japanese, and so 'new ones' from Junkyard....
wiring done pretty much, just the 110 vac and interior fit/finish to be done....I have all the cabinet doors and shit from the tear out...rest of the junk in there was built from MDF which is very heavy, new cabinets will be 3/8-1/2 ply and lightweight....just junk ply, nothing great...floor will be vinyl..over the ply...walls to be thin ply as the OEM was...
I used to remodel houses for a living....so this is nothing but a small house on wheels...simple really....
now to the funny parts...
the thing had a SIX TURN lock to lock MANUAL steering wheel on it...like my 130 lbs 57 y/o bride can handle THAT....even with a 3' diameter bus driver steering wheel....6 turns on sand maybe dooo-able...but not on pavement....
so my exhaust shop friend down the road and I get to talking one day, and he says he has this chebby van camper he scrapping....I go look behind the shop and
it has a much smaller TILT wheel, TWO brand new reupholstered high back bucket seats, and a power steering box.....so junkyard for a 30 buck PUMP and in goes power steering....so the brakes still suck
SO ebay a Hydroboost, 75 bus later with shipping it's in the camper....no go, drove me krazy for the last few daze, fixed it last afternoon, put it in this morning, and Jed's Clamper can hit the nose into the ground good a proper now....but to be totally fair, this old vac booster had a SLO leak in it, and I found water in it...but it still assisted....I found that if those brakes fail on a mountainside....it's going to take much more than a little gal to haul that thing to a hault...my size 13+ feet can barely do it on the driveway....
thing that makes it viable, the RUST is all just surface crap, nothing structural, rather minor....OH....it came with HEADERS and a full dual exhaust...a TRUE redneck camper....:nuts:
SO, the name is Jed's Clamper and I have a old mock tag for the front....'HOLLYWOOD'.....
and so it has FORD rims/brakes in rear on the GM axle, DODGE compressor and some other minor shit, so to say built by GM, Ford, Chrysler with honorable mention to the UAW.....after the paint job....
Miscellaneous holes in the sides from whoever, are to be patched with various street signs from my decades old collection.....
wife/I have a similar sense of humor, so to strap a rocking chair to the rear...
hope we don't cause many wrecks from others passing us and laughing/loosing control.....
:gurney::gurney::drink:
