On Thu, 21 Oct 2010 17:57:23 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

On Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:14:28 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


wrote:

On Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:58:49 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Ted Frater wrote:

Richard J Kinch wrote:
axolotl writes:

Corrosion in the hydraulic line from the master cylinder
to the ABS modulator, causing a leak near the ABS modulator.

I'll never forget driving a 20-year-old, 10,000-lb motorhome down a city
street, pressing on the brake, having a line rupture, and having that
sinking feeling, wondering what I might hit before the thing stopped
rolling.
As were all sharing reminisences, heres what happened to me back in 1972.
Id driven the 120 miles to London UK for a days work, done that, was
coming out of the city made it to the motorway, had to slow, pushed the
brake petal and it went to the floor.!!
coasted onto the hard shoulder, upped the bonnet( hood in the us of a)
and saw that the power lead from the battery to the solenoid on the
starter hasd vibrated and fractured off the terminal, fallen down and
touched the front brake line and burned it through!!.
I still had 100 miles to go, Rummaged in the tool box for a center punch
and hammer.
Unscrewed the union and removed the cut off piece of brake pipe.
flared the pipe with the center punch and screwed it back together
after pulling the pipe off the bulkhead to make it long enough vto reach
the t union.

A motorist stopped to ask if i needed any help , he gave me some brake
fliud and i bled the line right there.
Made it home and replaced both the line and the faulty lug. Was able
to jury rig that to get power to the starter.


I went to the Dayton Hamfest one year in a '68 GMC Handivan. I was
headed home on I-75 that Sunday evening when the bolt holding the
alternator mount to the engine sheared off and the alternator hit the
highway at 55 MPH. There was about a half turn of the thread sticking
out of the head on the Chevy 283 engine and I only had a few tools with
me so I had to remove that hot bolt with my fingers while the engine was
still hot. An Ohio state trooper had already stopped and told me that
when he made the next pass in about a half hour he would call a wrecker
if I was still there and either haul it to their impound lot, or to my
home. The bill for that would have wiped out everthing I made that
weekend, so I managed to get out the old bolt and found one that fit,
but needed a couple washers to keep it from bottoming out. The
alternator was still hanging from the wires, and had some damage from
being dragged on the highway. I managed to get it bolted back to the
engine and was just leaving when I spotted the police car making hiis
next pass.

Bet it was a 307


Bet it wasn't. The original engine was a 292. The guy I bought it
from blew that engine and put the 283 in it. It was pulled from a
wrecked taxi cab and didn't last 50,000 miles. I found out that it was
definitely a 283 when i started looking for parts. I quickly discovered
that it was a hack job that would need to be completely redone,
including replacing the steering column because of sloppy repairs.

That was when i junked it and bought the '73 Chevy step van. It had
a 292 and a five speed on the floor.
The 292 was a great egine - lots of torque.


Yes, It ran great in a 6000+ Lb stepvan with 9,000 Lb of cargo. It
passed almost everything on I-75 going uphill with the gas pedal about
half way to the floor at 65 MPH.


Just knew the 283 was "yesterday's news" by 1968


That van was a '68 model. I bought it in 74, right after I left the
Army.
I used to run a 1968 GMC 35 pickup with 292 4 gear hauling a tri-axle
trailer. Were were licenced for 20 tons IIRC.
A couple of Cockshutt (White) 1855 tractors on the trailer would make
it snort, but never complain.