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Polly Luna wakes up! A classic RV build story


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I think Polly Luna has always had nice lines and now they're even nicer.   The color combination is one of my favorites. Here's one of my creations, notice anything.  

Meet the newest member of our family, Polly Luna, a 1967 Dodge Travco motorhome.       We've always been big fans of vintage vehicles, and before our kids were born we camped in a 1972 VW Contempo ca

Before I dive into this one, I just have to warn you that I might turn up the cheese a bit in the next two updates. A bit more than usual, that is.   We've been working so hard on Polly Luna. Practica

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Well, folks. We pulled it off. Tomorrow afternoon Polly Luna will pull out of my in-law's driveway to start her slow and winding way to the Fort.

 

We're in major packing/organizing/freaking out mode right now, so unfortunately I don't have time for a full, fun update. So in light of that, here is a list (likely not fully inclusive) of the work we've done the last few weeks.

 

Mechanical

  • Full tune up (new filters, plugs, fluids, etc.)
  • New engine thermostat
  • New alternator
  • New brake master cylinder
  • Professional brake adjustment (necessary after we lost our brakes following the master cylinder replacement  ;))
  • Major work done to the dash and exterior light wiring
  • New u-joints
  • New battery

 

Interior

  • Rewired the scary water pump wire that had been striped down to the bare wire
  • Recovered the bench seat in vinyl
  • Partially recovered the ugly dinette that we bought out of another old RV with some shower curtains from Target (Spoiler alert - it's still ugly)
  • Installed a new fridge to replace the broken original 
  • Sewed up some new curtains
  • Installed seat belts

I'm sure I'm forgetting something...

 

Although the mad dash to get Polly ready for the trip was as successful as it had time to be, this thread isn't over. We'll be picking it back up next spring for more improvements and to fix the mistakes we've made over the past few weeks as we decided that "good enough" was okay and "perfect" was a myth.

 

And because no post here is complete without pictures, here is the bench seat before and after.

 

Before:
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After and installed:

70ECCBE0-8204-4F53-8D80-BB03DB50A9C8_zps

 

The recovered ugly dinette (you'd have to see it in person to truly appreciate its flaws)

E9B5B2AC-A841-4BED-9F1C-3CA1B792ED70_zps

 

But in my defense, it used to look like this:

F2BE1FE6-3A11-48DA-825A-1C229CC6BA8C_zps

 

Looking down the hallway:

BE4EC8F9-F06B-4BA8-B45F-B2487D357D77_zps

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Okay, folks, so we didn't make it too far last night, only 2.5 hours. 

 

At first things were going great, Polly was running as better than she ever has and Josh said you could really feel all the work we put into her in the way she drove. 

 

We got a couple hours from home and we noticed we were at a half tank so we stopped and topped it off. This turned out to be a big mistake. Over the years, sediment/rust particles/whatever had gotten into the tank when we stirred it up with the new gas, it clogged our brand new fuel filter. We lost power, started overheating, and pulled over. 

 

Luckily, my smart hubby had purchased an extra fuel filter, just in case. He installed it quickly and...it didn't help. Polly started backfiring and slowing down and we were forced to pull over again. Turns out the the sediment also got into the carburetor so we were having a fuel delivery problem.

 

Josh just cleaned up the carb and is fairly certain he's fixed the issue, but now there is a new problem. The overheating last night caused a pinhole leak to form in the radiator. Aaannd there are no radiator shops open to Monday.  Josh is going to attempt to seal the hole himself, but I'm not feeling good about our chances of getting Polly Luna to Florida at this point. I'm afraid every time we fill up we'll end up on the side of the road. 

 

So while DH fixes the radiator, I'm researching back-up options, just in case. I'm considering everything from flying and and renting an RV to renting an RV here and driving down. Any ideas?

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