Supurcar

I used to live on the other side of Mt. Madonna in Gilroy which is just over the hill and inland from Watsonville, I have read a few posts on the Big Sur trips and might add a few nearby points of interest. There is a restaurant there called "Nepenthe" or something of the sort and it has a neat little hippy gift shop below, this is near the top of Big Sur. On a clear day it is a nice place to have lunch and take in some amazing views. of course 17 mile drive is something to see at Pebble Beach as well as Carmel, nice beaches to stop at near the bottom of the 17 mile drive. I do not think there is any overnight action, but a must see. Aptos is a nice mellow little beach community closer to Santa Cruz (which also has a boardwalk by the way), nice restaurants and shops as well as beaches. I did want to mention "Bonfante Gardens" or at least that is what is was called 4-5 years ago. The owner of "Nob Hill" food chains had slowly built this park over the years in a 50's disneylandish garden style. Kind of a throw back walk in the park with many plants and flowers and some rides. The place was intended for small children or adults, not so much for the teenage thrill ride seekers. I had a season pass for a couple years before we moved to the NW, and it is one place I really miss. The smell of the cedar bridge. The giant enclosed garden reminded me of the smell in Hawaii and rare fragrant plants. At the time it was very affordable, not a profit generating machine, but a nice experience. This may have changed since I heard the city may tried to cost him out of the place. Needless to say there is a lot to see and visit in the part of California and I did not even mention much.

I am new at this, but mine has a box on the backside of the fridge you can open from the outside of the RV. There is a plug, to see if the fridge is killing your battery you could unplug it for a few days and see if the battery holds a charge. I could tell mine was drawing current when I first bought it as the battery charger had a big spark when I attached it. That usually means it is drawing current somewhere, I searched around until I figured out the fridge had been on. Once I bought a plug adapter I plugged the RV into my house, I just the left the fridge on and eventually it started to get cold, but it seemed to take a day and a half to get real cold but it works good now. And my spare battery also got charged. I have heard with home fridges that power must be off, and level and let it settle for a time before restarting, I am not HVAC rated or anything but I did hear something to that effect once. Good luck!

WoooHoo! Well I got brave and tested the heater, opened the gas valve and turned on the switch. The heater goes from 45 to 75 faster than the truck does...ha ha. Nice and toasty real fast. I tried to light a burner and nothing happened, so I need to find out where the on valve is for the stove. Hopefully it is not tied to the water heater somehow. I set the tires to 40psi front and 45psi rear based on a math scale I read somewhere. That a 12klbs rig would disperse 200lbs on each tire (given 6 tires in the equation) would set the tire pressure at 80lbs per. Taking a guesstimated weight of about 6k on mine I figure about 1K per tire with a little room for error and ended up with a figure of around 40 lbs per, and weighted it toward the rear. Hence the 45psi in the rears. And yes it is a little bouncy but better overall. I found an RV center that carried the clearance markers and went ahead and got them all to light up and replaced the badly faded ones, looks good as new now....well almost. Thanks again for the tips from you all. P.S. Moto you scored on that one, that thing is real cool!

That is really a nice rig, I am getting ideas now. I need to recover the couch in mine, and get curtains etc. It is in decent usable shape, but at some point I will redo the interior. I have a fridge that is gas or electric, I imagine if I do not turn on the gas controls it will be fine running on electricity. I am almost there, I will assume the stove is a simple click igniter when the knob is turned. I was just concerned if I turned the gas on for the heater, pilots on the other appliances would leak if not in use, you have put that concern to rest. In the spring I need to fix my shower valves, as they just click past the stopping point. I was told it is about $250 for the parts and a lot of work to fix. I may try to replace the parts in the valves before I try to replace them. This may not be possible. I do not think I would use this shower much anyway, but good to know it is there if needed. someone at work told me a header would really boost the power, any thoughts there??

WOW, you's is really nice on the inside. Mine is in good shape, but yours looks like new. My layout is alot different, the fridge and kitchen are by the cab, the shower and potty is in rear with a couch on the side in the middle. On one side whatever was there is gone, just a veneer box with plywood to sit on and a few heater vents. Which is fine because I used some wood screws to attach the dog crates (Jack Russels), this part of mine is a work in progress, I am not sure what I want to do with it. So if I turn on the gas and throw the switch on the bottom of the furance it will just work, I am wondering if I do not light the water heater is raw gas coming out for a apilot somewhere, or does the brown switch open the pilot valve as well? Thanks again for the good info! I will spend some time looking closely at the tires to make sure I have them at the correct PSI, this is why I have made some short hops to try the thing out. They are Kirkland all season load range C, LT 195-75r/14. I do have the bags in the rear with about 60LBS, so maybe I have to much air in the bags and it is putting to much weight on the front tires?

On the sidewall it says 50LBS max PSI, I do not remember the ratings on them. But I did notice they where wearing on the inside when I had them at 40lbs and it felt real bouncy. I read where the weight of the vehicle effects the PSI, so I am being real cautious, and yes they are the 6 bolt dually. I did not check to see if they are touching, that is why I am in here is for tips like that. I just filled the LP tank and have not figured out how to get the furnace going. I wonder if I use the brown switch to light the pilot, will the fact my water tanks are empty be a bad thing if the water heater lights. It gets below freezing here often, so I winterized the thing so I do not freeze the pipes. But I do want to use the heater sometime this winter, and the stove. I assume I just turn on the gas valve and hit that brown switch to light the pilots? I will gather some more info before I am brave enough to do it, I did have a local RV center check it out for leaks, and they said everything works fine. SC

I lowered the PSI to 30 in the tires as it was handling kinda floaty. We took it to Hermiston for a test run and it drove much better. I failed to mention it had 2 year old gas in it, and since the fuel gauge does not work I did not know how much old gas was in it. I know for sure I have used 15 gallons, since that is what it took to refill it for this test run. The power felt much better so I think the old gas is finally getting thinned out. That is my next project to attack, fix the fuel gauge. I managed to reduce the amount of squeeks and rattles by systematically listening and fixing each sound. The medicine mirror in the back was very noisy, I kind of balled up some of that thin double sided foam tape and stuck it to the inside edges and it seemed to work. I tightened all the wood screws anywhere I could find them, I found under the couch the screws had backed out and where on the flooring, that was a major culprit in the noise and shuddering. I foam taped anywhere I could (and it would not effect performance of that item). We had a nice quite ride, about 60 mile, most of the noise we heard was from the water bottles in the fridge..ha ha. One last area to mention is the paint and fiberglass. I used to detail cars way back when. I used fine steel wool on the aluminum to shine it up, and the rims. I used 2500 grit sandpaper or elbo grease and wax to hit the side of the fiberglass and paint on the cab. Here is the kicker, I had used a product called "Penetrol" on fiberglass boats to restore the gloss. I used some on the fiberglass on the RV and it seemed to work well. Try it on small areas until you figure out how to get a good shine and then do the whole thing. I failed to mention this thing sat in the hot sun for 2 years and was faded and chalky when I bought it. So yes we had a good day in the Sunrader land, my wife loves the crap out of this thing.

Right on, thanks for the info! I got mine up to 65 going down hill with a 70mph wind behind me....no really it is kinda snappy except going uphill it is hard to pickup speed unless I keep it buried. I will look to a high flow kit and maybe a better exhaust to gain a few horses.

Thanks for the info, on the windows it looks like the top edge is like an overbite to the bottom edge and the seal is being stretched a little. I wonder it the seal is getting too old. I already smeared some clear silicon around the edge and it seemed to work. I do not know who could remove the glass and reseal permanent. I have a picture of the brown switch, my water pump, vent, and range light switch are all on the kitchen vent edge. My front door light switch is by the front door. I did see it is prewired for A/C so maybe it is a dummy switch for now, but like I said a few seconds after I throw the switch it blinks red. I wonder if it is some kind of electric pilot lighter or something. You can barely see it in the interior picture I posted, if you put your mouse on the steering wheel at 12:00 and trace the wheel to the left, the mouse will land right on the switch as you reach the wood panel at about 9:00 on the wheel. I just notice a brown metal grate down below the sink as well, don't tell this thing has trash compactor or something? Thanks again!

Oh, I am reading alot of things about these RV conversions. This one is an '87 as I mentioned, any axle problems inherent in this model I should be leary of? I did read about the problems with earlier models, Can I help prevent this by changing the fluid in the axle or repack bearings?? It has sat for two years so I am wondering if there is any areas besides what I previously mentioned I serviced I should pay attention too? I did just winterize it, but filled the LP tank to try out the stove and heater. It has a fridge which did not get cold when I plugged the thing in to my house, but it was only for about 2.5 hours on my house ' power. It says it is gas and electric fridge. And one last question, there is a brown switch just under the sink on the wood paneling, it has a red light that kinda blinks after after a fews second when the switch is thrown. I have no clue what this is. I attached a photo, and last what is the reccomended tire pressure, I had them in the high 30's but read how tire pressure is critical and I have nothing to reference what they should be. Thanks for any help, and sorry for shotgunning the questions at you all. SC

I just picked up an '87 Sunrader with the same light and same lens missing. I think I will replace the entire handle with something shiny and newer looking, if I can't find a lens or maybe fabricate up a lens somehow..

Well I just bought this thing, a 1987 Sunrader with about 65K miles. It had been on a back lot for two years waiting for a clear title. Overall it is in okay shape. Some things I have noticed, the plexyglass windows above the cab have bad seals and may leak a little, there is some play in the steering (I am used to rack and pinion), it is underpowered. I have already cleaned it up, changed oil,tranny,brake fluid. It has air bags in the rear suspension that are working fine. My questions are as follows....How to find info on lighting the pilots and running the gas, finding an owner's manual for the interior features (fridge,heater etc.) My gas guage does not work and I am wondering how to fix it as well. And last how do I get some power out of the 22er FI engine? I can barely get over hills and always in passing gear to climb the smallest crest. My wife and I are looking forward to a lot of fun in this thing, we drove it 150 miles round trip and it was fine so far.