Don’t feel bad I’ve been a mechanic for almost 20 years and I always been electrical guy. I always start off same way looking at everything (building a diagram in my head) and going WTF is going on around here. 😂 it always seems daunting at first but chip away at it and you’ll get your desired outcome.
Fun video! I'm considering a 1990, but have concerns about a wrinkle in the fiberglass, by the side door. What do you consider a good price on something that you know is going to need work? It's a V6 with a rebuilt engine.
These things are lovely - and alas - they're old. So, with Fozzie there have been a few gremlins - mainly related (seemingly) to electrical. (Ironically both in the house and in the vehicle infrastructure itself). And - I think most all of this electrical is due to some less than elite DIY modifications made by former owners (of which there have been quite a few in the nearly 40 years since this was first released into the world.). Admittedly I don't know a lot about working with fiberglass - but I'd be concerned about what caused the wrinkle in the first place. Is that a sign that maybe weight is distributed incorrectly? Some infrastructure compromised? Water damage? It could be an easy fix for someone who knows how to work with it - or it could mean taking things apart to repair the issue that caused the wrinkle in the first place. In other words, it could turn into a much bigger project than a wrinkle. OR not. Said differently - it's a slippery slope - and with all of the systems on board - there are a lot of things that can be not quite right. But, alas. Potential is a dangerous word, and I personally have difficulty looking past that. As far as price - it depends. I paid 15.5k for Fozzie summer of last year, and given the issues (electrical! house plumbing! intermittent starting challenges!) I'm running into, I probably overpaid by a good 3 - even with the completely rebuilt engine.
I am watching these for ideas. I bought a 89 Toyota dolphin 2 weeks ago. It is a 6 cylinder. I didn’t name it, but… maybe I will. I was surprised the bathroom is so big. The windows are all big windows in it with all the screens like yours. That to me is a big deal. Today it’s down at The Service Center till next week. It passed the safety inspection, but I’m having them do the brakes. They are passable, but I want them safe, which is probably a smart thing to do. it had the engine and the inside rebuilt in 2005, 2006. It’s dated and it’s not perfect but I like it and I’m going put a little money into it. An inside paint job, new small fridge (I don’t want to mess with the propane fridge, I only want use with the stove and the water heater), I’d like to have a countertop put in or revamp up the old one and the booth turned into storage then I will be content till next year. at least there’s no nasty carpet or upholstery to mess with. And some of the ones I’ve seen are nasty inside. This one was not, but it needs a cleaning. It has a one piece shower in it, air conditioner works, but I really don’t want that. I don’t want to have to hook up to electricity most of the time and II do want to have solar in it., but for now, I have a few solar devices of different wattage, which is the biggest is 1800 W down to 300. I hope I know what I’m doing. if not, I’ll sell it. I had to make up my mind that day because I was the first one to see it, ahead of two other parties and it would’ve been gone. I wish mine had that kind of shell on it. Was i that crazy to buy it? I keep asking myself that. 🥴
Thank you for a great video. I found the exact model that my neighbor has owned since 1988, and I am on my way to convince her to sell it to me :) Meanwhile, I got to use it whenever I want to!
So.... what happen then? No more videos? Come on, man, upload them, I wanna learn too haha. This kind of videos always make my day, gathering knowledge for some future reference.
I'm only marginally conversant with watts and volts and amps as well, but looking at what you have in situ....I think you gotta pull everything and start from zero. Looking at the "connections" that include just a massive wad of electrical tape, or worse - those blue "wire-tap" things....yikes! Plus, given the amount of corrosion at the negative (I think?) post, there's probably corrosion through a decent length of those wires. So, even if it works, the power draw is going to be much greater (the poor little electrons having to fight their way thru the corrosion)...and more resistance (heat), which is not your friend. As a stop-gap, how about just plopping in one of those Bluetti (or whatever brand) power station things (e.g. Bluetti AC200L just to throw one out there). They can be charged off of alternator 12V, solar, or regular house current); LiFePO4 so it's fine with repeated deep discharge (the major downfall of lead-acid) - at 3500 (10 years, almost daily) full discharge, you should still have 80-85% of the original 2kWh that this thing comes with. Run extension cords from the A/C outlets on the power station in place of where all of the current (no pun intended) wiring resides to where you need outlets; 12V outlets on it as well for your 12V appliances. Stupid-expensive? Yes. But...either you sell this in a year or two and get back maybe 70% (certainly no worse than half) of what you paid if/when you get around to installing a bespoke solution; or you keep it as additional power (I get the sense that electrical capacity in off-grid living is like RAM and computers - there's no such thing as "too much". 😃)
So appreciate this reply here. I've looked at those portable solutions - but I do like the idea of there being a standalone system integrated and on board. But - yeah. As ever. It's a decision tree with an ever increasing number of branches.
As a camper van owner, I am very very jealous of your rig's one seam. I am still trying to track down a water entry point in my Roadtrek Simplicity (RAM ProMaster).
With the Mick (the name of our old Granville rig) there was a seam at the top where the rubber membrane transitioned to the front aluminum of the overcab area - I used double butyl tape - and water was still getting through. I know it can work...but I apparently just don't have the touch.
This is the greatest Toyota Sunrader thread of all time :) Wocka Wocka Wocka!!! Was cool to see those ACC guys on there telling you in fact you *didn't* make a terrible life decision. Looking forward to more updates.
Two comments: 1. Man - I wish all car videos were this well-produced. I guess it makes a difference when an artist makes a car video vs. a car guy making "art". 2. While I have no need for one of these, I now have a burning desire to retrofit an early-00s VW TDI into one of these bad boys. Easily get 30mpg with 300lb-ft of torque with the added bonus that if you run out of fuel, you can just steal some cooking oil out of the pantry. 😃
