arveetek
07-07-2006, 20:33
My wife and I had the pleasure of taking our 5th wheel down to Navarre Beach, Florida, at the end of June. We had a great time. We had orignally planned to attend the Rendezvous in Michigan, but decided laying on the beach in FL sounded pretty darn good.
The '81 performed great on the trip, save for some minor tranny troubles. The new torque convertor I installed a few months back decided that it, too, no longer wanted to lock up. It was working great until about halfway to FL around Tupelo, MS. I think towing in overdrive is what caused the TC to go out this time. I suspect that if I had left it in 3rd, I wouldn't have had any problems. But the truck wanted to go faster, so overdrive it was!
I didn't dare tow in overdrive without the TC locked up, so I finished the rest of the trip down and back in unlocked 3rd. Worked fine that way, but I couldn't drive as fast, and it was much noiser. Instead of running 65 to 70 mph, I could only go 60 most of the time, due to the high rpm. Took an extra hour getting back home. I should of sprung for the better TC instead of a stock replacement. I was really wishing for a 5 speed manual, actually! Perhaps it's time to think about an NV4500 swap....
I'm really happy with the power output of the engine. Now I've got all the power I need, but I need a better way to transfer it to the ground.
Last year I was fighting trying to keep the engine cool and the temp guage out of the red zone. This spring when I replaced the radiator, I tweaked the fan clutch and bent the spring on the front just a tad. Wow! What a difference that made! Now the fan kicks in the moment it starts to get anywhere near warmer than normal, and doesn't kick back out until it's cooled the engine back down. Only once on the whole trip while facing a head wind uphill did I ever have to even look at the temp guage, and it was still a long way from getting hot. I'd still like to do the dual t/stat and HO water pump upgrade, but at least now I know I can finally tow without keeping one eye glued to the temp guage.
The engine ran great, and had so much power that I hardly ever had to use full throttle. Most of the time I could run at highway speed with the trailer and have lots of throttle left. Back in my stock n/a days, I had to keep the foot to the floor just to maintain speed.
I still haven't figured out my rough idle problem yet, but the engine sure does sing and sounds quite nice pulling a heavy load at 60 mph at 15 psi and 1050 degrees on the EGT!
Later!
Casey
The '81 performed great on the trip, save for some minor tranny troubles. The new torque convertor I installed a few months back decided that it, too, no longer wanted to lock up. It was working great until about halfway to FL around Tupelo, MS. I think towing in overdrive is what caused the TC to go out this time. I suspect that if I had left it in 3rd, I wouldn't have had any problems. But the truck wanted to go faster, so overdrive it was!
I didn't dare tow in overdrive without the TC locked up, so I finished the rest of the trip down and back in unlocked 3rd. Worked fine that way, but I couldn't drive as fast, and it was much noiser. Instead of running 65 to 70 mph, I could only go 60 most of the time, due to the high rpm. Took an extra hour getting back home. I should of sprung for the better TC instead of a stock replacement. I was really wishing for a 5 speed manual, actually! Perhaps it's time to think about an NV4500 swap....
I'm really happy with the power output of the engine. Now I've got all the power I need, but I need a better way to transfer it to the ground.
Last year I was fighting trying to keep the engine cool and the temp guage out of the red zone. This spring when I replaced the radiator, I tweaked the fan clutch and bent the spring on the front just a tad. Wow! What a difference that made! Now the fan kicks in the moment it starts to get anywhere near warmer than normal, and doesn't kick back out until it's cooled the engine back down. Only once on the whole trip while facing a head wind uphill did I ever have to even look at the temp guage, and it was still a long way from getting hot. I'd still like to do the dual t/stat and HO water pump upgrade, but at least now I know I can finally tow without keeping one eye glued to the temp guage.
The engine ran great, and had so much power that I hardly ever had to use full throttle. Most of the time I could run at highway speed with the trailer and have lots of throttle left. Back in my stock n/a days, I had to keep the foot to the floor just to maintain speed.
I still haven't figured out my rough idle problem yet, but the engine sure does sing and sounds quite nice pulling a heavy load at 60 mph at 15 psi and 1050 degrees on the EGT!
Later!
Casey