The rebuilding of Norman's 75 Eleganza II

Back to school After the $500 towing bill to get my new prize across town to a storage lot closer to my condo, I made my first of many runs to the local auto parts store for some new toys. Jack stands, a creeper, inspection mirror, several wire brushes, spray paint, solvents, cleaners, paper towels, grease, oil, etc., the parts guy is loving this… "You say got a what? He asked, rolling his eyes. Then off to the tire store to look for some rubber… "16.5 E rated did you say?" Thus began my education about GMC Motor Homes. Returning home, I fired up my desktop and hit the Google search engine. Low and behold, I discovered a whole underground society surrounding these things. If I'm nuts to tackle one of these puppies, at least I'm not alone. I spent the next several weeks surfing, downloading and reading. I went through two printer ribbons and half a box of paper. With printouts in hand, I headed over to the storage lot and ripped open my new toys from the parts house. It was like Christmas in September. I couldn't wait to start taking things apart. "Holly Smoke", I thought as the wheel well exploded with the discovery of the first fire ant nest. I was prepared though, with my trusty large economy size can of "RAID!" acquired after discovering the first of many red wasp nests under the hood. I made short work of the fire ants and went through two cans of solvent prepping innumerable rusty bolts for surgery. If you have never tried it, I highly recommend "PB Catalyst" solvent. It beat the pants off of WD-40 for cracking rusty bolts. Off with the carburetor, off with the alternator, off with the fuel pump, etc, etc, etc, it was so exciting. I never knew you could fit so many mud dobbers inside of a breather. Then I found the little compartments under the front seats. What were these little white things rolling around under there? They look like eggshells but were only about a half-inch in diameter. What? I though, would lay eggs that size. SNAKES, you fool. The hair on my neck stood up. Bees never bothered me much as I had been a beekeeper years back, but I had a healthy respect for snakes of any variety. Fortunately, a thorough search yielded three more fire ant nests but no snakes. I was sort of relieved 8-). For those who might not be familiar with fire ants, they are capable of wiping out most small animals and have even been known to kill cattle, so it wasn't really a surprise not to find any rodents or snakes around. It was almost two weeks before I saw the last of the ants.