64' 26ft Condor Refurb

[Jay Bordelon]

My wife and I just acquired this beauty and have decided to get her back on the road. We may have saved it from the scrap yard. What the heck, it was free not counting the near $200 to get her home.

We are on a tight budget and will be doing the vast majority of the work with reclaimed, used/scrounged and refurbed materials and parts.

Looking forward to the project and excited to find this valuble resourse to assist and document the endeavor.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[mary ray]

Oh My, I had a 1973 Condor Motorhome and yours sure does bring back lots of good memories.  Mine had a large ford motor and got 5 MPG  haha.  That was when gas was 67 cents per gallon.

[Robin Krause]

Mary, we will probably be able to drive around the block. . .  :(

[Jimco_W001]

Hi Jay,the 351 Cleveland was a high output motor.The ports are much bigger than the Windsor engine.The four barrel models are even bigger.I have found that the Windsor engine lasts longer and they made many more of these.So used parts are plentiful.

[bob]

being a 64 was probably a 330 or 361 ford fe industrial engine with either a c-6 or fmx trans ive seen a few of the short one with a 240 inline 6 351w and 351c was both good engines would be good mills to pull it around if built correctly with the weight and gearing of that fuel gonna be about the same but the small blocks lack in bottom end torque over drive or gear venders would help on fuel mileage but for the weight id go with a 429/460 for the bottom end torque to move the weight.( most them old motor home hit scales at 10k plus with 4:10 to 5:14 gears ) especially if you are going to do mountain driving or pull a car or boat etc. with out going to a diesel if you can do electrical or know some one go find a mid 90's f250/350 with 460 e4od fuel injected  would be your best bet unless you could find a cheap late 90's 7.3 diesel

best is to figure the amount of use and type of use and travel plans

next time i go to the mountains there use to be one sitting around georgtown ill try to get some pics

[Jay Bordelon]

It came with a 292.

We're liking the diesel thinking. Looking at 6.2L in a truck with a 4 speed auto.

[Jimco_W001]

Pat,I would go with the Windsor engine.But I like the idea of swapping in a Chevy LS engine with the FI and overdrive trans.The new Corvette gets 29 MPG on the highway and has almost 500 HP.It uses GM's Fuel Management System to turn off unneeded cylinders when cruising.

[Jimco_W001]

LS Engine Swap  Please check out this Road Kill episode.They take the big block and blower out of the Camaro and install a LS engine.Now the car goes faster and gets much better MPG.

[Mike]

Why not go modern to make this Condor really fly?

5.3 or 6.0 GM LS engines are all over the salvage yards in lower mileage condition from wrecked/salvaged trucks.  Get one with a 480LE transmission and you are golden.  Cheap ($1,000-$1250) complete with computer and GM wiring harness you will get the advantages of modern FI engine, modern overdrive transmission, much better fuel mileage than an old Ford engine and easy service at most any garage.  The nice packaging accessories the compact size of the engine will also be a huge benefit.

This swap would certainly make you Condor fly a heck a lot better than an OLD Ford Windsor, Modified or Cleveland engine.  Of course this suggestion is made without any knowledge on my part if you are stuck on a Ford engine.  

In "my" opinion a modern engine/transmission drive train in you Condor will also make the coach MUCH more desirable when the inevitable time comes that you choose to sell the coach.

Just a "Newbies" opinion!

[Jim Stoltz]

The 5.3 probably isn't up to the task, but a 6.0 would do it. We're a GM family and have/had lots of examples of LT and LS engines. I have the 5.3 in my Avalanche. It weighs about 6,000 lbs. and highway acceleration is not fabulous. It does fairly well 0-50 but falls flat after that. 

I put a carb'd 454 in mine earlier this year because that's what it came with. The TH400 turned out to be okay as-is. The cost of going with a fuel-injected engine, computer and electronic trans was too much at the time. The 454 pulls it along shockingly well, but MPG is only around 6-7.

[bob]

ive seen the corvette and the road kill episodes the specs are great but your talking 2 high priced performance engine in 3300 and 4000 pound car with good aerodynamics

with higher gear ratios the condor bigger than my 72 champion 22' gvr on it is 13200 with 488 gear aerodynamics of a box that's not counting full water tanks and camping gear.but on that note and as i stated fuel injection and overdrive would help any engine tranny combo you use but you still need decent horse power and bottom end torque to get it moving but gas powered your never great fuel mileage hence why they used bog blocks in all the later rv to pull them around  but stock they were all under powered and today most of your class a moter homes use diesel power plants but it all starts with what your pocket book can afford to build and what you can get reasonable in your area and your own preferences

[Jim Stoltz]

Yep. I picked up my Allegro with a bad 454 in it. I have an extra LT1 in the garage, but the idea of using it for the RV lasted all of about 30 seconds. The LT1 puts up nice HP numbers but lacks the low-end torque required to get all that mass moving. I found a GM Performance crate 454 on Craigslist and couldn't be happier. Well I'd be happier if I had an OD trans, but that's not the 454's fault.

[bob]

700r4 will work without computer but has week points speed company's make stand alone computer for the 4l80 one out of 1 ton or box trucks are heavy duty