Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 12, 2025 ...

  Welcome ,
 Please help me out as a fellow newb. Is the Chevy Engine front or rear?  I have both spec sheets  on the beamer site .  There is a rear  engined Chevy Rat  GV down the road from me at another shop. It also has a tag.    What Chassis is the rear engine gas?

  If it is a  front engine, P30 chassis , flush the hydraulics/rebuild the calipers  if stuck.
 Check out the parking brake system .  I serviced a P 30 front engined RV for a few years  and the common issues were the parking brake  pump fails and the bus wont move ,  do a little preemptive investigation. It is a large drum brake on the rear of the trans.
 The "Banks headers/ intake "  helped a ton on power. 0to 60 went from 22sec to about 17. Fuel use went from 7.5 to 8.2. 
 The heat issues are real ,the oil filter is near the headers, exhaust and a shield helps .  Cold air intake helps.  Nice big exhaust( if not Banks)  will have a nice return.  IMHO. 
 If you get tired of the Rat, many of the FMC guys are swapping the  Duramax/Allison into the smaller FMC coaches . 
 Thanks for taking the time to post here .  There seems to be a huge cross section of social/economic/demographic backgrounds here.  All very nice . 

I'm not sure what you mean by "If you get tired of the rat". But I'm excited to know you can swap the transmission. Can you get an extra gear by going to the Allison? The one in it only has three gears. Though I've been told the transmission is a beast... very strong.

You can swap it for a diesel? That's awesome. I'd totally do that if the engine was bad. I'll be sure to post pics of the interior work.

Did'nt the medieval alchemests know how to create gold???

Welcome to the group.  We are also neighbors down in Poway.  It sounds like you have a good eye for detail and are willing to do the work.  I've found that this is the best way to learn about your rig.  The biggest investment you will ever make is in the memories you create with the kids while they are young.  Getting a motorhome is a great way to do it.  Good luck and we look forward to hearing about your adventures.

And, also, welcome to OUR neighborhood---owners of Foretravel coaches built in the 80s.
We even "allow" owners of newer coaches in. Why? Because many of them have been thru our neighborhood and have so very much to offer in the way of knowledge and experience.
It is always a pleasure to see someone take one of these "sleeping beauties" and bring her back to life.
Good bones are worth saving and these ladies are beautiful when they have been treated to some loving care.

Chevys were notorious for exhaust manifold leaks.  Probably fixed long ago.

End exhaust manifold bolts would break off from the manifold growing from heat cycles

I talk like some authority, but my contribution to the swap in my coach was looking in the engine bay and saying OH WOW A DIESEL.

I have "Cherry Bombers" On the exhaust. Not sure what those are... but it makes the exhaust sound dumb and loud.

you could probably do a 454 to Cummins 5.9 12v diesel. Anything newer with a computer would be... challenging.
I talk like some authority, but my contribution to the swap in my coach was looking in the engine bay and saying OH WOW A DIESEL.
The 7.3 IDI in mine adds about 200 pounds more weight, more reliability and theoretically double the fuel economy. I haven't tested that yet.  I'm still about a week away from getting mine on the road. It came in a bit worse shape than yours.
Oh, and the 7.3IDI was supposed to be a direct swap from the ford 460. i think you would need some engine mount work for a cummins. I know nothing about the Duramax, so I can't ad anything there.

Regarding your ice maker....

U-Line Refrigerator Ice Maker Assembly 80-54372-00 | RepairClinic.com

Not inexpensive but well worth it to us. I use a lot of ice and I wanted mine to work, which now it does!