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Topic: Just bought a 88 grand villa  (Read 686 times) previous topic - next topic

Just bought a 88 grand villa

I just bought this 1988 Grand villa u280 40ft. It sat for 12 years, I just got to drive it home a few days ago after two weeks on repairs to the dash wiring and air system. I plan to bring her back to life. Looking for information to repair fiberglass on the roof and repair the taillights to operational condition.

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #1 –
Welcome aboard, when you get a chance add the Build Number to Your Profile and any other information that will be helpful to members trying to help you.... That unit has good "Bones" should come back to life with some work...  ^.^d
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Gerry & Brenda
CHARLOTTE HARBOR, FL
1994 Grand Villa - # 4466
U300 Unihome - 6V92 Detroit
4 speed Allison - Jake Brake

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #2 –
Hello and Welcome to the Forum.  We will happily lend our support to your effort to revive a classic coach that has obviously seen better days.  This Forum is a invaluable repository of Foretravel knowledge and experience.  Many of the problems you will encounter have already been solved by our members, and documented in the Forum archives.  You will find the Forum SEARCH tool very useful for dredging up relevant old posts.

As to the tail lights, you are actually fortunate because it appears that the lenses are intact.  Finding replacement tail light units is becoming very difficult.  At least you will be spared that chore.  Of course, no way to tell what your problem is until you start trouble shooting.  Hopefully it will be a simple wiring defect...possibly from rodent damage?

Reading through the links below will acquaint you with the construction of the tail lights, and may aid your restoration efforts:

Tail lights 1994 Grand villa U280

GV Tail Lights, How To Guide




1993 U280 SE 40' WTBI, Build: 4359
C8.3 300hp, 6-Speed, Exhaust Brake
960 watts on the roof (6 x 160)
Sorento (or BOLT) on a Kar Kaddy SS
"Nature abhors a vacuum"

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #3 –
Bless your heart. I'm sure the members of this great forum will provide you with a wealth of information about the various aspects of restoring your coach. The late 80's and early 90's Grand Villas were excellent coaches. Good luck!
1993 U225 Build #: 4285
500 Watts Solar
Honda CRV AWD
Former 1981 Foretravel Travco
Retired, Full Time Off Grid Snowbird

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #4 –
Congrats on your purchase. I've always liked the twin stainless bumpers.

For getting the dirt, etc off, I like to use a sponge with a mix of ajax and dish soap with a nozzle and a light spray going. You can make a huge difference in an hour or two. Once dry, you can get rid of any smell inside with a very inexpensive ozone generator. The yellow "awesome" cleaner you can buy at the Dollar Tree gets stains off interior walls, seats, etc.

Pierce
Pierce and Gaylie Stewart
'93 U300/36 WTBI
Detroit 6V-92TA Jake
1140 watts on the roof
SBFD (ret)

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #6 –
The circuit boards on my taillights were shot. Yours probably are too. I ended up tearing them out and just hardwiring everything from the plug to the lights. Pretty easy to do if you know how to read a multimeter and have a helper up front.
1987 Grand Villa ORED
2001 U320 4010

Not all that wander are lost... but I often am.

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #7 –
Check the frame before you spend any more time on it.  Look up "bulkhead"  s.    Great year if is solid . 

Re: Just bought a 88 grand villa

Reply #8 –
So Kev. What did you find?