We had a blast in Milwaukee. Lynne and Tom call each other Lucy and Desi and they act just like them. We are always laughing – Tom is a great guy, smart and entertaining.  Lynne is fun and funny and they are great hosts.  We had breakfast together and then drove the two hours back to the KOA Kampground where we left the GMC. We retrieved her from the ‘dry storage’ lot in the campground – $5/day – and put her back in a campsite (kampsite? KOA likes Ks) and proceeded to install the Remflex exhaust manifold gaskets.

Once I got them off I found that both of the old ones were leaking at bottom in the middle. The theory is that this is caused by tightening the middle of the 5 bolts too much and tilting the manifold toward the top, leaving the bottom of the gasket uncompressed so it ends up leaking. I did not tighten them even to the 20 pounds of torque specified for the Remflex gaskets so I don’t think that is what is happening in this case. I think that the manifold is warped from the heat and that may even be caused by leaving that top bolt looser than the others. I think that I will be calling Dave Lenzi for some of his super-duper copper gaskets and having the manifolds flattened to remove the warp as Carl (fellow GMCer) suggested. If that fails… headers maybe?

While I was in the engine compartment I looked for a reason for my ‘hot starter’ issues that have been again rearing their ugly heads lately. I found a loose nut on the connection from the battery to the starter. Hopefully, that will fix the problem.

Now our next destination is the GMC Western States rally in Springville, Utah. We plan to drive across Iowa and Nebraska on US-20 through the Sand Hills area in Northwest Nebraska. I will be looking for advice on that route on the GMCnet I think.