I was super excited to have it back in and planned on doing more Saturday, however somewhere along the lines putting the engine back in i tweaked a nerve in my back, all day Saturday Sunday and Monday my entire left side, rib cage, arm pit, inner arm had an intense burning sensation and sharp stabbing pains. Luckily i just woke up for work and the pain has subsided, maybe I'll get some more done this week/end, as next weekend we are finishing an expansion at work and I'll probably pull 14 to 16 hours a day Thursday through Sunday.

 

Ouch!!! Chiropractor can make a world of difference in body aches if you have never been. I seen you were self teaching your self how to weld on sheet metal. Looking at your work, you have given me hope that I can teach myself. I just bought a welder and now need to get the gas for it. Great job you have done.

On your interior, mine was actually worse then yours. I had some mixed up at my local Oriellys and did the plastic and vinyl and it still looks great. I got new carpet for the riders area and used some in door out door carpet for the rear. You can buy the rear piece from a carpet store but it is expensive. For the rear, I spent $20 on a scrap piece. At first I did not like the red interior but now I actually do like it. Guess it has grown on me.

 

The lady at auto zone asked how i was doing. I said anyone buying one of these is not having a good day.



The long bolt for the intake right next to the water jacket had stripped. It has been replaced by the previous mechanic with a bolt that was to long, so he spaced it but made it to short so it ripped the threads. I cut the bolt and repaired the hole. I did it crooked and the bolt barely went in, hope i don't have to take this back apart any time soon.

I could almost have bought a reman engine for what i have in this one

 

So i was trying hard to get this thing running this weekend but i just couldn't pull it off. I ended up working 14 hours Friday at work then spent 12 hours yesterday on the truck.

After almost a year is hard to remember where everything goes. And paying attention to details like putting clamps on tight.

I wired in my new injector pig tails but didn't solder, i tried but the solder wouldn't take to the factory wiring as it was oxidized a bit. So i did my old school twist fold tape shrink wrap. I verified connectivity with my meter.

I still need to replace or rebuild the power steering pump.

My distributor o ring that came with my engine builder kit is to small so I'll have to order that.

I need to order the pcv hose and breather hose as they are cracked, and i need a new dip stick as the seal is dry and useless.

I'm going to reuse the original radiator instead of replacing it, i think my leak was the lower hose and not the radiator. if it does leak I'll just replace it later, it's not that hard. I threw out the radiator cap so i need a new one of those.

Unfortunately there won't be any work next weekend as Thursday through Sunday will be 14 hour days at work. Not looking forward to it. Will be working 12s m -w then 14s th-s then another set of12s m-f next week.

 

After doing 12-14 hour days, there usually isnt much energy left to do anything. One reason I do like projects is that there is no hurry and a year is eaten up quick when life gets in the way. Slow and steady will get it.

 

Man, Terry is right. You're beat after working those kind of hours and you're not likely in the best mental shape to remember all those little things you're talking about- tightening the hose clams and such. Even though it's frustrating I'm sure you'll be happy in the long run that you took the time to do it right.
And on the bright side, gotta love all that OT!

 

Well 10 down of 12 straight 12s . Only 2 to go.

i got paid for 77 hours on my last check, tired as hell but the wallet feels good.

i have just received my power steering rebuild and brake master cylinder. I should be able to get this thing started up this weekend. It always makes me nervous turning the key over on a rebuild because you never know what all that money spent will add up to.

updates after the weekend

 

So it was an interesting day. Last night i rebuilt the power steering pump with all new seals. It was a pain in the rear to get the shaft seal out and my snap ring pliers broke so the little snap ring was a trick.

then today i finished everything else up and started the truck. First i cranked it with the ignitor and distributor disconnected to build oil pressure and fuel pressure, reconnected everything and leak checked and fired the truck. It started right up, year old gas and all. It was idling about 1500 rpms and sounded good. I let it run a few minutes then shut it off because there was power steering fluid pouring out.

so i took the pump loose and found that the little o ring at the rear was leaking. I pulled that pain in the ass clip back out and found that i had pinched the o ring during install. Luckily the kit comes with more than one and i was able to replace it without draining the fluid out.



Then i started the truck up again and found a horrible tapping in the valve cover, i mean bad.

Opened the valve cover and found this. ..



that's number 1 exhaust, i swear i tightened them all but the evidence shows otherwise. Almost catastrophic. I reinstalled and did a luke warm valve adjustment and fired it up again.

i took a video, sounded good, burping the coolant and all then as soon as i stopped the video i checked the upper hose to see if the thermostat was opening yet and it was getting warm indicating it was opening. Then.....i guess a large air bubble decided to come free and it blew coolant all over the floor, the ceiling, and the truck. I ran, cut it off, and started frantically trying to clean up the coolant.



so after all that i rolled it outside and topped off the coolant. Cleaned the stuff up, ran it again to burp the air and leak checked everything. All good this time.

i drove it a bit around the neighborhood and it ran really good and didn't smoke at all. I fiddled with the idle to get it to 750 but still need to adjust the ignition timing and set a hot valve adjustment as they are a little noisier than i would like.

video of it running

 

Interesting note. Yesterday was exactly, to the day 1 year since i parked the truck and started taking it apart.

 

Whoo! Great to see it running, man. Congrats!

 

It sounds great. Whoa that coolant mess in the garage. I really like the creative body panels. You have a lot of patience.

 

Well crap Ola my power steering still leaks.

same cut in the o ring. Good news, i know how it happened, bad news i have no more o rings. I will try to get some today. For those of you that have this problem I'll try to explain.

​​that o ring goes into a pressure valve that is spring loaded. To replace it you have to thread a 6mm bolt into it and pull the valve out after removing the snap ring. To reinstall is opposite. While reinstalling if you push the valve in to far you will drag the o ring across a oil passage and that is what is cutting the o ring. Both times i pushed it in to far and it got hung up. It was hung on that hole.






now on to more good news

i went back to the junk yard i got my window and regulator from. Unfortunately they had less 4 runners, in fact the only two they had were the same two from over a year ago. I did however steal the interior panels from them. Not cracked at all. They are gray and will need paint. I only paid 30 bucks for the panels and a washer reservoir and seat belt buckle.



i also got some por15 and rubberized under coat for the fender wells and such.

 

Angry. ..

i had no luck getting an o ring for the power steering. It measures out to a 14mm x 2mm and all i could find are standard size. The closest standard would be a 9/16 x 3/32 but that would be slightly to large.

so i decided to start on my wheel bearings, rotors, breaks etc. Oh man

the after market wheels had these hub covers that have obviously never been off and rusted to the hub. Had to cut those off.

i had already broken one of the studs for the hubs over a year ago and already bought new studs for this job in preparation. I'm glad i did as the rust completely ruined the studs.

the cone washers. ..oh those cone washers. I've read, watched, tried every trick in the book. The passenger side i beat on for 4 hours and finally got them out, mushrooming the studs in the process. Now i need to cut the ends, weld nuts on them and extract the studs. The drivers side you ask? Today maybe. I mashed my fingers, stabbed them, and cut them. My shoulder is stiff from swinging the 4lb hammer so much.

here are a coupe pics. I do need to buy rotors, pads, nuts, lock washers, and probably new cone washers as i marred them pretty badly.




​​​

 

Yeah I'm leaving that typo it made me laugh..

McMaster has you covered, 2mm wide 14mm, 25 count for under ten dollars

 

I found a set of o rings at oreilly in metric. I used a 2.5 mm x 10. Stretched around, snug but worked i think. It's not hard to take the pump loose so if that doesn't work I'll buy the correct set.

i also bought this guy. Stud remover for damaged and broken studs. Took a minute to yank all six. Haha love it



I'm still beating on the drivers side. I have removed exactly 0 of 6 cone washers on that side.

in considering a warn manual hub conversion with all new hardware.

 

This is the hub cover i had to cut off. Had to cut both.
This has made my mind up. I wanted manual hubs but didn't really want to buy them. I got frustrated and wailed on this side. Got it off
Victory! ! Cheers

 

Congrats on your anniversary of getting it to this point and getting it to move under its own power. Having one that you can move in and out of the shop is so nice. If you find a way of not getting coolant, oil, and grease from not going everywhere, I would like to know. I think it comes with the territory.

That is a good deal on your panels. Around here they would charge that for one panel. They will clean up nicely. Dont try and install them with the roll bar in as they just wont clear the latch and will break. They are brittle. One of my friends has a stud remover and I have seen it really useful. Eventually I want to get one. It is handy to have. I too have had to cut those hub covers off. They get so rusted on there is no way of getting one off. Congrats on getting it running!!!

 

I had to take those panels out with the roll bar in at the yard. I took the bar loose and had to play puzzle games to get it out without damage.

i also sourced some hubs local. 165 for aisin manual with all the hardware including axle nuts and lock washer. Pretty good deal imo. Picking them up Saturday as well as my brake pads so it should be rolling again.

 

You'll not like the alternative to oil grease and antifreeze, you don't want to clean up after a horse gets your dirty!


I'm more worried about putting my side panel back on than I was getting it off with the bar in place. It will have to wait until I'm done inmthe fender wells I think, it's not something I want to do more than once.

Nice find on the trim I need three of those bits myself still, seems the wiper cover and cap covers are the first things to get lost in a lot of cases.

 

I saw a horse riding through the zaxbys drive through yesterday.

i was originally going to use my old pieces to make fiberglass replacements out of until i found these.

i did get my hubs yesterday, complete conversion for 165. New nuts, cone washers, axle nuts. Good deal in my opinion. May get my bearings and brakes finished today