89 Crew Cab resurrection.....

[wyattglock]

I had a little hiccup yesterday. Torquing the head bolts that I had bought from Jegs, got 31 of the 32 to spec. The last one snapped just above the threads!! Had to take the head back off to fix it, but luckily the bolt had just failed with a z-shaped break. I was able to take a punch and hammer and turn it back out of the block. Chased the threads again and got a bolt at work.
Today I proceeded to finish the heads off, then installed the intake with new bolts. Got some new bolts for the harmonic balancer and the water pump. Somehow I forgot to get washers, must have had a dumbass attack somewhere along the way. I will pick some up tomorrow. I also dry fit the headers. I will have to take them back off and do a little custom grinding on the flanges to clear the cylinder head bolts.
I got some pics tonight, I took a couple of the bottom of the intake before I reinstalled the heat shield. A friend had pointed out that an A-B comparison would have been nice to show how much cleaner it is now. I also took a couple of the engine on the stand with the headers hanging on it. I am starting to get the itch to hear the beast run!!! I think that will be a moment worthy of a video.

[wyattglock]

Here is a better A-B of the intake. Keep in mind that the picture of the carbon is before I started cleaning the passages of the intake. When I was doing that, I had to keep washing the stuff out of the way so I could keep getting it out of the intake.

[wyattglock]

Got my new distributor and coil today. I also picked up some hardware that I needed for a couple of different things on the engine. Since I had been having misfire issues, even after 2 sets of spark plug wires and a new rotor, module, and cap. I figured I would take a look and see what I found. It wasn't good, to say the least! The distributor was pretty much total junk for electrical, should be great for priming oil pumps in it's second life! The pickup is hitting all the way around, so hard it is hard to turn it by hand. So I chucked it up in my 1/2 cordless drill and forced it, but it still turns hard and the bearings are junk. The ignition module had bare spots on the wiring going to the pickup, I am sure that didn't help anything. The gear had some pretty bad teeth, corners were rounded unevenly. Probably reinstalled wrong when the heads and intake were pulled by the PO. I scavenged the ignition module as a backup since it is only a few months old. I figured in a worst case it would get me by until a new one could be put in, hopefully that isn't an issue.

[wyattglock]

I got the engine cleaned and started on the painting tonight. I didn't take any pics today. I will as soon as I get it done. I am painting the block, pan, and intake red/orange. Which to me looks bright orange. I primed it with a light gray primer. I am using the Rust Oleum high temp paint. Never used it before, but the coverage is pretty good. Less than half a bottle for primer. A little less than a whole can for color. That was doing some touch up after it sat for a couple of hours. I am painting the valve covers aluminum and black, going to try something on those.
When the engine was primed I got the ultimate compliment from my 3.5 year old gear head in the making. He told me it looks good, as he was going off to bed. Now I just have to keep cultivating that interest for all things mechanical and we might have something there.
More to come.......

[babyJay]

You're making some good progress here, Neal. Been trying to get my 6 year old boy interested in wrenching. Havn't had much luck with any of my kids. Can't even get them out in the garage most of the time.

[wyattglock]

I wish I could say that I have the same problem! I love the fact that my kids want to help, but they are still to young to understand some of the inherent risks involved with this stuff. Such as the reasons why I won't let them work with me while I am painting. They think I am brush painting, which I would let them help with. Then they cant get their little minds around the idea that paint fumes can hurt them. On the very positive side, I really do enjoy having them out there knocking around the garage with me. Some of the stuff they do is absolutely priceless! My boy, Bryce, loves to sit and play with the old timing chain set. I cleaned the oil residue off of it and he will sit their and figure out how it goes together, then he tries to mount it on his tricycle. One of these days I am going to have to lock up my tools!
As an update on the engine. I am still cleaning, painting, and fitting the brackets back on the block. Also still trying to figure out the valve cover paint that I want to do. Got a couple of ideas, I'll decide by this weekend. I was informed by a friend of a place in Indy that can blast and ceramic coat my headers for about $250. I am going to talk to them and see what options I have and how long it would take them. More to come.....

[pig rig]

I had the same problem with my distributor shorting out and like yours it was wore out junk I replaced mine with an MSD your lucky you found yours while you had it out I fought mine for months trying to figure out what was wrong. because it didnt act like an igntion problem

before you put your tbi back on you should put an adjustable regulator in it it will help with milage and power

[wyattglock]

Thanks for the tip on the regulator. I am going to rebuild the TBI unit while it is out of the truck, so that will probably be a good time to get that done. I am going to go out and paint some more tonight, so I will put some pics of the progress up.

[wyattglock]

Here are some pics of the engine. Because of needing to get my truck back on the road, my loaner Jimmy is starting to give fits with the ignition, I am going to have to take a pass on getting the headers coated for now. It will help the budget a little for the moment, but it would be cool to have the ceramic coating on them when it is set back in the truck.
I am getting down to the small parts and the details of the reassembly, so next week the tbi will be on the hit list for a rebuild. I will also get my alternator and starter. Hopefully in the next week it will be sitting in the truck again.

[wyattglock]

Took a couple of days off to do some other things that needed done around the house. Kind of worked out anyway because it got cold enough that the paint wouldn't stick in my unheated garage. Got back out there tonight and was able to wet sand and respray the valve covers, had some runs in them. Cleaned and painted some pulleys and a couple more brackets. Got the last a/c bracket fitted to the engine. Going to order the rest of the stuff to get the motor running this weekend. After it is sitting in the truck I will see what is needed to finish the exhaust.

[wyattglock]

On a side note, I am going to start selling Amsoil. Should have all my info this weekend. Once I get certified I am going to check into what kind of blessing I need to get from the company to sell online. Then I will register as a vendor on the site with a link to my website. That one might take a while but I will update on the status when I find out what is going on with it.

[wyattglock]

I got the valve covers stenciled last night finally. It isn't show truck quality, but I like it. I am going to get the starter tonight, and the engine might get back in the truck this weekend. I will have to see how the weather does, they are calling for rain and snow for the next 4 days.

[GmtGmt]

i like it! keep up the good work

[wyattglock]

Thanks! Hopefully the beast will roar by the end of this coming week.

[wyattglock]

I took my last 3 hours of personal time today and came home to work on my truck. Got the engine in and the hood on. Hopefully be able to get my hands on a tranny jack in the next day or two and get that back in. Still need a new alternator, but I figure that can wait until it is ready to fire up. Then I went down and finished the work on my neighbors house, had to install new cabinets and his new range hood. Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

[babyJay]

Originally Posted by wyattglock

I took my last 3 hours of personal time today and came home to work on my truck. Got the engine in and the hood on. Hopefully be able to get my hands on a tranny jack in the next day or two and get that back in. Still need a new alternator, but I figure that can wait until it is ready to fire up. Then I went down and finished the work on my neighbors house, had to install new cabinets and his new range hood. Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Neal, Do you have access to a lift? I have a tranny jack you could borrow, but it's not going to fit under the truck unless it's on a lift. If you have a regular floor jack you can order one of these floor jack trans adaptor

[wyattglock]

Unfortunately I don't have access to a lift. But I know a couple of guys with the floor jack style tranny jacks. One is my next door neighbor, I just haven't had a chance to take him up on his offer to use his jack yet. I am going to get the crossmember out tonight, and then I will see about getting the jack. That adapter is pretty slick! I will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks for the offer of the jack, its greatly appreciated!

[babyJay]

Originally Posted by wyattglock

Unfortunately I don't have access to a lift. But I know a couple of guys with the floor jack style tranny jacks. One is my next door neighbor, I just haven't had a chance to take him up on his offer to use his jack yet. I am going to get the crossmember out tonight, and then I will see about getting the jack. That adapter is pretty slick! I will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks for the offer of the jack, its greatly appreciated!

I'm considering buying that style adaptor myself. I have 2 of Sears 3 ton floor jacks and not tranny jack other than the one I bought to use with my lift.

[wyattglock]

$47 dollars really isnt bad considering what you get. Knowing that my truck is 21 years old and has 130,000+ miles on it, I am sure I will be dropping the trans again at some point. Either to rebuild or replace it. I have a 3 ton MVP floor jack that I bought 10 years ago at Sams, so seeing that adapter has me thinking about that now.

[Hulk Will Smash]

Lookin' good!

[wyattglock]

Originally Posted by Hulk Will Smash

Lookin' good!

Thanks!

[wyattglock]

Finally got a minute to do an update. I have got the engine and trans back in. Driveshaft connected, passenger side header on and torqued. Driver's side header fitted and hole drilled for O2 sensor. Front of motor reassembled, need to get a couple of v belts before tightening that down. Hood re-installed and realigned.
Still have a lot of work. However, I took 3 hours off work today and did most of this stuff. I also went and cut and installed some cedar trim for a neighbor while I was at it. Good productive day, need more like it!

[Gordonr1973]

It's coming along nicely for sure!!

[wyattglock]

Originally Posted by Gordonr1973

It's coming along nicely for sure!!

Yes it is! It is very rewarding to see the progress and know that it isn't far from running. I just need to get a couple more good days like yesterday and I can get it done, for now of course!

[wyattglock]

Another day at work with nothing to do! So I came home early so I could get a little work done on the truck. I wired the electric fan that is in front of the radiator, not sure if it is factory or not. It had never been wired in to work. I tested it by wiring it to my battery charger on 2 amp trickle. It ran for 30 minutes with no noise or excessive heat buildup. I just put a switch on it for now. I might do the fan switch in the cylinder head later. I also ran some heater hose and got the stuff to run new trans cooler lines.
Took the rest of the night off for my daughter's 6th birthday. Taylor has had a long hard road with her health issues, but if it wasn't for her and my son Bryce, none of this would be worth it!