Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

I hope this broken oil dipstick tube is responsible for at least some of the leakage. Got this "Performance" (pronounced made in China) chrome part at AutoZone for like $8 bucks cause not even NAPA had the proper OEM part.

I did not know there were two pieces to this beast, so I dropped the oil pan and hammered it out from the bottom, only to have a 1.5 inch piece fall out followed by this long tube which I assume is some sort of guide tube.

[Gregski]

Normally one of the first things I do on a newly acquired used vehicle is an oil change but knowing I would be dropping off the pan to do a proper one on Rusty I procrastinated a lil bit

[Gregski]

Rusty, why did you have to wait a day after I just put brand new coolant in you to tell me about this rusty freeze plug?

I tried to pry it out with a flat screw driver that didn't work. So I tried to pull it out with my trusty vice grips, yeah right, the plug just laughed at me. So I punched it all the way in and pried it out that way. The pic show it pushed all the way in.

I also used a magnet on an antena stick to pull out any metal flakes that may have fallen in.

[y5mgisi]

What fun!

[rusty76]

The 400 sbc in my '76 had four freeze plugs to rust out. I replace three and gave up on the fourth. They're a PIB.

[77 350 Shorty Wide]

Make sure you get that lower guide tube back in. Otherwise the dipstick could end up in the crankshaft. I'm sure many people have reassembled engines withour them and have never had any trouble but the factory put one in there for a reason. Just my two cents.
I've been following this thread and you're doing a great job, keep up the good work and updates coming

God Bless, Terry

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 77 350 Shorty Wide

Make sure you get that lower guide tube back in.

Yes sir, totally agree, I gave up trying to pretend I am smarter than the GM army of engineers long time ago, LOL.

The anal-yst in me couldn't live with the chrome tube so I went to a junk yard and pulled an original. I know this is a small thing, but if it doesn't read the oil level proper cause the dip stick doesn't go deep enough or goes down too far that's not right.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 77 350 Shorty Wide

I've been following this thread and you're doing a great job, keep up the good work and updates coming

thank you very much, feedback keeps me going

[Gregski]

Made another trip to the junkyard and picked up a few little things, including a proper left taillight lense.

If you look at them side by side my old one is missing about an inch of red plastic down the right side in addition to the busted corner, etc.

job done

[Gregski]

also picked up these black door sill plates for the simple fact that they are black and that they run the length of my door unlike my shorty aluminum ones

one junkyard called one Moulding (per foot) and charged me $7 bucks the other location (same company) wanted $10 for the same part but then matched the price, new ones at LMC Truck are $30 plus shipping

usually I don't haggle on prices but I was getting the exact same part

[Gregski]

FACT: Hard to find manual transmission trucks at the junkyard all of them seem to be automatic.

[Gregski]

Engine Casting Number: 3970010 four bolt main - confirmed

Could GM make it more difficult to read the casting number, I mean to put it by the bell housing under the firewall, I had to get my Contortionist License just to read the darn thing

Anyway, did I mention it's a four bolt main? Heck maybe all the trucks were like that I don't know but four is better than two in my book.

[Gregski]

more crud scraped off just the cross member

[Gregski]

The Oil Pan needed some minor repairs, can you see the dent in the valley of the drain plug, not sure if you can in these pics

... luckily I have my Mobile Oil Pan Flattening Station - MOPFS, so I busted out the ProMark 3000 (a very versatile piece of equipment) and banged it out

[Gregski]

another reason I like to meticulously clean parts is that sometimes you get rewarded and see numbers, sometimes they are part numbers and sometimes they are helpful

this is on the oil pan

[rusty76]

Nice work.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Nice work.

Thanks

[Gregski]

Spent the day cleaning, cleaning, and prepping, here is the inside of the inspection or dust cover what ever it is called, goes in front of the flywheel

[Gregski]

after a lot of cleaning, degreasing, and paint stripping I decided to paint the dust cover with POR15, only doing one coat so it actually dries cause it is winter

[Gregski]

then it was time to clean the oil pan

this must be what goes on in the pit at Jiffy Lube, they must be really good at it, to drop the pan and clean it like this in 30 minutes or less, LOL

[sgr60]

Subscribed - awesome work you're doing!

[Gregski]

it was time for POR15 on the oil pan as well, also one coat just to cover up the raw metal, in the Summer time I would have done two

Shoved a rolled up paper towel in the drain plug hole to protect the threads, and I put blue tape around the surface where the gasket will go so I would not get any POR15 paint on there, I think the stuff is kinda thick and I wanted to keep the area virgin

[Gregski]

you ever seen that cartoon with the devil on the guys one shoulder and an angel on the other...

ANGEL: Do it right, how many times are you going to drop the pan, install a new oil pump and pickup tube while you are at it, also get the one piece gasket.

DEVIL: Dude IT'S A TRUCK!!! Forget the new oil pump, just get the cheapest cork gasket and call it good! No one will know.

[Gregski]

The Oil Pump is arguably the most important component in the Internal Combustion Engine, yet it requires no gasket for installation, what gives?

[Gregski]

What's worse than one Temperature Sensor? (think more places to leak from)

I don't get it why do our trucks require two of them? I get that one is for the Transmission Controlled Spark System - TCS (manual transmission trucks only) and the other for the gauge, but why can't one sensor serve double duty?