What did you do with your truck today, Part 3

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by crossfire84

Get these, best money I've spent.amazon.$40.00

For those interested, here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/IWISS-Crimpin...s=crimper+kit\

That looks like a nice set! $28.88! I have a Panduit stripper that looks a lot like that one. Put a few cans of brake cleaner and starting fluid with it and you'll get free shipping!

[MARTINSR]

Being I will be out of town starting tomorrow I got out there and actually worked on the truck removing some rivets from heat shields that were attached to the frame. Straightened them out, and are ready to be powder coated.

I have a plan for some "work" on it while I am on my trip, we will see how that works out.

Brian

[MiraclePieCo]

Tough couple of days. I confronted the exhaust guy, told him I didn't like his installation at all. He was obviously unhappy, but agreed to redo it. Part of it is my fault for giving him free rein and not being more emphatic about how I wanted it.

Then I spent two days trying to fix a leak at that dreaded head plug that caused me so much grief awhile back. I tightened it - didn't fix the leak. I took it out (very hard to reach now) and re-sealed the threads with teflon tape instead of thread sealant; still seeping. Took it out yet again and replaced it with a different plug. It got dark before I had time to test it. Now there's so much danged antifreeze all over the whole underside of my truck I won't be able to tell if it's leaking or not. I don't even want to mention the worst case scenario here, that the head may have been cracked by removing the original plug.

Building these vehicles isn't always the romantic and fun process glamorized on TV shows.

[vintovka]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Building these vehicles isn't always the romantic and fun process glamorized on TV shows.

Ain't that the truth!!!!!

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

Building these vehicles isn't always the romantic and fun process glamorized on TV shows.

Your right, and when it takes them 2 yrs to build a car, but 1 hour to show the work. Non car people think anyone can do it. Hope it's not the head...Jim

[vintovka]

The "one hour restoration shows" seem to deliberately hide the true costs. They make all the labor seem free, sometimes mentioning how may hours it took in addition to parts cost. Shops around here are pushing $100/hr for comparison. Many are just hour long plugs for parts vendors. Even worse, if you subtract the all the four minute commercials the restoration is only 20 minutes long at most.

[MARTINSR]

I LOATH the "reality shows" of all kinds, OMG they are over dramatized!

But when something like that leaking plug happens, you COULDN'T BE over dramatized in real life that SUCKS! Hope it's easier than that. I know you don't want to hear this but there are some radiator stop leaks that work amazingly well that could put off the worse case for a while?

Brian

[MARTINSR]

I did love Monster Garage when it first aired. It wasn't full of drama, it seemed pretty real. My youngest son was 5 years old as the first one aired and it was a great show for him and I to watch together. Great memories of watching it with my boy.


Brian

[vintovka]

"OH NO!!!" followed by 8 -10 minutes of commercials 4 minutes of rehash and then "A RUSTED BOLT!!!! which they promptly just snap off and then on to something else. EVen "wheeler dealers" which is about the best of them just barely mentions the hours involved.
Not "chuffed".

[DransportGarage]

Originally Posted by vintovka

The "one hour restoration shows" seem to deliberately hide the true costs. They make all the labor seem free, sometimes mentioning how may hours it took in addition to parts cost. Shops around here are pushing $100/hr for comparison. Many are just hour long plugs for parts vendors. Even worse, if you subtract the all the four minute commercials the restoration is only 20 minutes long at most.

As it used to say in some of my textbooks: "The details are left as an exercise for the reader." ...or viewer, in this case. That's where all the cursing and busted knuckles come in!

[dsraven]

are you using a brass plug or a steel plug? if using steel maybe give brass a try,it is a little more conforming. also, if using teflon tape there are a few different tyupes. the type used for natural gas (around here anyway) is thicker. the code here says you can't use the regular teflon tape on a gas fitting,only the stuff rated for gas. anyway, you could also try some plumbers dope instead, it is a paste and contains teflon. my son is a plumber and thats all he will useon any npt fitting,least chance of leakage he says.
take out the old plug, inspect the threads on the plug to see if the threads in the head were forcing some of the threads on the plug to deform. if so then check the hole for anything that may look suspect in the threads
run a tap through the hole, keeping in mind that npt is a tapered thread so the deeper your tap runs into the hole the deepe the plug will also have to go into the hole in order to seal
select a new plug and check the threads on the plug to ensure they are all smooth and uniform
goop up the plug
screw it in and torque it up, not too much because pipe threads are tapered so the more you tighten it up the more it wants to make the hole bigger and if there is any chance of a small crack around the hole it will try to wedge open that crack.
lets hope the head is good and the threads just have a bad spot

[svr]

I found some purple locktite stuff that beats any thread sealer i have ever found, rarely use tape anymore on npt. Found it at a hydraulic store, they were useing it on high pressure hydraulic fittings, especially on stuff that would crack and break useing tape on tapered threads.

[evilokc]

this isn't truck related but I needed to vent. I have a 91 firebird. I bought it my accident from ebay two or three years ago. its a good running car and ive become really found of it. everything on the car id original..so 27 years old. the struts were originals.. hell everything but the tires which are the wrong tires for this car. im slowly going through and rebuilding the systems. right now its suspension. im having a hell of a time on the tierods. its so stupid. I ordered a kit and the outer tierods didn't fit. I ordered the correct outer and now it seems the inner and outer are both right hand thread. how does that even happen? how can you adjust them if they are both right hand thread?! dude this kind of crap is killing me. rant over. thanks for reading.
EDIT- I was able to install the outer tie rod but had to use the original inner for now. the click of death is gone so I guess that's worth the time it took me to work through the stupid crap.

[mikebte]

Installed the kick panels, new door handles (old worn out), installed plug wire heat shields, worked on my fiberglass fan shroud and installed a few other small due dad's I had around. Just keep finding stuff to do.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by dsraven

are you using a brass plug or a steel plug? if using steel maybe give brass a try,it is a little more conforming

Thanks, all good advice. I have chased the threads, used Permatex thread sealant, then teflon tape, then tried a different plug (both steel however). The only thing I haven't done is try a brass plug instead, so I will do that.

I have a bad back. The last time I took this head off to remove the original stuck plug I was bed-ridden for a week from working bent over the fenders. I just don't have another head removal in me.

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

I know you don't want to hear this but there are some radiator stop leaks that work amazingly well that could put off the worse case for a while?

Brian

As a teenager I bought a car with a nasty leak in the water neck. Not knowing what else to do, I tossed in 2 cans of Bars Leak. I drove that car for several years, including taking me on regular 3000-mile round trips to college and it never leaked another drop.

[evilokc]

a week ago I went to close the door and it didn't shut right. as I checked it out I found that the hinge pin on the lower hinge had fallen out. some idiot put the hinge pin in from bottom with the nut on top. installed that way if the nut comes off the pin falls out which is exactly what happened here. installed the opposite as it should be if the nut comes off it will fall but the pin will remain in the hinge allowing normal door function. I found the hinge pin down in the abyss and reinstalled. its just a pin but aligning the 3 holes by myself was fiddly. im glad its all back in and working great. I also adjusted the fast idle. ive never messed with it and now that its cold it needed a small adjustment. all good now.

[MARTINSR]

Well, I was in a hotel last night and spent my 5 minutes going through a Filling station catalog making a list of things I need for the parking brake. The thing is I need to look is exactly what year my cab is, some of the parts split from 51 to 52 so I have to nail that down.

Brian

[evilokc]

winter is here. I guess I will test out my heater next weekend.

[whitedog76]

Enough said?

[mikebte]

Originally Posted by whitedog76

Enough said?

Looks like you are making progress. Very nice

[whitedog76]

So, I burnt through some cut off wheels today. I got 1 left now. Anyhow, I have the boxing plates tacked in now.

By the looks of my previous pictures, I think I need to clean off my phone. I guess I shouldn't be using that angle finder app so much... LOL

[MiraclePieCo]

I took my truck back to the exhaust shop today for a redo. This time they nailed it - exhaust looks great, works great, sounds great, and now is far enough below the frame rails that it's not overly close to the fuel lines, brake lines and wiring, plus I have room to get my hands in there for maintenance. This is the photo I took them of how I wanted it done - not my truck but now my exhaust looks just like this:

[mikebte]

Originally Posted by MiraclePieCo

I took my truck back to the exhaust shop today for a redo. This time they nailed it - exhaust looks great, works great, sounds great, and now is far enough below the frame rails that it's not overly close to the fuel lines, brake lines and wiring, plus I have room to get my hands in there for maintenance. This is the photo I took them of how I wanted it done - not my truck but now my exhaust looks just like this:

I got all excited as if that was your set up. Looks very nice. That is the way to go for sure.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by mikebte

I got all excited as if that was your set up. Looks very nice. That is the way to go for sure.

Thanks, I'm excited too. That pic came from Hot Rod magazine's online articles. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics while mine was on the rack but except for being one-piece tube instead of segmented together it looks exactly like that, so you get the idea. Even my trans crossmember is the same (except I fab'ed mine myself).

[svr]

Ya, interior and firewall painted, get it on the frame and do something different for a while