Hey,all;
Well,I got my '81 4X4 pick up titled,insured and licensed,and been driving it as much as I can afford to. So far,I've replaced the fuel pump,front pads and calipers,the original timing chain and related tensioner etc. (According to the previous owner,it had about 300K on it!
),exhaust gaskets (there were none on it),seats,headlights,steering damper (replaced the OEM),rebuilt the carb and changed to a manual choke (assembled from misc. parts but that still needs some work),added a CB radio,oil pressure gauge,Tachometer and a truck box,and will be doing front and rear bumpers,a serious hitch on the rear and a spotter hitch on the front on my welder's next days off. I noticed while puttering around in the hills that in 4WD,the Transfer Case has a "knock" in it,the "timing" of it sounds about the same speed as the front driveline turns,low or high range,but when I go back to 2WD it pretty much goes away. :headscratch:ALMOST sounds like a missing tooth on a gear. It's a little louder on compression than accelerating. Any idea what this might be? I'm guessing maybe the output bearing to the front driveline. Any time the hubs are in,there's a little u-joint rattle,that's not too big a deal I don't think.
I'm also still having carb troubles;it runs a LOT better than it did at the beginning,but when I adjust it as the chart says,it idles terrible most of the time,stalls occasionally. (low speed screw turned out 2-1/2 turns from seated.) If I turn it out a couple more turns it idles better but idles too fast and doesn't seem to hold an adjustment;can't be slowed down with the idle screw on the linkage. Messing with the timing also makes a difference but is also a trade-off. Advance the timing and it runs stronger but rougher,back it off and it idles smoother but has no power and takes longer to reach idle from road speed.
When I put the timing cover back on,I did it using instructions from someone online,without pulling the oil pan. (I couldn't get it OFF-it was heavily glued with Permatex #3,and I feared prying too hard on it,didn't want to bend it.) It leaked like a sieve,15 miles to a quart. I finally pulled the pan with a putty knife and hammer. (Once I got about 2 inches of it started it came off pretty easily. Getting the old gasket off the pan was a little easier than I expected. (electric 4-1/2" grinder with a wire brush) Now the pan doesn't leak,but the timing cover gaskets seem to leak badly,so the next thing after making it run right will be dropping the pan (AGAIN) and doing to timing cover the RIGHT way. Also gonna put a speedi-sleeve on the balancer.
One more
?-Can this thing run with the valve timing off one tooth? Putting it together,putting the chain over the crank sprocket covered up its timing mark. The different colored links at top and bottom of the chain helped,but I still re-checked it several times. I'm sure I got it right,it has good torque throughout the RPM scale but I'm still curious.
I really feel like the MAIN concern,though,is stopping the leaks. I'm not sure what kind of range I can expect with this truck's gas capacity,but I'm roughing in the oil leakage at about 30-36 quarts of oil per tank of gas,depending on type of driving,not very economical.
So far I'm enjoying driving the truck;about the only issue I might have is that it's the roughest-riding truck I've ever had,but I'm theorizing the shocks could be froze up. They have the same patina the rest of the undercarriage of the truck has,so I'm inclined to think THEY'VE never been replaced either. (I guess I've been spoiled by the cushy ride of the BroncWorth.)I've discovered it doesn't climb near as well as my B-II partly due to the stiff suspension,the bias mud-n-snows and open differentials at both ends,but that stuff will get worked out as time and money permit. A little "ballast" in the bed will also help a little,or maybe the "Overkill Special" hitch will take care of that.
Speed
