Topic: Rexy Re-Do: SUPER SLEEPER 1ST GEN!

[H8PVMNT]

In other exciting news...  While de-sludging parts I noticed the ground in the alt harness was dangling by one strand.  Not sure but I think that ground is important, so I soldered the eye back on and peeled off the rest of the factory old tape for inspection.  It's amazing how a quarter inch of goo can preserve things.  All was well so after cleaning I wrapped it up in some fresh conduit and electrical tape.

Should add 3-5 HP.   

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Put power steering, alt and fan on this morning.  It is taking me longer to find and clean things than it does to put it on.  Dawn seems to be about 6:30 now so I get a whole 20 minutes of daylight before I have to quit and go to work.   

One little bit I learned this morning.  The early 79-84 style power steering pumps bolt up just a little different than the later 85-94 style.  I put on the older style bracket and I was trying to bolt up a later model pump but the holes don't quite line up.  Put my old one back on.

[redneckcustoms13]

I made that mistake. Built my 84 engine and wanted new accessories when putting in the truck. My buddy had a warranty on one for his 93 so O'Reilly gave us a new one and the holes were a fudge off. Ended up buying a reman for 84.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Springtime in north-central MT.  Gack.     Took one look and went back to bed this morning...

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Messed with the bed some more.  Welded the graft onto the passenger side, which turned out a little less wonky than the drivers side.  Did some more research on lead body filler.  Worked on petrified wires some more.  Not much else because it was cold.  This winter hanging on is getting re-friggin'-diculous!  I am going to start working 4 10 hour shifts so I might get whole blocks of time in the daylight to finish thid thing up finally.

Temp Easter morning...

 

[Gnarly4X]

Springtime in north-central MT.  Gack.     Took one look and went back to bed this morning...

I see DaWalt is feeling DaCold!!

Gnarls.

[Gnarly4X]

Messed with the bed some more.  Welded the graft onto the passenger side, which turned out a little less wonky than the drivers side.  Did some more research on lead body filler.  Worked on petrified wires some more.  Not much else because it was cold.  This winter hanging on is getting re-friggin'-diculous!  I am going to start working 4 10 hour shifts so I might get whole blocks of time in the daylight to finish thid thing up finally.

Temp Easter morning...

 

I was 90d F Easter, blue sky, really felt good to be outside.   Dropping to 87 today..... gobs of sunshine!!  I'm a sunshine geek!

You couldn't blow me outta here with a hydrogen BOMB!

Gnarls.

[Slabzilla]

Way to make him feel like a popcycle. 

[300k]

Can't deny it's nice out here. Really breezy, 85°, 5% humidity, and nothing but blue skies for miles. Would be a nice place to grab some firewood

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

-2 F this morning.  It's great.

This time of year we would expect a bunch of snow but temps are normally more tolerable.  This steady down cold is not right.

[Lewis Hein]

I'd send you a box of 90 degree days from Peru. With customs and all, it should get to you about July...

[Gnarly4X]

Way to make him feel like a popcycle. 

He IS a popsicle!! 

Gnarls.

[Gnarly4X]

-2 F this morning.  It's great.

This time of year we would expect a bunch of snow but temps are normally more tolerable.  This steady down cold is not right.

H,

You know it's very likley that you  and your family could have everything you have there, here in Arizona.... without your need for global warming.

No catastrophic weather.  About months of T-shirt and shorts weather, more 4-wheeling than you really need, lots of land available, culture, high-tech, cowboys, horses, cows, conceal carry OK, land of opportunity, and more.

Come on down!

Gnarls.

[redneckcustoms13]

But he has no house note.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Thanks Gnarls.  I haven't ruled out moving some place, but the paid for living situation with no mortgage is tough to obtain.  I have thought of taking an appraiser/assessor job in another state.  Most pay way more than I make here.  A moving choice would have a lot to do with local zoning and regulation allowing us to build from scratch without thousands of dollars of permits and establishing the solar/off grid power we like.

Most winters here aren't quite as demoralizing as this one.  Usually we get a few weeks in January of near 60 degrees and by this time lows in the mid 20s. 

[Gnarly4X]

Yes.. usually there are trade-offs. 

No mortgage is biggy.

You'd just have to come and visit and check out options and what is most important to you and your family.

Moving sucks, pretty much every time!

Gnarls.

[Slabzilla]

Having worked for United van lines and working the western 13 states, I can officially say moving SUCKS ALL the time, rain, snow or shine.  I HATE Packing!   

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

The dog caught a muskrat the other day.  Jake is skinning it for the pelt.  Kind of like a tiny beaver...

[:)bestgen4runner]

Put some new front brake pads on. 

Slapped my front tires back on in hopes to roll the truck forward to drop in the engine and I found my brake line re-locate brought the new brake hoses to close to the tire   .  One of those decision points where you can run something kind of dumb or swallow your pride and do it right...  I cut off the brackets again and welded them back on the side of the frame 90 degrees in the 2WD/IFS style.  This got me even more available down travel and I also had the hard lines from a 2WD in the shed so I used those instead of bending the 4WD hard lines around.

This left plenty of room and the brake lines are healthy and out of harms way.

Also replaced the 40 year old, gooey, seeping clutch soft line while in the engine bay.  Maybe now I won't have to bleed my clutch slave every time the weather changes.

H8 that purple napa brake pad lube is a mechanic secret. Your not supposed to show that stuff to people. 

[:)bestgen4runner]

40 degrees this morning and heavy wind peeling the snow off!  Unfortunately there was a small pond under the truck.  In an effort to stay dry I decided to just put the header on and get the truck that much closer to making noise.  Sprayed the gasket with the high temp copper sticky last night and let it tack up by the wood stove. 

I had the NWOR header loose and ready to go but I ended up going with the old header that came with this truck.  It is the same size and setup tri-y as the NWOR, just with a slightly thinner flange so I didn't have to mess with the factory manifold studs.  It also blocks everything off so I don't have to use air injection block offs or anything.  It's never been a bad header so I might as well use it again  .  No idea who's header this is though...

Hear You go again. Showing of the secret stuff!!!

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

The copper spray secret I got from you!  Dilly dilly!

[kneedownnate]

But he has no house note.

Plus he’s happy where he is.  Why challenge that?

[kneedownnate]

I'm lucky in that we have 997 other stores if I wanted to move.  But I don't.  We might close down for a major remodel around the end of the year, which means most of us will have to drive nearly 3 hours back and forth each day to the nearest location.  I am going to put in tomorrow for an extended vacation, leave of absence, or whatever you wanna call it.  I could get a lot accomplished around here with an extended vacation 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

We had 62 degrees yesterday so I took it for my day off.  I finished fixing crusty wiring and hooked up all the fuel lines and charcoal canister, along with one for the carb vent for the Weber hill climb mod.  I love that early truck fuel filter location.  No crawling under a muddy truck to replace it  .

Stuck my V6 radiator in and it sort of fit, but was a little tall and the bottom of it hung below the frame about 2".  No deal  .  I think on an SAS truck with the spring hanger you don't notice but on the first gen the lower tank just hangs down there all vulnerable.


I dug out my old 1st gen radiator, all brass and copper.  One of the brackets was busted off, so I soldered it back on while the wind kept blowing my torch out.  The fins were about 90% plugged with mud and oil sludge.  I really don't know how the heck this rad even kept the engine cool at all but it did.  I went to the power washer today and blew all the gunk out of it until I could see through it clearly.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Did some W56in' this morning in the dark.  Some knuckle head did a job stripping out the fill plug.  "Why would you do that?  Your sick!"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVbqKOYBh5I 

I dug into it with a cold chisel and popped it out.  Really been debating on using this trans vs. an L52 I have but it's such a good trans and I have to redo the drive lines and cross member anyway for the dual t-case so I might as well use the best I have.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Yeah I know I should probably rebuild it just for kicks but I'm out of truck money .

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

It's January 103rd...

[Slabzilla]

Great lookin' engine bay, me likey.

[Lewis Hein]

Great lookin' engine bay, me likey.

Yeah, H8PVMNT is probably the only one with so much scenery in his engine bay...

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

W56 installed yesterday evening!

With nothing to work on but a muddy spot with some bark and gear oil mixed in we decided to use the "three guys swearing" method and just basically lifted the trans into place.  This works surprisingly well and after the mandatory amount of pain and suffering it went "ker-chunk".  I now owe the boys each a similar trans wrestling session in the future.

Another note when bolting in a W56 in a 1st gen...  the shifter ends up right in the bridge between the two holes in the floor boards.  I will be hacking this out later.