'81 flareside 4x4 project

[nmchuck]

DAAB6E19-8830-47B5-BD17-1D35E17D7A8A.jpegFished this little jewel out with a magnet

So speculating what may have happened is the awful gas in this thing I ran it on before draining the tank caused it. Valve and spring seem to be ok, will know more after I try a different pushrod.

Lesson learned, drain all old fuel before attempting to start an engine that has sat for an extended period of time.

[Gary Lewis]

It looks like that cylinder has magically dispensed with the need for a push rod.  Cool!  There are engines now with electric and hydraulic "push rods", but I've not seen one with a magical push rod.  Does it use mushrooms?  

[nmchuck]

I managed to get the bent pushrod replaced and it is definitely running better.  Funny how a functioning intake valve can make a difference.

I moved on to see about wheel bearing noise out of the right front wheel.  pulled it down and found the inner bearing was destroyed, and the spindle is shot too.  My guess is a previous owner couldn't get the old bearing off and took a torch to assist.  There are gouge marks under where the bearing rides from a torch (guessing) and you can see hammer marks and where they filed and ground with something to get surfaces flat.  Obviously, this failed and ruined the bearing.  It also ruined the studs that mount the spindle.

Long story short, I'm now waiting on parts to fix it correct.

Dove into trying to figure out why the heat/AC controls aren't working. Read through Gary's documentation on here about vacuum routing and need a little help.  I can confirm vacuum going into the firewall but was not able to pull the lines off a connector to see if it is supplying to the various valves. Anyone have a trick on diagnosing the control unit or how to pull the hoses out?  I didn't want to put much force while pulling on them in fear of breaking something.

here is a connector I found behind the radio I was tugging on a bit with no luck

Thanks all, still chipping away at it all

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, you are certainly chipping away.  The push rod should have made quite a difference.  And the wheel bearings and spindle will as well, although it is a shame they did that to it.  

On the vacuum, the lines don't come off of that connector.  The two halves of the connector come apart with the lines still attached to the halves.

[nmchuck]

Thanks for insight on the connectors Gary, I now see how they come apart.  O was able to find the vacuum leak, right where the line enters the rubber grommet through the firewall on the engine side.  I can't tell if it was chewed if off or if it just flaked apart, but a small portion was opened up.

Anyone know of a source for the hard plastic vacuum line?  I am striking out with the local parts stores.

[Gary Lewis]

That is the classic place for the leak as the line gets brittle and cracks there. I cut the line back on each side to where it wasn’t brittle, pushed a piece of small copper tubing through the grommet, and then used vacuum line to connect the plastic tubing to the copper tubing.

[mat in tn]

in a pinch. brake line tubing happens to be the same size and does make an excellent hard run between flex points.

[nmchuck]

Busy day today, managed to get the Heater/ac controls working.  Found some of the hard plastic line at my friend's place with an old ford truck, was able to salvage all of the ends and replace the brittle line.  The controller is the pits to get out of the dash, but I cleaned it all up and reinstalled.

I dove into the heater core area as the fan was blowing mouse nest gunk out.  Found a pretty good pile wedged up against the heater core.  Based on warnings here, I looked at the blend door, sure enough the hinge was broken.  Since I had been at it all day, I cheated (probably myself in the long run) and used heavy Gorilla tape to reattach the two sides together. I figured it may get me by for a while, and actually worked.

The new heater core I ordered was aluminum, the one that came out was copper and brass.  This aluminum core was a complete booger to get in place, was shaped differently at the top.  I managed to get it in and closed up, but honestly thought about returning it.

Tomorrow will be a flush of the cooling system again and buttoning it all back up.  My spindle studs finally arrived and hopefully I can get it driving again as well.  No photos on this post, all pretty boring time-consuming stuff!

[Rembrant]

nmchuck wrote

The new heater core I ordered was aluminum, the one that came out was copper and brass.  This aluminum core was a complete booger to get in place, was shaped differently at the top.  I managed to get it in and closed up, but honestly thought about returning it.

This has come up before. For some reason, some of the aftermarket companies make heater cores with completely square tanks at the top, and the original units are sloped on the ends with a valley in the middle. The ones with the square tanks don't fit.

[Gary Lewis]

Right. And I’ve had the wrong core sent in the right box - from two different sellers. It gets really frustrating!!!

But glad you got it in and are making progress.

[nmchuck]

You nailed It, squared top is the issue, and it is just a little bit taller.  We will see if it works for the long term, but at least it's in for now.

Fighting my front end today, I have had the spindle off several times trying to see why I am about 1/8 inch short on the axle.  Cant get the snap ring on for the locking hub reatainer.  It is about a snap ring thickness from going on.  Think it's time to step away, the thought of taking it all back apart to look again is just not setting good right now...

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone!

[mat in tn]

best advice in this situation. walk away and come back fresh another day. this keeps me from reaching for a bigger hammer. sometimes!

[nmchuck]

Spent some more time on the truck and made more progress.  Was finally able to get the locking hub back on, the hub had a very small bronze bushing that I removed, and it slid into place where I could get the snap ring on. It seems to work ok, hopefully the bushing was not critical to operation or longevity.

Moved on to flushing the radiator and replacing the heater hoses.  This rig is from New Mexico, and there was a circulation pump/water heater installed into the block drain, kind of surprising to see.  I removed it in the process because it was rusted out pretty bad and I can't imagine needing it where I live.  Didn't hurt to get some of the clutter of the extra hoses and heater out of the engine bay too.

After buttoning it all back up I took it out for a drive and had mixed results.  The bearing noise is gone and it drives pretty darn well, but I jacked something up and the transmission (C6) shifted late and very hard.  To get it into 3rd gear I had to pull it down to 2nd and back up to third.

After some searching online, I was able to figure out the vacuum modulator was the culprit.  I pulled the vacuum line of the modulater and tranny fluid was present, figured the diaphragm was bad.  Ran to the parts store and replaced it, still drove the same.  So, I started to check the vacuum lines, and discovered I neglected to hook up the vacuum line to the AC controls that I took off to install the heater hoses at the firewall.  Felt pretty dumb at that point!

Fired it up for a spin again and all is well with the tranny.  This truck cruises nice, the tall gears (3.00) and tall tires (33") actually make this old rig quiet and easy to drive at highway speeds, just pretty low on grunt for acceleration.

Up next, clean up wiring under the dash by removing all of the previous owner's good work.  I also need to reseal the intake manifold and valve covers, getting pretty messy.  I also have to muster up the energy to replace the motor mounts soon, the driver's side is no fun to deal with.  

Oh yeah, I forgot that I managed to get a new tailpipe installed while waiting on the parts last week.  The truck sounded pretty good with just a turbo style muffler behind the header Y pipe.  My buddy donated a tailpipe to try, fit perfect, although I had to neck it down from a 2 1/2" to 2".  It is really quiet now, which I guess is good, but I do miss the rumble.

Anyhow, sorry for the lengthy post, I'll try to get some photos soon.  After reading other folks projects here, I count my blessings as I don't have to deal with rust issues.  Living in the desert does have some advantages!

[Gary Lewis]

Good progress, Chuck.  

And I can sympathize on the vacuum issue - been there, done that.  

[nmchuck]

This week I have been busy on the interior again,  I was finally able to pull the gauge cluster after cutting off the wiper knob.  Turns out it was glued on with epoxy.

I Was surprised that most bulbs seemed ok in the cluster, the dash was basically dark and unreadable at night.  I decided to upgrade to led lighting and waiting on them to arrive.  In the meantime I have taken everything apart, plan to paint the gauge needles and clean up the tach as it seldom works.

I bit the bullet and replaced the motor mounts today, not the most fun job.  While in the neighborhood I put in a new mechanical fuel pump as it was bypassed for an electric pump, with very sketchy wiring. Blew out the steel lines and ran some brake cleaner through them before hooking everything up.  It all worked and I feel much better about the stock fuel pump operating again.

I have been reading up on the dash covers and new pads. I'm leaning towards a cover as a new pad is quite a bit more money.  Please let me know your thoughts or experience with them, I really don't consider this truck to be show quality after I wrap it up, but I do want it to look good.

I'll make sure to take a few pictures as it goes back together, these posts without photos are getting pretty boring...

[ArdWrknTrk]

You've been getting a lot done!
Congratulations.

Gary has pretty detailed documentation on the Coverlay he installed in Big Blue.
I can try to find those pages...

[nmchuck]

Thanks Jim, the weather has been great and I have been enjoying spending time on the old rig.  Although my wife did complain about me being covered in grease after doing the motor mounts.  Have to admit that was not too much fun...

I haven't seen Gary's documentation, I'll poke around a little on here tonight and look for it too.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'm pretty sure it starts here....

Edit: more like here when he finally got it.

[BigBrother-84]

nmchuck wrote

I have been reading up on the dash covers and new pads. I'm leaning towards a cover as a new pad is quite a bit more money.  Please let me know your thoughts or experience with them.

Chuck,  you're right that the new pad is very expansive, and I am sorry to say that its quality is questionable.
I went that way, and installed the new pad yesterday.
I planned 30 minutes, it took me the afternoon.
Installation was very complicated, required a lot of adjustments.

The final look is good, but I did not figure out that it would be so difficult to fit it.

I plan to post a detailed thread about my experience with this new pad.

[nmchuck]

Jeff, that really looks good in the pics, sorry to hear it was such a hassle to get it there.  I look forward to your thread on the topic, all of us in the cracked dash club can learn from your experience!