Finally broke down and bought a 60 (1 Viewer)

[Lated]

If you've never been to southern Arizona to go wheeling, you're missing out. The views are amazing.

Motor mount hill coming down, looking up...

and down. It's steeper than it looks.

 

[Lated]

I just spent the last two hours unphotobucketing all the broken images in here. ih8photobucket.

Life's gotten so busy with work, four kids, the Rona, four kids out of school thanks to the Rona... I parked Bonnie in the garage back in October to start fixing things I'd been neglecting for too long but the push to finally finish my degree after chipping away at it for literally 20 years kept me from having time to do anything until a couple weeks ago. I've been fixing a lot of issues, and will be upgrading a few things while I'm at it. I'm tired of not having anything to drive in the dirt!

Things to fix:

• Massive oil leak (never did figure out what it was, other than something on the passenger side of the engine)
  • Side cover gasket
  • Oil pan gasket
  • Oil cooler gasket
  • Fuel pump gasket
  • Dizzy o-rings
• Exhaust leak (found one missing, and one loose flange nut; one missing, and one loose egr pipe/manifold nut; and a couple loose manifold bolts)
• Practically no exhaust from the cat back
• Incredibly incontinent steering pump (like a sieve, hardly worked anymore either)
• Leaky steering box
• Flippy floppy wipers
• Leaking water pump

Upgrades:

• Headlights (I bought a set of aftermarket housings and bulbs from marlincrawler that look pretty nice)
• hydro-ported steering box
• Saginaw pump

So far I've torn the entire front off with the exception of the axle and engine, and all that's left on the engine is the manifolds, valve cover, and timing cover. (I used a little capillary action with a paper towel to drain a little more coolant out of the water pump hole so it didn't slosh out anytime I bumped the engine )

I painted the oil pan and side cover a wonderfully traditional shade of yellow that I've dubbed "Milner yellow" so that future oil leaks will be easier to trace to their source (hopefully there won't be any...)

I've been sicker than a dog for the last week so I haven't had the energy to do much of anything--maybe tomorrow I can start putting things back on the engine and move on to fixing the steering gear box.

 

[BaristaBoy]

My oil cooler leaked like a Mfcker when I got my 60, (p/o said it leaked at least a quart every time it was driven) I had to clean it with an abrasive brush then paint it before I finally got it to stop leaking- Took three tries taking it off and putting it on. I never found the right size copper gaskets for the outside of the bolts, but the inside o-rings were a single trip to O'Reillys, its worth it to pick up a O-ring set though, I replace every one I stumble upon now. You can actually re-anneal the copper washers by heating them to red hot all around, was the only way I got that side to stop leaking. - you have a far better garage set up and more knowledge from what I can tell though, hopefully you find a less broke college kid way to fix that. The oil cooler does leak almost directly onto the front driveshaft, chasing down other oil leaks with that shooting oil everytime is nearly impossible.

Glad to see you got back to this thread, you're doing good work.

Good luck with the power steering fix!

 

[Seth S]

My choice for engine block color is usually a light grey. It helps to make it easier to both see leaks and see into the engine bay which on a rootbeer 60 is a little dark.

 

[Lated]

My oil cooler leaked like a Mfcker when I got my 60, (p/o said it leaked at least a quart every time it was driven) I had to clean it with an abrasive brush then paint it before I finally got it to stop leaking- Took three tries taking it off and putting it on. I never found the right size copper gaskets for the outside of the bolts, but the inside o-rings were a single trip to O'Reillys, its worth it to pick up a O-ring set though, I replace every one I stumble upon now. You can actually re-anneal the copper washers by heating them to red hot all around, was the only way I got that side to stop leaking. - you have a far better garage set up and more knowledge from what I can tell though, hopefully you find a less broke college kid way to fix that. The oil cooler does leak almost directly onto the front driveshaft, chasing down other oil leaks with that shooting oil everytime is nearly impossible.

Glad to see you got back to this thread, you're doing good work.

Good luck with the power steering fix!

I changed the o-rings a couple years ago, but used reused the copper washers. New washers and o-rings just showed up from the UPS man today, so hopefully they'll kill any leaks there. Good point on the driveshaft, I had oil absolutely everywhere on the passanger side and p/s fluid almost as bad on the driver side. Definitely makes it difficult to track down leaks.

My choice for engine block color is usually a light grey. It helps to make it easier to both see leaks and see into the engine bay which on a rootbeer 60 is a little dark.

I'm hoping the little bit of yellow I put on will help with the lighting too. I considered painting the entire block, but didn't feel like doing the necessary prep work (mostly didn't want to pull the manifolds and emissions spaghetti off).

 

[Lated]

Not much exciting going on right now, but I am making slow progress. Oil pan and side cover are back on, and I re-torqued both of them again after a couple days. I was amazed at how much the gaskets relaxed and lost torque. The clutch inspection cover is back on again after being shuffled around across three moves. I pulled the exhaust completely off for better access to weld on the "new" muffler that was bought 5+ years ago, and discovered that the air check valve is shot--always something... I replaced the transmission mount, installed the new water pump and fan clutch, and re-stabbed the distributor.

Tomorrow's plans are to weld on the new muffler and rehang the exhaust, drain and refill the trans and t-case (if I can get the fill plugs off), reinstall the thermo housing, fuel pump, and oil cooler.

 

[Lated]

Got most of what I planned done today. Lower thermo housing is on, and the fuel pump is on. I hooked the PCV back up and installed the hard line for the heater so the side cover is officially done. I also changed the fluid in both the trans and t-case, and got the exhaust buttoned up. Good progress I suppose, but still slower than I'd like--just want to drive this thing already!


My welding definitely needs some work, but the muffler should hang on. I'm curious what it will sound like with a functional muffler since I've been driving around with the backside of the previous one blown out for the last nine years.

I messed with the settings, but couldn't get the welder to stop sputtering and popping. This is the good side, I'm not showing anyone the bad

Woohoo, gold in my pan! Looks like trans and t-case are due for some loving in the nearish future. I'm not sure which box the gold came from, but I'm assuming its the trans synchros--I should probably lay off the engine breaking a little. The chunks in the lower right side of the picture are just dirt I knocked off the outside of the transmission.

Just before I stuck the thermostat housing on, I looked in the head and saw what I though was a bolt. I was able to fish it out with a magnet, and I think it must be a left over support from when the head was cast. No idea what else it would be, or why it would be in the water jacket.

 

[joebattle1]

Man... if I got that far into it I’d probably pull the head and put new valves and a head gasket in it. How many miles on the truck? When’s the last tome you did a compression check?

 

[dad4x4]

I just read through this entire thread. Awesome read this morning with a cup of coffee.
great progress so far. Your work reminds me of the work I did to my 2F nearly 9 years ago. Congrats on the growing family.
Where did you move too? You said east coast but didn’t tell where.

 

[Lated]

Man... if I got that far into it I’d probably pull the head and put new valves and a head gasket in it. How many miles on the truck? When’s the last tome you did a compression check?

It's been about a little over 7 thousand miles since I checked it back in 2013 (Compression Number Help), but it's running great and the numbers weren't terrible last time. I planned on checking the compression again once I get it back together. I'll nurse the 2F along as well as I can without dropping a ton of money into it, but if the head has to come off there's a chance won't go back on depending on the state of the rest of my rust buckets at the time. I'm already saving up for a sbc/ranger or 2FE conversion.

I just read through this entire thread. Awesome read this morning with a cup of coffee.
great progress so far. Your work reminds me of the work I did to my 2F nearly 9 years ago. Congrats on the growing family.
Where did you move too? You said east coast but didn’t tell where.

We're in the wonderfully crowded and overly muggy state of Maryland. Not my favorite place, but I've been to worse. The close proximity to Pennsylvania has been bad for my unneeded old parts collecting habit.

 

[dad4x4]

We're in the wonderfully crowded and overly muggy state of Maryland. Not my favorite place, but I've been to worse. The close proximity to Pennsylvania has been bad for my unneeded old parts collecting habit.
[/QUOTE]
Ugh, thought you might have been a little closer..
Definitely following along. Keep working at it, you will be back on the trails before you know it.

 

[Lated]

Whelp...progress has been slow--mostly because of the oppressive humidity and over 90 temps in the garage by the time I get out there. I got up early this morning to beat the heat and managed to get the oil filter boss and oil cooler installed. Also got the thermostat installed and a couple heater hoses to boot.

Then it happened. I was getting ready to install the hard line that bolts to the backside of the timing cover when I realized that the timing cover bolts it mounts to were barely more than finger tight. I assumed that I had just loosened them when I was taking the hard line off a few weeks ago, but looked up the torque spec so I could make sure they were properly tightened. I torqued 'em down and figured I'd check the rest of the timing cover bolts too.

Every. Single. One. Was. Just. As. Loose. I think I finally found my oil leak . The bottom bolts behind the crank pulley were caked in oily dirt. I'm not sure why I hadn't noticed before, but there's no way that much oil migrated forward from a leak further back on the engine, it had to have come from there to begin with. I think the fan has been blowing the oil up and onto the passanger side of the engine as it dripped out of the bottom of the timing cover.

I don't know if I never went back and torqued them after replacing the timing cover gasket seven years ago (I vaguely remember doing it though), or if the gasket relaxed after I initially torqued them, or what happened. What ever it was, they were all far from tight enough, so I torqued them to spec and moved on to replacing the super brittle red PVC fuel line that was just an engine fire waiting to happen. The more I thought about it, the more I figured I should really just replace the timing cover gasket now too. After all, it's the only oil system gasket that hasn't been replaced at this point with the exception of the valve cover (not leaking), and the rear main seal (not pulling the tranny right now). I broke out my 46mm socket and 3/4" breaker bar, wrapped a ratchet strap around the crank pulley and hooked it to the frame and pulled the crank nut off after almost backing Bonnie into the garage door before remembering to throw the trans in neutral. That's when I found this wonderfullness...

And this once the timing cover was off...

Looks like something got caught between the pulley and the timing cover and chewed the heck out of the pulley--no idea what it could have been, or where it went. I didn't see anything odd in the oil pan when I had it off. The surface where the seal rides seems to be fine so I'm not too concerned about the gouging on the pulley. Irritated for sure, but not overly worried unless someone brings up any concerns I've over looked (I posted another thread looking for input on it here). I noticed a small nick in the seal at the 9 o'clockish position in the picture above, but don't know if it's related. A new gasket and seal are on their way already, and the timing cover will get the same yellow treatment the rest of the engine tin did. That probably means the next task is finally tackling the steering box while I wait for the gasket/seal to arrive since it'll be the same bright shiny yellow

 

[Lated]

Finally getting started on disassembly

 

[Lated]

That went nowhere near as easy as I expected it to. I'm beat! The top plate came off easily enough, although I ended up bolting the box back on the frame to break the bolts loose because I couldn't hold it still enough and didn't want to put it in the vice because I was worried it would make a mess. I got the sector shaft out without too much drama, and saw more evidence of something chewing itself apart like I'd noticed when I pulled the power steering pump. There are a couple little chunks of what almost looks like bearing cage in the box, but there was a lot more of it sitting in the reservoir on the pump. None of the bearings in the box look to have any wear on them at all though.

I've heard of people using a pipe wrench or large channel locks to get the lock ring off the worm gear, but I decided to make my own SST. I made a template by rubbing my finger over a piece of paper pressed against the ring.

I planned on cutting the tool out of a tiller blade from my scrap bin, but decided to use one of the side plates from the tiller instead since it already had a convenient hole cut in it.

This is what I ended up with after far too much time spent messing around with the band saw, grinder, and file (nearly 3 hours judging by the timestamps on my photos -_- ).

It's ugly, but worked perfectly, and I bet it's the only one in existence made by Sears...

 

[Lated]

I made this one too for the worm shaft adjusting nut. It's just a 3/4" hole and two 5/32" holes that I could stick 5/32" drill bits into the adjusting nut.

After having to fight with everything else, I was expecting the adjusting nut to be tight, but it just spun right out. Probably should have tried to see if it would spin by hand before wasting time on making another tool, but I was on a roll. By this point everything was covered in power steering fluid, so I just clamped the thing in the vice and tried to pull the worm shaft out. No dice. I ended up having to spin the shaft out of the worm gear which resulted in 44 little pings as each ball bearing found it's way out of the box and into the old baking sheet strategically placed underneath. I had to use a brass punch and light taps to get the end cap to pop off. Then the gear finally came out.

This took far longer than I expected and I HATE the feel of power steering fluid--it never seems to wipe off of anything and I took my gloves off at some point and didn't think to put them back on until it was too late--so I called it quits for the day after pulling the whole thing apart. Tomorrow will hopefully be cleaning everything up, drilling and tapping for hydro, installing new seals, and reassembly. Wish me luck.

 

[Lated]

I found pictures from when I first started tearing things apart back in January. There was a lot of metal debris in the pump reservoir. I already knew it needed attention because it was squealing like a banshee and would occasionally just not work at lower speeds but this just kinda sealed the deal on it needing an intervention.

While I was looking, I found a shot of the top of my motor mount "repair" with baling wire. I'd forgotten how badly everything was covered in orange slime. Almost makes me want to pretty up the emissions spaghetti and the intake manifold. Almost.

 

[Lated]

No progress on the steering box today. Apparently, the seal kit I ordered back in December doesn't have the pitman arm seal, or any of the teflon seals. New seal kit is on it's way now. I hate waiting for parts--especially parts I already thought I had.

 

[Lated]

Ported with temp plugs installed until the -6 AN to 1/4 NPT fittings show up. I wanted to get the new seals on, and the whole thing back together but by the time I got this far it was 90 degrees and uber humid IN the garage with the A/C running. Ugh. This was by far the worst cast iron I've ever drilled. It didn't really want to chip, it was more just making mud with the cutting oil, but I got it done. Even the threads didn't cut as clean as I expected. Drill press would have been handy too.

I did get the timing cover and crank nut shot with a coat of Milner.

Timing gasket and crank seal showed up yesterday so the cover's going back on manana.

 

[Lated]

Timing cover's on with a thin coat of RTV between the bottom four bolts. Hopefully the bolts stay torqued, and no massive leaks this time around.

I was able to successfully install the remanufactured smog pump I bought about four years ago when the original one went out. I'd forgotten exactly why it never got installed (I ended up gutting the original instead), but I remembered fighting with the pulley and belt alignment. Turns out, the housing on the original is a smaller diameter right behind the pulley than the new one so the pulley was rubbing on the case when installed facing the correct direction. I'd tried flipping it around to clear the case, but then the belt didn't line up. I hit the interfering part of the pump housing with a file, and got rid of all the junk that was in all the wrong places. Spins freely now. This isn't quite the finished clearancing. I had to clean a little more off after this test fit.

Helpful tip: if you're filing aluminum, rubbing some chalk on the file first will help keep it the aluminum from gumming up the teeth quite as fast. I'd heard about it but never tried it, but I swiped a chunk of sidewalk chalk from my kids and it definitely helped.

First "test fit" of the new pump. This thing is gonna turn so much better once this is all done.

 

[Lated]

No progress in the garage today. Went toy shopping instead.

I got a lathe, I got a lathe, I got a lathe! Maybe Christmas really does last all year?