Makes me wish my engine needed rebuilt. Almost.
the BIG RED Restoration ! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter half k cruiser
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #42
Someday, maybe you will be lucky enough to have to pull your motor and rebuild it. If so, I am now a walking talking tips & tricks book on how to get this done the easiest way.
- Thread starter
- #43
Wow, I got really far behind on this build thread, I will post a couple of shots of the engine in the bay. This truck has been running great for about 1500 miles now. Its become very responsive, probably due to having compression on all six cylinders now ! I did have a scary moment when I went to start it for the first time. I decided to pull the coil wire and crank it for a bit to build some oil pressure, well, it never built up. So then I thought maybe I would just have to start it, still no oil pressure ! Turns out I had forgot to connect the second wire to the sender. The truck has fantastic pressure and runs great after doing some tuning to the throttle cable and adjusting the timing.
- Thread starter
- #44
Almost forgot, I did have another setback. I ran it for a bit then noticed coolant leaking out from the PS of the motor. Shut it down, checked oil and %^% there's moisture in the oil. Long story short something didn't seal up quite right when I had put the oil cooler back on and the engine was bypassing coolant from the cooler plate into the oil passages. I took the cooler off and checked all seals, then sprayed them with copper sealant and re installed. Everything is looking great now.
- Thread starter
- #45
5,000 miles so far and the truck is still running strong. I have had only two issues. The most concerning was a large loss of PS fluid/ATF. Originally I had forgotten to tighten the set nut after I had adjusted pre load on the gearbox. I fixed that little issue pretty quickly with a 17mm wrench. Unfortunately it has been leaking again and the other day while it was warming up I literally watched it drip a puddle of ATF on the driveway. With winter coming this problem suddenly became high on my priority list. Thankfully I just had to re clamp one of the low pressure lines going to the cooler.
Bonus: I have also been chasing a coolant leak since the rebuild. The truck has been using a few quarts of green stuff every 1k or so miles. Amazingly, while I was idling the truck to see if I fixed the PS leak I saw some coolant drip from the PS. I was able to track that back up to the soft heater hose above the exhaust manifold. Turns out that clamp also needed a little tweaking ! All in all I was pretty amazed at how easy it was to fix both items. One of those weird yet enjoyable days where everything seems to just fall into place with the vehicles.
So I think I'm done with the truck for this year. Next years task will be to get the body into shape and bed liner the whole rig.
Bonus: I have also been chasing a coolant leak since the rebuild. The truck has been using a few quarts of green stuff every 1k or so miles. Amazingly, while I was idling the truck to see if I fixed the PS leak I saw some coolant drip from the PS. I was able to track that back up to the soft heater hose above the exhaust manifold. Turns out that clamp also needed a little tweaking ! All in all I was pretty amazed at how easy it was to fix both items. One of those weird yet enjoyable days where everything seems to just fall into place with the vehicles.
So I think I'm done with the truck for this year. Next years task will be to get the body into shape and bed liner the whole rig.
- Thread starter
- #46
Its been over two years and 25,000 miles since the rebuild. I'd almost forgotten about this thread. Big Red still runs better then any of my other vehicles. Doesn't leak a drop, barely uses any oil over a 5k mile interval. I wish my 97 ran as well, and had as much power as this one. The only major service done since the overhaul was a much needed birfield job.....
I must say this job gets easier every time I do it. Probably only took a morning and part of the afternoon. If you had a dedicated parts cleaner/assistant you could easily do this in four hours.
- Thread starter
- #47
Mileage 236,000
Time for new shocks ! Ditched the old worn Bilstien rears and Monroe fronts for OEM Tokiko units. These compliment the OME dual rates nicely and made a huge improvement in ride quality. A steal at less than $50 each....
Time for new shocks ! Ditched the old worn Bilstien rears and Monroe fronts for OEM Tokiko units. These compliment the OME dual rates nicely and made a huge improvement in ride quality. A steal at less than $50 each....
Or a bathroom after Taco Tuesday!
- Thread starter
- #50
After moving the wife and kids into a 120 series I decided the 94 would become my daily driver. I'm pretty excited about it as I've always had a certain attachment to this vehicle. My first receipts for it show I had it in October of 2011. I spent about 4 hours cleaning the inside last week in order to make it look like my kids hadn't been living out of it. The exterior is a whole different story. First off was the damage caused when my wife backed into the light pole at our house. Strangely enough I had hit this exact same spot 5 years previously with slightly less devastating results...
On top of tearing the bumperette off, the damage also got into the lower hatch and the section of quarter panel just under the PS brake light.
The very worst of the rust. It was actually like this when I bought it and I've never taken the time to patch. Luckily I already have a patch piece for this one.
Fender flares still in place.
- Thread starter
- #51
Knowing it will have to get worse before it gets better I decided to remove the flares and look for any surprises.
PS front fender revealed the only surprise...
Luckily it was a good one. My plastic probe tool went clean through the fender. I'm hoping I can get away with just a patch as I don't really want to remove the entire thing for a re-skin...
- Thread starter
- #52
I never have been a fan of the flares on the 80 series. They look good from straight on, but few other angles. I have no intention of putting them back on this truck. When the time comes I will get the holes welded up and prepped for the new topcoat...
- Thread starter
- #53
Since I'm driving this every day now I decided I would take care of the interior and make things a bit more comfortable. First up was a heavy cleaning of all the panels followed by steaming the carpets (thanks @maxtorque ). The carpets turned out nice enough that I wanted a little more protection then the off brand throwdown mats I had been using. So I ordered up a set of Weathertech digital fits....
These aren't as deep as my Husky liners on the other 80, but they do have a more conforming fit...
Decided I needed another place to stash my cup of coffee other than sitting it next to the TC shifter. Thanks to @bhicks for a nice product and a timely delivery....
Decided I needed another place to stash my cup of coffee other than sitting it next to the TC shifter. Thanks to @bhicks for a nice product and a timely delivery....
- Thread starter
- #54
After getting the interior mostly squared away I decided to tackle some much needed maintenance. I started by switching over to the same Delo 5w-40 I run in the other rig. I then topped it off by greasing the u-joints. Current mileage 237,768
- Thread starter
- #55
On to more pressing issues. I had an exhaust leak that I thought might literally kill me. It didn't seem bad, until I would start to slow down coming off of the highway. Then the cab would be filled with exhaust fumes. It also made for annoying extra sound going down the roadway.
Luckily I figured out a multi step process to fix this issue. Step one requires one of these....
Which then becomes modified to this.....
Which is then used as a patch panel here ...
Followed up with a full wrap of Tiger Tape....
I am currently cooking the patch on in the driveway. Hopefully it holds for a few years.
- Thread starter
- #57
- Thread starter
- #58
The local elevator has been leaving its scale on for the last few weeks. So in the morning, before the scale operator gets in, I've been weighing all of my vehicles. Subtract out 200lbs for the driver and we're at 5080, no wonder its so much faster than the 97 !
- Thread starter
- #59
Pre-winter maintenance day. Grease all u-joints / prop shafts. Check and top off birfields. X-rotated the tires which are still showing suprisingy good tread after 38k miles. Measured them 11/32 & 12/32 average across all four. I decided to try something new with the oil. I originally ran 15w-40 Delo because it was cheap and the rig consumed and leaked so much of it. After the rebuild I ran this for awhile then switched to 5w-40 to help with cold starting. I'm going to see if I can get away with running a 30 weight without a lot of consumption. The drop down to 0w should help out even more with those early morning starts this winter. If this works I may switch the 97 over as well then run it in all 3 of our vehicles.
- Thread starter
- #60
FOR SALE - I currently have x3 80 series, a 100 series, a 120, and not enough time to restore this one. It makes me a little sad to let it go as it has been an excellent vehicle for us these last 8 years. Every service I've ever performed on it and every receipt is logged in a folder about an inch thick. It runs great, leaks no fluids, the lockers and CDL work, but the exhaust behind the muffler has a hole in it and there is the rust issue. The interior cleans up nice but it has the usual 80 series issues of slow windows and locks when it gets cold out. This would be a great rig for somebody who has more time than money or somebody who wanted to swap a 40 or 60 body onto an 80 frame. $2700
