Builds Layonnn's 100 series build

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

I am very blessed to have my dad's shop (an auto accessory and upholstery business), which has a very large back warehouse I could use, as well as a new apartment where I could sleep at night.

I started off by replacing the sway bar bushings, that went well. Then I tried to do the lower control arm ball joint. This was the first major obstacle, I tried everything: BFH, seperator fork, heat, penetrating fluid. After spending more than half a day on this, the next morning I just cut through it with a sawzall. It's hardened steel, so it took about 20 minutes to cut through. Then I could use the ball joint press kit to push the rest of it out, easy leash after that.

Next up was fixing a slightly leaky cv boot on the PS with a new clamp from PFran and a need adapter to my grease gun to add some new grease.

IMG_7302.JPG


IMG_7303.JPG


IMG_7304.JPG
 
Next up, everything else haha.
I started to disassemble the easy stuff on the engine and then made a pulley holder out of some spare aluminum we had at the shop.

IMG_7326.JPG


IMG_7333.JPG


IMG_7334.JPG


IMG_7364.JPG


IMG_7366.JPG
 
Changing out the water pump and timing belt and pulleys was all fairly easy and straight forward, I followed the FSM and a guide on here was extremely helpful, I think it was by Scottm?
Before I installed the timing belt I decided to tackle the starter. That was pretty straight forawrd as well.

IMG_7335.JPG


IMG_7340.JPG


Upon removing the starter, one of my vent tubes broke off. These things are extremely easy to snap off on an older vehicle. A new one would have taken 5-7 days, so I rigged up something else to work as a vent and still keep out water. I took apart the starter to see if the plastic tabs from the vent tube would fall out only to see the starter was filthy inside with a black powder material, so I disassembled it and gave everything a cleaning with a nylon brush and air nossle. I then gave the gears of the starter some new grease. My contacts also looked to be in pretty good shape, I'm guessing they were changed out when the first 90k service was done.
While you have the intake off, give the V section a good scrubbing with a nylon brush to break free any rust or dirt, then vacuum out all of the debris (make sure your intake openings are covered are plugged with shop towels)

IMG_7336.JPG


IMG_7337.JPG
 
Last edited:
Then came the heater T's and hoses. I had one break a while back on me and I replaced it with a plastic T from lowes until I could get OEM parts in. Upon changing out both of them, my other original one broke off, so it was on its way out.

IMG_7338.JPG
 
If you are doing this job I would highly recommend you get both intake gaskets, the one that goes on the bottom of the intake and the one between the upper and lower section of the intake. My intake had oil and deposits that I would. It have been able to clean unless I took it apart. Gasoline works amazingly well at removing oil and deposits. Just make sure you have good ventilation if using gas to clean, you'll get a headache real quick. Ha.
I cleaned the intakes as well, plenty of deposits in there as well, just be careful to not let any of it fall down into the intake.

IMG_7344.JPG


IMG_7345.JPG


IMG_7360.JPG
 
My valve covers were leaking a lot worse than I knew. I had oil and crud everywhere. I spent a LOT of time with simple green and gasoline cleaning any and everything. My valve cover bolts were basically finger tight. If yours are leaking oil, check the torque on them, I believe they are around 14ft-lbs or so, pretty light.

IMG_7341.JPG


This is where I ran into my largest obstacle: the rear lower DS bolt head snapped off.
There is nearly no room to do anything, and that bolt/stud was not moving, at all.
Things I tried:
Continuously soaking it in liquid wrench penetrating fluid
Dremel a slot in the head and flat head screw driver, hah, not a chance.
Multiplied pairs of vise grips and pliers, didn't even budge.
Small propane torch to heat the bolt, tires heating the surrounding area seperately as wel, nothing.
Then I got smart, double nut. Started to think this was working, instead it was stripping the threads off the bolt. Tried adding red loctite to the double nut, didn't help
At this point, I began to get desperate. I knew I could weld a nut but thought it to be risky with the valve cover off and such a tight area. I practiced with a few spare bolts and nuts to get my settings correct on my dad's MIG. I covered everything with multiple layers of shop towels and a layer of cardboard secured with masking tape.
I successfully welded a nut on and then waited til it cooled before attempting to remove, stud snapped, dangit!
Attempt number two, welded a new nut, stud snapped again. This left just a little. In sticking out, welded on a thin nut, it broke off the stud flush with the head.

At this point, I grabbed the right hand drill only to see that it wouldn't fit. But, if I loosened the steering shaft and ziptied some wires out of the way, I could get the right angle drill almost perpendicular to the head. I started with the smallest bit I had, and progressively worked my way up. Once I had most of the bolt drilled out, I grabbed my tap and got he rest out. The bolt hole was now a little loose for a M6 bolt, as I had figured, so I went bought a helicoil kit to fix that. It was smooth sailing after that.

Got everything bolted back together. Started the truck up and it started smoking from the area I had to fix the bolt. Crap! Shut the truck off. Grabbed the hose and fire extinguisher and started it up again, more smoke from the same area.

My first thought was the gasket got pinched in that area or something along those lines. So I pulled offf the DS valve cover only to find everything in perfect shape. Then it hit me, the header is covered in penetrating oil. I cleaned it off as best I could and the sprayed the hose on it a little bit, started the truck up, tiny bit of smoke and then it was running smooth.

This all took me a little over a week of working about 10-12 hours a day. Most of the time was spent cleaning everything, inside and out, any spots of rust were wire brushed, cleaned and painted. The oil leak from the valve covers got oil and crud in every nook and cranny.

IMG_7342.JPG


IMG_7347.JPG
 
Last edited:
Added some additional lighting to the front. 225W round LED lights, turbo s2 9" diameter from Amazon. Reviews were all good and a mud member recommended them. They are ridiculously bright and seem very well built.

IMG_7550.JPG


Realized I didn't have many shots of the Slee rear with my 35s mounted up and with the hi-lift.
IMG_7551.JPG


Took Roux for a little cruise.
IMG_7548.JPG
 
Replaced PS lower ball joint, LCA mounted bushing (fun times) all front end clunks are gone.
Rear still makes some weird noises, need to remove each control arm and inspect, clean, and grease all the bushing.
I was planning to finally finish up the wiring for the lights as well as remount the solenoid for the winch and clean up the wiring for that. I knew I had a little oil residue on my ARB compressor. What went from cleaning the compressor became fully disassembling the compressor, cleaning everything inside and out and putting new teflon tape on all threads. I didn't like not being able to inspect and easily clean the compressor since it was mounted between the airbox and headlight, so I moved it to between the secondary battery and airbox. That was too tight of a fit. I tried turn the battery 90* and voila. But that required modifying the battery tray I built.

IMG_7575.JPG


IMG_7576.JPG


IMG_7578.JPG


IMG_7579.JPG


IMG_7580.JPG
 
It's amazing what we go through for these trucks....
 
Little trick I learned a while back when you need to put a bend in thick metal, cut a notch where you want to bend, it is then easier to bend, then weld it back together.

IMG_7582.JPG


IMG_7583.JPG
 
Got tired of only doing maintenance on the 100... WagonGear tailgate storage and Front Runner rack got ordered today.

Got a little stuck on mounting the compressor. Gotta get a little clever and figure some way to mount it in the new spot I made for it. Time to put on thinking cap.
 
Very impressive work my friend.

PS: I love your assistant the golden haired one. Mine were my best friends!
 
Very impressive work my friend.

PS: I love your assistant the golden haired one. Mine were my best friends!

Roux, my nearly 9 yr old golden retriever, is one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met. Loves riding with the windows down and going wheeling/camping.

Well I figured out a mount after some brain storming. I forgot I could take the compressor out of the blue aluminum sleeve and rotate it, this gave me a lot more room. I made a mount out of some black HDPE.

Now I have to nearly run the wiring for the lights, compressor, dual battery solenoid, winch cables, CB, and whatever else I might find I forgot is connected to the battery haha.

IMG_7592.JPG


IMG_7594.JPG


One of the many reasons I love ARBs: tool holder while you are working on things. I just thought a great idea would be to place/mount a magnet under the bumper on the flat spots. It would prevent your bolts and sockets from rolling away!

IMG_7593.JPG
 
If you are doing this job I would highly recommend you get both intake gaskets, the one that goes on the bottom of the intake and the one between the upper and lower section of the intake. My intake had oil and deposits that I would. It have been able to clean unless I took it apart. Gasoline works amazingly well at removing oil and deposits. Just make sure you have good ventilation if using gas to clean, you'll get a headache real quick. Ha.
I cleaned the intakes as well, plenty of deposits in there as well, just be careful to not let any of it fall down into the intake.

View attachment 1476118

View attachment 1476119

View attachment 1476120
The intake port of the head looks amazing, how did you do that?
 
Last edited:
Different topic, seems you were hosting your pics on photo bucket and it appears that they do randomly blank out pics to get members to pay there insane fee. May I ask where to you've switched, I'm confronted with the same issue and haven't found a solution...not paying 400$
Advice would be truly appreciated, thanks for your time.

BTW, great build thread, have been following for a while....
 
The intake port of the head looks amazing, how did you do that?

Best thing i found was a dab of gasoline on a shop towel. Tried a few different cleaners on the removed intake. Brake clean only speared the deposits around but was very difficult. Simple green was about the same. Gasoline would completely remove the debris. Just make sure you have a fan blowing and have an open space so you don't breathe in too many fumes.

Different topic, seems you were hosting your pics on photo bucket and it appears that they do randomly blank out pics to get members to pay there insane fee. May I ask where to you've switched, I'm confronted with the same issue and haven't found a solution...not paying 400$
Advice would be truly appreciated, thanks for your time.

BTW, great build thread, have been following for a while....

Thanks. Yeah ive noticed that with photobucket, ill have to go back and fix some pics. I upload my pics directly on to mud now. When you post there is an option to upload file. Only downside is you are limited to 5 pics per post. I think this is what most people are doing on here now.
 
Best thing i found was a dab of gasoline on a shop towel. Tried a few different cleaners on the removed intake. Brake clean only speared the deposits around but was very difficult. Simple green was about the same. Gasoline would completely remove the debris. Just make sure you have a fan blowing and have an open space so you don't breathe in too many fumes.
I noticed in early post you used gasoline. I hate using gasoline for cleaner. But would agree it's safer for engine than solvent in this area.

What I was most interested is in how you keep from getting practicals of of dust, sand & lint from getting on valve guilds, valve seats and into combustion chamber?

My mechanics instructor was very adamant about not wiping cylinder walls with anything when we honed for walls for new rings. Compressed air was only thing He'd let us use. He'd say the lint from rags will interfere with seating of rings to walls of cylinder. Off course our rings are well seated. But it just stuck with anytime I'm working in intake area, so I fight my urge clean gunk. I've consider wiping out but have avoid doing so out of concern. My thoughts on this have was using suction as I cleaned, just like a Dentist does when working on teeth. I suppose with today's lint free micro fiber rags I could give cleaning a try.

You've inspired me!

I may give this a try now, as I've got intake off today and waiting on parts! But I'll do as last thing of day, so I can escape the gasoline fumes right after. Man I hate those fumes!

It's has just been one of those areas in the past I just say leave well enough alone. I just figure grim will come off with time once I get engine intake set up to spec and breathing properly, synthetic oil, good gas with cleaners and run 44k regularly. Sometimes I'll even fog with Seafoam. But in the back of my mind I always think about the grim I left behind.
 
Replaced PS lower ball joint, LCA mounted bushing (fun times) all front end clunks are gone.
Rear still makes some weird noises, need to remove each control arm and inspect, clean, and grease all the bushing.
I was planning to finally finish up the wiring for the lights as well as remount the solenoid for the winch and clean up the wiring for that. I knew I had a little oil residue on my ARB compressor. What went from cleaning the compressor became fully disassembling the compressor, cleaning everything inside and out and putting new teflon tape on all threads. I didn't like not being able to inspect and easily clean the compressor since it was mounted between the airbox and headlight, so I moved it to between the secondary battery and airbox. That was too tight of a fit. I tried turn the battery 90* and voila. But that required modifying the battery tray I built.

View attachment 1505800

View attachment 1505801

View attachment 1505802

View attachment 1505803

View attachment 1505804

SOMEONE is a fan of Snapchat ;)


Thanks. Yeah ive noticed that with photobucket, ill have to go back and fix some pics. I upload my pics directly on to mud now. When you post there is an option to upload file. Only downside is you are limited to 5 pics per post. I think this is what most people are doing on here now.

FYSA - I also attach most to here, but at this time, FLICKR is not link blocking, or anything else, and this as well as most other BB's support their native tagging. It makes it easy when youre posting up a build thread, or how to, when they are already nested together.
 
I noticed in early post you used gasoline. I hate using gasoline for cleaner. But would agree it's safer for engine than solvent in this area.

What I was most interested is in how you keep from getting practicals of of dust, sand & lint from getting on valve guilds, valve seats and into combustion chamber?

My reasoning for cleaning that it would obviously flow better, but the deposits would eventually find their way into the chamber. If you are careful and use a clean rag you can minimize the amount that will fall. The deposits would make their way into the intake whether i cleaned them or not so having some very small particles fall down didn't worry me too much. On the cylinders where the valves were up (closed) you can catch and remove anything that falls down.

Prior to cleaning the chambers, i cleaned with a tooth brush, rags, and vacuum all around the area and had rags in the combustion chambers to prevent debris from getting inside.
 
My reasoning for cleaning that it would obviously flow better, but the deposits would eventually find their way into the chamber. If you are careful and use a clean rag you can minimize the amount that will fall. The deposits would make their way into the intake whether i cleaned them or not so having some very small particles fall down didn't worry me too much. On the cylinders where the valves were up (closed) you can catch and remove anything that falls down.

Prior to cleaning the chambers, i cleaned with a tooth brush, rags, and vacuum all around the area and had rags in the combustion chambers to prevent debris from getting inside.
I clean up area a few days ago the same way more or less with brushes and brake cleaner. Like I said you inspired me. If i do get to it I'll use micro fiber rags and turn crank to work each port with valves closed.
003.JPG

I did swab out the intake with a micro fiber soaked in gasoline. It was last think I did in evening so I could quickly leave the area. Notice the plastic intake will not split apart.
006.JPG

I'm playing catch up now waiting on the fuel injects. So I may yet get to the head ports
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom