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nuclearbeef

nuclearbeef

SILVER Star
10 Year 15 Year
Joined
May 12, 2010
Threads
46
Messages
623
Location
Memphis
Well, I jumped in with both feet and bought a '76 3b turbo pig. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the truck in question.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj55-iron-...972-september-potm-cruiser-guy-guatemala.html

Thanks Charles for all the great work you did on this pig. I'm proud to be the new owner. I bought a one-way ticket from Memphis to Vancouver, trusting that I would still want the truck after I saw it and that it would be capable of getting us all the way back to Memphis.

Long story short, I loved it and it got us home. (I drove back with my brother and a friend who happened to be in Vancouver for a conference) Actually, thats pretty much the whole story. We hit the Harbor Freight in Bellingham and stocked up on tools to fix any breakdowns on the ride home. Never used any of them. All we did was put diesel and rotella in it and drive. 2600 miles. 48 hours including stops and customs.

Even customs was boring. About an hour and a half of standing in line watching 40 or so agents milling around drinking coffee and chatting while 2 or 3 agents helped the people standing in line. Even worse than the DMV. When someone actually started helping me, it took less than 30 minutes. No problems at all. Well... except for as we were driving away, we had broken out the iphone to video the red stamp of approval on the import paperwork when we pulled up to the guard shack at the exit. The agent asked, "are you videoing?" Reply: "not any more." We were sent back to the building. After chastising us and making us erase the video, we were sent on our way.

First order of business: fix the oil leak. I was told it was a rear main seal but I have yet to clean it off and track down the leak. You can see the evidence of the leak on the tailgate.

Next: fix the A/C (quit working after a radio change so I think it's a broken wire or something)

Later: probably power steering and an intercooler.

I'm sure I will have plenty of questions for you experienced pig owners. Thanks in advance. I have already learned volumes of info from reading your threads.

JW
CIMG0436.webp
Idaho.webp
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As you can see from the pic of the tailgate, we were leaking a little oil. Still, we only put 2 quarts in it during the drive home.

That's my Rhodesian Ridgeback. He looks pretty good for being 12 yrs old.
home.webp
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withdog.webp
 
Me too. You are the owner of a very coveted pig rig. It will be worth all the trouble of fixing that leak. Enjoy the ride and pm me when you want to sell... ha!
 
Congrats from over on the other side of the Mississippi!

I think I saw you guys driving east on I40 by ozark, ar on Friday afternoon 'bout 2pm. I was wondering where it was going. Come over sometime and show it off in our hills in AR.

Best, ty. :beer:
 
Congrats!, you bought a nice 55, I must have read the build thread on your truck, 6 times. Seems I always get something from it. Have fun.
 
Yeah Ty, That was us. Kind of in a daze by that time. Luckily a friend in Little Rock called and told us to get off I40 as soon as we passed LR and jump over to Hwy 70. Missed alot of traffic due to construction and music fest. Plus a wreck would have had us tied up for an hour. It was nice to get on some 2 lane roads for a change anyway. Woke us up.

I did wish the A/C was working though. The bank in Fredonia said 96*.

Give me a good excuse to cruise on up to the hills and I'll be there.

JW
 
nuclearlemon said:
nice. glad it went to a good home:steer:
Click to expand...
Nuclearlemon,

I've read alot of you posts and gleaned much valuable info from you already.

I gotta ask: why nuclearlemon?

I'll tell you why I'm nuclearbeef. I was watching some BBC show where some guy went to North Korea. He was always accompanied by a government "handler" everywhere he went who was constantly trying to spin things in favor of the government. They were riding down the highway when they got behind a military convoy where you could see armed soldiers in the back of the trucks, and the reporter asked the "handler" what the trucks were carrying. Pure deadpan, the handler replies "beef." It was so ridiculous that everyone including the handler started laughing. The handler then said (try to read this in your best, thick, North Korean accent) "ha ha ha... the nuclear beef."

I guess you had to be there, but I had tears rolling down my face. Anyway, shortly thereafter I had to pick a screen name for something or another and it just stuck with me.

JW
 
Ok, when's the tranny coming out? :bounce2:Fix that leak. Now that you got it, tear into it... Time to continue the build thread, cause it never ends....;p
 
nuclearlemon;7605439 the yellow was much more obnoxious in person[/QUOTE said:
It took after it's owner...
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, I was about to pull the transmission so I could fix the oil leak so I could fix the parking brake so I could pass inspection so I could register it so I could drive it.

Actually I've been driving it. Tennessee gives you 30 days to register a newly purchased vehicle, so I'm legal as long as I carry the bill of sale with me. I haven't had to produce it yet because I haven't been pulled over.

It's shocking to me that we drove 2600 miles; including quite a few on "drug corridor interstates"; in an SUV with darkly tinted windows; sporting expired guatemalan tags and never got stopped once!

Anyway, back to the rear main. I know next to nothing about the 3b, but reading posts @ RMS replacement, I heard alot about the oil pan leaking. I pressure washed the underside and took it for a spin. I did not see any oil dripping from the weep hole between the engine and bell housing. It does look plenty oily around the oil pan to engine mating surface. The clutch is nice and strong. Smooth engagement with no hint of chatter. The pig was not running when I looked under it.

Is my best/fastest/cheapest option to just pull the pan, RTV the thing and see if the leak stops? Anything else I should be looking at?

I got the e-brake to start to grab by moving the adjuster while spinning the drum by hand with the brake released, but it doesn't hold once I apply the brake. Probably just oil soaked pads but I would like to get it to work long enough to go through inspection. The adjuster kinda started to feel loose by the time I went to the last click. Is it possible to turn it too far and screw something up?

JW
 
Pan bolts were mighty loose. Tightened them up and lay under the car with the engine idling for around 10 minutes while I greased all the greaseables.
No Drips! Maybe I'll luck out and that will fix it.

I think I got the e-brake working well enough to make it through inspection.
If I pass, then it's down to the DMV to attempt to give the employee behind the glass a lesson on how to register an imported vehicle. Looking forward to that one.

JW
 
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