*sigh* Rebuilding my 1FZ (1 Viewer)

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Green Hell Mustang

Designer, Hack Photographer
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
Threads
53
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1,343
Location
Raleigh, NC
...yeh, this year sucks.

Just finished the test.


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At least you know before it's catastrophic. This way you can stock up parts and plan out the repair.

Gotta kick out the 'stang from the garage to get er done :p
 
At least you know before it's catastrophic. This way you can stock up parts and plan out the repair.

Gotta kick out the 'stang from the garage to get er done :p
That's true. The truck started stumbling this past weekend. The truck's CEL came on as I was driving home. The code came up as a P0306 code (misfire in cylinder no. 6) and I thought it might be a bad spark plug or any host of other things. I pulled the no. 6 plug and it was wet with mostly oil. I initially thought that its valve cover plug seal had gone bad, that maybe I damaged the seal surface when I put the new one in. Then I saw that the coolant overflow tank was completely empty, the radiator coolant level was very low. The coolant had an exhaust smell to it; I immediately checked the oil fill cap. Milkshake. Ordered the block test just to by 100% sure.

Yup, the Mustang comes first. Then the truck. Thankfully I spent the last several months rebuilding and organizing the garage for just such an occasion.
 
Alex, BE CAREFUL starting that truck with the bad HG. I came within a gnat's hair of hydrolocking mine after it had sat for a week with the bad HG. Apparently cylinder 6 had partially filled with coolant. When I cranked it the one last time to move the truck into the shop for tear-down, it somewhat spun over, locked for a split second and then cleared out and fired up. I got lucky I didn't break something. My advice is to pull the #6 plug when you are moving it around the yard under its own power.
 
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Alex, BE CAREFUL starting that truck with the bad HG. I came within a gnat's hair of hydrolocking mine after it had sat for a week with the bad HG. Apparently cylinder 6 had partially filled with coolant. When I cranked it the one last time to move the truck into the shop for tear-down, it somewhat spun over, locked for a split second and then cleared out and fired up. I got lucky I didn't break something. My advice is to pull the #6 plug when you are moving it around the yard under its own power.
That's a really good point, I hadn't thought of the accumulation of coolant after letting the truck sit. Fortunately I don't think I'll need to move it anymore. I'll most likely keep it parked where it is and pull the motor so I can work on it in the garage. I need to do a complete re-seal on the motor anyway.

I'm trying to figure out how much of a rabbit hole I want go down and start pulling EVERYTHING off the truck to restore. I do not want my next post to be "well, the frames off and she's going to get stripped for a respray." That's how the Mustang started.
 
Sorry to see this, Alex. Let me know if you need a hand getting the motor pulled or anything else.
Me too. I was hoping that I could make it to 400K mi before having to do the head gasket, but it didn't work out that way.

I'll definitely give you a heads up when I need to pull the motor.
 
Post up when her you’re ready to pull it. I bet you’ll have plenty of help. (including me)
Same here. Would love to help.
 
Dang, sorry to hear Alex. Think you can get by with just a head gasket? Did it overheat?
Fortunately it never overheated, I caught it pretty early...I think. I've had the engine get hot on me once or twice going up a steep grade, but no overheating. I will need to check the cylinder walls at some point while the engine is apart. If they look suspect, or anything else does for that matter, I'll go ahead and tear down the motor for a rebuild.
 
That was pretty good Alex :)
 
Project update.

I wanted to update everyone that may have been following this thread on what's been going on with my 80, more specifically the motor.

I've been attempting to clear out as much space in my garage as possible. On top of that, I've been trying to finish up other projects before tackling the 1FZ teardown. I should note that this project evolved into a complete engine teardown after I thought about how much mileage was on the motor, specifically the bottom end. I had decided a few months ago to go ahead with doing a full bottom end rebuild in conjunction with the head gasket, then I kept getting busy. Bricks have been thrown in my path right and left that kept from clearing me to do the work on the motor uninterrupted. As a result, I've run into a time crunch. I wanted to get the truck back to running/working condition before mid to late summer, mostly for family reasons but also for Logan's Run.

With all that in mind, and because of everything going on in my personal life, the truck is getting sent out to have the engine rebuilt. I toyed with the idea of just doing a head gasket to grease the skids of getting my truck back on the road faster, but it didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to do all that work to the top end, only to have the bottom end become a problem in a year or two. This and several other factors are why I decided to farm out the project.

It's all a little bittersweet since I love doing things myself and love the learning experience that comes with it. I had to be realistic about the engine teardown and having it done in time for when I absolutely needed the truck in full working condition. I guess in the future I still have plenty of things to pull off of the truck to service or modify with the help of the awesome ONSC crew. Lockers and regearing come to mind.

I'll try to post an update when the truck is back up and running.
 
Today the truck was dropped off at Ryan's place up in Bealeton, VA. Shout out to @OTRAMM

I can safely recommend the guy that did the vehicle hauling. Da Kine Hauling out of Williamsburg, VA was recommended by Ryan and they did a great job. I didn't come away feeling like I was pinning a hundred to the truck and wishing it luck. The guy snapped some photos of the drop off and made sure to show that he had arrived safely.

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Today the truck was dropped off at Ryan's place up in Bealeton, VA. Shout out to @OTRAMM

I can safely recommend the guy that did the vehicle hauling. Da Kine Hauling out of Williamsburg, VA was recommended by Ryan and they did a great job. I didn't come away feeling like I was pinning a hundred to the truck and wishing it luck. The guy snapped some photos of the drop off and made sure to show that he had arrived safely.

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From what I've seen and heard, your truck is in good hands with OTRAMM. Solid choice for LC work. Hope you get it back soon.
 

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