Builds When your inner voice speaks, you need to listen. (1 Viewer)

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Yeah, the 4-plus flip kits is how they should have come factory
 
Yeah, the 4-plus flip kits is how they should have come factory

That’s what they are! I couldn’t remember who actually manufactured them. I had the Spector Off Road (aka S.O.R. - God rest Marv’s Soul) ones first and they were worse than the OEM ones. Had to have them welded twice before I found the 4 Plus ones from Georg.
 
Just an update to keep the thread alive. Progress is always slow at this stage of a one man with a job restoration. I've spent the past couple weeks on cleaning up and restoring the nasty brakes. They were all in quite a state.

Cleaned up the rear drums, got all new brake hardware and new brake cylinders. The rears can now be turned by hand and the emergency brakes will work again.
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The fronts weren't much better. I've got new calipers showing up next week, not worth trying to rebuild the old ones when you can get rebuilts ready to go sans the rust.
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I'm expecting to be able to set the drivetrain back into the frame next week once all the new mounts show up. I'll clean it up after it's on the frame. Also do the EGR delete at the same time. I'll be replacing pretty much all the rubber hoses too.

So it's coming along...
 
Got the lump back into the frame. Now know you gotta remove the engine mount brackets to get it back into the frame. Major PITA that one.

Started the process of stripping down the engine to get it cleaned up. Removed the intake so I can remove the smog tube and plug the holes with some metric stainless bolts like I've done one other vehicles when I found some highend redneck enginerding. If you ain't got no harness clamps, Romex'll do.
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Real classy work.

The engine is a greasy dirty mess, and appears to be seeping oil from a couple areas. Looks like I need to get a gasket set and swap some of these out. Anyone recommend a particular set? I don't need a head gasket, but if it's part of a set that's fine.
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And I haven't run it long enough to know for sure, but I'm guessing the PS pump seeps too. I've seen some threads on using a Saginaw pump. Thoughts on that one?
 
Well looks like a PO was a gorilla and busted the lower thermostat housing. Anyone got one of the laying around they'd be willing to part with? Crazy thing is it held water and the engine didn't overheat...I think.
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What a greasy mess! I thought all this was from a leaky valve cover gasket, but it looks like the front main seal was bad. All the rubber is hard, so a total teardown is on hand. It took a couple days of scrubbing to get through the 1/2" of muck in places to even find the bolts to disassemble. Now I've got it all the way down to the head being off. The bores looks good with #2 showing it was burning a little oil. Probably a valve guide seal if I had to guess. I'll be swapping them too. I'll also pull the transmission and replace the rear main. Don't want to have to do that one down the road. This feels more and more like I'm still falling down that rabbit hole. I'd like to hit bottom so I can starting climbing out!
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What a greasy mess! I thought all this was from a leaky valve cover gasket, but it looks like the front main seal was bad. All the rubber is hard, so a total teardown is on hand. It took a couple days of scrubbing to get through the 1/2" of muck in places to even find the bolts to disassemble. Now I've got it all the way down to the head being off. The bores looks good with #2 showing it was burning a little oil. Probably a valve guide seal if I had to guess. I'll be swapping them too. I'll also pull the transmission and replace the rear main. Don't want to have to do that one down the road. This feels more and more like I'm still falling down that rabbit hole. I'd like to hit bottom so I can starting climbing out!
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I don't think you have hit bottom yet gotta ways to go but the climb out shouldn't take long lol keep it up man
 
Still cleaning and tearing down. The pushrod cover was crazy dirty. More oil buildup than I've ever seen.
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A shopvac, brake cleaner and a wire brush does wonders though.
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I've got the deck and piston tops clean. I'm wondering if the 10 on the Pistons are stock, or if these are oversized?
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It definitely looks like the head has been off once at least.
 
Did you pull the lifters out? With that much scraping, I definitely would, and wash the lifter bores down into the pan.
 
Still cleaning and tearing down. The pushrod cover was crazy dirty. More oil buildup than I've ever seen.
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A shopvac, brake cleaner and a wire brush does wonders though.
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I've got the deck and piston tops clean. I'm wondering if the 10 on the Pistons are stock, or if these are oversized?
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It definitely looks like the head has been off once at least.

Thats a bit nasty looking. My BJ74 with 300k miles wasn't even close to that dirty/oil sludged. It looked more like your after picture.

Probably one of those we never changed oil, we just added it deals.
 
Thats a bit nasty looking. My BJ74 with 300k miles wasn't even close to that dirty/oil sludged. It looked more like your after picture.

Probably one of those we never changed oil, we just added it deals.
Yeah, it was leaking out the front main and valve cover gasket they figured they didn't need to? It's not like this truck was the epitome of maintenance elsewhere though....
 
@GLTHFJ60 When you say clean the lifters, am I right in assuming you mean clean out the pushrod buckets? Because removing them looks like a real bitch.
 
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@GLTHFJ60 When you say clean the lifters, am I right in assuming you mean clean out the pushrod buckets? Because removing them looks like a real bitch.

Pushrod buckets? do you mean the lifters?
 
Pushrod buckets? do you mean the lifters?
Yeah, he was saying to clean the lifters, but I can't get them out through the top. So I'm hoping he was saying just to clean out the insides (bucket in my lingo) where the pushrod sits. Because I dont want to have to pull the camshaft.
 

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