Greetings!
The forecast this morning is for rain, in fact, it's a 100% chance of rain until this evening when it drops way down to 90%. I'm in Vancouver Washington staying with my friend Kevin and his family. We've been friends since college. Kevin is a total car guy & has a "well tooled up" garage, unfortunately, his garage is so full of cool stuff that we had to work outside the open garage door. He works as a counterman for a large parts store chain in the West and does all his own repairs, as well as repairs for others. He's hooked on NASCAR and has a notable collection of Earnhardt memorabilia and outerwear. A couple of years ago he was a guest a my place east of the mountains while the two of us installed a Speedway Motors independent front suspension kit and a rebuilt LT1 engine in his '56 GMC. That's him in the photo at the time, perspiring by the frame rail.
The danger for me in hanging around Kevin is that he's a Deal Detective. I mean, if there's a high-utility, or collectible car in the affordable to cheap range, his radar picks it up and he's trying to make a swap or get the price into his comfort zone. A few times he's called me to say that there's a sweetheart deal on Craigslist and I may be interested. I can recall at least 5 cars I bought through Kevin's research: my '79 El Camino, the '91 Camaro, '97 Camaro, a '76 Chevy pickup (with a big block engine) and the latest is this '95 Chevy 3500 series 1 ton truck.
When Kevin sent me the Craigslist link I thought he'd made a mistake. Why would I want a big, heavy utility truck? I'm a hot rod guy! Then, I looked at the pictures of the rear of the truck and saw the hydraulic hoist with electric winch and realized that this is just what I need for my business. No longer would I be waiting until my weight-lifter sons had the time and energy to help me lift the axle or engine block. With a hoist at my disposal I could be independent. I imagined myself at the junkyard lifting an engine out of a wreck without needing the yard fork lift with a crowd of admiring craftsmen watching me. I've had the rear axle out of Gary's '51 laying in my yard for 3 months because I don't want to drag it across the lawn to a resting place. This would be perfect for me!
The only snag is that the truck has a bad engine. There's water mixed with the oil in the oil pan and the inside of the valve covers are coated with a greasy milkshake. I immediately thought of a bad head gasket. But, whatever it is, I know I can fix it and with Kevin's help it would be a quick job. Plus, it always goes better and easier when you work with a friend.
Back at Kevin's house, we began reassembly in earnest. I'm not saying that we named the truck Earnest, I'm just saying we got down to business. Up to this point, the starter hadn't turned the engine over at all. Just clicks. The solenoid seemed to be working but that's all. We cut the insulation away from the stock GM battery cables and replaced one of the 3/8" posts and the starter was working just fine. I'd photographed the position of the distributor rotor during the disassembly and I replaced it as my photo showed, so the timing shouldn't be an issue. Taking photos of the engine as it was being disassembled was a good idea; little things like which odd bolt went where are too hard to remember.
The forecast this morning is for rain, in fact, it's a 100% chance of rain until this evening when it drops way down to 90%. I'm in Vancouver Washington staying with my friend Kevin and his family. We've been friends since college. Kevin is a total car guy & has a "well tooled up" garage, unfortunately, his garage is so full of cool stuff that we had to work outside the open garage door. He works as a counterman for a large parts store chain in the West and does all his own repairs, as well as repairs for others. He's hooked on NASCAR and has a notable collection of Earnhardt memorabilia and outerwear. A couple of years ago he was a guest a my place east of the mountains while the two of us installed a Speedway Motors independent front suspension kit and a rebuilt LT1 engine in his '56 GMC. That's him in the photo at the time, perspiring by the frame rail.
The only snag is that the truck has a bad engine. There's water mixed with the oil in the oil pan and the inside of the valve covers are coated with a greasy milkshake. I immediately thought of a bad head gasket. But, whatever it is, I know I can fix it and with Kevin's help it would be a quick job. Plus, it always goes better and easier when you work with a friend.
I took off the air cleaner in this picture just before we started taking it apart in Kevin's driveway. Things went as we expected, working outside in the driveway with the wind and rain pestering us. Kevin noted that the head bolts on the driver's side didn't match the passenger side head, as though it had been replaced before and the recommended aftermarket bolts were used. Then, as Kevin started taking the head bolts out of the head, he said that the bolts didn't seem like they were torqued down. Some came out way too easy! Evidently, the head gasket was a problem for the previous owners and they made the repair and forgot to torque the head down to the proper torque. As the head came off, coolant poured from the rear cylinder and it showed evidence that it hadn't fired at all recently. It was a good sign: It meant that it was very likely the only reason the truck didn't run.
We thought we'd get it finished Saturday night until I used too much force trying to get the exhaust bolts to line up, and I broke the exhaust manifold. I didn't crack it - I broke it into two pieces! We had to quit for the night and planned to go to the local U-pull-it yard in the morning. Warning: if any of you meet me somewhere and while talking I suggest that we arm wrestle for pink slips, remember this photo and beware! Actually, on close inspection I noticed that the manifold had dark exhaust stains on a portion of the freshly broken surface and had evidently been cracked for some time.
I'm always in church on Sunday, as is Kevin, but the necessity of replacing the broken manifold required us to deviate. I looked at the weather forecast on my phone as we headed out to the local pick and pull in Portland and it showed a 100% chance of rain 100% of the day. The good news is that the temperature started rising and the time spent at the wrecking yard was quite tolerable. I grabbed a wheelbarrow and tried to keep up with the man, but Kevin disappeared into the rows of trucks. Kevin is the consummate scrounge and it wasn't 10 minutes after disappearing that he located a perfect replacement for the broken manifold, already removed from the engine and laying near a dismantled pickup. A few minutes later he again showed up with a valve cover that had an 8" long oil fill tube - perfect for avoiding the spills associated with leaning way over the fender with an oil container.
Later that night we finally got the entire powerplant put back together and filled the crankcase with diesel fuel in order to clean out the coolant residue and wash it into the oil pan. Kevin hit the starter while I watched the back of the throttle body to make sure it didn't spray fuel at the distributor. Thankfully, it fired right up on the first crank and soon the idle leveled off and the engine purred! Kevin and I watched for a few seconds before exchanging a high five. I checked my phone at that euphoric moment and the display showed that it was exactly 3am. We decided to stop whooping and hollering and close the shop for the night. It was a good feeling.
Monday morning I drained the milky diesel from the crankcase and changed the filter. I refilled it with diesel once again and started it up to let it circulate. After I ran it for a few minutes I drained it again and refilled with fresh oil and a new filter and ran it again. After shutting it off I checked the dipstick and saw that the oil was crystal clear. Mission accomplished!
This heavy-duty truck with it's crane and utility bed will be a great asset to my business. I've really got to thank my friend Kevin and his family. He spent his entire weekend working on the truck with me, his wife cooked up exceptional meals and his son spent the weekend with buddies so I could have his room. We've been friends for almost 25 years. The way Kevin puts it: this is what friends do.
Doug
No comments:
Post a Comment