jahstrength

CURRENT HAPPENINGS: Doing a complete teardown, here is a link to the thread about it. 22r tear-down analysis
Here I will share my build on my 1983 4x4 pickup. Truck will be used for dd, camping, exploring, towing small trailer and dirt bikes and quad, some snow runs in the mountains, and just a get out and have fun rig. I don't plan on any serious or hard core rock crawling or mudding but will do some light to mid core wheeling ( this could change though) I will run 33 or 35 mainly and switch to larger tires if possible for the deep snow runs .

Initial Specs:
- 22r w/ weber 32/36 carberuater
- Offenhauser dual port intake
- NWOR header with straight pipe out the back
- 5.29 gears front and back
- Detroit locker in rear, open front
- NWOR Chevy spring lift kit front and back
- Warn 8000??? Winch with steel line


Build list not completed:
- 3RZ swap (probably a ways out)
- Outside body work
- Inside cab work including a bed liner spray & diy door panels
- Install nicer seats
- Install new tube bumpers front and back & rock sliders
- Fix moonroof/sunroof leak
- Fit 37 in. tires on 15 in. rims
- Install LED light bar
- Install roof rack
- Install soft canopy (canback, softtopper etc,)
- Upgrade all exterior lighting
- Upgrade interior lighting
- Install better OBA system
- Install better ignition system
- Synthetic winch line

Completed build list:

Brief history of truck:
Bought it from a friend of the family 4 or so months ago. It had 12000 miles on a full rebuild engine before it sat for approximately 12 years in Oregon wet, freezing, dry, warm seasonal weather. When I got it was running and I made a deal to buy it on payments. After a month the truck was starting to get worse and worse blow-by until it finally puked all the oil out the valve cover breather into the engine bay. Ended up taking it apart and putting new con rod bearings (not really needed) and piston rings in. It is running great now and its time to start knocking items of the build list. First thing will be exterior and interior paint and bed liner once weather warms.

I will get some pictures posted shortly.

My 83" pickup build up thread - jahstrength's 1983 SR5 4x4 Pickup Build

kawazx636

iTrader: (3)

How's the body and frame? Any bad rust? Scope out my build threads or just ask if you need any repair help. Sounds like you motor had similar issues as mine prior to my rebuild - tons of blow by. Good luck with the build!

jahstrength

I stipped all but one door down to bare metal a couple months ago. The bed sided had tons of bondo, I mean super thick. I really dont know why so much was on. The bed had a few rusty spots, that where just on the surface and a few little scaly rusty apps that put some small holes in the bed under the upper lip on the bed but nothing major.

jahstrength

Here is how it sits now. This was after a 6 drive on the rebuilt motor. So far i got 55 miles on thr rebuild and it is still working great. So i think i did a good job on my first rebuild project . Super excited to drive it again.

When I return home I'll upload some more pics on my rebuild project.

jahstrength

Here is some pictures and info of some of what has happened to this truck since I have owned it.

After driving it a month I noticed oil on top of the valve cover and then noticed this:



In the pick above this is oil that was being puked out the valve cover pcv valve and the front breather and then being sprayed onto the driver side hood via the direction of the air pressure leaking out. Eventually my truck died while driving and I actually rolled to a stop right in the parking lot of "Bill's 4x4 Mechanic Shop" here in town. Talk about lucky. Bill actually came out when he seen me and I told and showed him what was happening. He immediately suspected piston rings was the problem. He went in and came back with long pliers and pulled my plugs, surprisingly they didn't look to bad. He took them in and cleaned them up on some machine, I could hear it from outside. He was able to help me start it and said I now had a 3 cylinder metro, but I should make it the 2 miles down the road to home.

So I decided that the motor was worth a shot of me trying to basically rering it. Again, the motor had 10 to 15k on a rebuild but sat after those miles for 10+ years. No other symptoms and I always wanted to see inside a motor and build one myself.

The P/O gave me the 1983 FSM, A chiltons, and a haynes and tons of spare parts including gasket sets and more.

Here is the top of the block with the head gasket on after I took the cylinder head off:


Here was the head gasket:


Here is the cylinders (all the cylinders looked like this):

Here is the cylinder head bottom:


Here is the con rod bearings (all the bearings looked pretty much like this):


And here is the pistons and broken top rings (all pistons and rings looked like this):


Another ring and piston shot:


Basically, I then proceeded to clean everything up. I had the cylinders mic'd and checked. I had the crank plasti-gauged. Since it all checked out I ordered new con rod bearings, main bearings, and piston rings. Around like $70.00 or so for all the stuff. I then used a stone honing tool to do just a really quick hone job basically to deglaze and ad a little bite. I really just went up and down each one a few times and proceeded to rebuild. Of course I followed the manuals exactly in everything and also made sure everything was super clean and used Assembly lube on the bearings. Everything was triple checked for proper alignments and torqued to spec.

btw. coolant in the pics is from disassembly, i seen no sign of a head gasket leak.

jahstrength

CURRENT HAPPENINGS: Doing a complete teardown, here is a link to the thread about it. 22r tear-down analysis