....well here I am again, after the knock started I gave up on it for a while, due mostly to financial hardship, and sheer disappointment. I can't work on it in the apartment complex parking lot, they get mad when I pop the hood and my place is right in front of office. So it's just been sitting.

Plans are to rent a storage unit, and do all the work there. From lack of anywhere else to do it, mostly why I haven't even tinkered with it. But Im back with a plan. I let a friend borrow the battery since it's just been sitting.

it's gonna be another month or so before I can start doin anything to it.

First thing, is to start it, and let it warmup, I THINK it takes a minute or 2 to start knocking...it's been so long since I even tried to start it.. Once the knock is audible, I'm gonna kill each cylinder, one by one, to see if I can determine where the problem may be. Then get it towed to a storage unit, commence with work.

It's ifs so I believe I have to lift the engine a bit to pull oil pan.
check the bearings. From there, I'm gonna have the crank turned/ new parts yay.. :/

Decided I'm gonna build a stainless long tube turbo header, for the turbo portion of project. I've become pretty good at tig welding so it'll be a nice challenge.

It sucks, I've had this truck for a year... And I'm no closer to having it back on the road.

But more updates to come in the future

Bbrideau- thanks man, yeah I does sound like collision or something, I tested compression and it's all good, so I think the valves are ok. Atleast I Really hope they are.

 

Nope be careful of your posts, you popped up on 3 threads that Ive subscribed to asking the same question newb

 

Just a question, why are you running such a big oil cooler? or is that an oil cooler on the bottom where the skid plate is?

 

@celica- i had bought it for a different project that never happened, so I figured why not use what I already have. It is a BIG oil cooler, and once I get a turbo on it, The cooler will be a little more justified

 

If you don't mind me asking why didn't you machine the block?

 

1 being money. 2 being there's really no place to have it done around here that I know of. I'm sure one day I'll be tearing it down again and maybe then I'll be in a position to have it machined. Tow truck should be here any minute to take it to the shop

 

FYI pulling the pan on stock ifs setup SUCKS! Just pull the engine out put it on a stand and flip er upside down,bada boom bada bing!

 

Agreed man. I have found that pulling the front diff out made it a lot easier as well.

 

Agreed! If the diff was out it would be better. With my bj spacers and diff drop i have a lil more clearance but not as much as the sas truck will!!

 

I will admit my runner has enough room for us to sing and dance under the oil pan while takin. It out.

 

exactly what I plan to do, bada bing!

Thanks guys, and it would be awesome to be able to work on it from the bottom if I had too. I've heard you can take the pan off (easier) if you just lift the engine a little. But trying to fandangle a crank and new bearings up there by myself with the ifs stuff in the way would get old quick haha.

Tow guy was runnin late yesterday, I'm guessing because of the storms we were getting,so I called and told em to pick it up at 10 this morning. Hoping to get a good full day of work done. Will be posting updates!

 

Okay, my first day updates

So, the tow guy shows up and my baby is gettin loaded up.

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...FCD3CF5369.jpg

Then as I was following truck to destination I was thinkin "gee, so now I'm gonna have a truck, what could I have as a second car?" Since Me and my sis share a car. And low and behold...





My first real car was a 75 datsun 280z.. And I really loved that car. I often ponder the idea of getting one as a project... Much like my truck, ha. And there's a member on here that has a 240z I believe, painted like the Fbomb camaro(olive drab, with black accents) and he's doing an awesome job with the build, I wish I still had mine so I could copy his! lol
The sighting stirred some ideas, so I'll be keeping an eye out for em on craigslist..

Anyways, back to current project, and outa dreamland.

So I got settled in my friends shop, and got to work right away, removed the radiator, and skid plate, drained coolant, disconnected all wiring and took out all the bolts and such.so as it sits it's ready to be yanked.






Special notes:

How did everything get so dirty when it's only been sitting?!

Aluminum never looks as good on an engine as the day you put it on.

Good music is a necessity to workin in shop

Holy ////! How is this the first time I noticed the 1lb of balancing weights on my inner front right tire?! It did ride pretty smooth tho...

 

Possibly really good news! Got to the shop today, and figured I would do some wiring, the headlight conectors were in pretty rough shape PO had some ragged wiring job right by the battery so I went ahead and redid it as well After some light electrical work I got busy taking the engine out




Went to remove the large crank bolt on the crank pulley, and noticed a sharp PING metal noise, as I slapped the breaker bar. Investigated... Front of pulley, that is held on with the 4 smaller bolts, was loose. Tried wiggling it and just wasn't sure if it was the culprit. So I grabbed a belt and gave it a try Video of crank pulley "knock" http://s436.photobucket.com/user/ori...C5576.mp4.html About 90% sure this is it. Contemplating taking a look at the bearings just to be safe. Probly will since I'm already this far.. So I was really very happy with this finding. Hopefully that's all it was! Restore my hurt ego lol. I figure I'll take the crank and stuff and start building a secondary engine, or just have spare parts.

 

Hey everybody!

the mystery knock was indeed the crank pulley. took a look at the bearings, 1st connecting rod bearing was looking like it had been oil starved a bit on the initial startup. so i replaced it with some spare bearings.

Engine is back in and running, been working out driveability issues. the gas is >1 year old, put some seafoam in, seems to help.. only 7/8s full now... lol it was full when i first began this whole fiasco. looking forward to seein it run with some fresh gas in her.

big step was putting exhaust on it, gave it alot of its torque back and probly alot less annoying than an open piped four banger trying to turn 33's to the locals. haha. only drivin it a couple times down the street, at 30 miles im gonna change the oil and take it on a much longer test cruise, at 100-150 im going to change the oil filter only. switching to wix 51348 since its got the check valve and is smaller, until i get the oil cooler set up properly ( i have some qd fittings to install, new filters, and still need to do some wiring for the fan relay)

truck is running good, had to adjust the afm a bit. just did the valve adjustment and retorqued the head studs to 95lb-ft. adjusted to .006 IN and .010 EX, i know this is really tight, those were the closest my cheap feeler gauge could get. engine runs SUPER quiet, and smooth.... maybe too quiet. lol i took a video of it, will upload as soon as YT mobile works again. next is timing, to really dial it in, ordered timing light.

when i drive the truck home, its about a 30 mile drive, im gonna get it new tires, to appease the car gods of course. I want to go with goodyear duratracs since its a daily driver and from what i read they are great all condition tires. cant decide between 31x10.5x15 or 33x12.5x15 tho.. leaning towards the 31's since the truck is in the beginning of its build and by the time i wear the 31s out it should be more capable offroad, while improving mpg and power.

its finally looking like its coming together tho, and im too excited. ready for the beach! might be its first long trip!

 

hey there, its been a while since ive been on, mostly due to the app not workin on my phone. but its been about 2 months, and driving the truck everyday, without any issues. this time around ive decided to make a really clean and precise service record. ill upload some pics of that.

but onto the main topic. the truck.
well, i started out slow,just taking it down the road at first. i found that i wouldnt even grab my phone,plugged into speaker playin tunes, before id take it for a test run, which in itself seems strange beyond just the presence of an empty front pocket. i just.. felt like it was gonna do good, and get me back. and it did. and it does..
once i got it home i then had to drive across town each day for school, so stop and go traffic, not too bad tho if i leave early. once id get home id usually just go driving on some backroads for an hour or so. get back and take a look at everything.

its only pretended to give me trouble twice. once, it wouldnt start in the school parking lot. solenoid wouldnt engage. strange since i rebuilt that recently. it wouldnt crank, so i put it in gear, and went in front and pushed it back an inch or so. started right up after that. dunno. the second, my volt gauge would spike to over 18v and the charge light would come on. it would make the belt squeel when it did it, so i do believe the alternator was full fielding itself and not just a gauge problem. it would last 15-40 seconds then return to normal. still unsure of that gremlin.

so enough with the bad!

fast forward to today. "Thunder" has been running great otherwise! never lets me down, its really been doin good. i had only had it on city and country roads, until today. and i gotta say, it was exactly how id imagined. besides the suspension, which will be getting completely redone, the truck did great. i found a trail nearby via google earth, so i went to investigate. only had to put it in 4x4 in mud, due mostly i think to the open diff. the ride wouldve been aloooooot better if it didnt have the cranked t-bars, and equivalent rear springage. none the less, im really proud of the truck. it got through some mud. nothin outrageous and honestly probly not very impressive, but i went through everything i came accross lol. it was alot of fun and i learned alot about Thunder.

the first time i put it in 4wheel i was in a almost dry mud hole, i was kinda surprised because the rear tires are dick cepek crushers, fronts are some near bald bfg mt ta's. the crushers were like paddles, but there was a 3ft ledge to go up, i probly couldve just gone at it faster, or used the gas to clean the tires out, but i wanted to see how itd do. flipped the hubs, through her in 4lo and just crawled out. ran into some other spots where id just rather not risk getting stuck. so i slipped it into 4hi and continued on. love this truck. i cant wait to make it even better. all i have to compare to offroad is my time driving humvees through the woods and mud. and it might not be at that level yet, but one day i could see it.

next couple upgrades

rear locker- probly an aussie
tires- 31 or 33 duratracs
turbo setup

 

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...5AB6FD5711.jpg

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...61993220DA.jpg

http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/q...479A4EFBDD.jpg

 

subscribed really enjoyed the thread and hope we see lots more

kinda like my build thats been going on since january of this year that seems like its taking forever

check it out sometime
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...-build-277023/

 

wow impressive..really wish i would have taken the time to do my rebuild like yours as far as painting everything and makig it look awesome!!

 

Subscribed to your thread, hope is all going good, glad it was a easy fix!

 

By the way, I have the same color scheme on my motor, LOL!