check out thread B("the new and improved")....you'll see what my mess was.....


for me, all my skills have been through trial and error, figuring stuff out and asking lots of questions to the good folks right here on YOTATECH......prior to a little over a year ago, i never truly did anything to the vehicles....never did body work before and certainly no wrenching....never even changed my oil myself....so that shows you where i was a little over a year ago.......fast forward to now and i don't think i did so bad.

 

Nice! It's awesome you took the initiative to learn how to do it, and that you're passing it on. There's an amazing satisfaction to working on your own vehicle and seeing it come together so nicely. The body work yous did looks amazing, and putting undercoat on the fenders is a great idea, visible imperfections or no. I'll prob do that myself when I get to that portion of the program. I just can't wait to get the suspension all together so I can go on a nice long camping/mudding trip... rusty fender wells and all, lol

 

sooooooo....let's see....what's happened in a week.......

bought a compression tester.....a "u-joint" socket for the crazy angle to get at the plugs on the passenger's side........

that's it.......worked the last 9 in a row.....big boss man last 9 days, so really no fun or progress at home...ouch

maybe later this week.....

 

Curious to see what comes out of the compression test...

9 in a row! That's rough! Hang in there.

Any chance you'll revive the oil pan removal thread? I looked it up the other day and it's pretty much wiped out w/o the pictures.

 

dang....forgot about that....i'm such an idiot with those pics.

the 3vze looks like a PITA to remove the plugs....let alone do it warm and do the test.....but yeah...i'm curious what the results will be..... i'm gonna assume i can't really mess that up

 

oh yeh....day 10 is done, handed over the keys and the pager...was nice being the boss , but not cool pulling double duty as the boss and the worker....which the boss doesn't do.....and that did not go un-noticed by administration .....so maybe this will blossom into something better....or not. i'm thinking not.

 

Go get em on the 3.0, Homie! ....Oh yeah, after a COUPLE DAYS rest, that is! HHHAHAHAHA.

I will be hoping for 'more' for ya, Jerry, ....best wishes on that!

Looking forward to more of the Young'n's rig!

 

Dear Designer of the 3VZE,

I hate you and your little hands and apparent no bones in your body that are necessary to reach all the crap nicely hidden and tucked away.

Sincerely,

Me

 

lol. try going through the fenderwells if you have a hard time reaching the spark plug holes.

 

sooooooo, anyway......just got done labeling the plug wires / distributor (since the #'s on the distributor conflict with what i am calling each cylinder).

yesterday was a wasted day......today it's going to rain, so likely a compression test will be done.

following the FSM and Hayne's books.....it looks kinda easier as far as "how" to do it

-warm up engine
-burn yourself getting plug wires off and removing plugs with the crazy-angled wrench and extensions you have assembled
-remove electrical connector from cold start injector
-remove air intake from throttle body
-do compression check with 4 rotations each cylinder

Again......the truck has good power...no steam from the tailpipe....no visible water mix in the oil, no visible oil mix in the water of the radiator.

i assume the compression test will be the determining factor in whether or not i am doing head gaskets or not.

he bought this with "a blown head gasket".......after seeing what i saw on this truck when we got it, i'm not so sure i believe that diagnosis.....but truthfully, when we were buying it, i was more nervous about our safety and getting away from this scary guy than what he was saying was ever done to the engine.

near as i can tell, it has new plug wires, belts, distributor.......had a radiator with about 1/3rd of it's fins missing....and has no thermostat.

i can remember the guy saying "just keep a jug of water with you...."

anyway.....gonna start in a little while.......

 

nah....it's OK...i bought one of those "u-joint" attachments you had and i have done a few dry runs for sizing purposes......i'll be OK, but, wow, what a complete PITA compared to mine.

PS......i did not place that order yet.....waiting for payday tomorrow....i didn't forget ya.

 

No problem man, you still gonna go down to the mud bog on sunday? I hope it don't get rained out. I still got to figure out waht I am gonna do for a rear tow hook up yet. You don't happen to have a 5+ foot 5/16"+ chain do you?

 

yes...and no i don't

 

 

Hey Joe,

how much of a pain in the butt is it to reach the plugs?

 

Ok.....bear in mind, i never did a compression test before.....so this may have to be repeated.

blah-blah-blah and blah-blah..broken spark plug, dropped and lost somewhere in the engine adapter blah-balh.....

so here's the findings.....after 4 or 5 cranks and done twice at each one.

mind you....the way I labeled the cylinders apparently conflicts with the way they may be labeled.

#'s 1,2,3 are the front-most driver's side is #1, then #2 and 3........passenger's side frontmost is #4, then #5 and 6.......so my findings are based on those #'s.

#1 170,170
#2 170,170
#3 160,170
#4 178,175
#5 170,168
#6 170,164

if i did this right....with each crank the needle should bump-bump-bump and hold....right???? and do i take the reading off the highest needle bump or the "held" reading at the end????

definitely #1,2,3 are off the "held" reading.
#4,5,6 are a little of both and probably and truthfully should be repeated so that i sleep better.

#6 (back-most passenger's side) is an absolute PITA to get to thread the hose in....the extension, which i apparently dont need since it is entrapped somewhere between the exhaust and the engine, would have been nice , but, not used.

chime in please

 

quick, potentially dumb question.....

did i have to keep my foot on the gas pedal all the way down when cranking the engine.......i interpreted that instruction as only for carburetor models...since i'm sure gas pedal means nothing here.....am i wrong....did i screw it up?

the other thing is....i am certainly going to repeat the passenger's side findings.....few reasons......
#1....i cannot swear to how tight i had the hose secured in any of the passenger's side holes......but once i was able to see what i was doing on the driver's side i began doubting myself on the passenger's side.

#2 the reason why i asked about the bump-bump-bump was because i could see it building up pressure.....but i do recall it dropping after it was done cranking.....could be (in my opinion) head gasket or not-totally-tight compression hose.

bottom line.....gonna repeat the test.....gonna put the battery on the charger 1st and throw my butt in the pool for a while.

 

Hey Jerry,

Even on my motor, before the build, it would hold compression on any given cyl. However, on one, I didn't have it in TIGHT, and it hissed out of there within around 10 seconds. Just be sure to only hand tighten them snug. Those numbers seem really good, actually. Was your second test a 'wet' test, by any chance?

 

by "wet" you mean with oil right?

No.

the instructions said to repeat each time, so that's what i did.

 

Yeah, I used an oil-squirt can, gave it a couple shots in the hole and then retested. Fairly certain the main reason for doing this is to verify, if, when you 'proverbially' 'seal up' the rings with oil, does the compression go up? If so, they some oil could be getting past the rings. However, i think under 10# difference is acceptable. Can't remember, but it's in Yotatech somewhere. Still, that compression seems GREAT, Jerry! Imagine if it was in the low 100's, eh? lol. Seems like he's got a pretty tight rig there. Curious; Why do you think you have a HG issue? Is that what the PO said or did you have an issue since you've brought it home? Can't remember, sorry.

Best of luck,

Mark