I had no problems removing the body mount hardware. Although some of the nuts looked bad, they all came right off.

 

Ahh...I see. Well, I doubt mine'll be that easy. It's okay, though. I have ATF and acetone!!!!! Makes a dynamite penetrate when combined......10% acetone.

Keep on keepin' on.....

 

Plenty more work this weekend. Had a party on Saturday, so I can have them help me with the cab.





Finally starting to look like a truck again.







As we put the cab on, someone noticed a nice hole in my fuel supply line. Looks like I'll need to get a new fuel pump bracket.

 

I wish I could've made it... looks good man

 

I'd do the same for my truck, if I had the time, and its IFS and 22R(Carb) Id rather have a SFA, and EFI.. But I love my truck, I couldn't even sell it to get a '84.. And I wheel the hell out of mine, Everyone thinks you HAVE to HAVE a solid axle to do anything, if you arent willing to take tons of body damage on your vehicle, you don't NEED a solid axle. Stock solid axles and IFS flex about the same, and the solid axle rides rougher.. Look at TC he has IFS and NO LIFT and he wheels his truck just as hard as anyone else.

 

OMG!!! It's looking super fantastic, Cyber. I am jealous!

 

it always amazes me at the damage i see on trucks from the north.....We [as in people around here] wont touch a truck or car from the north unless its just DIRT cheap.. I have a 77 model Ford that does not have a 1/4 of the rust thats in the pictures....

 

Antoher good option, being on the right coast with the salt and all is bar oil. It's cheap and a good way to protect you frame from the road salt. My truck has been on the right coast for two winter now and with bar oil, the frame is still in good shape.

 

Well, that's the point. This truck was free.

 

Here's another pic. The wiring is around 90% complete. BTW, while I was sitting bored, I pulled all the old electrical tape off every harness, and put new on. Only took about six 60' rolls to do it, and the old tape was pretty brittle. I hate the way that the dash reinforcement gets so rusty, so I hit it with some aluminum paint (didn't have any more black around).



The dash is completely installed now, and the truck finally has a steering wheel again.
I intended to paint the truck, but I'll probably wait until next year when I have a few more funds. Plus, I'm at the point of wanting to see this thing run again.

 

The PO told me they had a fuel leak somewhere, I think I found it:



There were actually two more hose clamps holding that thing on. it had 3 holes in it total, looked like swiss cheese. The sad thing is a garage actually made that repair.
So, $128 later and:





The elves were real busy over the past two nights as well:

 

Wow, I just read the whole thread from start to finish. Great work. Is it running now?

 

At approximately 12:45am EST, I connected the negative terminal to the battery. I turned the key on a few times, to prime the fuel line. Said a small prayer and...




IT RUNS! Granted it was noisy as hell, the engine was bouncing around and was making a really loud squeal. My guess is that it was the power steering pump, and it was trying to adjust the idle. I failed to fill up the pump beforehand. I didn't run it long, cause the garage door was only halfway open, and the exhaust wasn't going out (plus I didn't want to wake the kids and the dogs).

The token engine shots:

 

A very big congratulations, Cyberman!

 

great job! now you can have fun and drive it!

I am just about ready to tackle my new frame, any advice, pointers, tips?

 

No celebration yet. First of all, the fuel is leaking on both sides of the truck. I think I have the front tackled, but looks like I need to tighten up the rear.

More importantly, I'm afraid I may have to tear it all back down again. If I'm right, which I wish I wasn't, this thing has serious rod knock. I'm posting audio clips in a different thread.

 

Okay, well, without knowing exactly what rod knock is, I'm pretty certain I have it. It sounds like a slow impact hammer inside the engine. I didn't catch it before, because I couldn't drop the oil pan (low mileage, tight seal). Apparently the reason it was pulled at the dealer. The fuel leaks are abundant as well. I fix 2, and 2 more show up elsewhere. Here are the audio clips I took of the engine, since I'm documenting this in the thread.

Audio Clip 1
Audio Clip 2

I'm going to stay away from the truck the rest of the day, and most likely the next few days. Definitely not pulling the engine right away. I haven't finished the brakes, might do that. The sad thing is that there are brand new rotors in the front, and they've got nice surface rust on them and have never been used.

The last time I had this kind of thing happen to me was modding on my daily driver. After that fiasco, I put it back to stock, bought a new car and vowed to never modify the new one. Although this is a different story, it certainly feels the same. I'm now getting tired of the thought that this will sit in my garage for a few months more (or longer).

Oh well, I'm taking a break...

 

The surface rust is no big deal. That can be knocked of with some sandpaper.

Wish I could give you an opinion on the knocking, but I don't have speakers at the moment.

 

i wouldnt even worry about the brakes... the rust will wear away with use.
unfortunately, that is definitely a bottom end problem that you have. it actually sounds to me like two different noises. one is almost certainly a rod, the other sounds like maybe just some valve train clatter. sorry man but the motor needs to come out.

 

The big fun will be finding someone to do the machine work, and get a quote for it. Does anyone have a ballpark on the cost of such work? I'm also trying to assess exactly what can be reused out of all the new stuff. I would probably reuse the gaskets, but the head bolts and of course the fluids are now shot.

I ran it again, and put a big prybar to my ear over each cylinder on the head. The valves seem to be fine. I didn't try anywhere on the block, since I've still got fuel leaks to deal with. I also didn't try to unplug any plug wires to see if I could determine which cylinder it was.