bbrideau

Not that anybody is really following this but i like to have documentation of stuff anyways A) because i like to talk B) insurance.... those ˟˟˟˟˟˟er's will screw you every chance they get.

So little recap of the fall winter, went camping went on a long drive about 2200 kilometers round trip started having serious power loss but no codes, no over heating, no oil/coolant mixing nothing. I was stumped. Then my truck started running like crap... running on 2 cylinders. which if u read back u can see the compression test results. i have a lot of pictures to upload could be a whole page of just pictures haha.

I didn't get to do the proper rebuild down to the truck so i had to do a half assed top end "refresh" so to speak. I feel terrible for doing it this way because it will end up costing me more in the end but i needed to have it on the road for work purposes, will explain why in a few here but on with some pictures!

so for some laughs this is my old 2nd gen runner, big blue... frame rusted to hell and the rear window module caught on fire one day on my way to work burned the whole back of the truck inside and fried all my wiring, truck still ran i had no electrical anything tho. so for fun i took it out back of the acerage and tried my hardest to flip the b*tch. I have to say they're pretty tough to flip.




Onto initial tear down of the 88 tho!

Some "goo" seeping from Valve cover


Old head removed, aparently the motor has had machien work done to in before by the PO








Half cleaned, lot of carbon build up... lot of elbow grease cleaning those surfaces.


Inside of Valve cover, i think the cream is just from how moist and cold it was when i took it apart


Head gasket failed between number 1 and 2 cylinder which explains the obvious problems


Got some goodies from Lordco, waited 2 weeks to get them in... i think they are well worth the wait and the money tho


Head studs installed, mating surfaces cleaned and checked with straight edge and feeler gauges, I really wanted to pull the whole motor and get everything machined and tanked but time money and work screwed it all up for me unfortunately


Oh right, proof that i was not crazy that the motor had been rebuilt at a very shady place before i go the truck. (aparently only 5k on the rebuild when i bought the truck)


Brand new head valves seats etc.... has full warranty which is nice to have provided it doesnt get overheated


Head and lower intake on, pain in the as to line the head up over the studs with the heater valve on the firewall, live and learn i suppose. when i decide to get a new cam i will do it a bit differently but after some screaming yelling and bloody knuckles i got the head onto the block.



Upper intake on, everything is starting to come back together again.


I ended up having to take the intake back apart afterwards because i forgot to put a bolt back into the lower plenum for the water bypass just below water temp sensor DOH then to top it off i snapped the bolt when i went to put it in so had to call a friend over to help me remove the bolt after i snapped an extractor inside the hole

I don't seem to have any pictures of everything back together but i have some more stuff to show off that i have done to the rig since then. will put it all in the next post

bbrideau

Okay so, motor was refreshed has the HG replaced yada yada yada.

The bad, i have a small oil leak coming from where the head to timing cover bolt goes in, ya'know the little tiny one that is under the dizzy gear that is only torqued to 15ft lbs i think, so i figured okay tighten it down a bit more, WRONG, i snapped the turd clean off so now i'm dealing with a minor oil leak, nothing major i have not had to add any oil to it in over 1500 km's but it is definitely there and you can see it running down my timing cover/water pump etc. No big deal i plan to do a proper tear down and fix everything and completely clean/paint everything.

In the mean time while i slowly collect parts and goodies, i got some goodies from ChefYota a while back and finally got to install everything! Maplight! woohoo. also got the supra maf from him (no pics) installed and a t case knob that actually has the top sticker that says 2high 4 high 4 low. little things that make life easier. Anyone wondering what the black circle is above the map light, the previous owner decided to remove headliner throw it out and drill 3 holes in the roof for some 6 inch offroad lights that leaked like a sieve when i got the truck. They leaked so bad that i had a literal lake in the foot wells of my runner, very sad day opening my door to niagra falls.





Picked up my FREE tube bumper, little banged up but it will serve its purpose



Have a whole case of this that seemed to show up in my shed one day, imagine that... going to use it for the bumper, should look okay.




The wife nearly killed me with this purchase but i wanted it for the truck, and she wont complain anymore when we go on 9 hour road trips.



Installed and have the e brake wire grounded to a switch so passengers can watch a movie if they want to, had to trim the stereo bezel a little bit but it was very easy to get it all to work, so anyone who says you can't fit double din into a first gen is a liar



The "shop" which is never this messy but once i get into working on my rig stuff seems to get put wherever until the end of the day.



Finally got around to installing my gap guards after i did my body lift. cleanest pieces on my rig! Also found a set of the inner plastic fenders too that my truck never had so i put those in at the same time, can kind of see them in the second image




and to finish it off i will throw in a shot of her taking a break by the lake, poor stock front bumper, it was mint before that trail ride... right up until the gate swung back and smashed into it.

bbrideau

so after all that the clutch went in the wifes 91 2nd gen runner and she was complaining about a squeal and vibration from her truck so picked up a new clutch flywheel and pressure plate and decided to get to work. The weirdest part about the clutch was that it still worked... sorta, the pilot bearing grenaded on her so the clutch would make a terrible sound when the clutch pedal was depressed but would still somewhat drive, until you stopped at a light then you need to shut down put in gear and restart the truck, very hard on everything to do it that way but you have to do what you have to do sometimes.

Don't have many pictures of what all was done, pretty straight forward what you have to do but i do have a picture of the pilot bearing, or what was left of it i should say.



After everything was all buttoned up with the clutch i decided to poke around underneath her truck, checked front drive shaft u joints they appear to be okay... the rear... i'm honestly surprised she didn't through the shaft right out from under the truck, or that she didn't complain about it wayyyyyy sooner. I never drive her truck, she changes her own oil and knows how to change headlights very basic stuff so its not often i have to do anything to her rig.

Onto the culprit! more photos!!!


Damn thing did not want to come out, all the heat and stress form smashing around on itself just seized everything together, some persuasion from my SST (a BFH and a socket) got it out and got the new one put in. I think I'm going to do regular checks front to back on her rig from now on so I don't get caught with my pants down so to speak.

And in the same day i finally installed my Tach, the sr5 cluster i have is from a v6 model so it doesn't read right and i tried to adjust the tach with the little screw thats in there but i never managed it set properly

bbrideau

Forgot to mention, the day before i started to tear into my rig there was a huge wind storm blew a tree down over my parts truck, minimal damage tho just cracked the removable top





This was taken from our first snow fall of the winter that just passed. keep in mind i have a 2 inch body lift. This was in my driveway

bbrideau

So, im getting married August 24th. pretty excited about that! But even more exciting news, the wife's grandparents sold an orchard they had in the okanagan a few years back and have been sitting on a fairly decent chunk of change, they have already given us 3K towards the wedding and we just found out their gift to us is another 5K. Ontop of whatever else we get the wife has approved me to pretty much use that money to build my rig the way i want. We were looking at the CBI bumpers last night (thinking that's the one i want to get) and she said "Well you can't just buy the front one you need the rear to match" Baffled by her response I told her we couldn't afford it and thats when she told me the good news. She proceeded to say "I know there is a lot of things you want/need for your truck and because of the wedding you couldn't afford to properly fix your truck and you have not been able to buy anything for it so after the wedding lets go shopping for toys"

I honestly think shes sick, or she took a hit to the head but im pretty excited about it all

irab88

iTrader: (4)

where do people find women like that!?!? i'm seriously missing out!

congrats man, and have a fun 2 months planning for the big day (ie, the day you get to start buying stuff for your runner )

bbrideau

Thanks Ian!

I have so many ideas on what i want to get, motor is first tho. Need my baby purring like a kitten before she starts to look good.

Master rebuild kit is gonna be first on the list along with front end (oil pump water pump timing cover etc) just not sure on who to go through. I was thinking engnbldr? anyone have thoughts on this?

irab88

iTrader: (4)

that's who i went with for my front-end rebuild. i know a lot of people are happy with his stuff, and he's knowledgeable about everything he sells. also, send your injectors to witch hunter for a good cleaning.

bbrideau

I will most likely find someone on this side of the border for my injector cleaning. i think the shipping would be a little steep to send to witch hunter even though i have heard great things about them. I almost bought new ones but Lordco wants something like 450 bucks for them, rather rebuild and clean the ones i have. I see on ebay once in a while that engnbldr has good package deals together. Think i will have to contact them and get a quote on everything... I feel like a little kid that just found out hes going to disneyland!

irab88

iTrader: (4)

whoops, yeah... forgot that you're across the border.

also, slacker has some stuff you might want to check out. i think i saw he had radiators and decals, dunno

bbrideau

slacker does have a lot of nice goodies, especially all those fiberglass panels! God i want to redo the rear quarters on my truck, and the gate, I've actual met and talked to him a few times. I was going to take a job with him but life happens and things don't quite work out the way you want them to sometimes

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Dayummmmm! Haha. ... somebody has been busy. I'll go back over it later... nice work all around!

bbrideau

once august hits I'm going to be even busier! thanks for the replies at least 2 people are checking in on it form time to time.

If i had the money i would actually be busy now, got some bad news from ICBC (insurance corporation of british columbia, better known as idiots controlling british columbia)

Due to the fact i owe them for tickets from 7 years ago they cancelled my license and penalized me $8000 so I'm currently not allowed to drive my rig anymore. at lesat not on public roads, so for the time being i have to, shutter, let the wife drive my truck. Soon i will have the motor yanked to do a proper rebuild in the "garage" just gotta make room tidy everything up and get parts together slowly and surely!

bbrideau

well lets see. Moved a few months back, finally had time to tidy up the "garage" that is at the new place, gravel floor and looks to be about 100 years old but it keeps me covered while i work on stuff. roof leaks a bit so stuff is strategically placed about the garage to keep it from getting wet until i come up with a better plan


And heres a shot with the rig squeezed into it. i think i had about an inch clearance on the door, eep.



On a side note. Got an optima red top for 100 bucks brand new, so i threw that in the rig. discovered my click start problem is the contacts in my starter, couple taps and it goes... brand new starter only has maybe 3 months of actual use on it, also sat for 8 months not being used so could have some issues from that. Replaced idler pulley and ac belt in the wife's 91 runner, man I've never been so excited for AC before in my life. Also managed to get a personal loan for my license so in 2 months I'm allowed to drive again.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Woot! Get'er donnnne! Lol. I have to check from the browser later to see the pics but glad some things are going on... While talk about a squeeze !

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

By the way, send me the guys freaking email with the hundred dollar optimas! Lol

bbrideau

ANCIENT CHINESE SECRET!

Local parts store i spend lots of money at. I get better discount there than the dealerships in town. helps that the manager screams at me to come work for him every time i come in there but he wont pay me nearly enough money so i will just give them my business

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

I've been looking into an alternator upgrade that requires no modification, 120 amps, and then I would likely to try to get something around 950 cranking amps or so... I'm not 100 percent sold on optimus after reading recent data... But I think they have worked on their quality control issues. anytime a company like that gets really large really quickly... It just seems like there are always issues with quality control for a short period of time.

I'm actually looking at going back to another diehard platinum.... Or maybe an odyssey. But likely depending on the deal I will end up with whatever is the most reasonable because all three are a great battery.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Just catching up on your thread. Sorry to hear about your license. Seems like when you get a break, something always comes along. I hear you on the shop. I have spent hours cleaning mine and start working and you couldnt tell when I am done with a 5 minute project.

I like how you have the screen mounted in the dash compartment.

bbrideau

Optima has really improved the product quality in the last little while, they did completely lake quality control when the exploded but they have slowed down in sales and upped the quality of their batteries. Have never used die hard platinum nor have i heard anything from anyone i know interested to see what you go with.

Thanks Terry, ICBC (drivers licensing here in BC) has screwed me with no lube since i was 17 so I am not surprised by it, I have given them over 15 grand in the last couple years and there is nothing you can do about it, if you want to drive, they are the only ones who will let you, "private company" controlled by government of Canada.

As far as the screen, fits like a glove some minor modification to the dash bezel but a banana knife works wonders on it to trim away what you need and still keep it looking clean.