That Makes seance I did not see that you shortened the bed

 

ya I cut 12 inches. In some ways I am very glad I did it, in other ways I wish I didn't have to cut it down. When carrying wood or supplies home from the local hardware or lumber yard, the bed bob can be a nuisance, but not horrible. When off road, it is awesome. And it sets my truck apart when driving around town, it turns a lot of heads.

 

It's that noticeable how long is it whither the tool box in

 

the current length of my truck bed is 64 inches. the tool box is 21 inches wide. So if I travel with the tool box in, that leaves 43 inches of space in the bed. Not a lot but doable. I have not put the tool box back in since I bobbed the bed. Maybe I will now.,,,, something to do

 

Have a safe and happy new years everyone

 

right back at you

 

Still waiting on my thermostat housing from Cruiser Parts. They said it should be here on Friday (tomorrow) but I was hoping it would be here today. But alas it was not. I did not wait on the couch tho, I was a very busy guy the last few days. Beside shoveling the 8 inches of snow we got. I also built a shelving unit for my wife to use in the kitchen to house all of her newly gotten Christmas gift, and much needed additional kitchen pans and dishes. Simple 3 shelf system with doors not to bad. Then my youngest boy, wanted shelves in his room to hold all of his Christmas Legos. Then I added some more shelves to my existing kitchen cabinets.

So now the honey do list is done with, ( for now..... is it ever really done?) I hope that the Santa in the Big Brown Truck comes with my parts tomorrow. Then I can get started on my truck

 

I love legos.hope u get your parts tomorrow

 

I got them 15 minutes ago...... Santa in the big brown truck was working late!!!!!! woohoo I got the part cleaned up and prepped. Its too cold to work out there now. I will do it first thing in the morning

 

Sweet

 

Well, I finally got the cruiser in running order. I still need to burp the cooling sytem on it but it is running and driving, with no leaks....


It took longer than expected ( as usual ) because my wife needed to do some shopping and running around while grandma had the kids. Oh well, it was a fun lunch date.


I finally started to tear it to my truck around 4:30 - 5 o clock. I got the upper intake off, timing cover and the fuel rail. I have a Toyota mechanic buddy coming over to help out for a bit, since he missed all the fun last weekend. he should be a big help.
I soaked everything down with PB blaster before I called it a night.


here is the current state of the truck:

 

WHOA!? I thought u were just replacing a thermostat housing??? What is that???

 

The thermostat housing was for the cruiser, not my truck.


I got the heads off and cleaned up. The cam bolts are definitely a pain in the A$$. I was using an impact gun on them with no luck. I went to look at the auto parts store for a harmonic balancer puller and found this :

well worth the 30 dollars. it made cam bolts a breeze.


I finally got the heads off:



I got the passenger side head cleaned up, all the valve seals replaced and back on the block. After I cleaned the block of course.





Im really glad I tore into the motor when I did. It seamed like EVERYTHING was leaking. intake, valve seals, and a possible head gasket. The number 3 cylinder was partially steam cleaned like the HG was slowly leaking. All of the pistons had a lot of carbon build up from the valve seals leaking into the combustion chamber. IM just glad I got to it before it was a huge problem.


Right now it is time for a shower and some family time. We are preparing for the "Snow pocalyse" that is supposed to happen tonight and tomorrow. we are supposed to get 12 inches of snow with temperatures in the negatives as a high. we shall see

 

well we did get a LOT of snow as predicted. there is probably 10 inches of snow on the ground with more coming all night. There is a huge system of snow coming from the south and then when that ends they are predicting another 6 inches of lake effect snow. The bigger deal is the temperatures and windchill that are supposed to happen. the high on Monday is supposed to be -5. Yes negative. the windchill is supposed to be around -30 to -40. should be a fun time.


So in light of this news I spent the day weather proofing the house and getting the house wood burner in working order and brought a small load of wood into the house, instead of working on my truck. Just in case the power goes out or something. I did take the cruiser out back to pick up the firewood. there is over a foot of snow on the ground and the cruiser did great. never even slipped a tire. this thing is a beast!

 

I'm in northern ohio and we are catching the superstorm also.

 

We just declared a State of emergency for snow and wind. And a blizzard warning!! no work tomorrow means more time on my truck. Stay safe!!!

 

Stay safe yourself. love this build

 

Thanks!!

 

Wow i havent ever torn into a 3.0 seems alot more than a 22r or re. Glad you got the cruiser going!!! That looks like a blast with all the snow!!! Keep the stove rollin and stay warm buddy!!! We have the same temps here but no more snow.

 

The wood stove has the house at 78 right now. I'm sweating and I'm sitting on the couch. Lol. Yes the 3.0 is a bit more complicated than a 22re but it is not that bad.