I have a vacation coming up soon, I might get to start it then.


In other news, every time I think I am getting ahead the other shoe drops. I got a surprise on the way home from church this morning. I stopped at autozone to pick up new wiper blades and the Cruiser wouldn't start. Out of the blue, just wouldn't fire. turned over like a champ but would start. I sprayed some ether in it and it fired but wouldn't stay running. I had a buddy come to give me a tow home . We talked it over and it sounded like a fuel pump. My kids had their baseball bats in the back so he grabbed one and thumped the tank about 15 times. It started up and I drove it home. When I got home it wouldn't start again. We did some more diagnosis and determined it was the pump.


Now here is the real kicker, the pump is only 18 months old from Autozone........


Luckily for me, I kept the old pump from when I changed it, because I was chasing gremlins in that time. I changed the pump just to eliminate some variables at the time I was really scratching my head on a cold start problem on the cruiser. I put the old pump from the shelf in the truck and it fired right up.......


I am happy it started but EXTREMELY frustrated that the pump failed after 18 months. And the best part is, IT ONLY HAS A 1 YR WARRANTY!!!!!


I am going to try and fight with them a little bit, because this is the second item from autozone that has failed on that Cruiser after I had changed it. The first was the alternator that drained the battery in 2 hours.....


I will let you know what happens. I will definitely not be shopping there as much, goodbye Autozone, Hello O'reillys

 

Well I am on vacation.... And I haven't had a moment to rest... Lol. Typical right??? We did some camping and fishing then went to the beach one day with some friends. Good times.

I got wind of a 93 cruiser in a junkyard in fort Wayne. So I made the 1 hour 45 minute drive down to the yard to check it out. I got a rear hatch with 0 rust on it!! A new driver fender, the front trim piece with the lights, all the turn signals and the power steering pump for 200 bucks!!!! I was stoked. The hatch alone is 500 dollars plus shipping from cruiser parts. I will post pictures later.

I haven't had time to deal with Autozone yet. I will probably deal with them tomorrow.

 

Nice score bro!!!

 

Finally some pictures....


This is how we use the cruiser as a sound system while we were camping.



Here are the before pictures of the cruiser:









Here are the during pictures:




And the after pictures:

 

I knew some kids had the cruiser before I did, and I am all about saving some money and making things work. BUT THIS IS REDICULOUS!!!! here is how they modified the turn signals into the side marker lights.

 

Nice score on the parts, looking good!

 

Yea that's a bit ridiculous,cruiser looks great,my neighbor has the Lexus version,it just sits in his driveway,loaded!!Bose stereo,factory lockers front and rear,its got a big inline 6 engine,I bet she drinks fuel like I drink bud light at a hank Williams Jr. Concert.

 

I got to go do some wheeling yesterday. I went with a few yota buddies and took along a friend with a bronco. We had fun. I haven't been out in months so it was fun to get out and play around. I did some really steep hill climbs. My bronco buddy was very impressed and sorta embarrassed that he couldn't follow me. lol I don't really have any good pictures, but it was a fun way to end my vacation.

 

Heres my neighbors lexus i was telling you about ...

 

sweet ride!!

 

So I made a quick trip to my kids school tonight, maybe 4 miles away from my house. I walked out of the meeting to find a puddle of oil under my truck. I checked to make sure there was oil in the engine and drove it home. I let it run for a few moments in the driveway when I got home to try and identify the leak. I think it is the front main seal. this is a big bummer.





I will have to dig into it tomorrow after work

 

I have been digging into the truck for a little at a time every night after work. It appears the major leak was the passenger side camshaft seal popped out of place. it also looked like a small minor leak at the front crankshaft seal. so little by little I have been tearing it down to get to the seals. As of right now I have replaced both cam seals and the front crank seal and put the timing belt back on ( that's always FUN!!! NOT) I will finish up the front of the motor tomorrow and give it an oil change and some new spark plugs. I never liked the cheap copper plugs I put in when I rebuilt the motor in January. I also plan to track down a small exhaust leak tomorrow if time permits. wish me luck!!

 

Good luck!

 

well it was a good day in the garage. I got the truck all back together and running with no leaks. I also got the exhaust leak fixed.


the exhaust leak turned out to be a missing nut on the exhaust stud on the bottom of the #5 cylinder. So I dug through my box of spare nuts and bolts and found a nut for it. After 30 minutes of finger twisting agony I got the nut on and tight. It is much quieter now!!! I didn't realize how loud the truck was until I drove it around on my test drive.


To be honest, I am not sure how I get anything done in a garage that has this mess on the main workbench.....

 

Just when I start to think about building a bumper or something cool for my truck I get knocked back to reality. I get to do a brake job because I have a sticking caliper that is making everything very HOT!!!

 

My passenger front caliper was stuck closed so it was making everything very hot. luckily I was only making short trips so nothing was ruined. I noticed there was a problem after a short drive and when I got out there was that hot brake "foundry" smell. I got it all changed out with no problems this morning.


While I was doing my caliper, my neighbor came over asking to borrow some tools because he noticed a puddle of brake fluid under his rear tire after a short trip to the store from his Super Duty. After many tool trips later, he had to replace his rear caliper, rotor and pads. The caliper stuck closed and ruined the rotor and pads. This might be the worst rotor I have ever seen. Judge for yourself. Needless to say, but this didn't happen in a 5 minute trip to the store for some doughnuts. it had to be going on for awhile...

 

That is crazy. My F350 had a problem with drivers front break locking up. You could always smell it and feel it as soon as it happened. Moron at the dealership used a c clamp to retract the piston (not the right tool, but a fairly common and no t inherently dangerous practice). The problem was he only grabbed one side of the piston and canted it in the bore. I was on trip and didn't really have a lot of options but stop hit it with a hammer to get it to release and go until it locked again. 500 miles later I made it home. My rotor was getting close to that bad.

 

wow. the funny part is, the guy said there were no previous signs of problems..... I have a hard time believing that

 

no signs that he noticed. some people don't pay attention.

 

I just got a set of doors for 40 dollars!!! I will post pictures later