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Bleh. I did a compression test. #8 is dead. Even after putting oil into the hole. Looks like I either have a hole in the piston or a valve problem. Or a broken injector. Or a really bad head gasket. I'll have to open it up when I pull the engine and tranny to determine the failure mode. Boo! Oh, well, that's the risk when you buy a non-running truck.
I plan on retrieving the other frame this week and beginning chopping and welding!
I took a drive out to where my other frame is stored (about 80 miles away from the rest of my project.) I haven't even set eyes on this frame for over a year due to my accident, recovery and physical therapy. After looking it over thoroughly last night, I think I'll change my original plans. I had intended to use the back half of this frame and the front half of the rolling chassis 09 (pics on the first post of this thread), but after inspecting this frame, I'm concerned that it has suffered some abuse that I don't want to have to correct. Take a look at the back right shackle. It is peeled open, possibly caused by an accident.
My new plan, then is to cut out the splice section from this frame and use it to lengthen the 09 frame. The 09 is in much better condition, has only 40k miles ok it, won't take much prep work to POR15, and I won't have to spend the time and effort to swap all of the 09 components to the back half of the 02 frame.
The front axle is was gutted so I couldn't bolt wheels on, so I made skis using some long lumber. The back axle is complete enough to install a couple of spare tires.
I plan on cutting the pieces out that I need right on the trailer so I can deliver the scrap pieces straight to the metal recyclers. Anyone want the limited slip axle?
looking at that other frame a few posts up, i also think you'd be better off just using your newer frame and extending that rather than trying to salvage part of that other one.
I tried to sell the rest of this crap to the local metal recyclers, but they wouldn't take it without the title. I never got a title for this piece of junk.
I've sold two cars for scrap in Arkansas without the title. First time I had the title in hand and the scrap guy didn't want it, just made me fill out a form saying I had the authority to have the car destroyed. And these were relatively complete cars, not a pile of parts like that.
I picked up my brother in the morning, and we drove the 60 miles south to where the cab is located, at my friend's race shop. He called me last week to tell me that the tarp covering it had finally given up the ghost. We bought a new tarp and covered it back up. I'll be picking it up as soon as I can get the old frame leftovers off my trailer.
After that, we drove around town collecting the tools and supplies we needed; welding rod (6011 and 7018), new welding leads, a speed square, a scribe, some grinder blades, some more big C-clamps and some angle iron. Next we pushed the frame into the shop and began measuring, measuring and more measuring. I drew out the lines where the Z-cuts were to be and we began unceremoniously cutting!
We ground V-grooves on all of the seams. We then clamped the right side splice piece using angle iron and a whole lot of big C-clamps. Then my brother tacked the seam in about 6 places to prevent warpage. We repeated the process on the left rail.
He then burned in the root pass with the 6011 rod. Our plan is to use the 6011 for the root passes, then to dress it down and run caps with the 7018 rod. I'm going to fish plate the outside of the frame and partially box the inside. This should provide more than enough safety margin.
Once we got the root pass done on the 2 back seams, we moved on to getting both halves of the frame lined up perfectly. We measured for length on both rails from datum points we had struck on both rails, then we measured diagonally to judge squareness. Using some ratchet straps to pull the front and back together, and once I was satisfied with ours measurements, he tacked both of the front seams. He burned in the root pass on the right side and got the top and bottom of the rail on the left side when we ran out of steam for the day. Next time, we'll finish the root pass on the left rail then begin the passes with 7018.
I replaced the passenger side glow plug harness, installed all new glow plugs and reassembled the intercooler piping on the hiphopopotamus F550 last night. I'm going to drive it to the shop tomorrow and begin tearing it down. I plan on pulling the front clip off, pulling the cab off, then pulling the engine and trans and installing on the stretched frame. From there I'll pull the heads to determine where I'm losing compression on #8 and repair ur, then I'm installing head studs, new gaskets, EGR delete, and moving the oil cooler. Once the engine is buttoned back up then I'll drop the cab onto the stretched frame.
My brother cut up the back half of the 02 frame into some more manageable pieces:
08-14-2016, 12:14 AM
