The way this weekend turned out, is friday night I called and let my brother know I wouldn't be coming to Beloit to install ceiling fans for my parents. Mom insisted I didn't come because of possibility of bad roads. He had been home all day and was wanting to get out of the house, and asked if I needed help. He came down Sat. Also while passing Pat and Terry on their daily walk, I stopped in to say hi, Terry also asked if I would like some help. He was looking for something to do as well, due to he didn't want to be stuck in the house for several days, or he would get bored. He came up, then Dennis arrived. They helped me until about 5 pm when Terry figured he better go home. Friday night I pulled the driver side valve cover, fan, shroud, and most of the timing chain bolts then I replaced the roller followers and lash adjusters for the driver side. The reason I pulled the front timing cover off was to release the ratcheting tensioners. The chain was super tight because I took off the caps, and tilted the cam shaft which caused the tensioner to tighten, but it wouldn't release. Saturday Terry and Dennis helped me remove the troublesome passenger side valve cover and the rest of the bolts on the front cover. We removed both tensioners and the whole passenger side cam, which made it much easier to replace the lash adjusters, and roller followers. then we did it all in the reverse order. : ) we fought the project all day on saturday, and then started it all over again today (sunday) We finally got it all back together about 4:30 PM tonight. It started right up and ran great. I came in and cooked dinner, we ate, then Dennis and I took a little road trip in it. It idled smooth, and ran smooth. I am so excited!!!
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That is so great budd!!! Happy for you!

 

Excellent news sir. Glad it's all coming together for you.

 

Nice work!

 

Thanks guys! I don't want to have to do it for a living, but I could help a friend do theirs or do it for extra money on the side.

 

Well, work was short today, due to the threat of rain, but I did manage to get some stuff done.

Put a new hood, latch and now I don't have to worry about hood pins anymore! Not the same color as the truck, but nothing eventual paint job won't fix! PITA to do a hood by yourself.. Just saying.

Started a wiring job, but ran out of daylight. Prepping for injectors tomorrow and upgraded UVCH gaskets for the 7.3.

Will have to see with the weather, but tomorrow should be a crank and see moment for me, truck hasn't fired in a long time, so hopefully this upgrade work does the trick!

 

Did you get it to crank and start John?

 

My truck is still running very good, I think the cats might be partially plugged, but I figure now that it is running right, perhaps pulling a trailer with a load long distance may be enough to burn it out? Also on occasion it dies when the engine is at low idle. (I still need to do the battery relearn process)


Friday night (or was it Saturday night I can't remember?) I put a new gas cap hinge on my truck, so that it doesn't open when the wind blows, or when I back up fast, or come to a fast stop.
All was going well, I got the old one off, and in my hands, but had trouble trying to get the painted cover off of the old hinge. Well, turns out I broke the little tabs that hold it in place, not from the hinge side, but the cap side. Well, a trip to the store to pick up some epoxy, then I try the new hinge for fitment. I had to trim the hinge side to fit the cap on. A little epoxy, and it was solid. Win! Well... the hinge wouldn't go back in the same hole that the old one came out of. after comparing, there was a slight size difference. Ugh... Back to the tool box, to grab a file. I filed it down, and was able to get it in place, all was great!! Except I dropped the gas cap, to the ground on a cold night, where it separated into about 3 different pieces. Studying it, I was able to figure out a way to get it back together, I was almost finished, but wait!! just as I grab the little pigtail that keeps the gas cap captive, to plug it into the designed hole, for the end of the pigtail, the pigtail broke off. Well, I wanted a new gas cap anyhow right?

 

Ahhh, the usual repair job fun. Curtis, that is usually how things go for me.

 

The truck has been running well for me, I get to really test it out tomorrow night on a trip to Beloit, and back, then again the following weekend to Newton/Wichita and back.


I priced new exhaust for the truck, starting from the muffler and going back, it isn't all that high priced, but with the swap meet coming up, I figured I better save some money for things I find and buy from that trip.


Its funny, and I find it cute... I fixed the engine on my truck, I was so happy, that the next time I got a chance to show Julie how well it ran, her response was "It is still loud, I thought you fixing the motor would fix how loud it was"
I can't fault her, nobody has ever shown her how autos work, and she isn't interested in knowing, they get her from Point A to Point B, and you put fuel in them, I just find it funny how much difference there is in people is all.

 

That is life. Just don't respond in the same style if asked "How does this outfit look?"

 

You got that right!

 

I need to be thinking about doing a bunch of maintenance on the SD here in the next month or two to get ready for next summer and towing season. I don't look forward to digging in to it. At this time of year, I just don't want to crawl around on the cold ground or concrete. Oh to have a big heated shop.

 

I can relate, I had to park my truck in my garage caddy corner to get it in to close the garage door. If your truck would fit, you are welcome to use my garage, I have heaters we can fire up. Do you suppose your truck is longer than mine?

 

Most of what I have to do will be more than a one day job. I need to chase down a fuel leak that may involve pulling a bunch of stuff off the top of the engine. I also want to do some sealing on a ongoing dripping leak on the HPOP. (high pressure oil pump) It has been that way since i started using synthetic oil several years ago.