Mine would just sling oil in your face if you tried to look at it when it spins.

 

Nice, haha

Got a little oil leak? At least nothing will rust! Just tell everyone it's sweatin' horsepower, haha

 

Oh yeah, major leak. I think its my oil heater. I haven't had time to fix it. Just have to top off the oil every couple days for now!

 

Got back to the brakes some tonight.

I think I posted last week when I replaced the drivers-side front rubber brake hose and steel line, but here's a pic:




Tonight I did the passenger side front rubber hose and steel line.



The steel line on this side runs to the block on the drivers-side frame rail along the front corss-member. Just cut the line to length and bent it to match up with the existing clips. I feel like I'm getting pretty good with this brake line stuff.
Hopefully you can see my new line along the crossmember here, plus my Ford blue oil pan:



I really need to degrease that cross-member. The engine had built up about 15 years of oil sweat and gunk on it before the rebuild.

 

Drove the truck to a car enthusiasts get together this morning (got up at 5:30 on Saturday, ouch...). It was about 50 miles round trip. It's hard to tell just by the gauge, but I'm starting to feel like the fuel economy is worsening. I think it may have to do with the colder weather and the fact that the engine only has a 160 degree thermostat in it. I'd bet that it's only running at 165 degrees cruising. I feel like it would be happier and possibly more efficient at 180-190 degrees cruising. I may call the builder back up on Monday and ask him about what he thinks. I think it may be a good idea, at least for the winter. It's no even that cold yet (about 63 high today), and it already won't run more than about 5-10 degrees over the thermostat rating.

I also adjusted the vacuum advance a little to get a little more advance at light throttle cruising speed hoping to increase effiency.

I got some oil today for the first oil change. The break-in oil is supposed to be in it for 500 miles, and I'm at about 450 in the 9 days I've had it back. Going to run Penzoil 10w-30 conventional oil in it for 3k miles, and then I'll be switching to Mobile 1 synthetic. I'm also using a Motorcraft filter.


Also, a little Tesla parked next to me at the event. Thought it was a good picture:

 

Ha! That Tesla looks like a model car next to your truck.

Was the low temp thermostat the builder's recommendation?

 

Yeah, haha. It was a REALLY low car. The seats looked like you sit right on the ground.

He said that they put 160° thermostats in EVERYTHING they build. I guess it's okay. I'll use it as is for a while and see what happens as the winter comes on stronger. I also have to change out the "break-in oil" from Comp soon, so I may even see a difference in MPG with regular oil in it.

 

Just threw a different mechanical oil pressure gauge into the truck. The one that I just put in was cheap, and it already started to develop a tapping/fluttering noise at certain pressure because it's an un-dampened unit. I put the old gauge back into the 3 gauge pod piece that I have in there now. It doesn't match the other gauges exactly, but they all have black faces and bezels so it's okay. I can't remember ever having any issues with that one making any noise, so hopefully it'll be good.

 

I'm guessing they do that to keep the engine cooler and run more timing advance without detonation. Since your truck is no longer computer controlled, it probably won't affect mileage much. That said, unless it's going to void any kind of warranty from the engine builder, I'd throw a 180 in it.

 

I daily drive a camry to work(trucks would bleed me out in gas). This colder weather has knocked 35 miles off per a tank with no other changes. I never kept track of mileage to see this in the past but sure as chit...

 

That's pretty much what I figured at first for the 160° t-stat, but they only ran stock timing with it and didn't push it any further.

Not sure about the warranty situation. I'm going to let it stay as is for now and see what happens as we get into winter. If I want to do something, I'll ask the builder first.

I may go to running the vacuum advance off of manifold vacuum instead of ported vacuum. I used to get a better idle out of it like that, and it may help MPGs a little. I know I'm not going to get good gas mileage with the truck, but I'd like to do what little bit I can in adjustments and such to help a little after the break in period.


That can happen. Between the winter blend fuels and the low temps it can definitely cause decreased gas mileage.

 

Picked up some front axle grease seals and front rotors at NAPA. Tomorrow I'll take the hubs apart and get the rotors off. If the bit of warp in the current rotors can be cut out without making the rotors too thin I may use them, and if not then I'll have the new rotors on hand and ready to throw on.

I was surprised at the price of the grease seals, but it is what it is. They were $18.69 each. Dana axle stuff is expensive. Bronco Graveyard sells them for $6, but I wanted them now and not in a week.

The rotors were like $87 total for NAPA Premium ones. Hopefully my current rotors can be cut okay and I'll be taking the new rotors back, but if not I felt like I better have not skimped on them. I could have gotten Duralast rotors a bit cheaper from Autozone, but they seem to warp more easily and it seems that they'll rust overnight... Brakes are something you don't really want to go cheap on...

 

Got to the front rotors this evening/night. Cut the drivers side rotor on the truck. Had to take off the manual 4x4 hub to fit the adapter for the rotor machine.



I found that the rotor was loose on the hub on the passenger side, so I ended up taking the hub off on that side. Took a bit of taking the studs in/out and beating them through to get them to go together well. That was likely where the shake was coming from when I got on the brakes. After taking the hub inn and off, I also machined that rotor on the truck.





Now I get to take back $130 worth of rotors/seals back to NAPA!

 

You didnt use the new seals ? Nice to see a rotor get turned and not just tossed in the trash! Not a mechine in 300 miles of me anymore....

 

Turned out that I didn't even need to remove the drivers side hub because just taking the 4x4 locker out gave me enough clearance the for adapter for the on-car brake lathe. So no seal needed there. On the other side I did take the hub off, but the grease seal looked almost new and didn't get hurt so I just reused it. It's my truck, so I was okay with doing that. If someone else got me to do the job on their vehicle I probably would've just thrown the new seal in there anyhow.


I know what you mean about machining rotors/drums. Seems like it's becoming a lost art. It just takes too long at shops to machine them (especially if you have to wait in line for the machine). Plus if a shop slaps on all new parts, then it may be less likely for the costumer to come back with any issues.