All I did today was drove from my house to work and then fueled up with some Chevron fuel runs best in my truck.

 

I started my engine teardown (what I can do in my truck anyways) to see exactly how fragged my 351w is, so far, the driver's head came off in 2 pieces, block has a hole in the side, chunks of metal in the oil, antifreeze in the cylinders, and possibly a snapped crank, intake manifold has a crack (knew about that already) have 3 busted pistons, looks like the rod didn't fail, the block and piston pin did, and a different rod (same journal as the one that the pin went south and stuck the rod through the side of the block) is twisted and mangled almost beyond recognition, wish I still had a working camera, I'd link to pics.

 

I'd love to see the head. I've seen a couple of truck diesels that were torn up so badly the head was the only thing holding the remains of the block together.

 

Trey, hate to say it but the laws pretaining to cats are federal. Most states add laws of their own. If you get caught removing them the fines are astronomical.

 

Clay, that's just it tho, if HE gets caught WHILE removing the cats - once the deed is done that is it, and with it being an out-of-state truck there is no proving who did the cutting and therefore who should be fined - owning and operating a vehicle with no cats is not a federal offense, the act of modifying the vehicle to that state is. That said, cats have gone a long long way since the junk you guys have in these trucks from the factory, there are nice and free-flowing universal cats on the market that will keep you legal without choking the exhaust or breaking the bank to purchase. Also, I dunno if I've mentioned this, but I absolutely hate the smell of raw gasoline from a fuel-injected vehicle (which is what you end up with when you pull the cats) - I don't mind it when it's coming from a carbed engine, but if it's EFI it just don't seem right (IMHO).

 

Archangel, this subject comes up pretty regularly and yes, I'm a little over cautious since my situation is a bit different than most enthusiasts. If the average Joe gets caught he's gonna get banged but, with wrenching being my profession, the powers that be will say that I know better and proceed to nail my **** to the proverbial barn door. I'd love to pull the cats off of my 300 but emissions testing, the raw fuel smell you mentioned and the loss of professional licenses are good reasons not to. Fines starting at around $250,000 and possible incarceration are also pretty good deterents.

 

Battery cables (oem), water pump, fuel filter, heater hoses, belt. Now there's a stupid vibration at high RPM.

Also, I think I found a 351W and tranny for 500 bones. Be nice to build a lightly modded motor over the next few months and swap for the 302 thats in there now!

 

Got some steel fuel line to re-plum the 86 from both tanks up to the carb. That work will start next weekend.

Also put 200 worth of ULSD in the 89.

 

Yes you have the cats to pass inspection, some inspection sites will call the cops while you sit in the lounge drinking coffee waiting for them to get there. In Texas the law specifically states the burden of compliance rests on the current owner of the vehicle to make sure it passes. Now do I know some guys that'll pass it for an extra couple bucks, yup. Would I do it, nope, get caught and it's a several thousand dollar fine

 

Yesterday was just driving it around.

Today was replacing two rear licence plate lights. The old one's were destroyed. The bumper is an aftermarket "Bundy Bumper".

Recently was water pump and before that was rear axle seal (passenger side).

Still have a bit of E4OD TC lock up shutter to work out. All-in-all, I'm really enjoying this rig!

 

Getting ready for another Pennsylvania winter. Bought a new pair of snow tires and had them mounted on my stock wheels. The snow tires I ran the past couple of years get moved up front.

 

droped the drive shaft, loosened up the Xmember, discovered a rats nest and what was once a rodent in my clutch.. cleaned out a good part of it but im going through with droping the trans. tomarrow and cleaning it the rest of the way just to be on the safe side.. next on the list is body work and rust prevention

 

started unbolting my transmission. Be d!@ned if I can figure out what's holding it in there.

 

Oh yes, for professional mechanics the situation is totally different - I will also not remove cats, I will replace them with aftermarket cats but not remove them entirely. I will, however, install an offroad H-pipe or whatever if the customer wants it, as I am not on EPA's payroll and therefore it is none of my darn business what the customer does with their vehicle (I pretty much only care if I get paid to care) - but if they want that they should take the cats and all that off on their own, this way if the fit hits the shan it is on them and not me.

Yes, it is the owner's responsibility that the vehicle should comply with the local vehicle code and all that, but an owner cannot be prosecuted to the full extend of the law for missing emissions equipment unless they are caught in the act of removing it - remember innocent till proven guilty, well especially with older vehicles that whole proving part is often nearly impossible to accomplish, so owner can be issued a fix-it ticket or something of the likes, but those big-money fines are actually for the shops who do the work. At least that's how it should be, I'm sure there are places who don't care who pays the giant fine as long as it is paid cause that's more revenue for the state or locality or whoever.

 

yesterday had it towed home after sitting in my parents yard for a month... and decided to sell it....