Me and my dad have had it with my truck and are goin to junk my truck out. We have decided to do this cause it wont stay runnin long enough to get our money out of it. We have put well over 12,000 into it and who knows how many hours and I still cant rely on the thing to not break down on me. So this is what its come down to should I get a Bumpside or should I get another Dentside. Either way my truck will be used for parts as we have put a new tranny in it, gone through the front axle with new brakes seals and bearings, rear axle has new springs but hasnt been gone through, transfer case is fine, motor not sure about cause it wont run decent. It also has had the steering upgraded and gotten rid of the power assist. I have a truck to drive right now so theres no big rush on gettin one. I saw a real nice 72 on the local classifieds that wasnt too overpriced but I would like a 67 or so. Either way I go it will be a 250 4x4. Armstrong steering is not that big of a deal to me cause im big enough to handle it. It will also have an FE in it wether I have to tear the motor back down or whatever. In the meanwhile we will be gettin the jeep I have road worthy so I have another vehicle to play in. Im just at the point now that I want to try somethinelse to see if its goin to be better than what I got cause we're both out of money and patience with it. Let me hear what yall think about it.

 

Maybe I'm missing something here but I can't see where you are going to come out better off getting another truck and using the one you have for parts to build it instead of just working out the kinks in the one you already have.

What is the main problem with the one you have. Chassis problems? Body problems? Drivetrain problems? Why throw it all out and maybe get something else that will require more time and $$ to get going than finishing the one you have?

Just my take on it.

Richard

 

Well we just rebuilt the motor in it and had to tear it down and redo everything three times and now its burnin oil so that was the last straw. Either one we get will be in alot better condition than the one I have now. With this one its just been fix one problem and two more come up and we just are tired of it doin this all the time. Its been like this from day one when we first got it.

 

Sounds like you have motor problems not truck problems. I don't know how old you are and I reckon it don't realy matter but take this from someone whos has owned more than my fair share. If you fix what is wrong with the one you have you are almost always better off than starting over. When you went thru the motor did you get it sonic checked it may be warped, cracked or core shift, sound like you have an egged cyinder. Befor you go and trash the truck you said you have time find another FE get it checked out block and heads then you know what you are starting with. Then put your good stuff in the checked out block and start enjoying it but if you have to change bodies my vote is for the dentside '75 Explorer model with the stripe

 

Im 17 I have two other motors sittin around 1 is the 428 that was in it mwhen we bought the truck but its got two cracked cylinders cause it threw two rods. The other is an old 352 that we dropped in to get it by till we got this 390 built up it also has a blown rear main. I have considered sleevein the 428 but it costs too much money and we cant find a flywheel for it. I have also thought about punchin out the 352 to make a 410 but then we run into the same problem with the flywheel. We got the crank and heads checked out from the 428 and they are fine we also got hardened seats and stuff put in em. The 390 was a virgin block when we got it then we had it bored .030 over. The 390 also only has 1500 miles or so on it and it just started burnin oil for no reason. I dont spose it could be the manifold thats on it, we bought it used and put a straight edge on it to see if it was warped and it wasnt so we got it. Maybe thats why its burnin oil I have a spare cast one I could throw on there, maybe ill try that and see if thats the problem.

 

When you say its burning oil do you mean you can see smoke from the pipes or is it just dispearing from the pan? Did the rings not seat? Have yall done a compression check on it? Is there oil in the radiator or water in the oil? Just some things to check. I don't think you would "burn" oil because of an intake but you lose oil from it.

 

Its blue smoke out the exhaust and its dropin the level in the pan with no leaks on the driveway. Theres no oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. The rings seated awhile ago when we first broke it in. It hasnt smoked a bit since untill now.

 

i like to keep it simple so I would check to see if the guts of the pcv valve fell out. They will suck alot of oil and not miss a lick whn this happens.

 

If you are getting smoke whan idling or when you let it coast (high manifold vacuum) it could very well be the intake ports gaskets not sealing properly. Did the problem start imediately after you had the intake off the last time.

Richard

 

I took the pcv off the carb and plugged the hole and it still smokes the same. I know it should be fixed good with all that money but its not. The smoke gets worse as I put my foot in it to accelerate and all through the rpm range. The first time we rebuilt it it had the same problem just alot worse but the second time when we had the cast manifold on it didnt smoke at all we just had to taer it back down cause it was eatin a lifter and the cam bearings werent installed right. So this last time we put the edelbrock back on and now were to this. Im wonderin if the thing was too hot and burned off all the sealant. I put it around every port to make sure it would seal up good. I thought that it was runnin way too hot. The water temp was good but I mean the whole motor was just really hot when ya walked by the front of the truck after an hour drive.

 

Looks like a nice truck well I dont know I find it ironic as well sinkining 12,000 grand into a truck and still have problems ever thought of getting the motor done by a shop maybe they can solve your problem

 

Well we thought about it but we like to do stuff ourselves when we can or arent in a pinch. If swappin the manifolds dont work then maybe we could see about it but dad says if that aint it then its somethin major and he dont want to tear it down or pay somebody to do it.

 

You might look at the seal on the valves. If they are bad it will use oil and smoke as well. When the block was bored, I'm assuming you had the cylinders bored to the specific pistons so that the clearances are correct. Also did you use the right size rings? Just a few things to consider.

 

1985, the manifold could be cracked in the heat riser passage. That would cause some smoke and oil burning. But whats this about can't get a flywheel ? Those are available new. You don't have to scour the earth to find an old one. DinosaurFan, on an old 'puter work threw out

 

Well I took the manifold off today and started to clean the heads off of all the sealant. I also was takein off the phenolic spacer and had to pull the studs out to get oit to come off. When it was off I looked at it and it was formed to the shape of the intake and melted in some spots. So I showed dad and he said that well just hit two birds with one stone and take the heads off and swap em out to make sure that nothin went wrong with the head gaskets or is goin to go wrong. I honestly think that it was just the manifold doin all this especially when we bought it used. It could have a blocked passage in it so that caused it to heat up and warp or burn the sealant around the gaskets and cause it to burn oil. We had both sets of heads gone through with new seals, guides, valves and springs so I dont think that that is the problem. The heads and intake Im gonna be usin are 428 heads with big ports and matchin cast intake. Ive had em on there before and I know about where the power is gonna be at. As for the 428 flywheel Ive asked around here at the parts stores (Napa, Checker, Autozone and Parts Plus) and they just laughed at me and said that nobody carries the externally balanced ones anymore or can even get em. The rings are the right size we took one before we put it on the piston and put it in the cylinder to see and it was fine. We also did have the block bored to the right piston size and rehoned it every time we had to take it back down. We put the rings on right and the gaps as far away from each other as possible. The rings we used are moly rings so I know they take a little longer to seat but they seated a long time ago.