Picked up my headgasket set and promptly began tearing the top end of the engine down. Lesson #1. 2.8s are a PITA to work on! But, the Lord smiled on me, no broken exhaust manifold bolts!

 

I was looking at my son in laws 85 Ranger today a 2.8 today and with air there is a bunch of stuff that needs to be removed to work on the heads. I can see why it is a pita. He is thinking of selling it. It only has 55K miles on it and is very nice. Auto, air etc.

 

Well, the heads are off! Deff have water in the oil. Sad thing is I can`t see anywhere that would be a dead giveaway as to the problem. Someone with a more experienced eye may be able to tell. There was a lot of scale and rust in the head water passages, likely due to someone running straight water in it. Oh! and the pistons all have a "10" on them. I think the engine has been rebuilt before. There`s no ridge at the top of the cylinders either, and they are nice and smooth. I`m truly hoping it`s just a bad gasket or maybe a cracked head. Any issues with the block is gonna be real real bad, and would steer me to going V8, but I`d rather stay with the six. Time will tell. I`ve sunk this months budget into the parts already so if I decide to have them hot tanked and magnafluxed, it`s be a while. sigh... As a side note, it`s still amazing how much room there is under the hood once all the computer controlled crapola is removed..

 

the ten means that the rings are 10 thousandth of an inch over standard bore

 

ok. The intake and head gaskets were older design felpro too..Doubting those are factory..

 

I took about a week or more off of my expys life by racing the engine.

 

What did I do to my truck today... well I saw it.. well, at least I think I saw it, yep, pretty sure I saw it. Then again, maybe not.. can't remember.

Oh.. Yep Yep Yep.. I saw it. cause I put my new recovery strap in it and my new smittybuilt air down tools
I got the mother of all straps from the brown box company today.. Its 6 inches wide, 30 foot long, and 30,000 lb rated, made from 60,000 lb knit.
I recokon it will rip the whole frontend or backend off my jeep and still have plenty of strength to leave me stranded in the muck.

 

curtis, lets plan on using that on my truck in april at tuttle. me and tuttle mud have a meeting scheduled

 

I can see it now, one more weekend stranded in KC... wonderin why its blowing spark plugs and make funny noises when it reaches 55mph... LOL

 

I have strap envy! What you think I am going to be that stuck in AR?

 

Leave it to Curtis to always have the "BIGGEST" and leave the rest of us with just the normal sized stuff. I guess I'll have to get to HF and pick up one of the normal straps again.

 

what? I got the smallest rig of almost anybody in the group! The only thing I have going for me is this oversized too big to really use strap.. I tell ya, if this strap ever gets mud soaked, or wet, I don't think I am going to be able to lift it, its dang near 30 pounds now.. LOL!!!

 

What did I do to my truck today? Ripped the muffler off while driving lol

My carpool buddy was behind me at a red light by the mall, so as I was turning into the mall parking lot to meet up with the rest of the carpool gang I gave the ol' Jeep a rip and a roar and the back tires started peeling away. The back end swung around a little bit and i heard a "CLUNK" and it started getting pretty loud. I thought I had busted my axle from the noisy rear end.

I only had another 10 yards to go before backing it up into my parking spot so I pulled ahead, put it in reverse, and heard a SCREEEEEEEECH. My buddy behind me was waving his arms going STOP! STOP!

I jumped out and took a look and started to LMAO, the muffler was hanging there from just the bailing wire (previous owner's riggins') I cut the rest of the bailing wire off and tossed the muffler behind the jeep since it was too hot to leave in the inside. I hope nobody walks off with it before I get back.

Curt and I have been pretty busy with whippin' the Jeep back into shape. We checked and did the gasket on the front diff cover, installed new rotors and brakes, flushed the front brakes, fixed the loose steering column, etc.

Now I just have to fix my turn signal, muffler, change out vacuum-disconnect front axle into a solid, and fix the excessive blow-by. Getting close to being ready for the trail

 

Called bonawitz today. $13 a head to hot tank and same amount to magnaflux. Anyone have a valvespring compressor?

 

I got a hammer would that help?

You can rent a valve spring compressor for free at Oreilly's (at least I think) Just have to pay the amount of the tool, and if you don't bring it back, its yours, otherwise return it in good shape and get your money back.