Best of luck to you Alex and I agree with letting someone else work on my truck. The only folks that would be allowed to wrench on mine would be the fine people on this forum. Let us know how the battle goes.

 

You sound like one determined guy and I commend you for that. But ole' farmdad has to say "just be careful". You won't be able to do anything with a bandaged hand or whatever. Hope all goes well for you on this endeavor.

 

I wish you the best of luck Alex. I'm kinda like Mike and others on here and don't mean to sound pesimistic. However, I just worry about this whole situation you're jumping into. Not because I doubt you can do it, but because I personally wrestled with a powerstroke motor swap on a smooth concrete floor this past spring and it wasn't all that fun to say the least.

Like Cody (cleatus) was saying about the torque converter is a concern. If the motor is locked up, then you won't be able to turn the crank over to get it unbolted from the flexplate. There's not enough room to move the motor forward with the t/c on it to clear the bell housing. That means you'll need to pull the trans out with it.

Just be careful and good luck.

 

Well my trip to Wasilla was side tracked a bit this morning. I still ended up in Wasilla but my priorities completely changed.

At 8am as I was heading to town I was told that my friend who is a known drunk, managed to discharge a round from his .45 pistol and wounded himself sometime in the early morning while out fishing.

He was found covered in blood, laying down in a pool of blood at 6am by a friend who immediately called an ambulance.

He made it to Wasilla safely and once I arrived to town, he were able to find out that he is going to be just fine. Unfortunately he doesn't remember a damn thing and we were called by other friends who found his car parked behind a bar in town so there isn't really a need to deduce that alcohol was involved.

I am glad he is ok and it seems like this is going to be one of those moments where he turns his life around. It is so hard to know kids my exact age who aren't really in control of their paths. At any rate, I used part of my tool budget to cover his medicine and feed him before we brought him home and put him to bed.

My next couple of days off will probably be spent making sure he is cleaning out the wound and keeping an eye on it because he is at risk of infection. I am going to take a nap and head to town tonight when I get up.

If I catch him drinking anything I will break the bottle over his head. I have the next 3.5 days off from my day and night job. I intend to sleep, breath, and make progress on the truck. Right or wrong, I gotta do something.

 

A very close high-school chum, who I sorta' lost track of while I was in the Air Force, gut-shot himself with his .357 one night while out drinking. He had a rare blood type, and didn't see the morning. This was about forty years ago, and I still think about him once-in-a-while.

Hopefully, your buddy will see the light over this one.

Reps to you for the way you spent your money.

Pop

 

Reps sent. Now he owes you some tools.

 

Thanks for the reps guys but it wasn't needed. The choice of someone who I care about (despite not being that good of a friend in return) versus some tools for a truck I still have a little time to fix isn't even an option. I could let the guy lay around medicine less knowing I could have bought him the meds. Money I may never see again, but neither is the money I spend at bars and I don't miss it.


Truck update, rained like hell all day. grrr.

 

Alex this just shows what type of person that you are. Your freind is lucky to have you as his freind.

What type of tools do you need? Maybe some of us can help you out by sending them to you via the mail? Just a thought.

 

Actually I think I am good for right now. I bought the basic mm sockets that were mentioned previously and beyond that I will get in touch with Clay for a e new filter, mechanical fuel pump plug, intake boots, and a EGT sensor, I recall it going to 0 instantly during the boom.

Other sensors seemed to work in retrospect.

 

Thats good Alex but if you need you ask and if we can we will. That is what our brotherhood is all about helping each other out.

 

Thanks Jim.

I know that if I werent in the middle of no-where Alaska the Brotherhood would have been all up in this.

I can't say anything however, the few Alaska Chapter Members have been very helpful in keeping an eye out for any Craigslist ads relevant to my situation.

 

My main concern for you is not the mechanical tools themselves, but the "motivational tools", like bug spray, food, drinks, ice, and power.

Whats the temperature like there right now?

Any chance you can pick up one of those little 130$ 1000w generators and some trouble lights?

If I were working on the side of the road like that, I'd also pull the truck up on some 2x6 lumber under the wheels, and bring some milk crates or something to stand on when working on the engine.

Dont forget to yank some old crappy carpet chunks to hang over the panels so you dont scratch it to shnit while working.

I'd personally also (I HAVE done this for a similar situation), take a few pieces of 2x2 lumber, and a tarp, and make a makeshift tent type thing out of the box, if its windy or really sunny, its a place to sit down out of the elements and work if you need.



Again, take food, water, drinks, ice , and whatever else you might need so you can stay on track.

A hungry man dancing away from bugs isnt gonna get much done no matter what kinda tools he has.

I work on solar equipment thats always in the middle of nowhere, and the job sucks if you arent prepared. Otherwise, you'll be standing there half way through, saying " Crap, I should have brought a ...."

 

Update: I managed to put in major work in the last couple days. I am back up where I live and looking to catch a nap for a little. Also letting it warm up as the sun rises before continuing work. It was in the low 40s last night and that wasn't too much fun! At this point almost everything is unhooked except for the transmission. Let it be known that I am a big hater of the band clamps on the turbo, that easily wasted an hour trying to get the Fers off.

Once the engine is removed I will need to transfer the exhaust manifolds and maybe a couple other things before putting the new engine in. If anything I would like to complete the swap in the next day or two and piece it back together within the week. However, I am in need of parts already. Going to need new filter regarless, probably a new glow plug relay (there are two brown modules, and both of mine cracked!)

I have several issues I need help trying to forecast.

What all tools will I need in order to swap the injectors, HPOP, and removing the mec fuel pump? Can I swap over the glow plug relays from the 95 engine? Both of mine were cracked and they literally fell apart as I tried to unhook the cables from them last night.

Also, what is the easiest way to get the fan assembly off?


A picture of the situation.

 

Good to hear you've started Alex. 1st off... pull the bumper. There's no reason for it to still be on the front of the truck, especially when it comes time to pull the motor. The GPR's will interchange. The taller relay on yours is for the air intake heater.

Injectors are held down with 2 8mm bolts. I use a long screw driver to pry up on them to get them out. Don't know on the HPOP as I've never removed one before. Mechanical fuel pump are 10mm bolts IIRC. You're going to need a freeze plug or some sort of press in plug to fill the hole in the valley.

Hopefully the motor will turn over so you can get the torque converter nuts loose from the flexplate. Good luck with everything!

 

How much more work at we looking at to remove the bumper? I am running our of truck space to store parts! Worth the effort?