man you've done so much to it i think you should keep it!

i did my 4x4's gasket for $100, and only took a couple hours.. the previous owner had put stop leak in it and it damaged the head so i had to replace it (rebuilt head on craigslist $90 )

but it sounds like yours isn't that bad, probably wouldn't need head work even

 

OK, fly up from Arizona and I'll pay ya $100 to do it for me! Go from 100+ temps to 70 and cloudy, nice respite from the heat!

Yea I know man, but 2 hours of work on the truck translates to about a month of 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there, etc. I leave for work at 2pm and get home usually 3-3:30am, get up at 8:30, work my other job, spend a little time with my wife and daughter, eat, get stuff together for work and off I go again. Doesn't leave much time for sleeping let alone tinkering. I'm just glad to be working right now!!!! 3 jobs is a bit much though

 

lol, i feel you.

but you're lucky to live in the land of probably half of the forum members on here.. maybe a case of beer and one of them will bite!

 

I'm just afraid of what ELSE we're gonna find along the way! Every time I fix one thing, I find something else wrong. When is enough enough?

 

Im sorry to say it but enough is never going to go away. Yea it does suck and get you down but its better to find it now then later. Just put it this way your that much closer to having all new stuff.

 

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/1908350346.html

Here you go!

Make him an offer, and you could score a 20/22r hybrid and a five speed. It would probably be easier to nickel and dime your time on making sure another motor/trans is good, then swap them.

 

Cutris, thanks for finding that on CL, I have to make sure mine's not a POS before I justify spending $$$ on something I'm supposed to be selling... LOL!! But yea that looks like serious deal!

So I said to hell with it and dragged the truck into the garage and ripped the motor apart yesterday. What I found wasn't pretty, but I was right, this motor has never been worked on, ever. Took me 90 minutes and 8 blades to clean the block and head surfaces, and I STILL have to clean out the chambers, which look like they have 300k+ carbon buildup on them. #3 had a little oil in it and #2 water. Guess I caught it in time.

Here's some pics.

 

More Pics, before / after. Ugly, aint it???? The Nick out of the #1 piston in the pic concerns me though... detonation just waiting to happen.

 

Head, before / after... still have to clean the chambers... ran out of time.

 

Looking better and it is good you caught it in time. Good luck man

 

I got a good spare head if you ever need it just to let ya know.

 

From the looks of the nick I found that matches on both the head and the piston, I may hit you up on that one... my head's pretty dirty and beat up. It needs to be tanked, and probably surfaced... but I can't afford anything like that. It's flat, at least... that's one thing. Means the head gasket will hold fine.

I'm planning on dropping the head on tonight when I get home from work... ok, tomorrow morning at 2am but whatever... wish me luck. Found the bolt pattern and torque specs... easy one. used to do Z heads (16 bolts) and those were a major pain, this looks much easier. Start at the center and work outward.

 

the head is good, bought it from BYE a year or so ago, the springs have a little surface rust but can be cleaned up, I think I paid him 120 shipped, I dont remember comes complete cam and all.

 

Well I spent like 45 minutes last night just cleaning the chambers. The exhaust valves were coated in about 1/8" of carbon buildup, the intakes weren't that bad. the nick in the head is what worries me the most, although it doesn't go to far outside the chamber. In fact I think it's still in the bore, since it matches the piston's nick location. Looks like something got sucked in the cylinder and got compressed before getting kicked out. There's no material missing from either the head or the block, so whatever it was is long gone.

I've considered that if I can't sell this I'm gonna go the reman 22R rout and find a 22R intake and use my carb / exhaust. If I have to replace this thing I don't want to have to screw with it at all. This motor looks like it's been USED hard and not taken care of at all. Trying to fix it might be futile, but we'll see.

 

Head's back on. pretty flat, no problem. Went on easy. Took 30 minutes and the whole thing is torqued down and ready for everything else to go back on. That's tonight. One thing at a time....

 

It lives again. Runs, drives, etc. Exhaust manifold is junk, every time I try and seal it up it find another way to leak. It's not too loud so whatever, it gets left alone.. not that big of a deal.

So barring any other issues, next is an alignment and maybe drive it more than around the block. I'll be taking it to the dump tomorrow morning to get the crap out of the bed, that will be a good test run.

 

Well congrats man. Its about time.LOL So now that its up and running whats next?

 

Main things right now are the alignment and that exhaust manifold. I'd like to just get a replacement, but honestly I can't afford to slap a header in there right now, so I'll live with it for the time being. Like to find a non-EGR manifold but they are scarce. An EGR manifold would work as long as the bolts for the EGR pipe aren't broken off. Those hardened bolts don't like to come out or be drilled once they are stuck. Spent quite a while trying to dig them out... I'll probably tap them and just stick some other bolts in there for now.

Today I'm picking up a 90° elbow for my PCV valve, hasn't been hooked up since I got the truck and needs to be. valve cover puffs like a train, so needs to get that sorted so the crank gases don't build up too bad.

If all goes well I'll be putterin' to work in the truck monday. only almost 7 months later, huh? BAH!

 

It hasnt seemed that long. Man time flies bye

 

Seems like an eternity. It's been in my garage over half that, finally got it back out this morning and fired 'er up. Glad that it 1. doesn't leak oil anymore 2. doesn't leak coolant anymore 3. runs on all 4 cylinders without missing 4. doesn't steer like a buggy 5. is safe to drive now. I've done a LOT of work to this truck so far... I've had my hands on almost every bolt on the truck, and I've still got to replace the rear leafs, replace the trans output shaft seal, and drill the holes for the new spare tire hoist.

This is DEFINITELY my truck. I've had my hands all over it!!!!