The time has come....

[Monkey Man]

Well, had a frustrating and productive weekend, I got the timing cover on, cursed myself after fitting it as I found the new seal's tension spring sitting on the bench so had to jack the engine up (has the engine mount on the front, does anyone know the tension for the bolts on this?), pull it all off, refit the seal spring and reassemble it all again. I dropped an expensive part for something else on the floor and it's stuffed plus I found some parts sent to me from the US were wrong and dammit I got so wound up I picked up the hub socket and threw it - straight at the truck and hit the cab fairing so I now have a dent to fix all of my own making and it's in the aluminium part of the body of course
No excuse for my behaviour and now I pay the price of my temper, more time in the garage repairing things

MM

[m-37Bruce]

Take a deep breath Shagger, you can shrink that aluminum ding!

[Monkey Man]

Thanks Bruce...
I had a lot on my mind and I just lost the plot for a few minutes, shameful behaviour for sure but I guess most of us have done it at one time or another and hopefully without hurting anything, my effort was a lesson to learn given that I now have to fix it. I do wonder how much longer my M37 ownership journey will be though given how I feel at present but that could all change once I get it back on the road, depression can be a real bitch to deal with but I have beaten it before and I will beat it again, My M37 should be therapy, not frustration so I need to change my frame of mind before tackling it again

Best Regards - MM

[Cal_Gary]

Yeah, that's when it's time to stop, after frustration sets in and we (yes, WE) start throwing things Better to give it some space and revisit it after cooling off....
Gary

[T. Highway]

MM,

When I read your story the first thing that popped into my head was the Tasmanian Devil that I used to see in cartoons as a kid. Frustration gets the best of all of us from time to time and I always make it a point to step back and take a breather just to save my self the time doing more repairs from blowing off a little steam.

Things will go better after a short break, then your truck will be good therapy once again.

Bert

[Monkey Man]

Ok Bert, does my Avatar now match the mental image you have of me??

Best Regards - MM

[T. Highway]

That is spot on MM.

Bert

[Wayne64]

MM, By the time I'm jumping in you are past this point, but need to point out what I have learned building countless engines. I had a extremely informative link on my old laptop but alas that is gone. It basically had to do with ring gap, an area everyone was paranoid about. Turns out when you do the math too much doesn't mean a whole lot. (To little a possible real issue) Why this is relevant is the pitted bore. Sure a nice cross hatch with no taper is a great start, but many an engine got a re-bore when just a ball honing and new rings would have saved a bunch of $$$ and been just as good, if not better. My Son bought a 15KW Diesel gen-set that had water sitting in one of the cylinders. Let me tell you that hole was bad, and remember diesels need compression to fire, I did like you and backed the piston up a tad after a two week soak of ATF and used emery paper and a ball hone. Never even pulled the piston. We did the fast and dirty because we wanted to see if the Gen Head worked before we tore into the engine. Bottom line is is not only fired up, generator put out the required load, and it didn't smoke. Changed the oil and he has been using that $140 Generator for close to ten years when the grid fails.

[Monkey Man]

Sounds like your Son got a gem of a generator, I was tempted to do the same but have since used the good bits off the "wet" engine to tidy up the origonal and I'll now, over a couple of years do the water damaged engine up to new condition and fit that. I have had a good weekend, My Friend Harry (HarryDD on here) came up to help and we got the Master cylinder refitted, the radiator and it's bracket mounted up, and the worst job was getting that bloody heavy transfer case back in but it is done....
Today I woke up feeling like I had a wicked hangover and the room was spinning (problem is I don't drink) so I went back to bed and after lunchtime I felt MUCH better, todays quarry was getting the front brake lines re-attatched to the diff housing,re-routing and hooking back up all the vacuum hoses for the trailer brake booster control. I found a vacuum leak on one of the fittings so I threaded it out, laced the threads and refitted it so that's one less problem for me to fiddle with later on. I'll use my engine crane during the week to refit the gearbox and I'll use it to fit the heads when I get to that stage as they are awkward to place with the clearance from the other bits & pieces on there.
Oh - and no dummy spits today

Best Regards - MM

[Monkey Man]

Had a good day on the truck, I have refitted the front hubs and with the hub spanner with a 1/2" socket drive in it now the job was a cinch, I followed Charles's guide and it all went together very easily, I also stripped and regreased the rear left hub as the seal had let oil in and dissolved the grease into a messy sludge that readily found it's way to the floor. I have filled the rear diff with lube, repaired a few damaged threads, fitted the rear driveshaft and started on the heads, getting the valve keepers out is proving to be a dog as even with a hard tap with a socket over the retainer the keepers are quite stuck but I will persevere...
No photo's I know but I have a deadline to have the truck back on the road this week for a car show so I have been as busy as a one armed bloke hanging off a cliff with itchy balls...

Best Regards - MM

[m-37Bruce]

Criky Mate, get to scratchin'!

[Monkey Man]

No time to scratch Bruce...
Today, with the help of Harry I got the clutch dropped and cleaned, the gearbox back in and that was a turd of a job if there ever was one for we took ages wiggling the damned box about to get the spigot and bearing to line up but eventually it went into place. Harry got the bloodletting award of the day as he managed to cut his head on the fender bracket, I do appreciate all his help and moral support.
I got one of the heads apart, cleaned the valve seats, replaced the valve stem seals and cleaned all mating surfaces and fitted it the block. All looked good until I did a compression test and found that cylinders 3,5 and 7 were 0 Psi but cylinder 1 was 125psi. I was going to pull the head and re-check the valved but I got an idea and loosened the rocker gear off and found all cylinders now had compression. I first thought I had messed up the pushrods but found they all seem to be the same length, I don't think the rockers are head specific and I am pretty sure I refitted the same set anyhow. I then noticed some of the hydraulic lifters push in and others don't so I suspect the stuck ones are the cause of my problems and have been the cause of my inconsistent compressions for a while. I'll service them and refit then try the compression test again, so many details I just don't know about but I am learning, slowly..........

Best Regards - MM

[m-37Bruce]

318 or 360 hemi?

[Monkey Man]

It's a 318 Truck Engine Bruce, Carter just reminded me to soak them in solvent so I'll do that today but I have them on a board in order and now they're all mussed up so it'll be pot luck as to where they go back in which may be a problem but hopefully not, fortunately the lifters for 2,4,6 & 8 are still in their correct positions.
I'll get the second head done today and fitted and work on getting the engine fired later today if I can and should make the neighbours curious with only the manifolds fitted
If I stall out on the engine progress I'll fit up the drive shafts, shifter levers etc and make sure the rest of the truck is ready to go. I also have to source some tyres now as I noticed a radial crack in the inner sidewall on one of them, not enough to worry about for the short term but I want new rubber on there ASAP. The ONLY 900-16 tyre available here is the Firestone NDT - are these any good? I am also considering 315/75 R16's as Charles suggested if the price of the Firestones is over the top.

Best Regards - MM

[m-37Bruce]

I found these from Corky Coker @ Coker Tyres. They are pricey even here!

http://www.cokertire.com/tire-applicati ... y-ndt.html