BigMike's Front End/Engine Bay Clean-up Thread

[BigMike]

While at the funeral today, I missed the FedEx Ground man with the new core support mounts. We set the front end on and started hooking some stuff up loosely, but have to wait until tomorrow to get it on permanently.

I could get everything wrapped up tomorrow and be driving, but my BIL John has done so much work on the truck, I want him to be able to be there when it gets fired up for the first time. His (and my wife's) brother has lived in Japan for 14 years and only gets home every two years and will be spending the day with him tomorrow. So it looks like Saturday before I'll get to fire it up. I'll have everything ready though.

[BigMike]

Eventually when I do a repaint of the truck I'll be sourcing two front fenders as well as a hood. With the front end off of the truck, both fenders have bondo on the lower section. You can also see that a dent was removed on the front section of the drivers fender. When we started cleaning it up, I saw all of these little bondo dots where the dent was pulled.

Thankfully thought, there was much more than some medium surface rust on the cab where they attach at the bottom though which I sanded and took care of with POR15.

Having most of the truck apart since I've owned it a year now, I see how the little bit of rust that the truck had was created. There was so much fine dust/dirt in every crevice of the cab and body panels which makes sense because it came from Oregon. When that dust/dirt got packed into places and absorbed moisture, the rust set in. Thankfully, the only place that had any more than surface rust were the bottom of those fenders and the front part of the hood.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for a couple of perfect fenders and a hood starting this summer. I don't plan a repaint for 2-3 years though.

[Lee's 64]

Great build BIGMIKE! I love Rangoon Red and White but that is my sec. favorite combo. I was just wandering, what is that BIG truck in the garage? Looks like a big FORD? Just wandering. LEE

Lee, I'd bet that's a wheel shot of Michelles' N

Michelle's N wheel..........? Just trying to put 2 and 2 together and get 4!

[F7BIGJOB]

Great build BIGMIKE! I love Rangoon Red and White but that is my sec. favorite combo. I was just wandering, what is that BIG truck in the garage? Looks like a big FORD? Just wandering. LEE

Lee, I'd bet that's a wheel shot of Michelles' N

Michelle's N wheel..........? Just trying to put 2 and 2 together and get 4!

Lee, Michelles truck wheel is whats in garage, Mike showed us a pic of HER trans. colors

[BigMike]

IT IS ALIVE!!!!!!!

We got everything done and cranked it up around 3:00. When it first started, it ran like crap but the timing was WAY off and I got it around 6 degrees. I don't know what rpm it is supposed to be checked at and if the air cleaner is on or off, and if the vacuum advance needs to be plugged. But once I set the timing at 6 degrees around 1500 rpm's, it purred like a cat licking it's balls.

We took it for a test drive and the upper radiator hose sprung a small leak. Pulled over and repositioned the clamp and tightened it up. The only other thing that I couldn't fix was a tiny drip at the PS pump and the pressure hose.

Since I disassembled the clutch linkage, painted it, and put new felt seals and greased up really good, it's now like butter.

The best thing is the power steering. I mean WOW WOW WOW, it is like a different truck. A much quicker ratio as well which will take some getting used to but I love it.

You'll notice the grill isn't back in because I just couldn't put it back together as nasty as it was. I completely took all 3 pieces apart and putting it back with all new hardware and LOTS of anti-seize. But first I'm going to paint the grill white like it was originally.

Here are the final pictures of it.

[dcombs]

Mike,

This looks fantastic. I've enjoyed reading this thread. I'm looking forward to seeing the grill back on. I like them white too.

Well done, sir.

Kindly,
Danny

[BigMike]

Mike,

This looks fantastic. I've enjoyed reading this thread. I'm looking forward to seeing the grill back on. I like them white too.

Well done, sir.

Kindly,
Danny

Thanks Danny. It's been a lot more work than I planned but it is exactly how I wanted it to turn out. My wife and I are going to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for a week tomorrow so I'll get back to it when I return. Looks like I'll be back to work as well which is a good thing, so I'm glad I got the truck done during my "down time".

I was under it this morning installing the driveshaft and was in sort of an awe how good it looked underneath. I can't wait for Spring to do the underside of the bed and the rear of the frame. That won't be anywhere near the work that this project was but I don't dare make predictions.

[BigMike]

Quite a difference

[MadMaxetc]

Looks great!

Question: What is the brake line you used? I see a lot of people use it. Was it easy to flair and bend?

[ Post made via Android ]

[BigMike]

Looks great!

Question: What is the brake line you used? I see a lot of people use it. Was it easy to flair and bend?

[ Post made via Android ]

Very easy to bend. It's called Poly Armour. It's easy to flair as well.

[slickmainer]

sweet

[jamesdfo]

http://www.agscompany.com/faq/10

http://www.agscompany.com/about-us/where-to-buy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XADAMp4CswM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3I6f0tIlBY

http://www.youtube.com/user/AGSCompany/videos

Looks great!

Question: What is the brake line you used? I see a lot of people use it. Was it easy to flair and bend?

Poly Armour

[BigMike]

Well, it seemed simple enough. I needed to paint the grill and reinstall it, the only probably was, I'd forgot what a NASTY mess it was. The back of the grill has lots of surface rust and the rock guard had some serious rust where the two pieces meet and the underneath of it had heavy surface rust.

I spent most of yesterday sanding the grill and getting it painted. I just spent two hours cleaning up the rock guard. I'm so over sanding and painting I didn't want to drag out all of my paint gear for that stupid rock guard. I painted the underside of it and the place where the pieces meet with JD Blitz Black.

HOPEFULLY tomorrow I'll get everything back together. I'm kinda done for a while working on this beast.

[foodstick]

The improvements really suck you in sometimes ! Its like some mad animal dragging you along, and eventually the ride wears you out

[HiBoy63]

The improvements really suck you in sometimes ! Its like some mad animal dragging you along, and eventually the ride wears you out

Ha Ha man you got that right. The quick summer driver build on the 65 4x4 did just that. Its like opening a door to see what is behind it only to find another door with what seems like no end in sight. Eventually some nights it gets hard to open that door and step out into the garge and get going. Just want a mental rest and to sit on your butt watch a ball game or just waste some time. Sorry didnt mean to hijack or rant. You just hit a button with that statement.

[BigMike]

Amen brother!

I wrapped it up this morning and got the grill, rock guard, and bumper installed.

It was really nice just to cruise around today after all of the hard work. I've put about 80 miles on it with over 5 drives or so with the longest being about 35 miles today. Every time I stop I take a peek under the hood to make sure everything is in order. After the first run, I had a couple small coolant leaks but they were due to new hoses and the clamps not tight enough. After a couple drives and tightening them up with the warm hoses, everything is sealed. There was also a PS fluid leak at the high pressure hose and the pump. I actually took my flaring tool and ran it over the flare to get a good seat. After a few tries, it finally is sealed.

I clean the interior up before going on the cruise today and really enjoyed driving it. I still see things that "need" to be done but I have all year to do them. I'd like to remove the gauges, clean them up, and re-paint the needles. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy it!

[BigMike]

I can't believe how much better the truck drives with the new front shocks. Besides the old ones being worn out, one of them was loose. Best $46 I've spent on the truck.

[deflaytedwayz]

WOW! That looks great! I bet it feels great to know that you can now show your engine off without worrying about it looking sub-par.

[BigMike]

The final pictures. I washed it for the first time today since late last summer.

I noticed a tiny drop of fresh oil on the garage floor this morning. Feel around the engine, I found a little oil at the valve cover on the passenger side. I was so damn careful when installing them. Clean the new valve covers and head surfaces until they were spotless. Used very good Edelbrock gaskets with black RTV and torqued them to spec. I cranked them down a little more today so I'll see how that goes.

You may notice, I didn't get a good match on the grille. I used 3 coats of Duplicolor Wimbledon White and 4 coats of clear.

[F7BIGJOB]

Choice job, Mike