Spooky. My super slow truck build

[TheWarBeast]

I will copy and paste this from another site. Hopefully all the pictures will work. So here are lots of posts.


I had a woman call me to come clear some scrap metal out of her yard. Under a tree was an 88 Chevy short bed with about 3 feet of pine needles covering it. I gave her $500 and left with it. It had to work on the way home. We loaded 4 work benches on it. I towed it behind my 94 Chevy Suburban that died shortly thereafter. The little S10 is my wife's 500K mile S10 still doing work.

It sat in the yard for a few weeks with no real hurry to get it on the road. We started it up and it smoked like a house on fire. It also had no brakes. That was a fun test drive.

Then the 454 in the Suburban decided it was time to retire.It has a mystery electrical fault that will not let it go past 2500 rpm. ( and before the suggestions come rolling in on fixing it - yes I tried that) It left me with no work truck. So rather than fix the 11 MPG beast I decided to get the 88 on the road.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Pulled the engine.
It was covered in grease and oil and grunge from a massive oil leak. Some Purple Power and a pressure washer and it looks pretty good. Still have some cleaning to do.

Decided to hose the outside off too.
Most of the pine sap and mold came off on the first pass.

I bought an engine.

Guy said it was perfect. Got it home. One cylinder was full of water and it had 60psi compression on 2 cylinders. If I wanted to rebuild one I would rebuild mine (which will happen eventually). Took it back and got my money. I was called every name in the book. I was bigger than he was so I got my money and left.

So if you are not too far from Charlotte NC and have a cheap 350 let me know.

While I am looking for an engine I decided to clean some more

Pulled the bed off and hosed it with degreaser.

 

[TheWarBeast]

The under side is covered in oil and gunk.

The bed was full of trash and pine needles.

Propped it up for cleaning

 

[TheWarBeast]

Final wash of the engine bay
Next comes paint

Back cleaned up nice too
I am going to lift it up with the crane tomorrow and get under the cab.

Under the bed
Still gunky but getting there. My shoulder gave out so I had to stop.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Needed to clean the underside so the gantry crane lended a hand

Flipped the bed. Still have some gunk to clean off it

Better shot of the underside hosed down with degreaser, Bottom on the cab is nasty!

Do you endo?

 

[TheWarBeast]

Got an engine for the 88 today. Compression and leakdown tests showed it has a blown head gasket or cracked head between cylinders 2 and 4. Not a big deal since I wanted to go ahead and do the heads any how and I have 2 sets of heads if these are cracked.
No pictures because I figured ya'll already knew what a nasty 350 looks like.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Hosed down the engine with degreaser.
It was super nasty

My son, Jared and I attacked the frame and engine compartment with Rustoleum rattle cans. Looks a world better.

 

[TheWarBeast]

The other engine.

Did a compression and leak down test. Showed blow-by from cyl 3 to 5. I figured it was a blown head gasket - worst case scenario is a cracked head and I have 2 more sets. SO we (my son Jared and I) pulled it down. Here he was using a box for the pushrods

Decided to make something reusable

Took an old drawer and drilled holes in it. Covered the other side in a old metal sign. Everything is numbered. Super easy.

He was pretty proud.

This is the first engine he has ever had apart.

 

[TheWarBeast]

 

[TheWarBeast]

Thursday the machine shop called and said the heads were cracked. NO problem I had another set in the shop. Had to dig them out and send them off.

Forecast is calling for monsoon weather so I figured I needed a dry place to work. The carport is full of tractor stuff so no working there.

Saw an ad on CL for a portable building. Got it up just in time on Sunday. It has rained ever since.

Last night I spent some quality time on Rock Auto ordering parts to put things back together.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Got the heads back today. Purty

 

[TheWarBeast]

Since I can't do much with my hand after the surgery and I needed to clean some parts....

 

[TheWarBeast]

 

[TheWarBeast]

 

[TheWarBeast]

I got out last night when it was cooler and worked on the engine till about 1am. With doctors restrictions on my hand it was a bit hard to do my myself. Got the rockers, pushrods, and timing chain on. No adjustments yet.

I flipped it over and installed the oil pump

Then I needed the accessory drive off the old engine.

Black is beautiful

Painted the Exhaust

Putting the lineless clothes line to use

Intake and other parts clean and painted

Bottom of breather. First coat.

I painted the distributor hold down orange instead of black because it is always impossible to see when it is all the same color.

When I started to paint the lid it fell into the grass. I hosed it down with oven cleaner to strip it again.

Garagamahal?

 

[TheWarBeast]

Looks like an engine
I wrenched my back trying to rotate the full dressed 350 on the stand. I also had Carpal Tunnel surgery so thing have been slow. Today I hobbled around like the hunchback of Notre Dame. Adjusted valves, and installed timing cover, harmonic balance, intake, and valve covers. The gasket set I bought was the only one in stock and it was opened. They marked it on the receipt, Discovered a missing EGR gasket today. I was hurting so it was time to stop anyhow. Wife ran down to get the gasket.

Spooky
Finally the truck has a name, The wife said the black and orange looked like halloween. You can also barely see where I made the timing marks more visible with white paint. I painted over it with a white paint pen then gently wiped it off so it left paint in the letters. Spooky is barley visable in person.

 

[TheWarBeast]

Moving day.

I hooked the mobile crane to the Falcon and moved the bad engine out. I have taken all the parts off of it that I am going to. Then I moved Spooky (LOL) over to the middle where it is easier to work on. Less clutter in the tent now.

I got a little more done last night. It was late and I was drenched in sweat and I forgot to take any pics.

 

[07Burb]

ahhh yes....I was following this over on the other site, as well I hope we see some progress soon. I love when folks work to keep their OBS on the road. cool project

 

[TheWarBeast]

Fuzzy pics. I was tired and didn't realize they were bad.


Looked in the shop and found a brand new AC compressor I bought for another truck. Put it on. Then flipped her over and installed the oil pan.

Turned it over and slapped on a few more things.

No work on it today. I have to attend a birthday party for a 2 year old. Yippee. Might be out late tonight.

 

[TheWarBeast]

ahhh yes....I was following this over on the other site, as well I hope we see some progress soon. I love when folks work to keep their OBS on the road. cool project

Right now I am keeping it in tall grass. LOL. Sux I can't even mow the yard.