Life has been hectic, that isn’t abnormal around here, but I haven’t been able to get out and play in the garage for a couple weeks, and that sucks… But I was able to get out there today and get some things done.
Dad was over the other day and we talked about the brakes. We both agree that even though I could rebuild the existing brake cylinders and the master cylinder, buying a new set makes sense. They have them on several of the parts sites I use, and they aren’t expensive, and when it comes to brakes, well being able to stop when you put your foot down is one of those critical safety items…
I’ll probably still rebuild the existing brake and master cylinders and have them on a shelf in case we need to replace one in the future, but going with new makes sense to both of us.
When we last left the truck, I had sheared off the studs that hold the exhaust pipe to the exhaust manifold on the passenger side, not something I was totally happy about, but it happens.
Today I got my wife to give me a hand, you try lining up a socket on 16 inches of extension on a driver from the underside by yourself when you can’t see the nut you are trying to break free…
And as amazing as it was, both of the nuts came free on the drivers side exhaust manifold. I credit the guy who had the brains to soak them in oil, several times over the last couple weeks, but I’m not tooting my own horn you understand. 😛
The exhaust crossover is free on the driver’s side
I also decided to remove the tin can patch on the exhaust on the passenger side to see how the pipe actually looked. If you have been following along here, that is the one that shows I have proof my Dad taught me the tin can exhaust repair trick long before the Internet became the number one source for how-to… It was quite the leak.
Now that’s an exhaust leak…
Once I had the exhaust clear of the manifolds, I decided to unbolt the clamps holding it together both at the cross piece and the tail pipe going back. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the pipe was so far gone at the patch that it came out in a couple pieces, but it did come out. I found another hole in the exhaust underneath the passenger side manifold so it looks like there were break through’s both where the y-pipe comes together and where the exhaust out of the manifold both hit.
Exhaust out
We’ll have to see how the fix for that goes, new piping for sure, but depending on the manifold or if we need to go to headers we may have it done at a local shop. I’m sure the muffler is rusted through, although I haven’t pulled it yet.
I also wanted to pull the starter, well I started to pull the starter. I found the bolts holding it on. On this model they are long bolts that run the length of the starter, they actually hold the starter together in addition to bolting it to the bell housing. When the bolts were free, but still holding the starter I started wrestling with the starter itself to get it free, but it really wanted to fight me. So I decided to call it a day and do some further research to make sure I didn’t pull something off and have things go sproing… and parts go flying…
I did some digging and it turns out the starter motor gear actually sits behind the flywheel, the bendix pulls the gearing forward to mesh with the flywheel and engage the starter. So sometimes a little finagling may be required to clear the flywheel when pulling the starter out. So I will work on that next as time permits…
Starter
So once again, we are getting there, one step at a time.