Got a bit more done today.
During the week I painted the radiator and oil cooler top and bottom tanks. I got them both back in the support frame with all new spring washers, as the old ones had lost their spring.
I managed to get it back in the truck and then found that the bolts at the back that go through the rubber bushes to support the top had been rubbing on the metal brackets and were badly worn. I managed to round up new bolts and some new suspension bushes that were the same size as the old deteriorated ones but when I went to fit them, I realised that the holes in the radiator support frame were so far to the sides that the bolts would touch the brackets and would just wear again. After taking some measurements, I saw that the distance across the front of the support frame was almost 20mm less than the back measurement. The front has a metal rod with eyelets on the end bolted across it to stop it spreading, but there is nothing on the back. I did see that it was supposed to have a fan shroud mounted on the back and mine doesn't have one, but that seems a bit too flimsy to pull the sides in 20mm and hold them. I got my sash cramps out and was easily able to pull the back of the frame in so it matched the front and the support rubbers lined up dead centre. Tomorrow I will grab a length of 1" flat bar, cut it to length, drill some holes at the ends and paint it. The new bolts I used for the top support rubbers are longer than the originals, so I will use them to hold the brace. That should help take any flex out of the support frame and stop the rubbers chewing out.
I put the new thermostat in and fitted new radiator hoses, using some non-hardening sealant and put a radiator sock in the top hose. This should catch any chunky crud that comes loose from in the block once I run decent radiator additives. I only filled the radiator with water this time as I want to dump it after I have run a good dose of engine oil flush through the engine.
I checked the dipstick before starting the truck and found the oil was really foul. It stunk, and was an odd colour, sort of an off-brown with caramel streaks through it. I decided it would be a better idea to run it until hot, drop the oil and filter, then run some cheap oil and flush through it before dropping that and putting proper, good quality oil in it.
I hooked up the battery leads and primed the fuel pump, as it hadn't been run since around New Year. When I hit the button, it turned over, but didn't quite have the power to kick in. It's only a small el-cheapo battery that was in it when I got it, and the generator wires had been melted previously, so it hadn't been getting a charge. (I've since replaced the melted sections and clipped it up out of the way.) With jumper-leads to another battery, it started first touch. As an added bonus, when I rev it a bit, the amp meter in the dash shows the generator is working again.
While it warmed up, I kept an eye on it for leaks, but it didn't have any. I found that the oil pressure and temp gauges weren't moving, and that was odd because they did last time I had it running. After poking around a bit, I realised that it was just a simple earthing issue. I had the dash panel unbolted to get the pipe off the air pressure gauge, and there was no metal to metal contact between the gauges and the body of the truck. I put the panel back in place and stuck a single screw in and the gauges started moving. Simple.
It was a lot quieter, with the new muffler on. Unfortunately, the high-temp paint I used on the exhaust pipes and muffler really ponged as it baked, and all that smell came straight up into the cab.
I ran it for about 20 minutes, until the temp gauge came up. The oil pressure sat just over Idle the whole time. I dropped the oil and left it to drain for half an hour or so. The oil was only warm, not hot, so I guess the gauge only registers the coolant temp. I'll fit a TM2 Engine Watchdog gauge before I start driving it. One temp sensor can monitor the coolant and one can do the head. Less chance of expensive surprises that way.
The oil and stuff had mixed and were now a normal black colour. Still stunk like old, rotten oil. When I drained the oil catch pan into the waste drum, there was no metal or solids in the bottom, so that's a good sign. I'll have to get a magnetic drain plug before the final flush.
Tomorrow I will pick up some cheap oil and run the flush through it. Once the final good oil is in, I will drop the water from the radiator and fill it with proper anti freeze/boil/corrosion stuff. I have a bottle of RMI 25, but I will keep that until the truck is on the road so I can run it the required amount of time. That is a long way into the future though.
When I pulled the oil filter housing off I got a surprise. As you can see in the RPS diagram below, the filter is supposed to have holes in the top for the oil to run through. In the pic of
my oil filter, you can see they put it in upside-down. They also put the nylon washer (3 in the RPS pic) on top of the filter, where it did nothing. (You can't see the nylon washer as I took it off to clean the top for the pic.) The weird thing is that the nylon washer had actually once been used correctly, under the nut that holds the whole assembly together. I know this as there are grooves pressed into it that match the ones in the washer I removed when I undid it all.
The filter was also stuck. There is a ridge pressed into the housing down near the bottom, and when they put the filter in the wrong way around, the metal cap got forced past this ridge. I had to lever the top cap off, pull the filter material and steel mesh cover out, then knock a hole in the cap that was stuck so I could get a hook through it to forcibly yoink it out.
Once I got it out I was able to give the housing a bit of a clean up. That filter had been in there upside down for so long that the sludge that normally would collect inside the filter had built up in the bottom,
under the filter. I scraped a lot out but couldn't get it all. It was thick and grey and looked like that Nickelseize paste, but thicker. I left the housing soaking in some diesel and will have another go at cleaning it tomorrow.
I checked in the top part of the filter housing (4 in the pic above) and there looks to be a very old and perished square section o'ring in the groove, but it's really mashed in tight. I'll have to take the housing in once its clean and see about getting a few new ones. The after-market Ryco filters don't come with these.
Well, that's it for today's update. As usual, small things accomplished and new issues discovered, but it was all fun.
Greg.
