Odds & Ends

Well I did get to work on the truck a couple of days before preparing to leave for vacation.

 I removed the lettering from the drivers door, the top picture is of the passenger side and will be removed when I get back.

I removed the rear fenders and I striped the paint from one side of the bed and shot some self etching primer to keep it from rusting while I'm gone. This is a slow process using a wire wheel and palm sander. I would much rather have the truck media blasted in a day and be done with it! I do what I can with limited funds. I do not like using spray can primer on the bare metal but I think it will be OK if I find an etching/sealing epoxy primer of good quality. After some research, a lot of guys say no don't do it ... I'm going with the minority that say it's OK as long as you find the right one. I think today's primers in the can are of a better quality than the old days. Besides that I don't have a compressor or sprayer yet.

Previous colors

It looks like the truck was originally red, assuming the tan color is primer. Then it was a dark blue or green ... I cant tell yet. Then an aqua blue and finally the red that is currently on it.

In primer

Off with the old

 Notice the rear wheel sits too far forward of the original position. The rear is also too wide. It sits out about 4-5 inches from the bed side. To correct this would mean a new drive shaft and rear ...it will have to wait.

My fist will just fit between tire and bed

Off center 5 inches

From the front

The other side.

Trans and oil leak .... OH NO

I have also noticed an oil leak as well as a transmission leak ...Grrrrr The trans leak is hard to see in the photo (left of the box) and it appears to be coming from the front of the trans. When I had the trans off of the engine there was a hole on the front face that would allow fluid out. There was no seal previously so I assumed one was not needed. The leak could be from the front trans seal. I did not replace that it did not appear to be leaking before. 

The engine oil(where the box is) is coming down from the rear of the pan and I am hoping that is the source of the leak and not the rear seal. When I replaced the seal the directions were not very clear with showing the lip of the seal that needs to face towards the front of the engine. Also the seal itself had what appeared to be a lip on both sides only different. The seal came with a diagram but of course their lip looked nothing like what I had in front of me. I used the best guess method.

I drove the truck up the street and back yesterday! I had to leave my driveway at an angle to keep the exhaust from dragging at the top of my driveway! It ran good even though it has a smoke issue. I am hoping that is just crud burning off the tops of the pistons and valves!

I also had to make a slight accelerator shaft adjustment with a hammer LOL to keep it from sicking on me. Another project ... another time.