Progressing slowly but I'm plugging along the best I can. As mentioned earlier, my truck is 45 miles from where I live thanks to city ordinances and no garage. So, it's sitting at a friends house who lives out in the country in his back 40 ...
I took this week off work and managed to get a bunch (for my rate of progress at least) done. During the summer the weeds had tried to claim my truck so we went out and reclaimed it. Got everything cut away, aired up the tires, hooked the 4 wheeler to it and pulled it out in the open so we could get a few things done. We'd previously pulled the head off the 250 6 cylinder since I wasn't using it so we could rebuild it and put it on my buddy's truck which has a bad valve.
I know you guys like pics so here's some as we journey thru my week's progress ... these are thumbs so just click on the image for a better look ...
Before - in the weeds ...
To out in the open ... here's a better look at what I have to work with.
The picture with the white van in the background was where it sat beside it (on the drivers side) for several years. Yeah, it
was kinda hard to access ...
We pulled it around to the other side of the house and got the engine pulled !!! Yeah I know ... but it's a big step in the right direction for me ... disassembly has begun !!! Step 1 was done ...
Before we pulled the hood ...
We had to rid the hood of the yellow jacket nest ... Step 1.5 ...
After they subsided a bit we finally got the hood off. Step 2 checked off the list ...
After unbolting and unhooking everything out came the engine. Since we had limited height to work with we decided to pull the motor and tranny separately ...
We then pulled the exhaust and driveshaft. That was it for the night ... got all that done yesterday.
Went back over today after my friend got off work and got the 3 speed tranny pulled and the heater box off the firewall. I'll be installing a Vintage Air Gen IV so it won't be needed ... more spare parts for my buddy's truck ...
Thankfully while I was under the truck I was checking out the floor pans and found no holes !!! All this work was done by the friend of mine who's been helping me before I bought it. It may not be "factory correct" but it's a driver. As long as the rust is gone and my feet won't drag the highway, I'm happy. With undercoating under the cab and insulation/carpeting on the inside, nobody will know the difference anyway ...
Plans for tomorrow will be to get the engine bay cleaned up the best I can and spray the firewall and inner fenders with undercoating. Since this will be (hopefully ... someday) a daily driver I'm looking more for functionality rather than cosmetics under the hood and I figure the undercoating will help deaden a little bit of sound and won't have the upkeep of a painted firewall.
While things are drying form getting washed/scrubbed down I have a few odds and ends to do before dropping the engine in. Pull the balancer and timing cover, install my Pete Jackson quiet gear drive, replace timing cover and balancer and bolt down my other oil pan. It's got to be replaced as the headers probably won't clear the pan I have now with the kick-outs on it.
I'll then pull the big cap HEI (most TPI's use the small cap HEI's but mine has the bigger unit), pull the upper plenum, bolt on my poly engine mounts, and hook it to the cherry picker. Somewhere down the line I'll get the undercoating sprayed and get it to drying for the evening. After it's off the engine stand I'll get the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate, and bellhousing bolted on. Here's pics of my motor ...
Plans for now are to get it ready to drop in the motor on Friday evening. Then I'll get to dropping the HEI back in, test fitting to see how the Hedman 69010 mid-length headers fit and start bolting on the serpentine belt setup.
That'll be a big step getting the motor back in but I'm shooting for hopefully (fingers crossed ...) maybe with a little luck, I
MIGHT even get the T56 stabbed in ... pics will follow of what I get done.
I have a few questions for future progress ...
Concerning the rear drum brakes and converting to 5 lug - I now have the Moser 5 lug conversion axles. I also have an 81 GMC with the 8.5" rear diff. Would I be better off bolting the complete backing plate/brake shoes/and rear drums to my 66 12 bolt rear end (for newer rear brake parts) or just buying rear drums for my present 66 rear drum assembly? What rear drums will fit my 12 bolt with the 5 lug axles? I'm looking for easy replacement for future repairs.
Also, I have a chance to buy a 12 bolt truck posi differential with 3.07 gears for $100. He's a friend of my friend who's helping me. They both say the rear diff is in good shape. What should I look for when inspecting the clutches for wear? Are they rebuildable and where would I get the parts? I plan on buying the thick ring gears and running a 4.11 gears on the 3 series posi.
Finally, my truck being a 1/2 ton and having the "light-duty" carrier bearing, what has to be changed to convert to the heavy duty carrier bearing from a 3/4 ton truck? Is it worth the trouble on a daily driver street truck? (Torque & HP are estimated at about 450 - 500.)
Does the whole crossmember need to be swapped for a 3/4 ton unit? Will the pinion yoke for the 1/2 ton be the same as the 3/4 ton driveshaft u-joint?
Since future plans call to swap out the rear gears, if the yoke needs to be changed (or if it even will ...) then would be the time to do it.
Sorry for the long winded update and thanks for checking it out.