My 720 Resto

[Charlie69]

Great Idea on the 1/4" plywood, most of us think of that after we have distroyed the AC condenser.

[720inOlyWa]

...Or I wrote something wrong...

It‘s an A/C condenser. You learn something every day!

[720inOlyWa]

Victory! I single handed the bastard out of there this afternoon. That takes care of the nasty half. Now to spend a pleasant day de-greasing the engine compartment while transferring a few parts to the new motor. I discovered that my air con idler pully is really gritty feeling, which probably explains why it threw its belt a few months back. I will have to rehab the pulley after I remove it from the old engine.

 

I got 15,646 miles out of an engine that wasn’t supposed to make it across town when I started. Not bad...

 

Many, many thanks to Phixius for the hoist loan.

 

[Charlie69]

Now if that is a nubers matching engine rebuild it and put it back in.  Keep the other for the 4X4.  Nice work.

[720inOlyWa]

Not a numbers matching. And we aren’t that concerned about that anyway. This truck aint no blushing virgin and I don‘t foresee 2wd 720 King cabs being ll that collectible in the future. While it is low miles and low rust, that is just a benefit to me. 

 

This is the first year of assembly at Smyra, Tennesee, I believe. And, perhaps as a consequence, I think this truck was a lemon in its early days. The engine was replaced before 50k miles, I am certain. That aint good. The heater core was replaced. That aint so great either. After the engine was replaced, it looks like a few stop gap repairs were done before that engine blew a head gasket at 60k miles and then fell into my lap. 60,000 miles isn‘t much use over 30 plus years, seems to me.

 

Today, it is all about Brillo pads and gel degreaser and a whole bunch of elbow grease and hot sprayed water. I have limited myself to one day of engine well de-funking before it is time to install the new package. Back to it!

[720inOlyWa]

Just about all the energy that I have for cleaning up the engine well. I rubbed out and waxed the bit behind the cylinder head now, in case I feel ambitious later. Tomorrow, I will swap a couple of parts, rehab the idler pulley for the A/C, and drop the new engine into place. That’s the current plan, anyway...

 

[wayno]

Look at all that crap in there, and it doesn't even have an engine. :lol:

[720inOlyWa]

One hates to cover up a wayno post, but progress marches on.  Here we go. I‘m not going to let the rain shut me out for another day. So, in we go!

 

 

Man, my shoulders are gonna be beat tomorrow, I can tell you that. Total alligator arms. Maybe it‘s a good thing that we are expecting a rainy day on Friday..\

 

 

 

One hard won victory. Thanks again, Phixius!   Time to take your hoist home.

[Charlie69]

Great job and get the hood on or park it inside.

[LTJ]

Nice work! On the downhill stretch now!

[720inOlyWa]

The downhill stretch has a few potholes and sand traps, as I discovered this morning.

 

I cracked the stainless steel pipe that connects the exhaust header to the intake manifold. Damn, all the way back to my 620, that part has always given me fits! I suppose there is zero chance of backing out the large nut in the exhaust header to replace the tube, if I could find one. That sucker looks like permanent rust-in to me. So I will have to replace the entire exhaust manifold header with the spare I took from the organ donor truck. It also has the stainless tube that comes out the front and connects to the carb, so I will have to cut that off and cap it to use that header with my weber carb.

 

I am not really all that clear about what the tube and the connection between the exhaust header and the intake manifold does. Certainly it all goes away if you put any kind of after market header on. Anyway, after finally settling the engine onto its mounts nicely, and checking everything over to make sure it is lined up right, I noticed the crack in the stainless tube and  and realized that it meant I would be taking out the exhaust flange bolts to replace the header, a job that I personally dislike.

 

And that took the wind right out of my sails for the day.

[Lockleaf]

That's your egr pipe. You could just patch it with a little high temp jb weld, or remove it entirely if you de-emission the motor.

[720inOlyWa]

I couldn’t end of a down note, so I added the A/C pump mounting bracket and the A/C pump this afternoon, including the rebuilt idler puller assembly. I will size up my egr pipe situation with a clear head in the morning.

 

Funny (not so funny) thing. The right side mount was being stubborn this morning. I couldn’t see quite why, but it was resisting going over the guide pin to lock in place. I had the motor on the sling, with some up to take the weight off of the mounts- or so I thought. The fingers on my left hand were dancing all around that stubborn mount, twisting and pulling at it. No dice. It still would not seat down on the pin. Less than one second after I pulled my hand back to consider the situation, as I was starting right at the problem, it fell into place over the pin with a loud bang, snapping the two plates together with enough force to really fuck up a fingertip if it had still been there. Holy cow!  Lesson learned. Got it. Yikes!

[720inOlyWa]

A lot has transpired, even since this photo. After a little carrier bearing adventure, I got the half shaft back from Capital Driveline Balancing and Service this afternoon and it feels great. I couldn’t resist making a long day of it, installing the shaft, re-attaching everything on the underside, installing the driveline, tightening the cross member and transmission mounts, re-attaching Mr. Slave, generally cleaning up all of the underside tasks, save for re-installing the splash guard.

 

Topside, I encountered a setback. The manifold on the 84 Z-24 is slightly different from the 1985 version in that there is a little yellow plug that goes to a spot neat the thermostat on the 85 version (and therefore my wiring harness). On this 84 manifold, there is no such plug. (The little yellow plug exists on my 86 4x4 too) It also looks like there might be another connection that has no where to go on the this 84 manifold. So I think we may be looking at an intake manifold swap here. I need to take a closer look- and to find out what the little yellow plug does- before I make a final decision.

 

Thing is, even after a manifold swap, it is simply a matter of filling the fluids, putting the interior back together, installing the battery, and turning the key. This closing eventuality has me really, really... nervous!

 

[720inOlyWa]

Nothing much changed, from outward appearances. But a lot actually changed today on the work list. I emptied the second to last labeled coffee cup containing nuts and bolts (which means all of them have been put back on the truck, save for the splash guard cup).  I also ordered my Redline MT 90 75W90 GL4 gear oil for my tranny. I knocked the fill plug loose before I wrapped up my underside chores, so when the oil arrives, I will drop a bit of tubing down through the gearshift opening and fill it that way.

 

The cabin leaks a little because the POs mechanic did a heater core swap the crude way, by cutting the undercowl open, then swathing some calking material over the crack on the way out. This waiting for the oil gives me an excuse to clean that up as I finish up the engine room list.

 

Phixius mentioned a T fitting for the oil pressure gauge, whereby you keep your idiot light as you add the gauge. Does anyone else know where I can get one of these? I kinda like the idea...

[Charlie69]

If you run the stock oil pressure gauge with the 2 wire sending unit your Idiot light still works.

 

Stock oil pressure and volt meter.

 

[wayno]

This is the sensor you need, see how it has 2 connections on it, one is for the gauge, the other is for the light.

This extension didn't work out for me on the diesel engine, so I bought a sandwich oil filter adapter that would work on any engine with a spin on oil filter.

The point here is that you put the sensor in the same hole the idiot light sensor is in, my diesel engine doesn't have enough holes, so I bought the adapter, weird thing is that it shows way more oil pressure with the adapter than it did in the sensor light hole.

[Charlie69]

If the your engine harness only has the 1 wire it is easy to ad the other wire.  The extra wire is already in the main harness and all you need to do is add the 2 gauges and and the short harness from the main harness to the gauges.  The plug for the gauges is taped up by the right side of the heater box with blue tape.  I have the gauges if you would like a set.

[720inOlyWa]

Thanks for the info, guys. And thanks for the offer of gauges. I have the console / gauge set installed already and the lead to the harness. Some time ago, a forum member posted info about wiring it in, and I think I have that captured here somewhere.  I never did it, instead put that off until I swapped the motor out. Well, now that has happened.   My 4x4 hass a nice little plastic female plug and a generous rubber boot that I need to dig up somewhere. If I read it right, on the pressure gauge type sender, one terminal is the lead, one is for the light. Did I get that right? Maybe I will re-read it a few times to be sure I gronked it.

 

Today, it was cold and grey all day, with no hint of pleasant truck work weather ahead. The door for driveway mechanicin’ is closing fast. And to make matters worse, today my work time available was spent removing one intake manifold and installing another. Oh man, I dislike backtracking, especially when I can hear the clock ticking away. But i got it swapped out okay in the end. It displeases me to admit that I can do the manifold replacement dance with marked efficiency now, if only because I did it the wrong way / hard way several times while honing my manifold skills. I can install the weber tomorrow and button up the very last of the chores before turning the key.

 

If I leave it in neutral, I can start the motor without transmission oil, right? Sure I can. Right?  I don‘t want to take it off the jack stands until my tranny oil arrives and I get that final chore done.

[wayno]

No you cannot, you need oil in the transmission, as the cluster gear turns full time unless it is in gear with the clutch pushed in.

[720inOlyWa]

I guess I will wait for my tranny oil then. Thanks, wayno!

[84720FourWheel]

You could fill it with some motor oil if you're really impatient. I think 20w50 is about the same viscosity as 75w90

[Charlie69]

DO NOT put engine oil in the transmission and run it you will be buying a transmission.  Forums are full of bad information you have to be careful.

[720inOlyWa]

I worked through two significant rain storms today. Each time I started something that I had to finish- like mounting the carb- that damn rain came down and soaked my old cardigan. This is the price I pay for procrastinating during those ‘just too hot to work“ days. The squanderers tax.

 

The results on the day were pretty cool though. All of the intake manifold stuff is switched out and all of the plumbing is re-attached. The weber is back on. One thing I noticed was that the return pipe on the fuel line was blocked. That can‘t be good. A gentle reaming with a bit of throttle cable material made it good again. I wonder what effect that may have been having?

 

I sat the battery in the rehabbed, rehabbed battery tray The first tray rehab didn‘t arrest the rust, so I tried a new tactic. After some serious wire wheel work, I shot some of that stuff that turns whats left black. after two passes with that sequence, I shot it with Duracolor engine block primer and then paint. Sure, it looks good now...

 

With the few sun breaks that I expect tomorrow, I should sign off all of my chores, save for the tranny oil. Having gone this slow for this long, I can easily wait a day or two for it to show up.

 

Too bad you don‘t live closer, Charlie- I‘d fix that drivers seat for you while I was waiting on the postman. It‘s a keeper!

 

Speaking of my postman, we have a new one. and he stops for a few minutes every day to note my progress. The guy is an excellent information resource and his stops have been invaluable on several occasions.. He is restoring a ‘59 Caddie.

[wayno]

It sounds like you used a rust converter, if there were holes thru the inner fender, you need to do the fender well side also.

As I said, if you put it in gear and hold the clutch in, then the input shaft doesn't turn, if it doesn't turn, nothing inside the transmission turns, if nothing inside the transmission turns it don't need gear lube, but you have to have it in gear and hold the clutch in the whole time the engine is running, you do not want that input shaft to turn because the cluster gear shaft turns, and the cluster gear shaft is what distributes the oil to all the gears/bearings in the transmission, if it is dry, everything above it is really dry.

When an engine is started and it has an issue with oil getting to the cam, the cam only lasts a couple minutes before it goes completely dry, if dry and still turning you will need a head cam area rebuild in about a minute, and the bottom end isn't far behind.