Big Yellow Trailer

"What is that thing for?"

"I have to pick up some parts from a guy on Craigslist tomorrow."

 Good times... LOL

Running Board Removal

Ok, you can't really call this running board removal because it was really more like removing eight rusty bolts with some mangled sheet metal fused to them.  It took approximately 45 minutes to get the job done, mainly due to the multiple trips over to the other side of the garage to retrieve pneumatic tools, various sockets, hammers, screwdrivers, the saws-all, etc.  The mounting brackets are now ready to be abused with the wire wheel and spray painted.  Once I locate replacement running boards, they will get bolted back on with stainless fasteners to avoid a repeat performance.

Cab Clean Out

I took the night off from mechanical work while waiting for the new header bolt removal tools to arrive in the mail.  There is a promising Craigslist deal brewing for some body parts and a bench seat in the near future, so I decided to clean out the cab.  It was full of miscellaneous debris like rust flakes, cassette tapes, a carburetor, rust chips, paint chips, rubber gasket material, rust powder, screws, etc.  The floorboard is in decent shape despite the otherwise horrible condition of the sheet metal on the exterior.  I also wiped down the dash and it looks decent.  Except for the tape player.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men Go Oft Awry

It was a good plan.

Spray down the header bolts for ~48 hours with penetrating oil and they would just spin right out.  Of of the 16 bolts needing removal, I broke the first one off, successfully removed the next two, then broke the 4th one off.  After rounding off the heads of a few others, I admitted partial defeat and decided that the header pipes needed to come out so I could have better access to the remaining bolts.  Destroying something with the saws-all provided some temporary relief from the thought of what lies ahead now that "bolt extraction" is on the agenda.

 Broken off bolt.  Not fun.

 The header was in there so tight, I had to cut it in two places to get it out.  Not fun.

 Too bad I just can't run it like this. LOL.

One of each.  In this corroded and weakened condition, they are no match for my Herculean upper body strength.

I ordered a few specialty tools from Amazon tonight, so hopefully I can rectify this situation without having to remove the heads, machining, etc...

While We Wait

I have been soaking the exhaust header bolts in PB Blaster penetrating oil for the past two days because I am terrified of breaking one off in the block.  If that happens, I'd probably have to pull the motor out of the truck to extract them.  So, while we wait for the oil to do its job, I decided to attack the back half of the frame with a wire wheel and apply two coats of Rustoleum.

Before:

After Primer:

After Top Coat:

All we need now are some body parts to bolt on!  :o)

Nuts!

One of the fun things about fixing old machines is that every once in a while you get a surprise.  Have you ever seen pecan shells in an exhaust pipe?  You have now!

I got curious as to how the shells ended up all the way at the front of the exhaust system and started looking around.  The holes in the header pipes near the engine were not big enough for a squirrel to get through, so I went around to the back of the truck.  I found a few more pecan shells up against the back wall of the garage where they had apparently blown out of the tail pipe.  I hope the little guy made it out alive!  :o)

Woe is My Exhaust

Surprisingly, the soda can exhaust patch job on the driver's side header dramatically lowered the volume and intensity of the explosive hot gas leak.  Success!  This achievement made it possible to enjoy for the first time a tremendously loud racket coming from the other side of the engine compartment.  Feeling brave, I abandoned my post at the ignition switch and walked around the front of the truck to find somewhat of a small mystery.  The engine sounded like it was running without a muffler, but the header was clearly attached and there were no obvious holes as on the other side.  I shut it down and did some feeling around after everything cooled off to find that there were large holes in each header pipe on the engine side where they were hidden from view.  I sat back and made the easy decision to scrap and replace them.

Replacing exhaust components on a modified vehicle can be tricky since they are usually manufactured to fit specific vehicle configurations.  So, I set about the task of "looking at them really well" to improve my chances of buying the right ones online later.  I had mixed feelings about what I observed:

The exhaust headers are literally touching everything except the starter on their way down the side of the engine.  The heat transfer to the steering gearbox housing is likely the cause of the massive leak coming out of that thing.  Oh, by the way, there is a massive power steering fluid leak coming out of the input shaft of the steering gearbox.  The good news is that it makes the decision to pull the existing headers even easier.  The bad news is that I now have to find a very specific set of pipes that will fit in there better than the old ones.  ...and I need a new steering gearbox.