I did note the sign and pointed it out to my daughter...I said that would be very appropriate for our shop.

 

Truth!

 

Today, I got the fenders, hood, valence, cowl, and doors all sanded up and in primer.

Just waiting on word from the body shop whether or not they want her in pieces, or assembled!

If all goes well she'll be heading in to the body shop this month for paint.

 

That is so awesome! Great build you have going there.

 

Unfortunately the only gasket I did not replace--the head gasket---is leaking. No evidence until now. Small external leak on the passenger side. I ran and drove it for about 2 hours last Saturday, ran great, but when I came back and checked for leaks, I found a coolant trail going down the block. It has never overheated, was not low on coolant, but this being the first time the cooling system has been fully functional and able to build pressure, I think caused the leak to raise its ugly head. It may have been leaking for a very long time.

Got the head taken off today. Cake, took less than 2 hours.



No visible cracks or damage, other than the head gasket---got it loaded in the truck to carry to the machine shop tomorrow for testing, a valve job, and a good cleaning! If they give it a clean bill of health and can update the valve seals without too much trouble, we'll rebuild this head, if not, Cummins Recon.



DDP Stage 2 Injectors on the way, and we'll do some pump tuning as well, hopefully a quick 75-100HP added for this part of the project.

 

Mmmmmm.....Sand blasted.... Thinking of having the bottom of my cab sand blasted

 

Lots of work coming this weekend, everything is here for the cylinder head job except the pump;

I ended up tearing the injection pump off as well, and sending it out for a refresh. Good thing, as it turned out to be a bomb. They found two of the plunger springs broken, and they had sent metal into the internal transfer pump and tore it up....after talking about it neither one of us could figure out how the engine was running so well...better now than 500 miles from home.

Large Cummins boxes are always good;



New fuel sticks!



Fresh head!


If all goes well, she'll be back running on Saturday, and I can get back to concentrating on body work, with a few more horsepower ...

 

Good timing on catching on the VE pump "bomb".
Enjoy the weekend of wrenching with fresh parts.

 

Time for an update;

The engine is all back together, **** does she run great. So nice and smooth. New Stage 2 injectors, head was rebuilt--no cracks in it luckily--and injection pump rebuild....going to be upgrading the turbo after the body work is all done; along with doing some pump tuning.


As for the body work, my body shop has the fenders, hood, and doors, and are getting them ready for paint; the rest of the truck will be going over there in a few weeks once he clears some space!

 

Man that looks purty! Like a museum piece.

Mine looked about 25% that good after I redid the head gasket. Now it is all peely flaky, heat discolored again...

Keep up the good work!

 

Its been awhile since the last update, not much to report as of late, other than shes now in the body shop for paint--since mid July. Hoping to have her back here soon, but no idea when for sure. Then it will be time for final reassembly!

 

**** is the a clean looking truck. Will be sweet to see all painted and together.

 

Sneak peek update, bit by bit; shes coming along. Just got everything straightened out and fitted up; moving on to a few body repairs on the bed, then hours of sanding, and she'll be ready for final paint....

 

Latest and greatest news; we are in the final stages of the job at the body shop. Everything is painted; next step is to get the bed back on and do the final touches on checking the fit of the body panels/doors; etc; then cut and buff. Estimating another month or less before she is back here to me for final assembly.

In the mean time I have been taking care of some miscellaneous things here at the shop that can be done without the truck here.

I decided to get a powder coating setup; as many small parts I have to do on this truck I figure it will save me $$$$ doing it here vs the local shop. The first two pieces, the rear bumper step in steel grey, and bumper bracket in black. After a few how tos and some research, they turned out great:



NOS rear bumper; sent it off and had it rechromed as it had a few dings and scratches from being in a warehouse for years.



Powdercoated the wing window frames, and restored and repaired the latches;


Restored the window regulators and motors;

 

Been a long time, but after a long wait for body and paint to finish; she is back to my shop for assembly!

Ive gotten quite a bit done; as of today;



More to come, stay tuned.