Wish me luck!

[The Warden]

Hello!

Well, after a day's delay (nothing to do with the truck except that i was up 'till 0400 yesterday working on getting her ready), I'm leaving tomorrow on the first significant trip in my truck since I finished the big project over last summer.

I'm driving 300 miles to southern California for a week to spend some time with my grandparents and with my dad. During this, the truck's getting a new set of tires (255/85R16's; reference a thread on TDS for all of that) along with an alignment, and I get to go play in the Mojave Desert some.

Other than the standard post-rebuild jitters (even though I "only" did the top end), I'm pretty confident about things...the engine's running well, no major leaks, and the only issue I can find is an intermittent pyro.

So, I'll probably be online a little bit while I'm down south, but otherwise, talk to you all when I get back...wish me luck

 

[argve]

Yep just do like Fred said and keep the boost mid way and enjoy...

 

[budtoh3zo]

Enjoy

 

[MUDDY]

have fun in that mojave desert tim. lot to see. good time of yr to be there. too bad the libs locked up a bunch of it

 

[F350camper]

Have fun Warden

 

[The Warden]

Thanks all

Unfortunately, I was supposed to get the new tires today; something happened with Big-O and they won't be in 'till Friday. That means I only get 2 days to play in the desert...but 2's better than 0, eh? At least there's still some mud on the ground

Beyond that and the pyro issues, the truck's doing well (albeit LOUD)...re-routing the crankcase vent got the system depressurized enough that it isn't pushing oil out of the front main seal anymore, but it looks like the rear main seal's still leaking...I'm losing about a quart every 500 miles (and, I hope, leaking just about all of that). I've also got coolant seeping out of two of the plumbing connections I made when putting the coolant filter together, but that's not a big deal. Hopefully the oil leak won't get worse; I can live with a quart every 500 miles until it's clutch time. Not sure what fuel mileage I'm getting yet, but doesn't seem to be too bad...

Unfortunately, a semi-emergency (school-related) is forcing me to drive home tonight...but I plan to bring the truck back down to my dad's tomorrow evening, so I can get the tires and still play some.

Thanks again for the well-wishes...running home tonight will be the first long solo run (caravaned down), and while I'm not expecting any problems, I've still got a case of post-rebuild jitters.

 

[towcat]

tim-
At least your run is not like the "BDS" adventure I just completed . The foolishness of my stunt really surfaced as I had those long quiet stretches to think about it

 

[The Warden]

Calvin,

Have you had a chance to take a look at the engine and find out for certain what's up with it yet? Or are you even going to bother (i.e. just slap the other engine in and call it good)?

BTW, got home safe and sound...ready to go on my homicidal rampage at SJSU (yes, I'm kidding...if this is my last post, it means the NSA got me ) in a few minutes. I lost a connection at either the alternator or the voltage regulator, though...wound up driving most of the trip on battery power and didn't even realize it 'till the headlights got dim as I was pulling off the freeway. I've had this problem before; just can't remember which wire it was...

 

[budtoh3zo]

Welcome back, good to hear u had a pretty much flawless trip.

 

[Agnem]

Had that problem with my Maverick once. Drove on battery power for days, until the first time I drove at night. Saw how dim they were and got suspicious. Wish I had an amp gauge that actually moved.

 

[The Warden]

Mel, I hear you there. Actually, I saw the in-dash ammeter move for the first time since I've had the truck, yesterday. After getting the connectors on the voltage regulator on tighter, I fired the truck off and the needle moved halfway between "Neutral" and the middle "Charge" line. I'm guessing the batteries were seriously low...the starter barely got the truck spinning fast enough to light off. But, that problem's fixed on at least a semi-permanent basis...I need to figure out why the connectors keep getting loose, though.

BTW, back in southern California; got the school-related autolite taken care of. The truck spent most of today at the tire shop...got a new set of shoes (I'd post a pic, but it was dark by the time they finished, so I'll have to take a shot tomorrow). They also wound up replacing both tie rod ends and repacking both sets of front wheel bearings...I didn't even know there was a problem It's just as well I let them do it, though; I don't have the tools to take apart the front hubs on a 4x4 or to remove ball joints. The steering still feels a bit loose (in spite of having replaced the rag joint while the engine was apart); I think I need to tighten up the gearbox a little more...

They also partially took apart the rear axle looking for a gear oil leak (why else would the axle have oil all over it?)...turns out the seals are fine, and the oil on the axle is from the engine. I really need to find and fix that leak (think it's the rear main seal, but not certain). At least they had a chance to inspect the rear brakes...shoes and drums are in great shape.

In semi-related news, 2GB of web space (and my own domain name) became available to me as of Wednesday. I'm thinking on the lines of using some of this space to post IDI-related maintenance material (articles, pictorials, etc) as an added resource for people on this site (although it'd be available to the general public), if there's an expressed interest. If so, I'll start taking pictures of everything I do and make up a short (or long ) writeup on it. I've already got pictures of my coolant filter install taken (just need to write the HTML and post), along with a few pictures of replacing the heater core (a simple task, but someone new to these trucks may be able to make use of it). Also, if others want to submit anything, that'd be cool as well...

And yes, I have too much time on my hands

 

[F350camper]

Cool, glad to hear you made it back safe and sound.