Well, finally I got some more work done on the truck.
A combination of throwing out my back, and having to recover from that... Bad weather. And just life circumstances, doc appointments, dentist appointments, etc... Kept me from making any more progress on this.
Monday, it turned sunny, very late in the day.
Yesterday, it was sunny when I got up. I was NOT going to waste that opportunity! Took a handful of excedrin for the back, and got busy.
First thing I did was to test the old injectors. Using my DIY pop tester. Man, those things really sucked! 3 of them popped at a little over 1400 pounds. 1 popped at 1600. 3 popped at 1800. 1 popped at 1900. All but 2 of them leaked.
Glad I replaced those.
But as you know, even after replacing them the engine ran really rough. Loped so badly the entire truck rocked with the lope. White smoke like a cloud making machine.
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So the next job up was to advance the injection pump timing.
I got the stuff that was in the way, disassembled.
Made up my wrench. Got the nuts loose... No way was I going to be able to spin that and hold it in place while I tightened the nuts back up.
So, I stuck the open end of a 3/4" wrench on the square place at the top of the body of the pump. And ran a ratchet strap from the box end of the wrench, over the fender and down to the passenger tire, where I hooked the other end to the wheel.
Ratcheted that until I had moved the pump far enough. And tightened the nuts again. It worked!
Now, I have seen a lot of videos by now. I have seen some trucks running almost as bad as mine, and then seen them after they advanced the timing. But none of those ran anything like as badly as mine did.
They all advanced the timing the thickness of a dime. Then tried it again. That was enough for most. Some had to do it again for the thickness of a dime again. And still some had to do it for three thicknesses. Well, mine was running so badly that I just went for two thicknesses right away.
BAM!!!! Thing smoothed right out! Almost all the smoke is gone.
Here's the vid.
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Now...
It took 20 to 30 cranks to get it started. Once warmed, it starts without even one full crank-over. So I am wondering if I over-timed it.
There is still smoke. Very little compared to what it was like before. Quite a bit more, if you step on the throttle.
While the smoke could STILL be just the fact that there is a bunch of cleaner in the fuel that is being burned...This still leads me to leaving it where it is for now, and running it for a while to see what happens.
I am really hoping to have this thing on the road by next monday or tuesday.
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This morning, I went out to start it. Intending to see again, what it starts like when cold.
Cranked it and cranked it and cranked it.
At about the place where it started cold yesterday, it started acting like it was actually trying to start.
I continued this for a while... And continued. Dang it, it wants to start, why won't it just start????
Then remembered that I had laid a plastic chicken feed bag over the intake, before I shut it up, yesterday. This is to keep rain water from getting into the intake.
So... Yeah, I was starving it for air.
Took that off, and in about two to three cranks she started up. Acting like you would expect it to act after being starved for air. (Including plenty of smoke.)
So, I screwed up a pristine cold start. Didn't get exactly the info I wanted.
But in thinking about it, I think that had the bag not been there, it probably would have started at about the same place that it started yesterday. If anything, maybe just a bit sooner.
So, gonna have to let it sit and get good and cold again, and try again tomorrow.
Today... I am having to walk and move real carefully again, because I hurt my back again yesterday.
But... I am going to try to get some work done on the headlights, at the very least.
Here is a pic, to start with...
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There is a black plastic plate that goes all the way across the front. Under the grill. This plate is the mounting plate for the lights and the parts of the grill that surround the lights.
It has been broken, on the driver's side. You can see the fiberglass repair that was attempted.
Good try. As, I have to say, are all the other 'repairs' that I have found so far. MUCH better than you see from the average DIY'er. In fact, if I had the fiberglass stuff myself, I might actually try to repair that again, with the fiberglass. I would fiberglass front and back of that plate. Plus, I would fiberglass into place, washers, where the holes are.
But it didn't actually hold, and the hole where the mount/adjuster clips into, has become wallered out. Plus, there are other cracks that aren't obvious, but they ALL add up to it being impossible to mount and adjust the headlight.
The best thing for this would be to find one in a junkyard and just replace that entire plate. Not likely I am going to make it to a junkyard any time soon.
So I am going to make a pattern from the passenger side. Cut a piece of tin, to match that pattern. Flip that... And bolt it to the driver's side.
That is what I will be working on today. Trying not to move around, any more than I have to.