1985 4x4: rehab or rebuild?

[Knuckledragger]

So my son (knuckledragger JR) decides to start working on his 4x4 that i went and picked up with Icanfixall some years ago. Good time for bonding and I have no work currently, so away we go.

At pickup and shortly after, Gary and I tried to start this truck (85 lariat with turbo, 6.9 and C6) with no luck. I have tried to get the boy interested in working on it, but he only wants to drive it in the canyon and slog around in the mud. After pricing new trucks, he decided maybe it was OK to get his hands dirty on something other than his mustang, so we started by removing the GPs and taking a compression test.

The results are not encouraging, but not unexpected. When I went to get this truck , it had obviously given someone a lot of fun times, being ridden very hard and put away wet more than once. No idea if the turbo even spins, but that is not important until the engine runs. We checked all but cylinder #5, as it was pretty hard to get to and all the others gave a clear picture. #1 - 240, #2 - 260, #3 - 300, #4 - 305, #6 - 265, #7 - 100, #8 - 160.

I did not try to recheck the cylinders after dripping oil in there, even if the compression came up, there is still something wrong. Will take some pictures and post as we start disassembling the front clip and engine to prepare for a rebuild. The truck was so cheap ($500) to start with, it is an easy decision to just rebuild the engine and repair the TTB to have an ugly but fun on/off road vehicle. The body has little rust but plenty of dents and no tailgate. The PO even glued the pyro to the windshield. Of course. And installed an electric vacuum pump, just because.

Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

 

[79jasper]

Can't wait to see some pics of these "mods" by the PO. Lol

Sent from my USCC-C6721 using Tapatalk

 

[Bubba_891]

hope the PO didn't do like mine did and use speaker wire for the push button GP and for rewiring the blower fan and a few other things..lol but it will be nice to see pictures of this rebuild may help me in the adventure of rebuilding mine down the road. best of luck to you both. and KNUCKLEDRAGGER JR take it from me have the best time with your dad doing this because you can look back on it later and smile I know I do with all the things me and my dad worked on over the years.

 

[knuckledraggerJR]

It's always a good time turning wrenches with my dad. It would be fun to rebuild this motor with him even though financially it makes sense to just buy another truck that runs and has the mods that I would want to add on, but on the other hand we would have a fresh motor ready to go another 30 years of tearing up the trails!

 

[Knuckledragger]

We have been disassembling the engine bay little by little, got a few pictures to share. I had to make a tool to hold the WP pulley bolts while junior pulled on a wrench and breaker bar to bust loose the fan clutch, that is what I am pointing at in one picture.

I have never seen a turbo setup like this one, maybe someone could give some insight. It seems to have been modified in L.A somewhere, there was a tag on the air cleaner. The hat resides under an odd shaped filter housing made to house a flat K&N filter. Pics of that later.

It has been a few years since I took apart my truck and forgot how to remove the IP while telling junior that it was important to leave the housing and gear on the engine (even though we are taking the engine out), just as a guideline. But I forgot to take off the three hold down nuts (actually forgot about them completely) and the IP wouldn't budge. So I told him how to take one apart in the pick-n-pull yard, taking off the housing and all. That is when I remembered the nuts.

Bonus! After soaking them with AeroroKroil for about a week, all 4 of the exhaust side turbo flange bolts came off with little fuss. No galled threads, even.

In the lower left hand corner of picture #6, you can see a small fan. That is part of the electric vacuum pump the P.O. installed, apparently because he had one. Secured with bungee and a few tie wraps to the fender well.

 

[icanfixall]

Mike thanks for the great pics and no harm or foul for removing the pump with the gear housing either cause your rebuilding the engine. Even forgetting the pump drive bolts is no biggie too. that was really fun going to the airport with you to pick up that rig. I recall filling the bed of that truck with spare tires and wheels and finding the 3/8 drive air wrench in the bed when we got it home too. I think you were as surprised as I was when it came off the tow dolly when we turned too tight leaving the airport drive way too. I know I was even more surprised when the AAA tow truck turned up with a slide off bed picked up the ftont end and got us back up on the tow dolly so easily. It has to have been a magical moment doing that too. Ah memories made that day it sure was.....

 

[Knuckledragger]

That was long day and we'll see if it was worth it. This truck seems to turn up surprises every time I work on it. The radiator looks to be in good repair, I think I'll send it out to be tested and cleaned just to make sure it is OK. I spun the turbo by hand today, it spins freely and has little endplay. Maybe we will catch a break there. Pretty sure we will need an IP, this one didn't have too much pizazz when we turned over the engine.

 

[freebird01]

wait....no Hawaiian shirt and sandals? for shame mike...