Got to love the weekend

 Today I woke up and started working on the truck.  I picked up breakfast on the way to the the parts store.   I finished the brakes and replaced one of the front wheel bearings.  I changed the spark plugs.    I ran the engine and got it up to temperature.  Then I changed the engine oil and coolant again. The oil that was 3 days and 2 miles old came out BLACK.  I drove it around the block.   Daydree insisted that she be able to ride with me on the maiden voyage.  Tomorrow I will pull it out of the garage (UNDER ITS OWN POWER YAH!) and wash it.   That way I wont get filthy ever time I touch it.  Still there is a lot to do.  My computer has been broken for a two weeks now. I got the part to fix it on Tuesday but have been to preoccupied to fix it though.  I worked right thru lunch today.  I am extremely happy that the truck is driving now.  Tomorrow Ill take it for a short run. 

New start for an old Engine

Tonight I put fuel in the tank. I refilled the oil and coolant. And I started the engine. It hesitated till it got ahold of the fresh fuel. Then started right up. I was so excited I wanted to drive it around the block. But I need to finish the front brakes. Tomorrow I will take the drums to work so I can machine them. Then I'll repack the wheel bearings. THEN I can drive it around the block. I'll wait till this weekend for the maiden voyage so it will be in the daylight.

So Much Progress, So little Time

  I got a lot done after work today.  I put the front end up on jack stands so I can hopefully finish the brakes.  I am trying to be patient and let the penetrating oil do its job.  I am sure that sooner or later my neighbors will get tired of me beating on my brake drums trying to get them off. I made sure to work on the brakes first so I could get thru the noisy part before it got late. I had to let my rear drums soak for three days before they came off for me.  I expect the fronts will be the same or worse. Good news is with the rear wheel cylinders rebuild and the master cylinder rebuilt, I am getting good brake pedal pressure.  I will still need to rebuild the front wheel cylinders just in case.  However I would like to change the front brakes to discs sooner or later.  At this point I am just focused on making the truck move under its own power and stop.  I haven't even started on the "under its own power" part yet.

        The first step towards getting the engine running is to drain the OLD fuel from the tank.  Draining the tank was actually very easy. There was a valve on the bottom of the tank that i just opened up and let her go.  The most difficult part of this operation is what to do with the ten gallons of worthless fuel.  My first thought was Waste Management.  I looked up there hazardous waste drop off location and game them a call.  Unfortunately they only accept motor oil and coolant.  Even worse they did not know where I should go do dispose of this fuel.  Luckily for me I talked to the shop Foreman at work today and he gave me permission to dump it in our waste oils tank. 

   Another thing I did today was to install The rest of the dash.  All that was needed was to put in the glove box, the radio  blank out plate and the 

ash-trey/ speaker cover.  Basically all the shinny stuff east of the speedo'.  If feels a litter closer to done with this stuff in.  I think I will wait till I rewire the truck to even try to put a radio in.  I have seen some nice ones in truck catalogs that are brand new but look just like the factory radios that came new in this truck.  That is definitely what I will be after when it comes time.  

  The very last thing that I did tonight was to drain the oil.  I think this is a little past its three month or 2000 mile limit.  No worries about finding an oil filter because there is none. Tomorrow when I empty my oil catch and gas cans I can put new fuel in and change the coolant.  Then I will hook up the new battery I bought and check the spark plugs. 

Then I can cross my Fingers and give this guy a turn.