It Lives!

Today I welded in the kick panel patch and put seam sealer over my crappy welds and it doesn't look half bad. Once the sealer sets up, I'll give it a coat of undercoating. Still need to cut out some rust in the floor/firewall seams on both sides, but this is major progress. Still need to do some work on the A pillar and kick/floor in the interior, but that can wait for the moment.

To compare to what I started with, refer back to the pics in the Slice and Dice post. I actually cut a bit more from it that that. The square under the inner fender flange was ultimately cut out as well (seen above as the square of seam sealer).

While the sealer and primer was drying, I decided it was time to give the engine a go. I fashioned a oil priming rod out of a piece of all-thread and ran it with the drill for about 5 minutes (about long enough to make the drill smoke). Put the dizzy back in, hooked up the battery, sprayed some ether and hit the key...

vrrrrrroooooooooommmmmmm. How sweet it is! On the first crank it fired off. Now that I know it wants to run, I filled the carb with gas. It fired right up and settled into a nice little idle. Sweeeet!

Didn't run it too long since there is no radiator and didn't want to totally gas out the garage. I asked Diane if she heard me start it and she said she not so much heard it as she felt it - it shook the whole house. Nice.

No big clouds of smoke, no belching of fluids. But, after it was shut down, I did notice that the transfer case is dripping oil. What's up with that? I also noticed that the passenger side exhaust is touching the frame just south of the manifold. Nothing a bfh can't fix.

If the rain holds off tomorrow, I might just have to roll it out into the driveway and let it run a while longer.

Woohoo!

Putting Up a Wall

Finally got some tie in the garage the other day. Welded in the patches for the firewall. Hopefully today I'll get in the patch for the kick panel then can turn my attention to the inners and we'll be in business.

My welds are still pretty crummy, but I'm starting to lay down decent beads once in a while. Nothing a little grinding and seam sealer won't pretty up. At least it's strong.

Once I get this welding done, I'll turn my attention back to the engine and see if I can't get the bugger started (finally!). Keep your finger crossed that Hanky will be making fire this weekend.

Mr. Stinky Pants

...oh and I forgot to mention that the truck has a very noticeable stench of gear oil. Looks like the rear diff is leaking.

Add that to the list too.

Incontinent

Well, so it seems that I wasn't so lucky with the recent fan belt incident as I thought. Went over to bro's house last weekend to help him get his Scout started, which we did - although his starter acted up a bit and his steering box is a little wonky, but that's another story.

Topped off Heavy D with antifreeze and ran it a bit, then moved it to the front of bro's house and it didn't drip nary a drop. So, I figure it's good. Wrong-o Batman.

Drove it home and upon parking it out front, I notice that it's puking antifreeze all over the street. This ain't good. Hopefully it's just the hose, right? Nah. Finally took a look at it this weekend and it seems that it's leaking from the seam in the driver's side tank.

So, here is a little recap of the events that took place under the hood, near as I can figure. While my bro was driving it two weeks ago, one of the fan belts grenaded (confirmed by the several pieces of belt found strewn around the engine bay). That belt coming apart knocked off the other fan belt, which was found hanging from the alternator. It also got pieces in the PS belt pulley, because that one was rotated around in the pulley, but still on.

Anyway, so without the fan belt, no water pump and it boiled over. The higher pressure in the tank caused it to bloat just a bit and split the seam. Sound plausible? Sounds like a headache to me. Now I have to get a new radiator or replace this one.

What's the deal with me and truck radiators? I had rad trouble with the gold Travelette too.

Add it to the list.

Four Wheeling in Miniature

I saw a little micro r/c car at the store today and thought to myself "hmmm, that looks about the right size for one of the JL bodies." After just a little work, voila. Now I just need some AAA batteries...

Location : Address not available

Location : Address not available

See What Happens?

So, my bro needed to haul a load of firewood on Sunday. Seems I have this bid red truck sitting out front perfectly suited for such things. So, I says "yeah, go ahead, just don't break it."

A couple hours later he calls and says it's leaking antifreeze all over the place - and he can't get the hood open to check it out. oofdah!

So, I go over after work on Monday to have a look-see. Mind you, it's about 32 degrees with a 20 mph wind. Maybe I'll take some gloves. Anyway, have a look around. It doesn't look like it was leaking from the lower hose, which was my first guess. Pop the hood and voila, there's the problem. Seems one of the fan belts is gone and the other is dangling off the alternator. The ps pump belt is spun around 180 degrees, but still on the pump. Hmmm. Near as I can figure, one of the fan belts broke and in doing so, knocked off the other one and a shard of it got in the pulley just enough to spin the ps belt. With no belt on the water pump, it quickly boiled over. My bro said the temp never got to the redline and just let loose when he pulled up to the house, so that's good anyway.

So, I loosened up the alternator and got that one belt back on and then loosened up the ps pump and spun that belt back around. Tightened 'em back up and we should be good to go.

Fired it up and let it idle a while. No leaks, but I don't know how much antifreeze is left in there anyway. Need to fill it up and see, but I don't think there will be an issue. He'll pick me up on his way home from work one of these nights and I'll top it off and drive it home.

Funny how things just seem to happen when you lend out your vehicles - even if they are not fault of the driver.