A bit of a setback...
I've been replacing all the old, hardened hoses on the engine. They look original so they are approaching 40 years old. I had replaced the 2 fuel hoses - from the pump to the secondary filter and from the filter to the head and was removing the turbo oil supply hose when Murphy intervened... The 1/8" NPT X 3/8" inverted flare elbow broke off in the block.
This is a photo of the broken end of the fitting. Unfortunately, my camera chose to focus lower down and the edge is not clear; but, the bright part of the break is where it broke when I attempted to take it apart and the dull part of the break is where it was cracked before. So, this cloud has a silver lining - the fitting was going to fail. It's better to have it fail in my shop than in the middle of nowhere.
Naturally, the fitting is in an inaccessible spot behind the oil cooler.
That's it just above and to the right of the white spot. I had to pull the engine out of the frame and remove the water pump, oil cooler, oil cooler adapter and oil filter to get to the broken fitting. Even with good access, I had a devil of a time getting it out. Whomever put it in the last time put some serious torque on it.
I've ordered replacement fittings from two vendors. Both websites showed the fittings in stock and available. After I placed the first order, I received a "backordered" email. I received another "backordered" email after placing the second order. Who knows, both orders may be coming from the same sub-vendor... At any rate, I probably won't get the fitting until after Thanksgiving.
While I have had things apart, I've been taking care of some issues that I had postponed and blasting and painting the parts that were removed.
One issue that I took care of was the dipstick. When I reversed the oil pan, the existing dipstick was no longer aligned with the oil sump. I drilled and tapped a new hole for the dipstick.
The dipstick is on the right behind the starter and the plugged hole where it was before is on the left. I would like to extend the dipstick so that it will be more accessible, I have a new longer stick; but, I haven't located the 1/2" X 0.035" wall steel tubing that I will need.
Hopefully, I'll have it running in early December.