Engine Bay 1.0
Everything was kind of a haggard mess when I got it. I'll start with the various ways I've cleaned up the engine bay. Everything was leaking so bad I thought I'd start at the top and work back beginning with the valve cover gaskets. Over time I changed valve covers, and intake. Not to mention hydro-boost hoses, master cyl. lid seal, power steering gear box, rebuilt power steering pump, and changed the water pump, which reminds me of a story if you don't mind.
I was working alot and didn't have time to work on the truck, but months earlier I promised my kid in Montana I'd come pick him up for a float trip. So like an idiot I took it to a shop and told em to change the oil pan and timing cover gaskets, and not touch anything else. I left it and went to work for the next 9 days. I got done with work and picked up my truck thinking the problem was nailed.
I really needed to get rolling out to Montana to pick up my kid so we could float the Yellowstone. (that story is here)
http://www.fre****er.net/2012/07/yellowstone-river.html
After loading boating and camping gear I cleaned up and rolled out of Utah about 10pm with my usual supply of tools and spare parts behind the seat. After a few hours I stopped in Idaho to take a break and walk around. Coming back to the truck I saw a puddle of oil on the ground. The leak had gotten worse, $600 worth of shop time hadn't fixed anything! Man was I pissed at myself. Anyway, I drove and obsessed over what was going on. I'd stop every few hours to top off the oil and study the situation. By now the front of the engine was cleaned off enough to start seeing where the leak was coming from. It appeared the oil was being slung up into the fan by the harmonic balancer, but the crank seal had been changed by the shop using a new speedi-sleeve on the harmonic balancer so this made no sense...unless the front of the timing cover was bent by some idiot trying to pound the seal into it.
I picked up Cody in Miles City and we made it to the river launch point over in Paradise Valley for 4 days of fishing and floating and camping. I thought for sure I'd screwed the engine the whole time we were on the river, but thought if I'd keep the oil level up and keep my foot out of it, things would be fine for a bit longer. Cody and I decided to get off the river a day early and try our luck working on it at his grandpas house up in Two-Dot, Montana. We had a shuttle driver bring the truck around to Otter Creek just out of Big Timber where we ended the trip.
Leaving Otter Creek
After de-rigging Catboat 7 the first thing I did was go to the Carquest store in Big Timber and get a timing cover gasket and crank seal. I asked if he had any ideas on where I could get a timing cover. He said "
why... I think that old guy across the street has a bunch of ol' chevy stuff laying around behind his shop". I couldn't believe my luck! I went across and the guy said I could take a whole box of timing covers if I wanted. I said one would do, and offered to at least buy him a cold one, but he wouldn't have it. I went back to Carquest and got a can of the Great Stuff gasket maker, more oil, and coolant. Cody and I pointed the old GMC into the central Montana wind and crossed our fingers hoping that we could squeeze another 100 miles out of it. Codys grandpa, Layne, and I were good hunting friends from when I lived up north. He and I had lived through old chev truck adventures before so he had no problem letting me make a big mess of his driveway, albeit a Montana driveway made of dirt. He held a light and kept us supplied with cold beers. It was good to see him, so we didn't get much work done. Too bad cancer took him down last year...hell of a guy!
I got the front of the motor removed and dropped the oil pan. I could see that at least the shop used a Perma-Dry oil pan gasket. I got the timing cover off and sure enough, it was warped around the crank seal where someone had been pounding on it. I'm not saying it was the shop, but I could venture a guess. It was late and I was working by myself, but I was super relieved to have discovered the problem. Whenever something was running good Layne used to say "
runs like a new one" and smile. I got everything put back together by about 2 am, and fired it up and thought of Layne. I turned on the hose and scrubbed my filthy self, then crawled in the sack for about a nano-second of star gazing before going to sleep. The next day I said adios, and rolled out of Two Dot. After about an hour I stopped at a stop sign south of White Sulpher Springs and got out for a look....dry. I was relieved to say the least. I drove another 8 hours back to Utah stopping occasionally and the leak was gone. The next day I took everything apart again to fix it up with some nice shiny valve covers and an Edelbrock Performer I had laying around. After all that it sure is a nice feeling to park someplace for an hour, or all day and come outside to see not even a speck of oil, or anything else on the ground, and to know that I fixed it! Since then I've heard folks say that old chevys just leak...it's just the way they are. Well I say, it doesn't have to be so!
Version 2.0
Last summer coming back through eastern Oregon it was as hot as it gets. Well over a 100 degrees. My fiance was a good sport without A/C, but I get the sense that those days are numbered. When I got the truck I got all the A/C stuff that was removed when he pulled the 454, which was sitting on the shelf. So this winter I've been poking around with getting it rigged back up the way it's supposed to be. Seems that the R12 comes up for sale once in a while, and if it worked in 1980 it should work again, but time will tell this spring when I get more serious about it.
Still needa paint some brackets, but this is close to Version 3.0
Engine bay to do list:
-sand blast exhaust manifolds
-get A/C going
-get correct fan shroud
-maybe in the distant future find the BBC thats supposed to fill that space...dirty larrys 8.1 swap is cool too.
I'll post some interior next, although not as adventurous...