Heath's M35A2... the beginning

[The King Machine]

I found a slight pause in neutral between gears really helps with shifting. Especially the 1st to 2nd jump.

I agree thats the longest and most difficult shift to master, i use first only to get me rolling and shift out at a relatively low RPM. The other shifts I just whined her out to about 2400 and use the clutch to break the tension so to speak and the stick falls right into place. Smooth like Canadian beer, plus I have nightmares for several days if I beat on my beloved trucks clutch and trans.

 

[Heath_h49008]

Oh, I figured out my problem. The gear oil was 50% water and looked like a milkshake with rust crunchies mixed in and every gear surface on the top shaft was rust pitted. There are photos floating around here somewhere when I pulled it apart.

Just imagine the bits of rust as itty bitty ball bearings in thick grease that kept the shaft from spinning up to allow for a clean mesh.

I have the new/used trans, I just have to pick it up and install it.

 

[Heath_h49008]

Updates:

Muffler is installed and I left the pipe long. Looks good and the combination of muffler and higher outlet have drastically reduced the in-cab noise.


The governor housing (back cover of the pump) was loose.... as in so loose it almost fell off. Tightened and safety wired it. Suddenly she idles great, and the free-rev hits 2800rpm in quick order.

My patch job on the fuel lines is weeping. I was considering bypassing my FDC anyway, so this might become one job where I reline the whole pump/HH and be done with it.

Tested engine paints. I settled on Ford Grey VHT engine paint. The stuff shows leaks easily, and looks good.


Tested more paint removal methods. The results are... thick-flaking paint= needle scaler. Thick non-flaking paint=Harbor Freight Polycarbide wheel on an angle grinder. For the thin/single layers and impossible to reach nooks and crannies, the pressurewasher sandblaster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfhpJeNimVQ&feature=share&list=UUgfWEHo1A_bWrMvW1mqrWeg

 

[Heath_h49008]

I have also been looking for options for the weatherstripping. Like many others, all the rubber in my truck is either missing, or half eaten junk. I have found a product at Home Depot that is used as garage door weatherstrip. It's not a perfect match, but I think it can be trimmed to be a suitable replacement for the door seal. They also have a window felt type strip that should work for door window tracks. I'll post my progress. I know reseal kits are available... but $250+ for a few yards of rubber is a bit salty. We can do better as soon as I find the right substitutes for each section.

Tested the fuel gauge and sending unit... sender is toast. It's actually missing part of the rheostat. Another part for the shopping list.

Installed and adjusted the new parking brake cable.

Need dashlight bulbs, and to seal, tape, and patch the entire wiring harness. Just dryrot, but $400 for a replacement harness is just out of my budget. I'll be sealing what is there with liquid electrical tape, and wrapping that in quality 3M tape for abrasion and to hide my crime.

I still need to drive to Copemish to pick up my new transmission, and find some serviceable tires or affordable 395s and tubes.

 

[uriss]

Rustoleum Aircraft paint stripper. Spray it on wait ten minutes or so and heavy steel wool cuts it off.

 

[Heath_h49008]

Started in on the truck with the needle scaler. Got one bedside started by using the truck as the air compressor. She was running great and I checked the guages every few minutes out of paranoia.

Imagine my shock when after sitting at 180 for over half an hour, I checked it and it was up to 220.

Yes, I shut it down and felt the radiator... hot, but not boiling... no steam. I'm going to cross my fingers nothing got cooked and look for a slow leak. (It was down on coolant)

Hit the cracked sections of the wiring harness with liquid electrical tape yesterday, and today it was cured and AWESOME. I love this stuff. Tough and easy to apply.

The needle scaler worked well enough. Not exactly fast, but once I got the hang of holding it "in the zone" to give the needles a bit of space it seemed to work well enough. Great on fasteners and corners... so-so on large flat areas.

 

[welldigger]

Hey heath what's the method for applying that phosphoric etch acid? And does it need to be neutralized or anything before applying paint? Saw you mention it at the end of your grinder wheel video.

 

[Heath_h49008]

I use a $1 Home Depot spraybottle to apply it.

As for neutralization, simply put... I don't. If the metal has to sit bare for a day or so, I leave the residue in place. Before I put primer or paint on, I rinse it off with a bit of soap and water. The stuff I painted/treated this way last year is holding up fine.

 

[Heath_h49008]

Ok... a pretty productive day working on her for all of 4 hours. Got my gallon of DOT 5 finally and bled the system. The front wheel cylinder needs to be rebuilt, but I wanted to drive her a bit and check for other leaks. Got a rock hard pedal.

I topped off the radiator and ran her for quite a while... about a mile of on-road action and the temp was hitting 240 degrees! I was puckered pretty tight, and shut her down in a hurry. But after I shut it off, I flipped the master back on to see the needle, and the gauge settled at 180 degrees. Popped the hood, and the radiator was warm, but not boiling, no steam, and no water puking out of the cap.

I either have a sketchy sender, gauge, or thermostat. But even if it WAS the T-stat... it couldn't have cooled down that fast without the water pump running. At least that's my take on it unless someone has a better idea what's happening. (Please speak up)

My wiring patches seem to be holding, but the turn signals are acting weird. It takes about 10-30 seconds for the lights to start flashing... but then once they are warmed up they work perfectly. Unless someone has another idea, I'm going to guess it's a ground issue. The system arcs a little and establishes a better ground the longer it runs... or so I suspect. (Again, if this sounds familiar to anyone, please speak up.)

Paint... I scraped some more. I will scrape more next week. I am fighting the urge to just knock the loose stuff off and spray it.

 

[Heath_h49008]

http://youtu.be/IgjIZ9UT_EM

 

[Heath_h49008]

http://youtu.be/ETVSlQHbzrs

 

[Heath_h49008]

That is without abrasive... I need a turbo tip to get the rest of the little chunks off. An hour and a half with the pressure washer got 75% of the tan CARC off of the underside of the bed. The paint on the sides is thicker and will require abrasive, needle scaler, or grinder wheel to gut through.

That pressure washer is running 3750psi and 4gpm.

Took it for a test run as well, and she sounds good with the muffler. If anything the turbo "whistle" is more noticeable without the "pop" of the engine thanks to the muffler. But that is still the old tranny with new fluid and she shifts like a bucket of rocks.

 

[HanksDeuce]

I wish you luck, my friend. Keep us posted on your progress. Don't lose your momentum now!

 

[Heath_h49008]

Going to post some vids on the paint stripping process. This will be a start-to-finish multi-tool test and run.

I also noticed nobody has made a vid of a brake job/adjustment... I'll try to do that while I'm doing my front wheel cylinder.

Side work on the house and farm is done so I'll do another small area test with chem stripper, and show you what the needle scaler did tomorrow before the big strip-prime and paint next week.

She's running better than she has since I've brought her home. No change in fuel, adjustments, or anything since I tightened the Governor housing and re-safety wired the cover. I have no idea what happened. Either the rings reseated, or I had an injector clear itself... I really have no clue. But she starts and idles at 750-800rpm and purrs like a kitten. When driving, she has developed a weird habit of pulling to the right for no reason at higher speeds. I think that's due to the leaking wheel cylinder swelling the shoes and causing them to grab on the pass-front. I'll post results when I get in there and am hoping to avoid having to replace the shoes. It's DOT5 not gear oil... so with any luck I can dry them out. (But I doubt it.)

As soon as this bodywork is done, I'll move into the radiator pull-send out for service-reinstall, water injection build with EGT install, trans swap, and the electrical upgrades to install the Vanner Voltmaster.

Question! Anyone have an easy trick to pull the front of the bed back into shape without yanking the whole bed and beating it back? Mine looks like it had hard stops with heavy loose loads slamming the front. I'll take a pic tomorrow, but it's beat out a good couple of inches.

 

[welldigger]

A pin welder and a slide hammer might do it. But if the front of the bed has been beat out as far as you say it has then the metal will need to be shrunk. A technique I never mastered. Otherwise, it will never go back into shape correctly.

 

[Heath_h49008]

It's a bit worse than a pin welder/slide hammer... imagine a skid loader ran into the heavy steel tube at the front of your bed and bowed it out 2+ inches.

I have a calc test at school then I'm heading out there. I'll show you a picture tonight.

 

[welldigger]

O I see. For some reason I thought you just meant the sheet metal. Don't ask me why.

 

[Heath_h49008]

This is the needle scaler....

http://youtu.be/shGPf6WEv2I

 

[Heath_h49008]

This is what the chemical stripper did after an hour and 3 applications/scrapings... It's ok I guess, if you like slow, messy, and burning pain when it touches you. (Kinda like my ex wife.)

 

[Heath_h49008]

That's how bowed the front of the bed is. Not pretty, but then again, nothing that really bothers me either.

I'm thinking a couple of holes with large eye-bolts and run a strap back to a good sized tree out the back of the bed. See if that can yank it back to square. While I'm fixing everything else I might as well give it a tug.