Waynos work truck.

[wayno]

It has been a while for this thread, I lost the water pump yesterday, maybe I lost it before that but it never overheated, the shaft was so loose in the hole that the impeller inside got shined from rubbing the inside of the timing chain cover, but it did not make a hole as I looked.
When checking everything when putting it back together I had to fix everything, both the bottom bolts holding the alternator on were gone but it still was charging, also the bottom power steering pump mount was busted, so it was like the alternator, nothing holding it there except the upper bracket used to tighten the belt, I fixed all that stuff and then did the exhaust yet again, I have been having exhaust leak issues for a few months now, I put one of them stainless steel woven isolator things in to try and keep the collector gasket from vibrating and leaking, I HATE exhaust leaks, we shall see how long this one lasts.

[wayno]

I did the rear brakes yesterday, the e-brake was not holding very well so I decided to see if the cables were rusted solid, but they moved, but when I seen the brake shoes, I went in and found a box of unused ones I bought from Nissan a long time ago, so now I need another couple sets for the future, if not available I will need to have my old ones re-shoed.





I took them photos to make sure I got it back together correctly but I did not need to use them as I did not forget how to put it back together, but I sure was talking to myself, them damned little springs that hold the shoes in place(front and back shoes) so all the larger/stronger springs can be installed, well I could not get one in place, it took somewhere around a half hour to get that cap on the spring, them caps that you put on and twist, I used to do it with my thumb, but now I have to do it with pliers, I also lost one of them caps when something fell on it.

I also think I have an exhaust leak already, so I will try again tomorrow if it is not raining.

[wayno]

I loosened the connection on my exhaust back under the bed, I did this because I lifted the exhaust system back between the rear cross member and the rear axle, I thought I heard another exhaust leak, so after I released that joint I loosened all 3 exhaust manifold bolts holding the collector on to the exhaust manifold then I tightened them again and then tightened that rear joint again, started it and it sounded better.

But then I could hear this weird sound coming out of the SU carb throats, I thought it might be tight valves so i adjusted the valves, two were tight and none were loose, the sound did not change, so either I will get used to it or it will get worse and break, and then I will know what the issue was.

I have thought about just putting that other engine back in with the fixed head, but I do not have an extra distributor to modify the curve so it does not knock/ping, and this engine will burn regular while that engine has higher compression and I am not really sure if premium non ethanol gas will stop the knocking/pinging, they were supposed to be the exact same engine but they are not the same, this one was made out of a Z22 truck block/engine, the better engine was made out of a Z22 car block/engine, both were punched out to 89mm and used Z24 pistons, both heads were the same(closed chamber) and ported to match the Dual SU intake manifold, both blocks looked the same with the Z24 pistons about 1mm below the deck, yet the engine that ate craters in the head around the fire rings was a higher compression engine with more power, I was told both engines have the same rods, I do not understand what is different, but they are different.

[wayno]

I cannot get new dually brake shoes anymore, so I need to have the two wore out sets I have re-lined, I used to take them to Otts on Columbia Blvd but they are not there anymore and I thought they closed as that was what the place that was where it used to be led me to believe, but the local parts store said they moved to the Clackamas Or area near where that Bills Datsun place is, I will search it.

[wayno]

I spent hours a couple days ago trying to get my taillights to work which also make the trailer lights work, I could get one side to work and then the other side quit working, this went on for hours, I finally got the brake lights working properly only to lose everything else again, it turned out to be the plug connecting everything in the rear harness, I had even cleaned it with spray electrical cleaner, while it was hanging down almost on the ground everything worked a couple times, but when I tucked it up so it would not drag on the ground stuff quit working again, I never had an issue with these 720 plugs before, if it quits working again I will likely cut the plug out and use butt connectors to put it back together, I hate wiring issues as I cannot see electricity to know when there is an issue, when I would use my test light to check for power then stuff would start working until I moved that plug again, I am reluctant to go outside and check my lights as I drove it today.

[wayno]

Well I had to check, they did not all work, I think I fixed it this time, the male part of the plug has round connections, I took a pair of needle nose pliers and ovaled all of them, plugged it back in, cleaned all the wires up and used electrical tape to make it neat, everything worked fine after that.
My 720 wiring harness has one quirk, when I turn the running lights on it takes a while before they come on, the relay has to warm up to work, so if I turn them on and check they are not on, but if I look at the knob to make sure it is in the correct position and check again they are usually on by then.

I still have an exhaust sounding leak, if I have to tear everything off the side of the engine to see if the issue is the intake/exhaust gasket I am going to likely put the other engine back in with the repaired head as it has more power, I will then try running premium gas to see it I can control the knocking that screwed up the head in the first place, this engine in it now is great without the trailer, not so great with the trailer.

[wayno]

Well I have been fighting this exhaust leak for a while now, it has been driving me crazy, it started all of a sudden so I thought it was the exhaust coupler from the exhaust manifold to the exhaust system, but the last fix had to fix that issue and I still had the leak, so I planned on taking the intake/exhaust off today to see if the exhaust manifold was cracked but I found the issue.





I have never had this gasket ever do this before without the intake having issues also, loosing coolant/appear to have a head gasket issue, it was an easy fix compared to having to replace the exhaust manifold, the head gasket, or the engine, I was sure happy when I started it and it was quiet except for this weird gurgling sound with a strange idle, a couple minutes later I figured out I forgot to connect the power brake vacuum hose, it has a valve so it was not leaking all the time, it idled right down and except for the back carb getting too much air everything was adjusted right, I did not have to adjust the fuel ratio, it was already perfect.

The neighbor stopped by and asked if I had a welder, well I fixed his gate frame for him, the hinges were only welded on one side and it worked the thin metal frame where the hinge was welded until it broke off at the edge of the weld on both hinges(which it had already broke off before because of the same issue), I cleaned everything up, ground the old welds down but left enough to not have to weld the thin metal, then I welded it back on, but then I went to the other side of the hinge and welded that to the thin metal frame also so it cannot work(flex) the metal anymore, he said gate has never worked better, he helped me when he could, I am going to get paid to pressure wash his driveway Tuesday as I did the other neighbor Monday, everyone has to keep up with the Joneses, people are strange to me, you do not have to clean your driveway just because the neighbor did, but it has been my living for almost 30 years now, I could never work for anyone else anymore.

I also bought another set of wheels for my new telescope.



My thumb works better today, don't remember if I mentioned I caught the end of my thumb with the edge of the flap disc, I could not grip or pick stuff up with my thumb and index finger until today.

[wayno]

I have drove it a couple short trips so far and it is great to have it back to the way it was before the exhaust leak.

[wayno]

I came as close to having a wreck that was my fault as I have in a very long time, I was behind this SUV that was driving weird, like they were distracted by something, a lot of traffic because of construction on the road to the north, this SUV was driving slower than everyone else around, we were coming to a signal and the SUV picked up speed to make the light(greenish/yellow) and all of a sudden they stomped on the brakes, I was going to follow them thru as it would have still been yellow when I got there, I did not have a chance, I locked up the fronts and it drifted to the left I let off to keep it in my lane, but I had no room to stop, I hit the brakes again and started drifting left again but was trying to turn right, when I knew it was going to be a wreck I did what I did ten years ago, I turned it right, let off the brakes and the truck/trailer shot to the right across the right turn lane( lucky no one in it) and just after I hit the curb and went over it I stopped it, I looked in my rear view mirror and got out and put my sprayer back where it belonged and then heard a horn basically telling me to get out of the road, I got back in and backed down the curb and took a right when traffic finally cleared.

I suspect I missed that SUV buy less than a foot, the truck still drove normally so I drove home, while going home I wondered if that SUV did that on purpose, they never got out and I suspect they heard my tires screeching, they did not even look at me when I looked at them as I was beside them when I got out of my truck(truck was sideways), sometimes I wish I had a Chevy 350 in this truck as I need the weight up front for the front brakes to grab the pavement.

As I wrote this I thought I should have opened up the tri;er to see where my equipment is and the condition(right side up?), I will go out right now, that was a close one.

[DRIVEN]

Careful out there.

[Taterhead]

I would’ve needed to iron out the crease my puckered ass would have caused in the seat.

[wayno]

I have done the same maneuver a few times in the past, every time I end up on the sidewalk, but this one I thought I was too late, it was going to be an ugly wreck but I did not hit the vehicle, I was lucky.

I really thought the vehicle was going to go thru that yellow light, it had just turned yellow and even I would have had time to get thru it, but they sped up and then stomped on the brakes, like a setup, they were driving weird before that, going really slow for several blocks while everyone else was passing them, then doing what they did at that light, I was on auto pilot, no time to think, only time to react.

[DRIVEN]

Stoners

[wayno]

I do remember one thing very clearly, when I let off the brakes that second time, the steering was pointed towards the right and that truck shot sideways like I was in my Mini, it grabbed that pavement hard, I was amazed that I did not hit that vehicle, I cannot ever remember that truck reacting like that, like the front wheels were glued to the pavement, they were not glued to it when I was trying to stop.

I wish the back brakes worked better, maybe the trailer brakes/trailer helped the front grab so hard pushing against my truck, I just know I got lucky, maybe this is why I have broken 3 windshields, better windshields than someone else's vehicle.

[wayno]

Well this happened today, my trailer tire came apart like a retread does, it wiped out the wiring and the fender on the trailer, I walked back and picked up the fender out of the lane it was in, I was not able to find my license plate, I spent 4 hours unbending the fender and welding it back on, and I figured out the wiring also, the trailer brakes work again.

It did not even hurt the rim, it is perfect, no road rash, the rim itself never touched the ground.



I used what I had around here for lights, the top is running lights and brake lights, the two small lights are turn signals, they are very bright.



Someone stopped to help me but I was tightening the lug nuts by that time.

[wayno]

The back of this truck was black until a couple days ago, I was seeing black smoke coming out of my tail pipe the last few months, I never noticed this before, while I had the hood up checking the oil level(it was fine) I looked at the top of my oil filter and seen the date/mileage, it had been a while, what oil it uses leaks out, anyway I checked the odometer and I could not believe how many miles I had put on that oil, over 9000 miles, I bought a filter and changed the oil, it mostly quit smoking unless I get near floored, and even idles smoother now, I had used that oil 5 years.(insert face palm here)

I did get most the gauge lights working(aftermarket gauges), now I don't need to use that lantern(led) light to see what is going on, but I have not driven in the dark since as conditions for using the telescope at the dark site have not been good, which includes a full Moon or smoke.

[wayno]

A couple days ago I went outside and my 521 kingcab was not charging, so I moved the 520 kingcab out and the brakes did not work properly but I made it to the library and back home before they did not work at all, so I started the work truck the next day to take all the gutter debris to the recycler as 6 duplexes gutters were full and it filled the bed up, well the dump bed did not work/dump so I had to shovel it out.

Yesterday I figured out why the dump bed did not work properly, one of the cylinders was leaking, but that was not the reason why it did not work properly, the dump bed motor would not run full speed so the seal would not seal properly, I thought the motor was shot so I started to remove it(2 of the 4 bolts) and had a thought, I went under the hood and checked the goofy connection I made as I used both wires of an old jumper cable to supply power to the motor as the wires inside the cables were not very large, well the battery connections were corroded, I cleaned them up and the dump bed worked properly again.

So this morning I took both leads off a Wards stick welder I no longer use and I used that very large thick lead wire for a cable, I had to drill out the welder end that was bolted on to the clamp for the welding rod, it was bolted on that clamp with a small bolt/nut, the ground lead was not long enough, I went and bought another end with a 3/8" hole for the battery connection, that has a threaded connection(no cable), while I was at parkrose hardware I noticed that Wards had just used a copper tube and put the wire ends in it and then flattened the whole thing and then drilled a 3/8" hole in the end, so when I got home with the end I bought I just put the wire in the copper fitting and crushed it with my vice, looked the same as the wards ends, so I called it good and replaced the jumper cables with the welder lead and all is good, I will never use that welder again anyway, so I guess I should scrap it, it has a lot of copper wire in it but I am not sure how to remove it from the ballast.

All is good with the work truck again and that cylinder does not leak, but I think I need a new hose for the one side(2 cylinders).

[wayno]

It is pouring rain on my way to a job and my wipers quit working right in front of my view halfway there, I could not tell why they quit but I kept on going, once at the job I grabbed the wiper blade and it would not move so the drive arm did not fall off the motor arm.

I did the work and drove home, it was pouring even harder, interesting view thru the windshield.

That evening I checked for power to the motor and it had none, I replaced the fuse and it blew the moment inserted, I tried a couple more with the same result, so I unplugged the motor plug from the system and inserted another fuse and it did not blow the fuse, I checked the wiring to the motor and it was not great, but I could not see any direct shorts, fact is only one wire has power and the rest are grounds and the power wire looked fine.

I wired up another 521 wiper motor I have, since I am using a 720 wiring harness and the 521 motor wires are not in the same place in the plug as a 720 wiper motor, I found a plug for this wiper motor and inserted the wires in the correct spots, plugged it into the harness, and then turned on the ignition and cycled the wiper switch, it did not work properly the first couple times but then it sorted itself out and I believe it started working properly, it had been sitting in the parts box for years, I keep all wiper motors just in case this happens, it was raining last night and it was dark by then so I did not installed it.

I have never had a wiper motor quit like this in my life, my assumption is a brush failed and jammed it up and touched a ground inside the motor blowing the fuse, I have not decided if I am going to take it apart, I do have some single speed 520 wiper motors for parts if I want to try to repair this one.

This makes me want to put rain-x on all my vehicles, it is difficult to tell if the car ahead of me is hitting the brakes on the freeway when poring that hard, if it had been raining any harder I would not have been able to see to drive, silver vehicles are almost invisible.

[DRIVEN]

Careful out there.

[wayno]

It is really weird, I replaced the wiper motor assembly and it works fine now, but I pulled the cover off the one I removed and the brushes looked fine, I spun the shaft and everything turned fine(wiper drive arm moved), so I put the cover back on and this wiper motor/drive assembly works fine, it does not have a short anymore, I blew 3 fuses immediately upon putting the wiper switch in the on position in the truck, now it runs fine, whenever a motor has jammed on me in the past it never blew the fuse, it just got hot trying to function, but this one blew fuses, it would run forwards and backwards(not installed in truck), this confuses me.

My microwave did the same thing to me, it quit working so since I have an extra I switched them out, I looked the one that quit over real good, now it works fine again so I switched them back to their original places, my reality is a weird place.