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Hey Nick, hows the new fuel tank holding up? Get the sending unit and filler neck figured out yet?
Check out all the glamour shots of Yoda in the wheeling pics and vids thread.
Hey Mark, thanks a bunch for motovation and parts offer! I’m interested in the defrost venting for the windshield. I was planning to epoxy or Gorilla glue two mounting tabs back on, but having a backup will ensure I don’t have a dash rattle worthy of pulling hair out. I’ll snap a picture of the vent and broken tabs tonight after the girls are asleep.
HVAC has been removed for un-pooping
And these blend doors are stuck, the door for the “feet” air flow won’t budge. I hope the old plastic will seperate without too much fuss. I remember “Slacker” from the SONTT board had an awesome HVAC refurb on a project truck, complete with new foam filling the gaps.
Got Redeee parked inside with help from my buddy. Without brakes, I’m glad to have a spotter while pulling an Austin Powers-esque 19 point turn. In Redee’s current spot, there’s a minimum of 3ft walk around space on all sides. hopefully enough working space for the time being
Pretty sure I’ve decided to refurb the brakes first. Too sketchy working the throttle, steering, e-brake and B&M slap shifter at the same time during my 19-point turn. Untill I start spending money on brake parts, I’ll continue removing the HVAC to sanitize it. Nearly there now.
Also pulled the Canback off, and will hang it from the rafters another day.
The shop is now 90% cleared of clutter, and I just have to rearrange a few heavier items to get Redee parked inside for the winter. Hope to get my neighbour to pop over tomorrow while my girls are at school.
Not sure which task to undertake first, a tossup between a full brake system overhaul and full fuel system overhaul. I’ll prolly flip a coin for it, either way I’ll be spending a fair bit of time under Redee, and that’s A-OK with me.
Where should I bring the gas tank with 30-60 litres of varsol in it for proper disposal?
Where does one buy POR-15? Figure I’ll give the frame a coat while I’ve got all the fuel and brake lines off. Spend some hard hours in the name of Preservation, before I have to put in longer hours cutting & welding frame and floors.
Toyota ECP is going to cover all the cost to replace the steering rack, and a rental car. I’ll have to pay out of pocket for the steering alignment.
Glad I only need to pay for 5-10% of the total cost. That warranty is prolly half paid off by now with this repair. Awesome.
Evan, I’ll definitely pursue a similar solution / repair should the dealership try to dismiss my claim.
At 10:15 this morning, a Service Tech told me that the rack has failed, and they are now starting the warranty claim paperwork. Just a matter of time until I have my answer now.
Thanks guys, real satisfying to hear it rumble to life.
I’m glad your wife understood the level of excitement, some victories are harder won than others. Sam was inside when it came alive so she missed the extreme fist pumping in excitement.
My computer crashed super hard while trying to upload a short video to youtube, sorry no soundtrack guys. My 9 year old laptop might just be dead, hopefully my buddy from work can sort things out.
SUCCESS!!! Redee is alive!! and spun 180 degrees in the driveway for the next phase of poop cleaning.
Cross one item off the list though. Chevy electrical refurb = DONE-ish. I’ll put some more effort in cleaning up the routing of all the wires under the hood over the winter, but for now it’s good enough to maneuver around the driveway and into the shop (once I get more $hit out of there). Overall it cost me about $130 to replace the following parts;
- Spark plugs + wires
- Distributor cap + Rotor + Points + Condensor
- Ignition coil
Unfortunately because I’m running from a Jerry can, I can’t reap the benefits of the excess fuel return line back into the tank. In about 90 seconds, Redee chugged back and re-directed more than 10L of fuel at barely an idle. All that excess which was re-directed back into the tank is gonna get drained as part of the fuel system refurb. Oh well, worth it! Redee is a lot quieter than I thought, nice little rumble. I’m sure the dB output will be significantly different under load and at varying throttle angles. A good day today.
Ugggh, I’m lost in this world of GM “innovation”…from the 70’s. Day 2 of no-spark condition, think I’ve got it narrowed down to some combination of a 4-part problem.
A) A possible “Missing” wire going to the Ignition Coil on the +ve side (from the Starter solenoid?) I have faith that the new coil is nto defective out of the box, but currently it’s only getting 5-6V to it from the Toyota Tach wires. My limited research today tells me that I need 5-6V in RUN, and 12V in CRANK positions of the ignition, just a little extra juice while cranking.
B) Distributor needs points cleaned up /gap set / replaced. (Steve had suggested swapping in an HEI distributor, but I’m not sure if it’ll clear the firewall)
C) Old crunchy wires being poor conductors
D) Hidden kill switch??Tomorrow hopefully my neighbour will pop over during the day so I can try to test problem A with the missing wire. I want to measure the voltage output to the coil while CRANKING, by myself I can only measure with the ignition in RUN. If it still isn’t seeing 12V during CRANK, I’ll run a short wire directly from battery +ve terminal, and touch it to the coil only while cranking the motor. Fingers crossed I can get a little cough outta the motor, or at least my timing light to blip on once.
This afternoon I had a 45-min conversation with the guys at the local parts shop, they’re glad that after 6-years of coming in there, I’ve finally brought them Domestic problems. I’ll go back tomorrow with a couple pictures of the 350, and hopefully they can narrow down a decade from which it was originally built, and start to understand how to get it up and running.
Edit. just remembered that wiring WILL be a good part of my winter (uggh, such a dirty word) activities. Currently no radio, speakers, interior lights or electric Rad fan controller. My super fun garage full of “parts to be used another day” also has a full subwoofer setup I may add in. I think I need to revisit Ed’s pickup build “I got 45 problems” for wiring motivation.
How does that Ram ride with all that weight? Looks like quite the adventure you and the wife were setup for.
Mark, broken collar bone is still slowing me down, but after 8-weeks since breakage, I’m tired of doing NOTHING. Chipping away slowly is keeping me sane, and finally paying off. Redee has been in my driveway almost 3-months, and before my tumble I had hoped to have had the maiden voyage by now, but such is life.
Ryan, glad to hear somebody has first-hand experience with Painless kits. I’ve seen them used for years on the TV wrenching shows I grew up on, but never actually seen one in person. They look awesome on TV, but who really knows just how much prep/cursing/editing it takes to make a 22-minute show.
I know Redee has run before on the current wiring setup, but under the hood it’s not pretty. I have a bucket of removed OEM connectors and sensors, and unfortunately the other end of the removed harness is just dangling or zip-tied to a nearby fastener. Who knows if I’ll clean up the wiring this winter or next year, I guess it depends how long and cold it is this year (ugggh, can’t believe I said winter already). I think I’m in decent shape though, as the Holley Pro-injection unit basically handles most of the 350 thinking (as far as I’ve learned, please anybody school me). It has 12-colour coded wires going to it, 6 for power, 6 for sensors. I’m pretty sure wednesday when the girls are at school, I’ll dig my way down to the distributor cap to try to clean up the cap and rotor. If Redee coughs to life (or at least shows signs of waking up) I’ll head to Davenports to replace the cap / rotor / wires.
I’ve never had trouble with the drums in any of my Toyotas, nor have I had brakes I deemed “inadequate”. Ok that last part is a bit of a stretch, it maybe possible that 4Runneree had multiple failed master cylinders, and a leaking booster, but that just meant I got really good at stomping the brake pedal to the floor…in a panic. Makes sense though, I had to put the clutch to the floor to start the 4Runneree, and put the throttle to the floor to merge and overtake, it’s quite understandable that the brake pedal wanted to feel the floor pans too.
What is a micro line lock and how is it different from a “conventional” line lock?
I thought the rear disk would be worthwhile, but I never really saw the benefits on BigRunner as I only put about 100km on the truck, and that was with failed rear wheel bearings. For rear disk, the cost/timing factor is there; I can either refurb the current setup with wheel cylinders and shoes for under $100, or swap to disk for closer to $400-500. The tipping factor will be the condition of the rear wheel bearings, if they need to be replaced might as well go disk at the same time. Glad I’ve got time to figure it out, but you’re right Evan, might as well get it done with half the costly parts already in my inventory.
Working around the rain this morning, I got the oil and filter dropped and re-filled in the 350, pulled the old plugs and turned the motor over to prime it with oil. I ran a fuel line extension through a new flow through filter and into a jerry can. New plugs in, a little gas down the TBI and gaver a crank. *holds breath with fire extinguisher ready* crank crank crank crank crank crank, nadda. Pulled a plug wire off the motor, put on an old plug to check for spark. Not even a weak spark. If it ever stops raining today I’ll try to pop the cover off the distributor, I’m sure the rotor and points have at lease some corrosion on them interfering with spark. If that’s not the case, I’ll have to start digging through connections and grounds to find a culprit somewhere.
I was hoping to get the truck fired up, so I could spin it around 180* in my driveway the easy way. With the nose facing uphill, I’ll be able to have better drainage from under the dash when I spray and wash it out.
Positives from today. 1) the old oil was a great colour, with no water in the pan either. 2) Cranking the motor over and the mechanical oil pressure gauge climbs appropriately. 3) the fuel pump is pulling fuel into the motor while cranking over. 4) the plugs and filter I bought today were both cheap and correct on the first try. I wonder if I’ll have the same luck with a distributor cap and rotor?
ps. Is there anybody with child-sized hands who also stands 8′ tall interested in trying to remove the distributor cap from the maze of wire connections surrounding it? I was previously advised to consider re-wiring the truck, a general cleanup is required.
