I'm calling it "Low-C"

[SenorNoob]

That's some serious boredom. Lots of work there.

 

[ForgedCrank]

That's some serious boredom. Lots of work there.

I have a bit of a unique setup. I work from home and I have my home office in my workshop since the wife has never let me smoke in the house. So I'm like 10ft from the truck all day long and do little things here and there in between phone calls or when I need a brain break.
Got the new diff cover on and re-filled finally. I only ordered 2 quarts because I thought it was a 7.5" back when I ordered it. Turns out it's an 8.8 so I had to order more, but that's finally done and now i don't have to touch any more stinky gear oil.
Bad news is, head isn't done yet and I never got a call back on Friday about an updated estimate on when. I'm starting to get nervous because I can catch the riot act here for having a non-functional vehicle sitting around. I keep it looking normal, not jacked up or with the hood open all the time or anything like that, but someone is going to notice sooner or later and probably get me in trouble.
But, I've since done a shampoo job on the carpet, got them all looking real good now. I can't decide if I want to do the seats or not. Sometimes if the foam is old or soiled, the water will stain the fabric so I'm not sure if I want to do that or not. They are slightly dirty, but not bad at all. Thinking about starting to sandblast more the the frame and rear suspension, but it's so dang hot right now... wearing that respirator and crap in this heat isn't all that fun.

 

[RobbieD]

I can't decide if I want to do the seats or not. Sometimes if the foam is old or soiled, the water will stain the fabric so I'm not sure if I want to do that or not.

It's really not that hard, to pull the fabric covers off of the foam to really wash them. It does require pulling the seats, and some disassembly.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Got word from the machine shop today. Delays have been due shop owner trying to keep everyone alive and sending them home in the afternoons due to extreme temperatures in the shop. I recon I can excuse that.
Anyway, they expect to be done with it tomorrow or Thursday. I was surprised to find out though that the warping wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. He told me .008 cleaned it up real nice, and the valve springs all measured perfect. He is replacing all of the exhaust valve guides for me, and said the intake guides were like brand new.

 

[pentode]

man, i would love to have that ranger

That's the truck I wanted in 1994 and have been looking for ever since. In these parts, getting the 4cyl 5spd with A/C was nigh on impossible.

 

[pentode]

it's so dang hot right now... wearing that respirator and crap in this heat isn't all that fun.

Man, I did my rocker panels a few days ago when it was mid 90s and 80% humidity... I was alternating between grinding with ear/eye protection with a dust mask and a welding mask and it was comically uncomfortable.

To all you guys who do that stuff every day,

Best of luck on your project, nice truck!

 

[pjtoledo]

Got word from the machine shop today. Delays have been due shop owner trying to keep everyone alive and sending them home in the afternoons due to extreme temperatures in the shop. I recon I can excuse that.
Anyway, they expect to be done with it tomorrow or Thursday. I was surprised to find out though that the warping wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. He told me .008 cleaned it up real nice, and the valve springs all measured perfect. He is replacing all of the exhaust valve guides for me, and said the intake guides were like brand new.

what about the cam bearing journals?
cutting a flat surface on a warped head still leaves the cam bearings in a warped condition.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Man, I did my rocker panels a few days ago when it was mid 90s and 80% humidity... I was alternating between grinding with ear/eye protection with a dust mask and a welding mask and it was comically uncomfortable.

To all you guys who do that stuff every day,

Best of luck on your project, nice truck!

I'm not a body/sheet metal guy. I've tried my luck before and I'm just not that good at it. Give me heavy stuff and I'm in my zone... used to be a fitter in a heavy equipment shop (built Talbert low haulers and other custom stuff). I'm going to have to pay someone to do mine. I need 1 rocker and one cab corner, plus the dent behind one rear wheel.
I recon it just takes more practice with the sheet metal. I'm not bad spraying paint, but the body work... yea, you don't want me touching that.
I'm getting bored sitting around waiting on the head, but I can't bring myself to suit up in this weather to do sandblasting.

 

[ForgedCrank]

what about the cam bearing journals?
cutting a flat surface on a warped head still leaves the cam bearings in a warped condition.

Yea he's doing that too. he's putting new bearings in it and said he would measure the thing and see what it looked like, then hone it if it was wacked. no word on that yet

 

[Clint's 3.0 ranger]

Liking your ranger as it is a very clean truck. A lot of work has gone into and hopefully it will last you a really long time. Looking forward to seeing updates as it's completed.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Ok, I'm in a bad spot now for sure. I can no longer whine and complain about the machine shop taking so long... now I actually have to do work.
He did everything I asked, although I'm a bit irritated that they didn't spend a little time cleaning the valve tops at least. I know, petty and irrelevant, I just obsess over dumb things sometimes. But yea, FINALLY got it back this afternoon. Blasted and magnafluxed, resurfaced: it war about .006 out and he shaved off .008 although his finish cut isn't as great as I'd prefer, new exhaust seats, new valve stem seals, new cam bearings, 3 angle grind on valves, crack repaired (ended up only being one crack on cylinder 1 between the valves). Exhaust valves were all clean and straight so I didn't replace them. He told me they checked the cam hoop alignment and it was almost perfect so they didn't hone it or anything. I was confused as to how the head could be warped by .006 but that remain unchanged. He did tell me that is usually the case on iron heads and they rarely have to correct it unless it's aluminum. Still doesn't add up so maybe it was just more twisted than it was bowed lengthwise. The cam does appear to spin freely though (best I can tell with it assembled anyway).
Now I am strapped with hosting a stinking outdoor party tomorrow with 40 guests, so I'm not even going to be able to start on it for a couple of days. Argh...

 

[pentode]

As someone who has suffered from obsessive perfectionism in the past, I feel your pain.
Your twist vs. bow theory sounds likely to me. I'm betting it's going to work out just fine.

 

[ForgedCrank]

I'm pretty mad at myself as of now. I've had the head back since Friday and still haven't started on it. Somehow, I lost one of the head alignment dowel pins. I've gutted this shop looking for the lost one, but I'm left wanting. Ordered FelPro replacements, but not expected until tomorrow evening. So now I'm doing upholstery and carpet trying to stay with the project. the seats and carpeting really didn't look terrible, but I was amazed at how much dirt and filth was pulled by the extractor. I'm left without even a single stain anywhere. It's in great condition. I also pulled the door panels to chase down some rattles. I found that the plastic stand-offs that are molded into the bottom-rear of the door for the screw hole were snapped off. Melted them back in and bolstered up with some JB-Weld epoxy. Also going to add some foam padding in strategic spots to mitigate the rattles.
I also spent a considerable amount of time with the tap set chasing all the bolt hole threads in the block and cleaning them out with a drill brush and air.
New power steering lines are installed and system purged of old fluid. Everything is de-greased, wire drill cleaned, and then painted. New AC condenser is installed.
I also ordered an instrument cluster with tachometer last week from a boneyard. 30 bucks... I figured why not try it. Came out of a 94 Explorer which I hear is plug-n-play. We'll see I recon.

 

[RobbieD]

Nice job on the interior cleaning.

The upholstery from these years seems to hold up really well.

 

[ForgedCrank]

Nice job on the interior cleaning.

The upholstery from these years seems to hold up really well.

The shadows in the pictures make it look stained but in person, it's incredibly clean. I'm quite happy with it. I ran out of my normal stuff and took a chance using diluted PurplePower and those upholstery brushes that attach to a drill, then rinsed and pulled it out with an extractor. Came out really good.