The "Goldwing" Build Thread

[mason_411]

well everyone else is making build threads so why not?? hahaha now before i start this i want to let you guys know that im only 16 (but have been wrenching since my fist fit in a 1" socket lol) so if you see something imdoing wrong or that may not be a good idea please bring it to my attention as im sure the majority of you have more experience than i do.

Ok so here she is the day i brought her home:

i picked her up for $1000 with "blown headgaskets" 182k miles 4.0 v6 5 speed all manual interior options and the one shitty electric t case (which is giving me problems now)

i started to tear down the motor and here is what i found:

as you can see the thing had a lot of water running through the heads and it must have sat in there for a while... surprised it wasnt seized up hahaha. but the previous owner was right... the head gaskets were blown however not in the place that would make water get in the oil. which means cracked heads or cracked block and on the account both heads had signs of water damage it must have been the block.

so the block came out:

i found the clutch was cracking and the flywheel was burnt to shit:

so while waiting to find a motor my boredum came out and brought the spray paint and stickers with it lol this is my only pic on my computer and its just with the flares done... i did bumpers flares and rims... im a teen so i had to teenager it out!!!

then i got bored again one day after school and bolted up some tow hooks to the front of my frame real tucked away and hidden:

i have a lot more stuff done too it now (motor, lift, cb, sterio, other small things) but all my pics are on my phone so ill update tomorrow.

 

[Pony]

Nice looking truck starting younger is better

 

[jhammel85]

Not bad so far but that's too bad about the motor. At least you're making the best of it...Looks like a clean truck!

Welcome to the forums

 

[brinker88]

It's just me, but, I would have gotten the heads magnafluxed before I pulled the motor.

 

[mason_411]

It's just me, but, I would have gotten the heads magnafluxed before I pulled the motor.

yeah i was going to but if it was the heads being cracked i would have wound up with around the same amount of money spent in heads, gaskets, and getting my heads/ block inspected as getting a new fine running motor... and i with the amount of water that was in my oil i know my bottom end had to have some serious damage let alone valves and cam. so it was safer to get a new motor.

 

[mason_411]

Update!

ok so i said id update today so here it is. heres the truck with the rest of the painting done:

then i got a motor... another 4.0 v6 automatic with only 90,000 miles out of a 93 explorer:

new clutch:

got it in... wiring harness was just plug and play but matched up pretty good:

Found out it had a massive fuel leak:

got it all up and done and she purred like a kitten!!! so now i started to actually make it mine haha i ordered a brand new roughcountry 4" lift kit for about $500 which was a pretty good deal (gotta love ebay!) but i got it home and put the rear on when my buddy came over and told me theres a ranger at the local u pull and pay with a skyjacker class 2 4" lift... since mine was already bolted on (and the paint showed it) they wouldnt take the kit back! but anyways heres some shots of the rear lift:

Stock:

4" lift installed:

Front drop brackets and lift components:

I went to the local u pull and pay and picked up somesway bar end links off the rear of a 98ish explorer which were 4-6 inches longer than my stock front ones so i could run them with my lift. i took another step and made them quick releases by tapping a whole in the bottom bolt and using a pin:

How she sits now and a rear flex shot (front isnt flexing because i forgot to undo my sway bar links... i have no rear sway bar):

Then i went and found a CB in my garage and made a mounting bracket and wired her up but i still need a whip:

I got creative and noticed that there were no good, easy accessed grounding points for things in my cab... so i drilled a whole in my frame just behind the inner fender so anything i mount in my cab can be grounded to that bolt safely and securely:

I got a Panasonic deck from the JY and installed it (it has sub controls so ill be able to run my subs when i get a good amp):

so like i said in my first post my electric hubs are giving me fits! my t- case will shift just fine into 4wd and the drive shaft will spin fine too but for some reason my hubs wouldn't lock in. now i noticed when i pulled off my tires to do my lift my hubs were all kinds of greased up and gunked up with nastyness hahaha:

and i was pretty sure that electric hubs are not supposed to be greased at all so i took um apart and cleaned it up:

BUTTTT after i cleaned the center hub all up and took the hub nut off i noticed something on my hub nut that was a tad irritating

so thats where i am tonight... im stuck with a broken hub and empty pockets... and if my electric hub is broken im just going to convert to manual lockouts soooo im kinda glad ones actually broken hahaha I know the broncos of a few years had manual lockouts that will work as a perfect replacement for my e hubs with out needing any extra parts... does any one know exactly what yer bronco that was?? my local JY is full of late model broncos so i can get them fairly easy.

Thanks guys!!

 

[mason_411]

well nevermind on the bronco hubs... i couldnt find anything saying that any fit so tomorrow im ordering some spindle nuts $12 but had to order 2 (because conversion kits are WAYYY too much for a jobless teen hahaha) and some shitty mile marker lockout that will hopefully last through winter ( again... because good hubs are too much for me right now) total came out to $138.47 I know i should probably just wait for money to get warns but i get my license tomorrow so i need my truck ASAP to get me too and from high school. and plus straight axle is definitely in my future (this summer????) so i dont need them for long!

 

[mason_411]

here is a screen shot of what i am ordering with the part #'s in case anyone is wondering about this cheaper manual hub "conversion" kit from 4wheelparts.com:

 

[mason_411]

Update! 11-8-2012

got my hubs in, slapped some new wheel seals in and regreased my bearings and bolted it all up. also got in my CB antennas (twin 4 foot white)

antenna mounts in the front box wall:

then i decided i want to run some light behind my grill like my brother did with his billet grill on his f-150, but im to broke to buy a grill so i cut the middle part out of mine and bondoed in the holes (left side isnt sanded yet in the pic):

sanded side:

How it looks with $7 harbor freight lights behind it hahaha their bright than my bro's $60 Procomps :

and with them on:

yes i know it needs more sanding... i realized that after i hit it with some pain hahahaha oh well ill do it some other time. and the lights look kinda small so i think im going to mount 2 more in there like this( yes those white dots are supposed to be lights hahaha i suck at paint):

oh and i forgot to add that when i did my lift i did "extended" brake lines the easy way hahahaha i noticed with my lift the only thing stopping my axle was my brake lines not my shocks, so i simply straightened the steel lines a bit and removed the clip in the tower which gained about 2 inches of brake line heres where the clip was removed, dont have any shots of the straight lines:

thats all for now... and probably a while haha i have my license now so its my DD and a project haha next step is tires and 2 inch drop shackles in the rear and spacers in the front to go up to 6 inch lift.

 

[mason_411]

Dont really know why im even posting on here since no one seems to be following hahaha but I GOT TIRES!!!
They are 33x12.5 r15 super swamper boggers with about 60% tread left for $340 I put them on my stock rims.

On the truck at school:

At work:

I havent wheeled um yet so idk how good they are. Im going to test them this weekend but my cat seems to like them quite a bit... either that or my trucks just a pussy magnet

 

[mason_411]

oh yeah the cab lights are new since my last post too, got um at harbor freight for $12 hahaha beats the hell outta $30 for name brand ones!!

 

[Sunk]

Looks good, but you should ditch the stacked blocks in the rear.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Good job so far!
I noticed at the beginning of this thread that you were using cement blocks under your front axles. That's a major no-no as they can crumble under point loads. If you HAVE to use them, make sure they are oriented like you are building a wall and then use plywood to spread the load out so there isn't a point load any more. But a much better idea is to use 2x4 0r 2x6 laid out two parallel, then the next level should cross at right angles. Keep adding 2x4's until you reach the height you need. Each level should be nailed or screwed together. You can see the same type of cribbing under mobile homes or when they lift houses off of foundations.
Anyhow, it looks like you are doing a great job and having fun.
Keep it up,

Richard

 

[mason_411]

Good job so far!
I noticed at the beginning of this thread that you were using cement blocks under your front axles. That's a major no-no as they can crumble under point loads.

yeah that was just temporarily my rear was lifted up occupying my only 2 jackstands. but i know its bad haha i already dropped my truck once trying to push it in the garage on the jack and the jack on the front diffy collapsed so i had to buy a new jack

 

[mason_411]

got to test the tires today!!!! they did great!! no pics though... i found a sink hole the hard way and my passenger side front of my cab had about 2 feet of water in it and my phone with all of the days pics and videos was in the cup holder under water hahaha but now my starter is ****ed thanks to today and i have a bad oil leak from god knows where i think my oil pan seal... also theres water in my oil so i have a lot of work to do. I also picked up a new tranny mount and am planning on building a trans crossmember with radius arm mounts. any one got a good like set of measurements on their arms and mounts??? angles lengths what bushings you used and so on and so forth. thanks guys!!