This morning I met some of my Bride’s cousins, her Father is spending some time with us recuperating after a particularly nasty spell that put him in hospital for a couple of days. He is strong as an OX but deaf as a post. If you met him you would think he may bee in his late 60’s, but he is actually 87. He has 9 siblings and they all have families, so my Bride has cousins everywhere! One of them showed up this morning to visit with my FIL. It was a very pleasant visit and it turns out they live just over a mile away. It was nice to spend time with them.
After the visit I decided to try to finish the rest of my truck. My two missing parts had been delivered, so I decided to tackle those first. The oil pressure sending unit lined up easily and I was able to install it with very little effort since the socket was long enough to get past the distributor and I had room for the wrench. I should’ve known it wouldn’t be this easy. After three minutes of struggling with it I looked at the socket on the wiring harness and realized I had the wrong thermostat, one I purchased was three pins. The one I needed was a single pin, for now the sending unit seals the hole, so I can turn the engine over. But I’ve already ordered the new sending unit.
Next up were the two rubber pieces for the PCV valve. They went on beautifully. No issues at all, and I grabbed the last two hoses left to install. The vacuum hose that goes between the intake manifold and brake booster. I gave it a quick clean and added some tire shine before putting it in place. I still need to do the Clamps which I forgot. I will go back to check it again later. The second one is hard plastic vapor line between the purge valve on the intake manifold and the vapor canister, that went on without any incident, in fact .
Moving back to the front of the engine I mounted the pushed the alternator into the bracket and got it bolted down. I connected the plug to the side and the primary wire from the battery to the terminal and covered it with the rubber cover. It is mostly clean now I ran it over the wire brush but it really could have done with a paint job. The whole of the front adapters let down the work that went into this engine refresh but I am not going to spend > $1K on a custom bracket setup just to look good.
I haven’t paid much attention when removing the power steering bracket, and since it was over six months ago that I removed it. I didn’t remember the order that it went back. It turns out that the bracket does not go on first. The pump connects to the engine and then the bracket connects to the pump. I did not realize that and had to redo it after installing the bracket first. There were some fiddling around loosening bolts trying to get the pump bolts to align correctly from the front of the bracket but it all fit correctly in the end. Next order up is this stupid power steering pulley. I wasn’t very happy with how dirty the threads were inside the shaft. I tried to clean the threads with a tap, but it kept getting jammed so I installed the tool as far as it would go but after about five minutes of wrenching on it getting the pulley about 1/4 on, the threads tore out of the tool inside the shaft. Since the pulley was tight on the shaft, I was able to hold it in place while re-tapping threats deeper. With this fix, I was able to get the pulley 3/4 of the way down before it, stripped out the other end of the crap tool. This tool is basically useless. I almost feel like getting it on the rest of the way with my BFH. But I have an idea that this will probably destroy the pump internals. I will have to come up with a new solution, possibly just buying another tool.
Starting so late in the day is already reached peak temperature and I’ve already gone through 64 ounces of water at this time. It was really starting to not feel that good so rather than finish the job today, I decided to leave on the sour note of a failed, install power steering pump pulley the new oil sending unit comes in on Friday and I hope to be finished with the vehicle that day. That was very frustrating. I really wanted to finish it, but with the upper hose and fan and shroud to install I would be blocking access to this POS power steering pump pulley. Oh well, I still need to wait for the correct oil pressure sending unit. I’m REALLY close now. Just have to keep up the faith and the good attitude.
