I got home around 11this morning and made myself this epic omelette. It turns out that I have been trying to cook them way too hot in past attempts. I only had the stove turned on about a quarter. Whereas it was set on 3/4 to sweat down the green pepper, onions, and jalapeño.
After I devoured that masterpiece I finally headed down to the shop. I have put it off long enough. I need to get the front of the truck in the shop so I can pull the engine.
I spend 15 minutes moving the stuff out of the way and getting the engine lift out of the back. Then I used the come along with a tow strap to pull the truck into the shop. It took about 30 minutes because I had to shorten the strap by wrapping it between the tow hooks a couple of times.
Once in the shop, the mental delays hit agin. I started questioning how was going to get the bolts out of the back of the block. To get past this. I decided to just remove anything that was removable. I got under the truck and removed the clip holding the wiring harness to the front of the engine. With this removed I was able to bungee the whole harness out of the way and tie it to the wiper arm. I also used a towel to cushion the back corner of the hood as I removed the bolts from hinges. With a couple more towels, I wrangled the hood onto the roof. That was not a 1person job. After that I needed a break. As I pulled up to the house, my bride had just returned from the grocery store, so I helped unload her truck an put the groceries away.
After grabbing a snack and a decaf I get in my head again, and figure out that because the engine is seized, I won’t be able to unbolt the torque converter. That sucks and almost makes me not want to go back to the shop. But I figure I will keep working my plan to just remove everything I can.
Back at the shop I decide to pull the intake manifold. To do so I end up removing the gas lines the plug wires, plugs, and the distributor. The shaft of the distributor is covered in black sticky and chunky oil. This rebuild is going to be messy. I remove the valve covers, then the intake manifold itself. The valley is also filed with nasty black goo.
This is the last job I managed to do. My legs were burning with sciatica, which is either a sign I have been on my feet too long or that I have not been drinking enough water. This time I think it was both. I really didn’t want to leave the shop open all night, but the truck will not fit inside and I don’t want to push it back out tonight, just to have to pull it in again tomorrow. So open it stays. Hopefully I can finish up tomorrow.
