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Project Cowboy...9/6/08 havent quit just delayed

OK well I didnt get much done today. I sat around to long this morning. Well I changed the oil, had to use a breaker bar to get the oil filter off.

I tryed to drop the gas tank but the hoses were stuck on to tight, so after about 2 hours of jacking with that I decided to pump it out because there was only about 2 gallons in there. Only way I could think of to pump it out was to turn it over with the starter. So I took the battery out of my 85 blazer and went to town on the starter. Would turn it over for about 20second then let set for 2 minutes then repeat, did this for almost an hour. I got gallon out from doing that. I will tell you one thing is that I will only buy a optima battery, I turned that engine over all day and it never went dead.
Well since there was still a little bad gas in the tank I dumped 2 things of gas treatment into the tank and then add 93 octane gas to it.

I then went to pull the valve covers off but there was a ton of dirt and grim built up between them and the intake. So a little scrubing and got them cleaned up. Pulled the covers and everything looked good. I oiled the rods and springs down good and put them back on.

I grab my old quardjet from my 85 blazer and half way took it apart and cleaned it good. I forgot to buy a gasket for the carb so I cut one out of gasket paper. I put it on and sealed up all the open vacum ports to fire it up.

Well I went to fire it up. It turned over once then fired right up for 3 seconds and POW:eek1:. A big cloud of smoke and dust puffed out of the engine and it died. So my dad went and got the fire extinguisher and we tried a gain. It fired right up and ran. It was idieling a little high, but no smoke, and I couldnt here anything out of the normal.:D

Vid to liscen to her.



Ok now for the bad.
It has dual exhuast on it. The drivers side sounded good, but the pass. side every 2 seconds it would have a poping sound coming from it. WHat could this be?
So I let it run for 5 minutes and walked back over and the 7 and 8 cylinder exhuast ports on the headers were glowing red.:eek1: I havent got a chance to give it a tune up yet. Do you think the timing is to far advanced or the octane in the engine is to high(proble around 100 with to bottles of gas treatment and 93 octane gas)?

Wed. or thurs. I will try and get a better sound of the poping and see if I can get the red exhuast headers.
 
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colbystephens said:
you may wish to check out my build thread for my '73 to get some ideas on fixing the rocker-rust you've got....

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=221987

i think that my "slider build" starts on post #48. :)
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I was actually thing of almost doing the same thing. I think I will use a 2x6 square tubbing and run it from fender to fender. This way it will take forever to rust through and I will have a slider. I can get sheets of galvanized sheeting that I am going to redo the floor with. I think I am going to completly redo the hole front floor with galvanized sheeting and about 2 inchs up the side. That way I can wash it out with the water hose and not worry about the floor or the corners rusting out.
 
Ok I messed around some more with the engine today but got no where. The #7 and #8 cylinder are still running hot. I replaced the plug and wire for #8 cylinder and it did the same thing. Pulled the valve covers and checked the rockers they looked good, bumbed the engine and they all moved. So I pulled the #8 cylinder plug wire off and ran it. Well #7 and #8 didnt get hot but now #1 got hot:(. I messed with the timing and the only thing that did was idle it down. I think the distrubitor is a tooth in advanced because it idels real high and I have the carb idel turned all the way down. I can retard the disbuter untill it wont rotate any more and the engine is still running but seem to idel better. So tomorrow I will pull the cap and rotor to see if its off.

Is there something I'm missing here? I know that if you advance the engine to far it will run hot but wouldn't all the cylinder run hot to? I need some help.
 
Well I got some work done this week on Cowboy. Had a rough weekend, with it being newyears and all, so didnt get a hole lot done.

Well I messed around with the carb. and got the engine to idel down to normal. Was still running hot but better so I replaced the thermostat and that helped even more. Well I replaced all the vacum lines I needed to run the motor and closed off all the other ones.
Well the headers still glowed a little but I think that maybe because the headers are old and rusted so the walls on them have thined out.

Well now I went to work on the trany. I had never tried to put it in gear before and let it move on its on. So I put it in gear and nothing, wouldnt do anything in any gear I had it in. SInce the dip-stick for it was missing I didnt know how much atf was in it. Well I installed a new dip-stick and started the engine and went to check it. Nothing, well I figured that, so I kill it and then check it and still nothing. So now I know why it wouldnt move. So I drop the pan and find a little bit of oil and a little sludge on the bottom of the pan, with a dead wasp stuck in it. Well I look at everything I can see with the pan off and dont see anything bad. So I start to clean the pan and find 2 thin strips of metal in the pan:(. 1 was about 1/8 inch wide and 3/8 inch long. The other was about 1/2 inch wide and 3 inchs long with what looked like a bolt hole in the middle. So dont know where they came from in the tranny. Well I bolted the pan back up and replace the dent cable since it was broke. Well the one I got was the wrong one, so I took it off. Well since I didnt really need it at the time, I decided to fill the tranny with ATF. Well I spilt a little on the headers so it started to smoke and then when I was on my last bolt of atf(#10) it starts smoking real bad, so I run and kill the engine. I look under the truck and ATF is everywhere. It all squirted out were the dent cable conects:doah:. Well I guess the tranny needed to be flushed out any ways.:haha: So now I am waiting on my new dent cable and another case of ATF to try again. Hopefully she will move and wont be completely trashed. I just want to be able to move her around the yard untill I can find a th400 and 205.
 
I'm still awestruck by the Safari Bumper. Someone actually thought it was a good idea. Out of curiosity, I have to know more specifics about the Bumper. How close is it to 500 pounds? It looked big enough to stand on. Was there any indication as to the purpose of it being so dang huge?
 
That bumper will make a great stand to stand on when you work on your rig... safer than tires... (just flip it over.. it'd be perfect...) But take the goats out first...
 
BlazerBud said:
I'm still awestruck by the Safari Bumper. Someone actually thought it was a good idea. Out of curiosity, I have to know more specifics about the Bumper. How close is it to 500 pounds? It looked big enough to stand on. Was there any indication as to the purpose of it being so dang huge?
Click to expand...

I would have to say the bumper ways about 525 to 550. It takes 2 people to move it around with some grunting. When it was on, there was enough room for me to sit down in it and have room on both sides. I have no clue why they made it so big. It looks like to me that they have modified it a bunch of times and each time made it bigger. I kind of wish I would of left it on for a little longer. That way I could work on the engine easier, but there is so much room under the hood that I just crwal in there instead.
 
Well got a little done today, didnt have much day light after I got off work.

Well I put in the right dent cable and feild up the tranny. Put a little to much so I will fix that tomorrow. Went to see if she would go in gear now. Put her in gear and she jerked forward, so she aint completly bad:bow:. I will put the seat back in and tighten the belts and take her for a test drive. See how she runs.
 
Well I gutted some more out this weekend. I pulled all the ac components out and took the dash apart. Gutted the out a bout 15lbs of useles wiring. The PO had tons of wires going nowhere. There was about 10 to 12 feet of speaker wire balled up under the glove box. He had a 12 guage wire running from the battery to up under the dash with about 8 feet rolled up. It would of been a nightmare if I was trying to fix a short under the dash. All that is left is the fuse block and the main wires(lights, door wiring, wipers, ignition, and for now the gauges). So now I got a big hole in my fire wall along with the floors.

Clean dash :D
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I can see my engine
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Once I get a roll cage put in. I will make a custom dash for it.


This weekend I hope to patch the hole in top of the cab and start patching the rust in the back of the bed(very little). Wont do much next weekend got a road trip. The 26 & 27 I will start cutting out the floor.

PS I should have a surprise coming this weekend:D. Wasn't planning on getting it this soon, but coulnd pass up the deal. I will pick it up friday and have pics for you saturday.
 
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Well I took off the rusted out tailgate today. Its amazing how much lighter one is with out the glass in it. I also removed the rear bumper and drop down hitch for good. I was about to tourch the bolts off the drop down hitch because they were sll striped out, but then remembered the gas tank was right there.

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I plan on moving the gas tank to the top of the bed. I will build a box and put it at the very end and have it in the center. Then I will box the space in between the gas tank and bedsides and to the fender and make them storage coparments.
 
Well I picked up the surprise tonight. Can anyone say 454:D. I picked it up for $400. It even came with all the bracket and acess.. And guess what happened to be bolted to it Th400. You cant beat a complete 454 and th400 for $400.
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I'll get more pic`s and info. when I get more time.
 
Dude I have been tracking your thread and I like it. I can't wait to see what elts your going to do to it.
 
Ok the 454 came out of a 80's tow truck. It was running when taken out. Everything worked what I've been told. They took it out and put a 502 in it. The engine has sat for over a year dismanteld, so there is some surface rust. The th400 worked fine and had a 208 behind it. I havent pulled the vin numbers on the engine or heads yet. My plans for it are to turn it into a 502 or maybe a 540 with a 9 to1 or 9.5 to 1 compression ratio. Just depends on how much money I can save up for it. I will try to rebuild the tranny myself. I will supe it up a little. Now all I need to do is find a 205 and I will be set.
I am going to sell the 350/350/203 combo thats in it now this summer for $500, so I will pretty much get my money back. I wont do anything with the engine and trany untill june, so it will be a while before we see what I do with it:(.
 
Ok this is pretty much what I have planned for the future and what is to come.

1. Most of the body work done

2. Engine and drive train (502 or 540, th400, 205)

3. Cage (at least a 8 point cage)

4. Rest of body work (seats and custom dash)

5. Spring swap (rear 2inch lift 64 with flip and zero rate. Front 2inch 56 with zero rate)

6. Axle swap (rear 14bolt with spool and 5.13's. Front 60 eaton eletric locker 5.13's with full Hydro)

7. Tires (cut 44 boggers with satin bead locks)

8. Drive shafts and shocks

9. test run

I hope to have her finished by next summer.
I'm in college and almost working full time, so time and money are limited, but I'm going to try and do it right the first time and all at once.
 
Well I took the top off for good today. I started to sand the bed for primer. Still have some holes to weld up and patch the tailgate colums. I did a litlle patch work and cut the tailgate coulums for the new pieces. Im pataching all the rusted piece with galvanized sheet metal that is about twice as thick.

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