74 power wagon dream truck...

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And the rabbit hole gets deeper...
Got the new distributor and read the instructions and the last sentence says must use 0.50ohm or less primary resistance coil..... Mine is .600...:BangHead:...
:rolleyes:...
 
Last edited:
And the rabbit hole gets deeper...
Got the new distributor and read the instructions and the last sentence says must use 0.50ohm or less primary resistance coil..... Mine is .600...:BangHead:...
:rolleyes:...
I got my dizzy with coil on but for 208 as kit also had a msd 6 al with it that was from pro-form.
 
Well I went to the machine shop to get 6 quarts of new oil that of course I just changed 150 mi ago but here we go. I talked over the problem with the machine shop and brought the gaskets and they like others here were pretty much convinced of detonation. I also discuss the new distributor I bought and it's different curves available... There was a general consensus of what to do with that and to pretty much ditch the vacuum advance...
I did come back and was able to get the heads torqued on and I figured out that this was definitely the first time I tried to put cast iron heads on a truck. I remember them coming off kind of difficult but putting them on gently was quite the trick. I'm telling you that was pretty difficult... Originally and typically any other time I pulled a motor for this stuff do it all out in front of me and then put everything in. When I went to put the head on standing on a stool and leaning over the grill and core support they damn near drug me into the engine with it.
 
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Well I went to the machine shop to get 6 quarts of new oil that of course I just changed 150 mi ago but here we go. I talked over the problem with the machine shop and brought the gaskets and they like others here were pretty much convinced of detonation. I also discuss the new distributor I bought and it's different curves available... There was a general consensus of what to do with that and to pretty much ditch the vacuum advance...
I did come back and was able to get the heads torqued on and I figured out that this was definitely the first time I tried to put cast iron heads on a truck. I remember them coming off kind of difficult but putting them on gently was quite the trick. I'm telling you that was pretty difficult... Originally and typically any other time I pulled a motor for this stuff do it all out in front of me and then put everything in. When I went to put the head on standing on a stool and leaning over the grill and core support they damn near drug me into the engine with it.
Those are not light lol me at 5'6 I would have sat in engine bay....
 
Those are not light lol me at 5'6 I would have sat in engine bay....
Me at 6'1 225 I actually had to set them on a piece of plywood where the intake manifold would be put the head on that and then set up on the core support and put one foot on the frame and grab them off of the piece of wood and lower them into place...
 
Revisiting this truck in this way has been painstaking and slow .. it's been very hard to get the motivation to work on it...
 
Revisiting this truck in this way has been painstaking and slow .. it's been very hard to get the motivation to work on it...
Its one hell of a truck drink a beer smile a bit then get er done! It will work out in the end it always does right.
 
Like 4.7 said that's one helluva truck with great work put into it. Look at the big picture and how far the truck has come. I wish I had your skills.
 
Revisiting this truck in this way has been painstaking and slow .. it's been very hard to get the motivation to work on it...
Keep at it, we all know that it sucks to have to go back and redo things, but the end result is the reward. You've done an amazing job on that truck, it's just a little setback. You'll be back behind the wheel and grinning in no time.
 
Its one hell of a truck drink a beer smile a bit then get er done! It will work out in the end it always does right.

Like 4.7 said that's one helluva truck with great work put into it. Look at the big picture and how far the truck has come. I wish I had your skills.

Keep at it, we all know that it sucks to have to go back and redo things, but the end result is the reward. You've done an amazing job on that truck, it's just a little setback. You'll be back behind the wheel and grinning in no time.
I sincerely appreciate the encouragement men...
I painstaking put this engine together on an engine stand and thought I had it correct. Just like I've done dozens of others with no problems. And I had the intake manifold leak on the back after the first 50 miles. I took the intake manifold off and fix that. Enough I went for another 600 MI and find myself yesterday putting that intake back on for the third time... And when I say painstakingly I mean with surgical cleanliness.... All of which is to avoid having to do it again, just do it right the first time... I know I'm doing everything right with the right way but still after having to do it the third time it does try and let doubt creep into my head...
I'm making a little bit of progress every day but not that fireball of enthusiasm but I normally have building a new project....
I have some unscheduled work days coming up early this week and one scheduled for Friday as well. I was expecting to have this done in just a few days but it may be next weekend....
Again I appreciate the encouragement it helps tremendously....
 
I sincerely appreciate the encouragement men...
I painstaking put this engine together on an engine stand and thought I had it correct. Just like I've done dozens of others with no problems. And I had the intake manifold leak on the back after the first 50 miles. I took the intake manifold off and fix that. Enough I went for another 600 MI and find myself yesterday putting that intake back on for the third time... And when I say painstakingly I mean with surgical cleanliness.... All of which is to avoid having to do it again, just do it right the first time... I know I'm doing everything right with the right way but still after having to do it the third time it does try and let doubt creep into my head...
I'm making a little bit of progress every day but not that fireball of enthusiasm but I normally have building a new project....
I have some unscheduled work days coming up early this week and one scheduled for Friday as well. I was expecting to have this done in just a few days but it may be next weekend....
Again I appreciate the encouragement it helps tremendously....
I can completely relate to this, when I put my 360 together on the stand, I was very careful and meticulous about it, making sure that I did everything right. Only to find out when I put it in it had a coolant leak, I forgot to tighten the bottom bolts on the right side of the timing cover. After getting that fixed, the harmomic balancer was grinding on the bottom of the water pump. Then after the initial start up and cam break in, I had to tear into it a third time when I realized that I had misaligned the timing chain. The fourth time was to replace the passenger side head due to a bad valve seat. Then I finally got the intake manifold that had been in covid jail for 18 months, and swapped it out.
Last weekend I was putting in the defroster hoses, plus a new heater control cable and fan switch, and attempting to repair the turn signal switch cam. When I connected the battery to test everything, I found that the po had left some bare wiring inside the steering column, which quickly shorted out and fried a bit of the wiring harness for good measure.
Now I have to get another column, since the same po welded a large nut on the shaft of this one for a quick release steering wheel. I swear it never ******* ends.
 
I can't help but think that no matter how particular a guy is, you will have a few hiccups on a new build like this. You went right through it so there were 1000 things done right for every one you find wrong. It will get sorted out and you're going to be happy with it!

Cley
 
Well men all of your encouragement carried me a long way!!... I got a hole lot accomplished...
Just got some hoses to clamp...
I ordered new black plug wires, plugs, and fuel filters.
The plug wires were some MSD wires that I made do with that were red left over from the duster because I had a red cap on the distributor. And I got a new distributor with a black cap and now I want black wires please those red wires will be the only red thing under the hood...
 
I can completely relate to this, when I put my 360 together on the stand, I was very careful and meticulous about it, making sure that I did everything right. Only to find out when I put it in it had a coolant leak, I forgot to tighten the bottom bolts on the right side of the timing cover. After getting that fixed, the harmomic balancer was grinding on the bottom of the water pump. Then after the initial start up and cam break in, I had to tear into it a third time when I realized that I had misaligned the timing chain. The fourth time was to replace the passenger side head due to a bad valve seat. Then I finally got the intake manifold that had been in covid jail for 18 months, and swapped it out.
Last weekend I was putting in the defroster hoses, plus a new heater control cable and fan switch, and attempting to repair the turn signal switch cam. When I connected the battery to test everything, I found that the po had left some bare wiring inside the steering column, which quickly shorted out and fried a bit of the wiring harness for good measure.
Now I have to get another column, since the same po welded a large nut on the shaft of this one for a quick release steering wheel. I swear it never ******* ends.
Our theme song....
 
Its in the water, bought a 85 D150 that started right up and drove on my trailer
Let it set a my house for about 2-weeks, never messed with it still sitting on the trailer.
Went to start it, no fire, cranked good.
Had to hot-wire the ignition and it fired off quick, so wiring fun ahead.
 
Okay everything is ready to go...
The three (in my opinion) contributors to the ultimate demise of the head gasket I feel I have addressed...
New distributor with 18° of total mechanical advance and no vacuum advance... I will set initial advance at 14° and confirm 32° once it's warmed up...
Replaced fel-pro 8553's head gaskets with 1008's....
And pumped out all of 87 octane and put in 91 non-ethanol..
 
Well so far everything's roses and unicorn dust!...
And mind you I said so far LOL... I also went to a friend's house and borrowed his timing gun and verified that my gun was saying the correct thing so I have 14 initial and 32 all in...
I don't know if it is because I haven't driven it in a couple weeks but it seems to run even better than before if that's possible..
 
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