my 92 aka "CLIFFORD"

thz71 · Feb 13, 2013

sounds like you got some awesome plans ahead of ya! i like those destination M/T's

STEBS · Feb 13, 2013

thz71 said:
sounds like you got some awesome plans ahead of ya! i like those destination M/T's

Yes i do... Ive had these plans since i bought it 2yrs ago... And im so excited that things are finally getting set in motion...

I sorta like the m/t's... Theyre pretty quiet, grip well, and ride pretty nice for an m/t, but lookin back i shoulda went with the destination a/t... I work at bridgestone and they give a company wide 50% off bridgestone/firestone tires only, so my choices were limeted on what i could get

STEBS · Nov 5, 2013

Well i finally blew the lil v6... Over rapped the engine bout a month and a half ago and pretty sure i slapped the valves with the piston, when running the engine has a hell of a miss, the exhaust pops, vac gauge bounces frm 10-38hg, and after i kill it, it leaks smoke out of the tbi... But even havin a blown engine, she still runs and drives and will still do 70+ on the hwy (just not quickly)

So i started savin up and buyin stuff fof my v8 swap, and so far between ebay and rockauto.com, ive juat about got everything i need (i think) i ordered a radiator, ecm, motor mounts, rad hoses, throw out bearing, pilot bearing, lower gasket set for the engine, and a used tbi 350...still need intKe and exhaust gaskets, im 50/50 on wether im gna do headers now or wait, same with the clutch kit, itll boil down to if i can afforx to replace it while the engine is out (if i left anything out, feel free to let me know)

If all goes to plan, ill have the v8 swap nxt wk, aswell as changing out my door pins and interior door handles before they break more or get worse, possibly a 3" body lift if i have the extra money, and gettin my 35's mounted up on my american racing rims... Pretty stoked

Pics coming soon

STEBS · Mar 7, 2014

Few updates...

truck still ran and drove (just ran like , had little power, drank gas like a semi) and i had to finish a house remodel in a town 20 miles out so i was driving the truck still for about 2-3mo... Finally after thnxgvng i was able to work on it, an a compression test on the engine, found 0psi in cyl #1... Yanked the head off and as i suspected i bent an exhaust valve. On a poor man budget, bought 2 new valves, lapped em in, meanwhile fixed my bad oil pressure and temp sending units so i finally have working factory gauges. Ran like a top when i got it back together and she was back on the rd. (keep in mind durring disassembly, it was nice sunny and warm wich i was trying to beat a bad storm coming in... Durring the reassembly however... Snowed like a banche, cold as hell, and i froze my ass off all day in order to get it done before the real snow hit)

Fast fwd to the end of jan, had an oncoming newer mustang hit ice and hit the ditch right infront of me... Flipped around and hooked up to yank em out (which btw there is ABSOLUTLY NO hook points on that damn stang)... i was pretty impressed to be honest, that lil v6 literally drug that mustang thru that deep ass snow and up the embankment back onto the rd... Got on the road and she starts knockin pretty hard with occasional metallic screeching. Limped it back to the motel and parked it

By this time im still unemployed, broke as hell, and living in a motel that was letting me pay off the room by odd labor around the owners proporties. Filed my taxes soon as i got the paperwork. I made plans to GET THE HELL OUT OF CRAIG, CO AND NEVER LOOK BACK (i cant put enough emphesis on NEVER, my yr and a half living there was nothing but hell, hardship, and HORRIBLE misfortune) anyway... I had made plans to move back home to texas after all these years which is my true home and my tax return was my way out.

Got my taxes in, limped the truck over to oriellys where i planned to drop the pan and change the bad rod bearing in the parking lot... Unbolted the front diff and let it hang, dropped the pan and started pullin caps. All the bearings were pretty well junk so i opted just to change em all out. Got all the way to cyl #6 and just as i thought spun the bearing and scored the crank. (yes i know i will probly be bashed hard core for my next couple decisions, but yall dont know just how much i wanted out of there) i didint have the resources (or friends there for that matter since i cut most of the 2facers from my life) to yank the engine and do a proper fix so i opted to to try and clean it up the best i could with emory cloth and hoped for the best. Standard bearing wouldnt even touch .003 plastigauge, so i decided to skip .001 over and ordered what i thought was .002 and .003 over bearings but since they only show metric i skipped 25mm and ordered 50mm and 75mm... They came in next day (which just FYI for anybody that decides to get bearings from oriellys... DONT... The dont offer .001, .002, etc... Its all metric) so i installed the 50mm, and it registered .001-.0015 clearence with the plastigauge (the .0005 difference was the grooving from the spun bearing) locked the engine down. Had em order the 25mm, so now im yet ANOTHER day out. Bearing came in and there was only 1 half of the bearing in the package and they only show 1 more at the wharehouse which they cant locate. Keep in mind im schedualled to leave the next morning for new mexico and then onto texas. So i had em keep the other coming incase but called napa and had em order the bearing. The gal had to outsource it in order to get it next day and thats when i leaned that 25mm and .001 are different. So the next day i walk to napa, pick up the bearing and put it in. Plastigauge showed .003-.0035 clearence (rod had just enough play to hear a click but the movement was mi-nute. Ironicly the 25mm bearing came in at oriellys so i installed it to see if it was any better... Plastigauge showded .0015-.002 but still locked down the engine. So i STUPIDLY decided to run the .001 napa bearing with some thicker oil rather than wait yet another day for a .002 bearing. Everyday ive froze my ass off so im tired of working on it... Put everything back together and used 10w40 oil thinking 15w40 would be too thick. Had a slight "tick" at idle but no knock, after 5 min of running, she was purring like normal... Shed slightly knock a moment or 2 when accellerating but not that bad. Got the uhaul that night, laoded up like the beverly hilbillies the next morning with everything i could fit and hit the road... 50 miles later i start climbing rabbit ears pass and she's knockin hard. Sounded like an old IDI ford 6.9... A few miles later near the peak i was foot the floor in first gear struggling to do 20mph, then she just stopped pulling and when i pulled off, she died and would crank and spit and sputter, but wouldnt run... SHES DONE

got towed, parents covered a uhaul truck to new mexico and now here i am... Had to leave the truck there but am going back for it in a couple wks. Luckily my step dad has a tbi 350 layin in the back yard that was originally for his 68 c10.

Hard lesson learned , and VERY valuable lesson for others of you DO NOT CUT CORNERS TO SAVE TIME OR MONEY! I knew i was risking an engine failure with the trip bcuz of running a rod with .0005 play, i knew it was halfassed bandaid repair, i knew there was a chance id be stranded, i knew and much as i had the truck and trlr laoded pulling the mtn passes was going to be a true test on a hurt engine... Basicly

I GAMBLED, I CUT CORNERS TO SAVE TIME, AND I LLLLOOOOOSSSSSTTTTT

so, that bein said, heres a few pics of some upcoming improvments (which btw i reorganized my photobucket and now realize all the prior pics in this thread are now corrupted, ill re post a couple for those that havnt seen the truck)

STEBS · Mar 7, 2014

heres some of the truck pics first for those that havnt seen it