Mbreed's inbred build thread

I have been wanting to do this for a while, but I always tell myself it's too late. We'll, I'm doing it. I'm going to edit this and add to it as I go. I need to get better at taking pictures.

I bought this truck for 3k in 2017. Had a rotted bed but otherwise is in solid condition. The front lower shock mounts were blown out. So I replaced them with the Rancho Quick lifts. I could see the upper ball joints maxed out with the wheels off the ground. Watched some videos of upper ball joint failure and started looking into replacement upper control arms. Wow, those are expensive.

January 2018, multiple car pile up accident. I slide into the car in front of me and I get rear ended. Minimal damage up front and the rusted out rear bumper and hitch took most of the impact. The frame is still tweaked a bit. It's on my to do list.

I took the money from insurance, bought a rear bumper off Amazon to make it drivable and got Camburg UCAs to make it safer.

Spent $600 on some aftermarket wheels. Some local guy had them on his Tacoma. The truck came with cheap American Racing steelies that were rusting out and didn't fit around the caliper without a 1/4 inch spacer.

I ran it for another year before the bed got bad enough to fail inspection. I enlisted the help of a neighbor, who is a body guy to replace the bed and repaint. Something happened around the beginning of Covid and the bed we sourced was not getting delivered. I got tired of waiting, I said just take the bed off, finish the cab body work and paint and give it back to me.

Eventually sourced a bed for an exorbitant amount of 4k... It's rust free from Arizona and it's in my color.
Borrowed my neighbors truck and a friend's trailer to pick it up in central PA.

Cleaned and painted the bottom of the bed. Sprayed it all down with cosmoline.

Got it on the frame and installed some Amazon tail lamps. Are these slightly smaller than factory?


Drove it to southern Jersey to pick up a bed liner, and as an added bonus found a factory hitch. It was super rusted and the powder coat was gone. Had a local guy sand blast it and primer it.
[PIC]
Will paint later.

Pulled seats and carpet out to shampoo.

Chased rear water leaks. My leaks were mostly coming from the 3rd tail lamps and the vents behind the rear seats. The rear window assembly came out pretty easy. I was then able to flex the frame of the window assembly enough to get the sliding window out and clean the drains. Sealed everything up and put back together with black urethane.

Attacked the rear end and front end work.

Found some original 16" wheels for $100 off Craigslist. Not sure if I want to put tires on them or put new tires on the 17's...

Mods:
Rancho quick lift coil overs
Rancho adjustable shocks
Spidertrax spacers in front
Front diff drop kit.
Camburg upper control arms

Repairs:
Timing belt
Water pump
From half shafts
Lower control arms
Rear wheel bearings
Rear brake backing plates
Front brake calipers

 

Your pics didn't load.

 

Those are placeholders!

 

So like I mentioned in another thread, my trans is shot. Flushed 9 gallons through after I was running a mixture of Dex III and coolant for thousands of miles. It ran great after the flush and then started to get worse.
Here is the pan contents after less that 1k miles.

 

I bought a used trans from an 04 with 85k miles on it. Working on getting the old one out still.

 

@mbreed2 Do you mind sharing where you bought the used transmission from?

 

Lentini auto salvage NJ

 

Son of a...

 

Yep. That sucks. You got any reverse-thread ez-outs?

 

Head broke off. Just pull the trans far enough back and it'll slide off.

Worry about it after the trans is out. Penetrating oil and lots of heat.

 

Heat all you want but with no head, you still gotta drill the shaft and coax it out.

 

Knipex or vice grips on the shaft.

 

I mean, if that's how you roll, everyone's got their thing!

In all seriousness though, you're 100% correct. Once the tranny comes out, there's be 1/2" shaft to work with. Penetrating oil and heat, maybe two thin nuts locked to one another to back that out. If all else fails, drill and ez-out. Ex-out kits at most auto parts stores for under $15. @ OP just be careful, you don't want to snap off hardened steel in the hole you drill. Work slow, work careful when using them.

 

Sir we have enough manglers in the 1st gen section. You need to submit an application before breaking bolts or stripping threads.

 

I don't think it's tight in the threads. The shank of the bolt is stuck in the bell housing with oxidation.

 

Yup. Fusion between the iron and alloy. Happens with vintage bike stems and seat posts often.

Heat cycles are the best way to break it free IMO.