So, here is the next update. Later than I would have liked, but I have been super busy, and the weather wasn't on my side.
So the first part of me being super busy, even though I am on leave is although I am on leave my job as a NCO never ends. I am still working to help my soldiers with their problems. So that is a never ending process.
Another thing keeping me busy is my birthday present from my wife.
I have wanted a Siberian Husky my whole life. They are absolutely my favorite dogs and my wife knows this. Of course we never really had the opportunity to have one. They are alot of work and because I am a full time soldier, my wife would end up taking alot of the responsibility. So she decided that I couldn't have one until I would be batter able to be responsible for it's daily needs...basically when I got out of the army...lmao
However, after my second deployment my wife decided that as my late birthday present, she was going to get me one. He is about eight weeks old definitely a handful. I am glad that I am on leave right now. Because even though she has finally agreed to help take care of him, he is a pain right now.
Anyway....on to the car update.
So I continued by tearing out everything in the engine bay. And I had a little helper.
I had my son out helping me...so yeah naturally everything took twice as long, but it was awesome having him out there to spend time with him. Well I got most of the wiring in the bay undone. And I got the driver's side fender off so I could start working the wiring out from the cab. Then I started working on tearing into the dash so that I could get to all the wiring. My wife came out to help me with that, usually she will come out and sit by while I work. But this time she decided she wanted to help me work on it. That is a very rare occasion. So I naturally took advantage of it. Sadly no pictures of that progress, with my son and my wife helping me I totally lost track of the camera.
However I do have a question. How do you get the dash out? I got everything unbolted but I can't get it to come loose. I even went so far as to pull the FSM out to make sure I got all the bolts, and I still can't get it out. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there some special trick I am missing? Thanks guys.
Well that was all for that day, just wiring in the bay and dash in the cab.
The next couple of days was a bunch of terrible weather and puppy care. So I decided I would get back to work, but I would take care of the engine while the weather is being uncooperative. So before I show you guys the progress I made on the engine in the last two days, I would show you what I had already done with it, before I deployed, when I was getting it ready for the truck....
When I brough it home. I still had my other truck back then. I love my Yotas...lmao I have had three of those exact same trucks, 94 Pickup 2WD 4-banger single cab...the one in the garage that I am building is a 93 Pickup 4WD V6 extracab...now I have my supra, and my wife has her corolla...I am a toyota lover.
Anyway...
So I had the engine on the stand ready to get worked on, and I went to work just tearing her down.
I chipped the edge off of the crank pulley by putting the puller on the wrong spot. I hate making rookie mistakes when I am absolutely not a rookie. I mean, this is what I do for a living...lmao I am a mechanic.
Started working on the wiring harness as well. But I put that away quickly to get back to work on the engine itself.
So this is where I can show you my current progress. Like I was saying before, I planned on rebuilding this motor from the ground up anyway. Not to give it more performance, not yet. But because I wanted to check out every inch of the motor, to make sure it was good. Since he threw a timing belt, I wanted to make sure the valves are all good, and just basically start fresh. It only had 50+ K on it, but I am still gonna do the rebuild. So that is what all those parts are for. Eventually I will work on performance with it. But until then I want to make sure the internals are solid.
Got the camshafts and heads out first. However I decided to wait until I had the block completely broken down before I would disassemble the heads, camshafts, or the pistons.
This kids were in the garage with me, helping me remove the heads. Like I said, being able to spend time with them is very important to me. Of course, the fact that my kids are so syked to help me work on my car is even better. Who doesn't want their kids to be into their own hobbies. Right.
Oh, and did you see that carbon build up...ugh...
Got the pistons pulled.
So there it is. Everything is out of the block except for the main studs and a few other attachment studs.
From here I need to completely disassemble the valvetrain, the camshafts, and the pistons. Then I am going to check everything, and make sure it will all be good. I hope that all goes well...I am crossing my fingers for that. Especially the valves, which I have heard can get bent when you throw a timing belt. I hope not. After that I am going to clean everything up, and paint what I need to. What do you guys think is the best way to clean the block? Should I just pressure wash it, or should I get it cleaned some other way? What do you guys think?
After that I can put it all back together, and get it ready to run. Then wiring, and as soon as I get my bellhousing I can put it all together. Thanks guys for following the progress.