Well I have been a member of this site for over two years now and have yet to post a build thread; and I know you all like pictures. So I figured is was about time to put it all in writing (as much as I can remember and have documented).

The brief back story on the truck can be found in my introduction post:In Memorial No need to repeat this information.

Since I am no mechanic (or at least wasn't 2 years ago), this is has been a learning experience. Most of the initial work that I did was more cosmetic. However as the years went by I went deeper into the engine to fix more and more issues as they arose.

First set of images are from the first year, in a rented tiny garage. This is the way Ol' Dirty Blue looked when she first came to me.

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After adjusting some timing issues, she still wasn't running right. So I elected to remove the Mikuni Carb since calibrating these can be tricky and opted for the Weber 32/36 DFEV conversion.

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Now that she was able to start up and run; though she smoked abit (burning oil). I decided to hold off on tackling the leaks in favor of more cosmetic changes.

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Then came the gasket replacements and fan upgrade.

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Then she was almost ready to roll, though she still smoked abit. But she was still sitting on flat old tires...so new tires were ordered and she rolled out of the garage. Unfortunately, no test drive that day because she really didn't have much power. Plus getting in her in the sun allowed me to see the damage that years of road salt and sitting had done to the frame.

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Then we moved and I started sharing our neighbor's garage to really dig into the oil leak more aggressively. So first the head came off.

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Then as I waited for additional parts; valve lash adjusters, new valves (one exhaust valve was found to be bent), and more gaskets. I decided to clean under the hood and work on replacing the fenders.

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Then, with the help of my more mechanically inclined neighbor, I decided to pull the motor and replace the rod bearings, re-ring the pistons, and lightly hone the cylinders. But figured, while it's out let's paint it up.

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