Finally making my debut to the truck scene!

[illipino_]

Alright, pretty darn busy this past 2-3 weeks. I finally received the BRAND USED parts from roy!

So the part was the caster adjustment rod, not sure quite exactly the PROPER term for it, but roy and i managed to figure out which exact part it was, and i finally got to installing it today.

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So as you can see the less rusted item is what was on my pickup, versus the more rusted item that was sent from roy. i have yet to pressure wash the under carriage of the truck, I'm having a really small oil leak from somewhere but i can't tell exactly with all the oil residue from below. After pressure washing, i can probably break it down and isolate where to start searching for this oil leak.

[illipino_]

So, since I'm in the middle of making small fixes and such, i went ahead and started taking photos of the majority of the interior. Just to show you guys what I'm working with and what issues the PO left me lol.

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I went ahead and plasti dipped the front end, just awaiting my chrome bumper replacement then ill probably leave it chrome.

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Here's the door panels, I'm trying to find a way to make a custom door handle since the passenger side is kind of messed up, unless i find one in a junkyard or something. I do plan on redoing the door panels into something else. I found someone here that did a board and carbon wrapped it. i think I'm gonna do that style. Another thing is, why do i see that some people have speakers on the door panels? did mine come without it because its a base 2.0 model?

[illipino_]

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Heres side shots of the interior. Does anyone know if my steering wheel is 5 bolt or 6 bolt? because I'm seeing both types in a lot of google photos. I wanna buy an aftermarket steering wheel setup because my horn doesn't even work, and the leather is coming off the wheel.

Long term plans for the interior is that, i really want to do black dash, with everything else interior black.

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Heres one of my biggest concerns. The radio bezel is broken. Im looking for a way to remove the whole bezel even the part that comes around the HVAC controls and vents. My question for you guys is that, if i put an aftermarket single din radio in there, will the bezel kit fill where its broken? or will i have to trim the half broken pieces on the edge and fill in the sides with something? Or will i have to find a whole new bezel somewhere.

[illipino_]

So i found some answers to my problems. I found some door handles on eBay for 40$ as well as the radio bezel for about the same price. i think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and pay for them later down the road. at least this way, i have an answer. Only issue is that its coming from Thailand, probably gonna take about 3 weeks to get here.


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as for the door panels, i managed to find a thread here on the forums where Roy started a door panel fabrication thread, and i came across this design. I just took my door panel off at an attempt to fixing my door latch issue on passenger side, and i pretty got the idea how this member was able to pull this off. So I'm going to somewhat replicate this design here in the near future.

[geezer101]

Does anyone know if my steering wheel is 5 bolt or 6 bolt? because I'm seeing both types in a lot of google photos. I wanna buy an aftermarket steering wheel setup because my horn doesn't even work...

The factory wheel has an integrated mounting boss and rim held onto the steering shaft by a single 17mm nut and spring washer. When buying an aftermarket wheel you need a mounting boss that is compatible with your model of vehicle. What kind of wheel will determine the boss as well (5 or 6 bolt pattern). Getting the factory wheel off is easy enough - remove the horn plate, partially undo the retaining nut and yank on the wheel until it unseats itself, then remove the nut completely and remove the wheel. If you take the nut off completely first try and yank on the wheel there's a good chance you'll lose a few teeth and break your nose...

[illipino_]

If you take the nut off completely first try and yank on the wheel there's a good chance you'll lose a few teeth and break your nose...

i literally LOL'd.

I see how it makes sense now. I have a couple steering wheel setups for my car which i wanted to use, but i don't think i have any mounting boss kits (AKA hubs, its the term i call the part) i'll probably just order one from eBay.

[pennyman1]

grant wheels are 5 bolt, most others are 6 bolt hubs.

[geezer101]

If you've got a deep dish wheel you can use a narrower offset mounting boss. It's a major PITA when your wheel is too close to the wiper and indicator stalks. Keep it in mind when you order a mounting boss kit.

[illipino_]

Update:

clutch cable decided to snap early this morning. Didn't really get a good chance to see if anything else fell off. But from what it looks, the clutch pedal is chillin on the floor, no pressure and on the other end, the cable isn't connected to the trans at all. I'll post more updates once I get in depth with it. Any pointers from you gurus could be helpful. I just got a replacement from parts store. Just didn't get a chance to get into the pickup yet.

[illipino_]

So yesterday, I found a small window for me to install the clutch cable, piece of cake. The wear in the cable occurred on the actual pedal bracket where the female end latches into the the hook bracket. And then last night at a drive thru, I noticed some serious white smoke from the exhaust pipe. I am gonna do some troubleshooting this weekend on what's going on with it. Any pointers are highly appreciated

[geezer101]

If it's doing it constantly, it smells sort of sweet and you're losing a bit of coolant - bad news. Sounds like you have a cracked head. There is a really minute possibility that you have a coolant breach in the inlet manifold, but normally they corrode from the plenum and out through the base plate that is welded into the underside of the manifold. You'll have to remove and inspect them both for issues.

[illipino_]

Hmm. Sounds worst than just simply replacing he head gasket lol. I've done head gasket replacements and this engine seems like it's easier than the other engines I've dealt with.

ill check my coolant level tomorrow to see if I loss any fluid, if so, then your theory may be correct.

[illipino_]

in the process of doing a compression test, i can't seem to find the fuel pump relay. According to haynes, the fuses don't even link up to the fuel pump circuit. so I've been stuck for the last hour trying to find which connector to disconnect, this includes researching the haynes and forums as well as searching the truck.

any help would be HIGHLY appreciated!

[illipino_]

Moving forward. Wasn't able to do compression test for now. White smoke still present, and smells rich. (I am getting really bad MPG) I cleaned the carb and didn't make much of a difference, replaced plugs, and waiting to pick up a new distributor cap and rotor once it comes it. Just to be safe. I wanted to get the basic tune up stuff out the way before actually opening the engine up and checking head gasket and head for cracks and such.

I could definitely use some inputs.

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Heres the old spark plugs which don't look too bad, in my opinion, but I'm sure you gurus have better inputs.

Thanks!

[geezer101]

First plug in your image looks suspicious (well, to me anyway...) Whatever is going on there will be an indicator of where to start. Try doing a purge on your carb as it might have a clogged jet, then adjust your mixture.

[pennyman1]

unless someone put an electric fuel pump on it, you don't have one. The 89 g63b is a mechanical pump next to the carb. plug #1 is showing residue from something, possibly burning antifreeze - other plugs look ok.

[illipino_]

I should have definitely noted that the plugs are from 4-1, so the suspicious looking plug would be coming from fourth cylinder.

Do you guys have any other tactics of running a compression test since the fuel pump isn't a route I can take. I'm going off the Haynes manual and it's saying to remove the fuel pump fuse and then refers to me to the fuel and exhaust chapter that doesn't state anything of the fuel pump fuse. Did some researching for a relay and physically looked in every possible area, I can't really tell where to block off the fuel side for me to start testing for compression.

Try doing a purge on your carb as it might have a clogged jet, then adjust your mixture.

Any notes on how to do this?

[geezer101]

Purging your carb is an easy enough to perform - here's a link to one of my posts giving a run down on how to do it

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...ll=1#post43424

[illipino_]

Purged the carb and it definitely helped it with the white smoke.

New problem occured today, and I'm better off compiling my issues on my build thread rather making new threads for every possible problem. So I was on the freeway, and I heard a weird crackle sound. So I decided to accelerate and switch lanes, however no acceleration. So as I was in the shoulder lane, I'm trying to figure out what happened. Turned the engine off then on, and tried accelerating, still nothing. It does go into gear, but no acceleration. Im guessing it's the slave or master cylinder? Any inputs?

[pennyman1]

does the clutch pedal have resistance like before? since you have a cable clutch, you don't have a master / slave setup. either the arm for the throw out bearing snapped, or you have internal tranny problems.

[illipino_]

does the clutch pedal have resistance like before? since you have a cable clutch, you don't have a master / slave setup. either the arm for the throw out bearing snapped, or you have internal tranny problems.

there is still pressure/resistance in the clutch. It engages into gear without grinding and clutch pedal depressed, but I can easily release the clutch and it won't stall out in gear. Now, for the past few days, it's been grinding on the reverse gear. I'm not sure if that'll point it into any direction but just wanted to add that in there in case it's a sign of anything breaking.

is it difficult to drop the trans on these pick ups?

[geezer101]

Nope. Pretty straight forward job. The hardest part is the most obvious - aligning the input shaft and clutch plate. But that's standard on any manual trans install...

[illipino_]

I'll attempt this following the Haynes. Any inputs are definitely appreciated.

[geezer101]

Purged the carb and it definitely helped it with the white smoke.

New problem occured today, and I'm better off compiling my issues on my build thread rather making new threads for every possible problem. So I was on the freeway, and I heard a weird crackle sound. So I decided to accelerate and switch lanes, however no acceleration. So as I was in the shoulder lane, I'm trying to figure out what happened. Turned the engine off then on, and tried accelerating, still nothing. It does go into gear, but no acceleration. Im guessing it's the slave or master cylinder? Any inputs?

Normally when a brake cylinder fails it doesn't lock up, it just stops working. Did you smell hot metal or clutch/brake pad?

[camoit]

stuck parking brake. Water in the brake lines.