87 Ram 50 4x4 "junkyard" rescue,

[WarStryker13]

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[WarStryker13]

This is the part of the program where I take a few steps backwards, because my methods are for impatient, hyper people.

After spending a few days researching, I'm going to go back and re-do a couple of things for my own peace of mind....

Yay.

[Salteen]

anything new?

[WarStryker13]

Not really, had to deal with a few things past couple weeks...

Had a pretty bad toothache, found one of my fillings had popped out and I thought that was the problem... After getting it fixed i still had the toothache. Turns out I needed a root canal on the tooth next to it.

That, along with some stuff at work, and I haven't been able to do much of anything with the truck.

[Salteen]

Well that sucks. Dentists are pretty expensive so that will suck some mod money away from you. Oh well...

[WarStryker13]

I don't pay for dental, because military, but then again you get what you pay for. Lol

In other news, I found a problem...

IMG_20200220_182026421.jpg

It's not the greatest picture, but that's a crack between the valve seats, and all of the work I've done to this head is all for naught.

I'm thinking I'll order a new one from Engine Machine Services, they have the best price I've found so far.

[geezer101]

Oh damn. Kind of a sore point but this is the reason why I get my heads pressure tested. Not worth putting through a shop to get welded up?

[WarStryker13]

With everything that I would want to have the shop fix, it's cheaper to just get a new head...

The good part is that I emailed Randy from EMS (Also known as Dad on starquestclub) and he's tossing a couple of goodies in the box with the head just for good measure.

I did ask about a military discount, he doesn't offer a discount on parts but he's hooking me up with some free stuff anyways. I hope I get a few stickers.

[Giovanni89]

Exactly where mine cracked, and where I purchased my new one. I got the HD valve springs and stainless undercut stem valves while I was at it. Randy is a great guy, extremely knowledgeable about these engines, and has really good prices too. One thing to note, I had to find an old stock Melling cam on E-bay for my new head. My cam was a bit scored and I wanted to replace it. All of the cams I could find at the parts suppliers were .020" over on the bearings. The new heads are bored for a stock diameter cam.

[WarStryker13]

I'm running all of the old valve train, it was dirty but didn't have any real signs of wear.

The box should be here tomorrow.

[Salteen]

how is it coming along?

[WarStryker13]

Slow still, dealing with a lot of stuff lately and haven't had much time to do anything with the truck, but I did get the new head.

I'm legitimately excited about this.

IMG_20200227_135709057.jpg

I took it out of the plastic just long enough to get a good look at everything, and then it went right back into the plastic bag.

IMG_20200227_135821715.jpg

And the extra goodies I got:

A new "free" oil pump gasket, because he has a pile of extras that he's never going to use... And I had to pull the oil pump back off so I needed a new gasket

A set of dowel pins for the gear cover and a set for the head, because I was missing one of each and they were cheap.

And finally all new studs for the head, which is nice because I totally destroyed a few studs removing them from the old head.

IMG_20200227_135222945.jpg

I was kinda hoping for a bit of swag, maybe some stickers/decals or a can coozie or something... But I'm still completely satisfied with everything.

I'm kinda wishing I had added the nuts and washers for the intake and exhaust to my order, but I can get suitable replacements at any local hardware store.

I'm going to try and make some progress on the truck this weekend, but I'm not making any promises.

[Salteen]

its looking clean man! when I replace an oil pump I always pack gasoline between the gears for pre lubrication, thats just me. I learned it from a 75 year old man who has been building collecting and selling cars since he was my age. he has some rare stuff that I probably shouldn't mention for safety sake

[Salteen]

sorry meant to say vasoline but my phone hates me. 'petroleum jelly' if you will

[geezer101]

^ a good idea - exactly what you should do with a completely fresh rebuild.

[WarStryker13]

I had already packed the oil pump with petroleum jelly, but I had to take the oil pump plug back out and replace the bolt.

I'm also planning on pressure priming the oil system before starting it up for the first time, give this engine the best chance at survival.

[Giovanni89]

buy these instead of what they have at the hardware store. I used them on both the intake and exhaust side. I was pretty happy with them.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005DUM884/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[WarStryker13]

The copper plated is nice, I will give you that.

But I might be putting the engine back together and back into the truck before those would show up, so I would just be replacing whatever is stripped or missing right now and replace everything later.

[FMS88]

Warstryker, are you replacing the valves or getting the old ones refaced?

[WarStryker13]

I'm just going to lap them and go, I'm going to wait to replace the valve train until I do another rebuild on this engine.

[WarStryker13]

Got the head assembled

IMG_20200308_195257334.jpg

Tomorrow I'm going to work on installing the timing stuff, hopefully I'll have the engine fully assembled by the end of the day.

[Salteen]

thats sweet. haven't done much this week, but next week, its go time!

[WarStryker13]

I didn't get as much done as I really wanted to today, but I did make some progress...

I got the oil pump packed with vaseline and ready to install, used a block of wood and a hammer to "carefully" pound the new dowel pins into the block, pulled the engine off the stand and installed the rear main seal, and started cleaning up the bolts that I tossed into a box without labeling or separating... It's gonna be fun figuring out which bolt goes where.

There's still plenty of cleaning left to do, but hopefully the weather cooperates and I'll be able to roll the truck out of the garage and pressure wash the engine bay this week. I might as well clean off the brackets and everything else while I've got the pressure washer hooked up and running...

[Salteen]

thats why if I replace a part i always set the bolts in the hole and either set it on the floor or I will hang it up on a nail on the wall so that when I reinstall i know about what goes where

[WarStryker13]

I'm not organized enough to remember to organize and separate bolts... I'm only organized when it's actually necessary, like with valve train, or the rotating assembly...

Speaking of rotating assembly, I decided that I wasn't happy with the amount of effort it took to rotate the crank, so I started pulling the rod caps to see what was binding...

Number 2 and number 4 connecting rod bearings had shiny spots where they had made contact with the rod journals, so I pulled all the pistons back out and I'm polishing the rod journals again. I used some cut down foam earplugs to block off the oil passages and keep the debris out, and they're easy to pull back out with a pick.

I found some really fine grit scotch-brite type pads, I think they're 800 grit... I used that to clean up the marks on the bearings, it worked better than I could have hoped. They literally look like brand new bearings again.

I went ahead and bought the high zinc engine break-in oil, as well as a bottle of Liqui-Moly Cera-Tec (added insurance). I also bought a couple of oil filters and 5 gallons of fresh gas, I'm ready to finish this damn thing.