project tribute

cool man thanx. judging by that I should have clearance. and I found out my wheels are 15x8. dude I got them from told me 15x9 but I looked and was going to measure and I saw 15x8 imprinted on the side so I think we in good shape. cant wait to get this thing some awesomeness. haha

got the b2000 head gasket for the 2.0 head swap. putting it on my 2.2. probly going to do rings too. id be stupid ta not to. gotta get new ball joints and mount some skins on my new wheels, replace a few old coolant hoses and she be reliable daily. got some new plug wires, didn't realize how bad I needed them. the old ones all broke while pulling them off. I even pulled them by the boot. took care of some of the misfire, think the rest could either be a small head gasket leak or a cracked ring or something cause I have way more blow by than a normal worn engine should have. cant wait to get all this shit done and get rid of all the little problems.

got the old head off last night, only took about an hour, motor was still warm when I pulled the head. the new head looks so much better, my old one was covered and I mean covered in dirt and shit. its nasty lookin. but the new head only has about 20 or 30 thousand on it. throwing some rings in this evening. went ahead and ordered them last night. and my pre cat was pretty nasty looking, wasn't too clogged but it was real light brown and fell apart real easy so im going to take it out and punch the screens out too. replace a few hoses and she be ready to roll. sorry pix kinda blurry, took it with my phone.

Good progress! Keep it comin

I was able to get all the oil pan bolts out but the oil pan wont budge! I did take my pre cat out and punch it through tho cause it wasn't going to last much longer. I wanted to at least get my new rings on last night but the oil pan kept giving me shit, had to take off the tranni brackets that run from the block to the tranni cause I couldn't get to the back bolts, had a time getting them off cause I couldn't hardly get to a couple of them. any tips on loosening u the oil pan so I can pop it off? I got all the bolts out. probly try to heat it up some.

anyone got any tricks for getting a stuck oil pan off? lol I feel stupid askin but mine is stuck. I got all the bolts out all the way around it. I just cant get a knife or flat head in the gap to cut through the sealant and I don't want to pry too much and bend it. cant even get a good enough bite to pry much anyway. had to take off tranny mounts from the block but I got to them. I want to get my rings on tonight or I wont be able to finish by Monday.

took another stab at the oil pan last night, I broke the gasket loose but the tranni and the bar that runs from tie rod to tie rod are in the way (sorry for lack of vocab) I figure either I can risk screwing up ball joint studs by trying to pop them out or I can un bolt the tranni and slide it back some, tried jacking the motor up some but couldn't get enough room b4 the jack would slip. ive only had about 2 hours a day to work on it since Tuesday.

got the head and rings done this weekend!!!!!!!!! im sore as hell from smashin knuckels and layin on the ground all day but its about to pay off, still gotta adjust a valve or two but man, what a weekend! I kept trying to bump the motor to tdc to set valves and it kept starting. lol, cant turn the motor with my hand at all. used to could. busted out my precat as well for better exhaust flow, thanx bscene, never would have done this if it wernt for all the info making it seem so easy!

the mess

and a beer after a few cuss words

my stupid ass trying to find a ratchet that fell on top of the bell housing

and finally

to get to the pistons, it was a little more work than I thought, had to unbolt the tranni brackets from the block, loosen a motor mount (driver side) and jack the motor up cause the oil pan wouldn't clear the steering link with the bell housing in the way. (ended up using a buddies bottle jack and was able to jack it up by the front of the bell housing,) and remove the front flywheel cover. wintage tray popped out with ease, so did the pistons. I was able to push them right out, lot more resistance when I put them back in. much better. (pushed out of the top of motor) first time I ever had a motor apart, went pretty well, the oil pan was my only snag. other than a few busted knuckles, sunburnt legs from sticking out from under the truck and a busted beer it went very smoothly.

valve adjustments. shit. getting them close but I don't have a feeler gauge. I saw my dad use a poker card once, I think it was a one eyed jack. lol got his pretty damn close.