Grease Monkey Garage

[redline4]

Wow! This project fights you every step of the way.

It is.

 

[redline4]

Wax pellet thermostats are just too simple.
Let's use a coolant flow control valve instead.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Score!
1999 Express 3500 Quigley with 55k miles
Crawled underneath it:
Vortec 350 (with the multiport efi)
Dana 60 front axle
4l80e tranmission
Np 241 transfer case
14 bolt rear axle.

Anybody got any familiarity with the vortec 350/4l80e?

That np241 tcase is puny compared to my f-350 woodtruck. Though a 330 ft lbs small block probably wont hurt the little thing.

Tomorrow morning: drain the old gas, refill with fresh stuff. It sat a long time. Install a battery. Hopefully she'll fire up and I can drive er home.

 

[redline4]

Anybody got any familiarity with the vortec 350/4l80e?

Yes.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Yes.

Holy sht, smoothest/quietest V8 I've ever heard. Ran some iso heat, and fuel cleaner in the gas. She touched right off.

 

[redline4]

Holy sht, smoothest/quietest V8 I've ever heard. Ran some iso heat, and fuel cleaner in the gas. She touched right off.

Don't be surprised if the intake gaskets give up and leak coolant.
If they do, don't get too upset because even in the van body they aren't all that bad to replace.
They don't make enough power or pull enough weight to tear up the 4l80, so normal fluid, filter changes should be all that requires.

If you do pull the dog house, check the cap and rotor. The distributor used a small mesh screen under the rotor to vent it. They would plug and cause the cap and rotor terminals to corrode. Just remove it with a pick. Think of the small screen in a saw carb. Almost identical.

 

[Lions fan]

Don't be surprised if the intake gaskets give up and leak coolant.
If they do, don't get too upset because even in the van body they aren't all that bad to replace.
They don't make enough power or pull enough weight to tear up the 4l80, so normal fluid, filter changes should be all that requires.

If you do pull the dog house, check the cap and rotor. The distributor used a small mesh screen under the rotor to vent it. They would plug and cause the cap and rotor terminals to corrode. Just remove it with a pick. Think of the small screen in a saw carb. Almost identical.

Didn't those have the fixed distributor with the cross-fire cap? I had a vortec 4.3 that vintage and it ate caps, rotors and fuel pumps. Intake gaskets on that one too!

 

[redline4]

Didn't those have the fixed distributor with the cross-fire cap? I had a vortec 4.3 that vintage and it ate caps, rotors and fuel pumps. Intake gaskets on that one too!

Yes, they have the flat cap. That vent was likely why it went through cap and rotors.
Fuel pumps on those were because the frame ground would rust and nobody bothered to fix that. Just kick in a new pump and send it. The high resistance in the ground circuit would greatly shorten the pump life. Plus nobody changed fuel filters either.

 

[davidwyby]

Jealous! I want a man van

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Jealous! I want a man van

Hahahaha, are u sure?

We had the front coil/ Ford Quigelys on my 3rd Iraq tour. The headquarters folks used them for basic chores and troop transport around the base camp. My fkn Caiman MRAP (gun truck) handled better.

coil or leaf springs makes no difference, u are literally right over the top of the axle. This is what a pothole feels like past 15 mph:

 

[redline4]

Jealous! I want a man van

There's a regular old AWD model a few miles down the road that's for sale. Judging by the condition, as you drive by, I'm guessing bad things happened with it and inside it.

 

[davidwyby]

There's a regular old AWD model a few miles down the road that's for sale. Judging by the condition, as you drive by, I'm guessing bad things happened with it and inside it.

Yeah my brother has one too, meh on the AWD. Need low rage.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Standard mechanic inspection/Shake down run:
A mining exploration company ran a dozer up buck mountain this summer. Used to be rough, boulder-strewn and bad washouts. ATV only. I tried smashing the van up there. Chicked out 1/4 mile from the summit. Lost momentum on a steep section and the van starting sliding down the hill backwards! If I had chains, wouldve been no problem. Got turned around, and aired the tires down. Crawled my way back down in drive-1 4 low. Couldn't get any momentum or I'd slide like a tobogan.

What i found wrong so far:
1. Wrong shocks up front, too long. Bottoming out against the shocks and not even touching the bump stops.

All that bouncing n jouncing up the mountain knocked loose some crud from the lifter valley. Thing sat for 7 years with sht oil. Could hear a lifter tick when i got home. Ran some fresh oil, tick didnt go away: sticky lifter. Looked over at my 7.3 powerstroke bench and grabbed a 16 oz bottle of hotshots stiction treatment. No fkn joke: tick went away in bout 2 minutes. Whatever was sticky in the valvetrain was cleaned out!

Front leaf springs are too mushy, needs an add-a-leaf. Springs measured 42" long x 3 inch. Weird spring. Something 3" wide x 25 " long add-a-leaf will be hard to find.

Tranmission was a quart low on fluid. Weird torx drain bolt is stripped out. So will just get a new pan with normal drain bolt.

On the climb, kept er between 3000-4000 rpms the entire climb, drive 2, 4wd-high range. The exauhst manifolds were glowing orange.

Couple sections i floored it to redline. Fkn motor had pull up top. An 80 series landcruiser, falls flat on its face at anything above 3500 rpms. Not sure what the cam specs are be she pulls hard off idle, and caries some fkn punch all the way past 5000 rpms. Very broad/linear power delivery. Torque convertor was right on the money. Would start moving the van up hill, just above idle.

Vortec 350 got plenty of power to move all that heavy 1 ton drivetrain. Does need truetracs front n rear though.

 

[redline4]

Standard mechanic inspection/Shake down run:
A mining exploration company ran a dozer up buck mountain this summer. Used to be rough, boulder-strewn and bad washouts. ATV only. I tried smashing the van up there. Chicked out 1/4 mile from the summit. Lost momentum on a steep section and the van starting sliding down the hill backwards! If I had chains, wouldve been no problem. Got turned around, and aired the tires down. Crawled my way back down in drive-1 4 low. Couldn't get any momentum or I'd slide like a tobogan.

What i found wrong so far:
1. Wrong shocks up front, too long. Bottoming out against the shocks and not even touching the bump stops.

All that bouncing n jouncing up the mountain knocked loose some crud from the lifter valley. Thing sat for 7 years with sht oil. Could hear a lifter tick when i got home. Ran some fresh oil, tick didnt go away: sticky lifter. Looked over at my 7.3 powerstroke bench and grabbed a 16 oz bottle of hotshots stiction treatment. No fkn joke: tick went away in bout 2 minutes. Whatever was sticky in the valvetrain was cleaned out!

Front leaf springs are too mushy, needs an add-a-leaf. Springs measured 42" long x 3 inch. Weird spring. Something 3" wide x 25 " long add-a-leaf will be hard to find.

Tranmission was a quart low on fluid. Weird torx drain bolt is stripped out. So will just get a new pan with normal drain bolt.

On the climb, kept er between 3000-4000 rpms the entire climb, drive 2, 4wd-high range. The exauhst manifolds were glowing orange.

Couple sections i floored it to redline. Fkn motor had pull up top. An 80 series landcruiser, falls flat on its face at anything above 3500 rpms. Not sure what the cam specs are be she pulls hard off idle, and caries some fkn punch all the way past 5000 rpms. Very broad/linear power delivery. Torque convertor was right on the money. Would start moving the van up hill, just above idle.

Vortec 350 got plenty of power to move all that heavy 1 ton drivetrain. Does need truetracs front n rear though.

If you can find leafs the appropriate width, but longer to sit in the spring pack where you want to locate, just make them the appropriate length with a cutoff wheel. Universal add a leafs were usually like that back in the 90's when I started on cars. Cut to fit many springs over the years.

 

[redline4]

I have today off. Sat in the woods this morning but the deer didn't cooperate.

Pulled the valve body.
All 7 check balls present and accounted for..



I'll take the valve body to work on Monday and disassemble it. If I find nothing there, then the trans needs to come out.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Rebuilding a leaky 7.3 Powerstroke exhaust brake pedestal (EBPV) today, using the Garrett kit. Though the cool kids like to delete this, for bigger power and bigger turbos, Im keeping it.

When the temp sensor registers cold weather, the computer sends a signal to the EBPV to send pressurized motor oil, and uses this to actuate an arm. This opens/closes an exaust break inside the factory turbo to keep heat against the heads, rather than letting it freely flow out the exhaust.

Its a nice feature when its 30-40 below zero. At the same time this happens, the engine high idles and turns on an air intake heater. Once the engine gets to temp, it all shuts off.
The cool kids also delete the heater, for more "turbo" flow.

Having rebuilt the turbo with a kc balanced assembly and a banks bighead wastegate, I easily get 28-30 psi of boost towing heavy trailers:

KC Balanced Assembly DIY Turbo Kit - 7.3 Powerstroke (1994-2003)

Upgrade your stock 7.3 truck turbo with the KC Balanced Assembly. This DIY kit features an upgraded 360 bearing, billet compressor wheel, and SXE turbine wheel design. Enjoy quicker spool up, increased air flow, and lower EGTS. The component is balanced, eliminating turbo surge. Note that the...

kcturbos.com

BigHead Actuator for 1999.5-2003 Ford F250/F350 7.3L Power Stroke [24401] - Banks Power

Power NOW! When turbo exhaust backpressure increases, the stock actuator prematurely blows off the seat, softening bo

bankspower.com

Really no need to delete these cold weather features, my truck has plenty of power.

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Front spindle broke on my 950 loader
Never been that far into a Cat planetary yet and we had a few over the years 966 straight frame 980 2x950
Carnage pics

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Well she runs and I feel abused. The job went way too far into the late fall season. Im fkn sore everywhere, and my hands are cold and beat-up.

Replaced weak low pressure oil pump, replace leaky turbo up-pipes, 5 gallons coolant, 4 gallons oil, new idler pulleys, new serpentine belt, new belt tensioner, new harmonic balancer, new upper/lower radiator hoses, rebuild leaky exauhst brake turbo pedestal, new high pressure oil line fittings.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Then all that brutality with the ford, had a check engine light in the chevy. Read the code: p0102, check live data no mass air flow signal .

Clean the connector with electrical cleaner, immediately showed maf signal in the live data. Clear the code and it never came on again.

Gawd I love gas engines.

 

[mainer_in_ak]

Just a heads up:
Those monkey grip limited slip differentials from national drivetrain are just rebranded powertrax grip pros which are a hellical limited slip like a Truetrac at half the price. Bout the cheapest price around. They're sold on ebay.

Ill let yall know how they perform in the front dana 60 and 14 bolt rear axles (4x4 van).

This is what came in the box: