One thing leads to another

[psy999]

Well, I've pulled the rear axle & drive shaft, rear suspension, and transmission in preparation for a t-5 tranny swap on my 1949 1/2 ton. I've also removed all the old carpet in the cab and taken the floor section covering the tranny out.

I knew the engine leaked "some" oil but hoped that could be cured with a new oil pan gasket and some work on the oil pan drain plug (isn't seating correctly). I also knew that there were several small coolant leaks near the top of the radiator but thought they were minor and could be fixed "later."

Unfortunately when I pulled the sheet metal from the bottom of the bellhousing I find considerable evidence of oil inside, and also several drops of green radiator coolant After removing the carpet in the cab I could see that there has been a steady leak of coolant either out of the heater core or the hose connections going through the firewall.

Did I mention I can see where brake fluid is leaking out the brake connector at the left front? Plus, the P.O. used rubber hose for the gas line and I see a worn spot where gas is just starting to barely seep through.

Yikes, this is going to take longer to do than I thought!

From what I can see, it looks like the rear motor mounts are attached to the bellhousing. Is there a way to pull the bellhousing without pulling the engine?
Thanks.

Dave

 

[Tailgater]

You've gone this far I would go ahead and jerk that thing out of there and give it a good bath, dry it and check for leaks. By chance did this truck sit idle for months/years? It sounds like it sat for a long time and all the seals dried out or rotted.
I would wait for Nate to chime in cause he is the guru but I think I would pull it and await further instructions.
Good luck.
Gater

 

[54chevtruck]

Based on that list you should just pull the whole thing and get it all fixed together.

 

[psy999]

I agree that an engine rebuild now would be the best thing if I could afford it. However, I've been driving it between "fix-it" projects over the last year and would like to continue driving it while I save up money for the rebuild.

After looking at it some more I can tell you can't pull the "clutch housing" without pulling the engine. I guess that means I can't get to the "rear main seal" to replace it if its leaking, in fact I guess I can't even pull the flywheel without pulling the engine.

The engine runs okay (doesn't burn oil) even though compression is low (95-75) on all cylinders, I'd hope to put off a rebuild until I get all these other problems fixed.

I think I'll just finish the transmission swap, put the "new" 59 1/2 ton rear axle on and repair/replace/reinstall the rear suspension, and get a new driveshaft as planned. Then I'll go ahead and finish installing new brake lines and the new dual master cylinder I already have. That should take care of the leaky brake line. Replacing the rubber gas line with steel fuel line (5/16" sound right?) will be easy enough.

I have to track down and repair all the coolant leaks, this could run into some money. Nate, any special advice on getting the old radiator repaired? I can tell the coolant is also leaking on the heater hose connections going through the firewall and dripping down both the inside and outside of the firewall, I'm hoping that's the source of the drops I found on the flywheel, I've never seen any coolant when I'm draining engine oil.

I'll pull the oil pan, put in a new gasket set and gasket seal, and try to fix the seeping oil pan drain plug. Anybody got a creative way to cover the bottom end of the engine if the oil pan is off for an extended period of time?

Put it back together and hopefully be able to drive it while I save up money for an engine rebuild. I've already spent alot on the above, plus its Christmas time, I just paid property taxes and vet bills on the horses are coming up!

Dave

 

[Zig]

I don't know, but if it was me, I'd re-do the brakes first. You would NEVER want to look like this when you go to step on the brakes. All that other stuff is "job security".

 

[psy999]

You're right about the brakes Zig, they'll be fixed before the truck comes off the jack stands.

Tailgater, the engine certainly sat for many years before being resurrected fairly recently by the P.O. Don't remember if he said he replaced the front and rear main seals, but bet he didn't. Been reading up on rear main seals in the archives, Nate and others say a little leaking is normal even with new seals, plus sounds like they can be difficult to replace. I've been cleaning off the accumulated oil and dirt, doesn't look so bad now and oil never did get on the clutch so I'm still thinking of postponing any major work on the engine.

I also noticed there was virtually no oil on the driver's side of the engine, but a lot on the passenger's side where the road draft tube is. Could be that a lot of this oil is "normal" from the road draft tube?

Dave

 

[54chevtruck]

No would not be "normal" from the road draft tube. Normally would only leave some very slight droppings on the right side of the front axle. Most of the road draft tubes are partially clogged up anyway like a old chimmy. One thing to check is the lower edge of where the tube inserts itself into the engine block. Sometimes can be a source of leakage. Also make sure your tube is not fully clogged up just stick a screw driver up it and spin around will clear out the majority of build up. Sounds like you & me are going down the same paths related to the engines. I came off about a 45 mile road trip yesterday used slightly over 2 quarts of oil. I posted a question hoping someone will give me some help down the correct path. I do agree with Zig would worry about the brakes first. Can't stop does not matter how good the engine runs. Crash Bang Boom. Good Luck, Steve

 

[vwnate1]

Old , Tired InLine 6 bangers

Well ;

It looks like I'm too late here but by now I'm sure you've figured out that you're driving a truck just like the many I've used , owned , worked on/with over the years and if you take good care of the little sutff , it'll keep on plugging away year afer year ......

I hope you've adjusted the valves as they can afftect the compression whilst still allowing the engine to run more or less .

I don't know WHAT engine this is but most of these have rope typ rear main seals , they're removed using a " Sneaky pete " device , this is a woven Chinese Finger Trap sort of device that grabs the end of the oil seal and draws it out , I say leave it for now as you can always drop the oil pan later .

The bell housing doesn't come off for clutch & flywheel service as it supports the engine ~ just remove the clutch then you can unbolt the flywheel although I dunno why you'd want to remiove that.... whilst you have the scatter pan off , wire brush the timing marks on the front of the flywheel and highlight the ball bearing that's pressed into a hole as that's your timing mark the triangle or chevron you see faintly stamped on is the TDC mark to fill it in with white paint or crayon etc. as now's the time .

simply replacing the various gaskets and careful tuning will usually cut the oil blowing by 50 % right of the top .

As mentioned , the road draft tubes clog up and cleaning them isn't much fun , best way is to bake them _OUTSIDE_ on the BBQ when SWMBO is gone for the day as it'll smoke something fierce but then all the built up crap turns to carbon and will come rattling out when you tap in in the garbage can...

DO NOT bead blast a Road Draft tube ! . you'll never get all the glass beads out and they'll wind up in the oil and gring the engine to junk sooner than you think .

It's entirely possible the DPO revved the poor old engine up way too far on every shift , this will cause lots of oil to spit out the Road Draft Tube and get squeezed out every joint too ~ you say it runs good and doesn't burn oil so i say it doesn't need any internal work yet .

Good on ya for replacing that rubber hose , it should be steel along the frame up to the fuel pump with a short rubber bit at each end .

You're going to have to find a good radiator shop who'll boil and rod out that old radiator then carefully solder up all those pin holes , be aware that pin holes usually mean the radiator is nearing the end of it's service life as it's getting paper thin from lack of periodic coolant changing , American made ones are still out there as well as good used ones . U.S. Radiator in L.A. makes good ones for about $350.00 , DON'T get suckered into a Chinese crap one ! .

Remember : brake service on _one_ side means ya gotta do the other side too just to be safe .

Lastly : this old truck is like a mule ~ treat it wel and it'll be ready to make work easy & fu for 30 years.....

 

[vwnate1]

I almost Forgot :

Your engine is supposed to be painted _GREY_ ~ it's easy to do in situ , use some old cardboard to mask the firewall whilst you're spraying it , use good quality Foo-Foo cans so it'll last a long time and look really good ~ the engine acessories should all be painted gloss black , no biggie to take off the gennie and bracket etc. ~ if you're worried about removing the dizzy , just wrap it in tinfoil and scrunch it all up close so the paint can get in behind it...

I like to do a final rinse of the to be painted surface with ether (starting fluid) 15 minuters before I begin painting , this eliminates fish-eyes etc.