Fenwick's "Build": The Resurrection of Stonewall Jackson!

Yeah, that's what my buddy Robert said. It made sense- If the clearances between the bearings and the crank are not the same all the way around, you'll get areas with not enough oil to properly lubricate the metal, and we all know what happens when you're lacking oil. I did a spot of reading, just waiting for him to get off work. I think I'll go take apart some scrap metal while I wait for him.

 

Took out the crank today, it look okay by visual inspection. The rod bearings could definitely use replacing. They are scored to shit. Was going to try to use a mike and some plastigauge to really get to know, but didn't have enough time since my buddy got off work late. Only had enough time to move the body of the truck back in the garage (we had moved it outside the other day to make room for his '87 4-runner so we could do the ball joints, stabilizer, and whatnot) to zip off the remaining bearings and check them out (two were really bad, the others were poor, but not nearly as scored. The two bad ones were in the middle. Ridge reamed the cylinder walls and then took out the pistons to check them out. Robert is thinking we will try some oversize bearings at this point.
Didn't manage to get any pics today, so hopefully I will be able to tomorrow.

 

Have decided that the crank is good enough to go on with without using oversized bearings after making a visit to Johnny Wallace of the local-famed Wallace Garage, so that's a good spot of money that I don't have that I won't have to spend on machining. Ordered new main bearings, piston rings, and rod bearings, which should all be in on April 2. Quite excited with proceedings, though now we are just about at a stand-still until all of my parts come in. Timing chain and all its components came in today.

 

cool deal

 

Did nothing but clean the block some more today to flush the crappy oil junk that still remains out, but here's the rod bearings.

 

Gasket kit came in the day before yesterday. Still waiting on main bearings, piston rings, and rod bearings... Kinda restless! Happy Easter, y'all!

 

Hey you might want to change the tranny fluid since you have the torque converter out, hopefully the transmission hasn't taken a dump too being an automatic and all.

 

Maybe I missed it, but you are planning to hone the cylinders again since you're putting rings on, right? I hone them every time I remove a piston just because.

 

Yeah, we will be doing both- changing the tranny fluid and honing cylinders. Definitely couldn't hurt to do some honing.

 

Last ordered parts came in yesterday. Honed cylinder walls the night before, and the only thing I was not happy with about the walls was at the top, where the pistons bit into the walls a bit. Started slapping this thing back together last night. crank, bearings, that mystical freeze plug that brought my truck to me, etc. We did the plastigauge test too. Journals 1, 2, 4, and 5 were all at .051 (thickest reading according to the book should have been .049, so we are a bit tight on them. Journal 3 was at .051 as well, though its tolerance went all the way up to .055, so it was within range. We are going to roll with it. I do find it strange, though, that the readings are on the tighter end of the spectrum. New bearings, yes, but you'd think the crank would have some wear that would throw it down to the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

Been cleaning the valves on the head. I can tell you that with how clogged up everything was, this truck was not running well at all when it was laid to pasture. Cleaned out all of the deposit crap with a wire wheel and a pick. The intake valves were deformed with tumor-like deposits- worst I've ever seen, and the worst my friend had ever seen too, and he's worked on probably hundreds of cars. Of course, this is from cheap/old fuel, and he told me that if I really wanted to keep this truck for a long time, that I should use premium gas. I'm going to do some research on whether premium is really better than regular, and how, because the price jump between the two is pretty steep to me.
Also cleaned the pistons and put new rings on them, and used some of that sweet Permatex valve grinding compound on the valves. We used a drill to do this to save some time- had to use an extension and a segment of rubber hose to do it though, because the nose of the drill was too big and was not permitting us to clamp on the end of the valve with it in place. (For those still using the hand-roll method, using a drill works very well- just if you don't have to use an extension, don't tighten the drill overmuch on the valve.
Would post pictures (I did take some) but the verizon site (where my pictures have to go for me to get them on my computer) is being an ass.

 

god, you take worse pictures than BGR, and I didn't think that was possible.

 

Ha ha ha, yeah, I'm no cameraman- and my phone is a piece of crap, too. A monkey could probably take better pictures than me.

 

So much has happened the past few days, and I've had no time to post! Got everything buttoned back up, all the gaskets/seals replaced, bearings done, piston rings replaced, etc. So yesterday, we decided to have a little fun with the thing. I mean, we took the whole thing apart and replaced half of everything, so why not make it our own to say "We were here?" So we painted this jank. And I polished the valve cover over a period of four days, because it was being a pain in the dick. We were either going to paint the block this green or Chevy orange, just because. We chose the green for something wild, and accented it with black. I'm still going to paint the Toyota emblem on the valve cover the same green as the block for shits and giggles.
Over all, I have now spent roughly $1170 on the truck. I have a little over $400 remaining, which should take care of everything I have left to get. (Windshield, two hoses, all 3 belts) Still gotta put the motor back in the truck and throw everything else back on it, may end up having to buy more. Still unemployed after having lost my job, so money is starting to thin, but I'm sure I have enough.

After valve lapping

Assorted crap- head, valve cover (before polishing) pistons, etc.)

Cleaning pistons in gas

Painted block!



Valve Cover

My truck is Fenwick powered!

 

Nice! that thing looks great!

 

Looking good dude

 

Much thanks! If everything goes right, Stonewall will be running by the end of the week, work, money, and condition of parts permitting.

 

Got all of the fluids today, only did some parts cleaning last night. Everything is being cleaned before it goes back in the engine bay. Hopefully we will get something done today.

 

If my phone wasn't being a stupid a$$f@ck, I'd have a picture or two up here of the fully dressed motor in all of its painted and polished glory, about to go back in the truck.