The first thing I wanted to be able to do was
move the Cruiser. It had been sitting in the same spot in my drive for
years and I really needed to pull it out a bit so I would have better access
to the motor bay. So I hooked it up to my Xterra, pulled it up the drive
a few feet, and power washed the driveway of all the junk that had accumulated
under it. Then I used the pressure washer to the Cruiser. Oh man, a
2300 PSI pressure washer can punch all kinds of holes in rusty sheet metal!
I was afraid there would be nothing left! Ok, he is pretty clean now so lets
have another look.
Hmmm..., no brakes, pedal goes to floor.
Check the fluid level. It's low, so I add some to the very dark fluid that's
there. Pump the brakes still no pedal. Crawl under truck to look for leaks
and, "OH MY GOD! That's the biggest damn spider I have ever seen!!!"
Exit to safety leaving skin behind in the process..
After dealing with the 20W-50 enhanced creature,
I discovered the reason I had no brakes; I had broken the very rusty main
hard line while installing the stainless steel flex line on the rear axle
two years ago. The line was rotted so I decided to just replace the
whole thing. I could not get the line loose from the right angle union on
the frame under the fire wall and ended up having to cut it out. I was
then able to use a torch and get the two ends out. I have a flare kit
that does double flares so the repair was no problem..
Ok so off to the parts store to buy 1 5' and
1 2' lines with metric ends. I cut, then bent the long line and flared
the end. I remounted the right angle union then flared the coiled line,
put a new end on it and attached it. Next I emptied the master cylinder
of all the old fluid then added new fluid. I disconnected the front
and rear hard lines and used my Mity Vac with brake bleed kit to pull fluid
through the lines until it was clean. It took almost a quart! I then
reconnected the hard lines and started bleeding the wheel cylinders. Did I
mention how much I hate the dual wheel cylinders? I will fully test and adjust
them when I get it running but for now they don't leak from manually actuating
them.
Getting it started for the first time
in 5 years
Ok pop the hood and stare at the tangle of old
wires, hoses, spider webs and, well, you get the picture.. No? Well see Fig.1:
Fig. 1
Two different kinds of spark plug wires? Ok,
so my brother was thrifty...At this point I was thinking it won't even
turn
over. I installed a battery and verified I was getting power to the
coil. Next I pulled all the spark plugs out, (4 Bosch platinum and 2 NGK?
WTF?) put a couple of tablespoons of oil into each cylinder, drained the
engine oil (molasses), left the plug out and poured another 2 qt's through
to flush
out the remaining debris. I put the plug back in and filled the crank case
with 20W-50. I opened the choke all the way and turned the key.. It
cranked over easily! I cranked it for a few seconds and verified I had
oil
pressure. I did. Then I checked for spark.. Hmmm no spark. Pulled
the distributor cap and rid the points of the greenish powdery stuff and
did
a quick check with a screwdriver. Bam! Ouch! Yep, PLENTY of fire! I
replaced the cap, cleaned, re gapped and reinstalled the plugs (yes I will
get 6 correct plugs at a later time) and moved on to the next major problem.
