Well, last night did her in. My rear main started leaking back in March. It threw oil all over the clutch and made a really big mess but the truck still ran good and moved under her own power. I bought a Luk clutch kit and rear main seal and kept putting off the installation. I originally thought the engine would need to be replaced, but it runs great and doesn't make any odd noises or rattling. I'm going to do a compression test to see if I've lost anything, but I doubt I have.
But after going to Huntley and losing 3 quarts of oil in 10 miles, it soaked the clutch so bad, it won't even move in granny gear. It's only by luck that I got home.
So, I'm going to change the clutch out finally and while I'm at it, I'll change the oil pump since I have to drop the pan, the timing chain since the front of the truck will be apart and the timing marks are nowhere to be found when I try to time it, motor mounts and tranny mount. I might even change the distributor or have it rebuilt and recurved.
I'm going to be under, over and through this truck so much, people might think I'm a part of it rather than the owner, but it'll be worth it when I'm in a big sleepy heap in the driveway.

Sorry for the rant, just thought I'd get this off my chest.
Dan

 

Good luck! I'm sure the guys in the 385 forum will have a bunch of tips for you....

 

My Dad's tip is to take it to a car lot and trade it in, but the only truck that beat me was my 90 K-5 Blazer, so I won't let this truck beat me too.

 

Clutches are pretty easy when it comes to forking out payments every month for something that might not last very long... besides, chevy sucks.

 

hoss...just keep a good attitude about everything, and it'll all go together smooth for ya...i got about 400 bucks worth of brake work to do on my f-250 i recently acquired....and then move into the engine compartment from there...

MontanaFord

 

Oh crap! Well, I got the cylinder heads off of the engine today and my heart sank. It's been looking really good until today. In three of the cylinders my friend and I saw some pretty nasty scratches. I was hoping that this wouldn't happen mostly because I'm too broke to even pay attention! So, I'm going to get some machine work done and have it bored .30 over and get a good rebuild kit, get a valve job and call it good, then sell a kidney to pay for it I guess!
I got a Crane 260H cam #353902 for it and a Comp Cams Pre-1971 timing chain. I WAS going to go with Hooker headers, but I'm going to stick with the stock exhaust manifolds and go with a dual exhaust after awhile. I'm getting an Edelbrock Performer intake and stock distributor too. I was amazed when I started taking everything apart because it defies logic that this damn thing even ran as well as it did. A couple of the cam lobes are flat with some pitting in some places, the timing chain had at least 2" of play in it.........it was truly a mess, but one that will be better in a few weeks. So Matt, I will be in for a few more goodies in the next week, so be ready.

 

Ford .. takes a lickin and keeps on tickin'! Imagine how well she's going to tick when you get er done. Just keep thy foot outta the carb until you get her good and broke in. Rotsa ruck!

 

Your stuff is BLOWN, buddy.

I'd have a machine shop look at it while its down and set it up right....

Crank AND cam.

Also deck straightness and valve guides - they might be pre-unleaded for all you know.

DAMN! Didn't see your second post.

yep - they kinda go like that.

 

Unfortunately, I won't be working there after wednesday. If you do go in though, just ask the guy waiting on you to run it through the city, that'll give you a pretty good discount.

 

Well, I got the engine to the machine shop on Tuesday after the guy there quoted me $1500 for the machine work, rebuild kit, and reassembly. I went there today to give him the Crane 260H cam I bought and he got the block bored .30 over and he was working on the heads as I was leaving. He showed me two of my pistons and he showed me the broken rings they had too. I guess that's why I burned 2 quarts of oil every 150-200 miles. Like I've said before, it's a wonder it ran as good as it did with this much wrong with it.

 

You know, some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug! I just broke my ankle today 48 hours before I get my engine back from the machine shop. If I could harness my bad luck to unleash on evil, the world would be a much much safer place.

 

YAAAY!!! I got my engine back from the machine shop yesterday!! For disassembly, machine work, master rebuild kit, installing my cam, lifters, springs, pushrods and timing chain and reassembly of the long block.....$1430 with a 1 year warranty. My friend got his Pontiac 350 rebuilt in Reno just before we moved up here for twice that, and it's got oil pressure problems already.

The guy even showed me where I had three pistons with broken rings. I guess that explains my oil consumption problem. I'm glad I was a little **** about checking into my engine when I started. This was just going to be a simple little rear main seal and clutch job. That's what happens when you go into that "well, as long as I'm doing this and that" mode.

 

Nice to see things turning around for you. How's the ankle doing?

 

Thanks! The ankle isn't broken, just very badly sprained. I've been home cleaning parts, propping my foot up and going absolutely NUTS! I'm not built for this immobility stuff. I'm not used to seeing my ankle twice it's normal size with purple toes!

 

Who did the rebuild? Good see its not broken... my brother did something similar and he was in a cast for a few months....