We’ve come a ways with this truck. I bought it to learn a bit about wrenching, and I believe I’ve done that to some degree. Before owning this truck, I would only venture under the hood to check the oil or point at things and go “Yep, that’s the problem”. Now? I’ve helped swap a cam, replace a clutch, plop in fresh valve seals, and get this machine running more strongly.
The latest fix involved a bit of diagnosis and then problem solving. I never had an oil leak before we did all of the work for the Valvoline video campaign. After getting the truck home, I’d find spots of oil on the ground and I knew that it was related to something I did. Taking a closer look, it seems the area where timing cover meets oil pan wasn’t sealed as tightly as it should be.
So I had to take the front of the engine apart, clean it all up, and then re-gasket and seal everything. I did that. It took me longer than I thought it would, but the job is done and the truck isn’t leaking anymore.
It’s a victory for me personally. But it’s a victory for this truck, because it’s still doing a job all these decades after it rolled off an assembly line.