Started My Never-Ending Project

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by Chris_72_JIMMY

So I grabbed some new spicer u-joins from the auto parts store and started to clean it up. Now I am conflicted as to weather throw a coat of paint or possibly powdercoat it. I am just wanting to hear from some of you guys as far as if it will need a rebalance after I decide on what route to go with coating it. Also does this shaft normally turn with the truck in 2wd or only with 4wd engaged?

The front shaft only turns in 4WD. I powder coated everything including yokes and driveshafts. The powder weighs nothing, so you wont nee to re-balance.
A trick I use to prevent powder from going where I don't want it, like the U-joint bores on the yokes, is to use aluminum tape that the HVAC guys use for sealing duct work. The trick is to remove the tape while the parts are still warm.

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Good to hear, I'll have to knock it out in the next few days.

[Zook75]

Wow glad I found this page. I'll be watching it for sure. I'm about to pull the trigger on a 76 Blaze that has been redone but dragging my feet some.

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Well time for a little update. I ended up powdercoating the front drive shaft a silver "bare metal" color. wasn't too big of a pain and I think it turned out good. Got the tranny and transfer case back in. Temporarily mounted the sending unit in a gas can and fired it up. It was stumbling and having a hard time running but I'm sure it was my ghetto fuel pickup connection and a filthy fuel filter by the carb. Luckily the fuel filter was a nice glass piece that I could pull apart and clean.

After filling the tranny with fluid I wanted to see how it shifted so I temp mounted the old tank back in and drove it around the block. No leaks so I am happy. I have the entire interior removed so the short drive sitting on a bucket was a little sketchy. New poly gas tank and sending unit should be here on Wednesday so I should be able to do a more thorough test later this week.

[jaros44sr]

Chris, just a word of caution on two fronts...

first your glass filter has what appears to scratches, which is good as it is not glass. Bad, as a dropped wrench will shatter it, and a fire could develop around hot headers and manifolds or a spark from wires. hopefully the filter is plastic

Second, poly tanks are not the way to go, IMHO, you have to take the neck off of your old tank, with a chisel and tin snips, then clean up the rest with a torch to get the soldier off and remove the two palnuts. The poly tank has no way of soldering on your old neck, since it is plastic

You may come up with your own idea, but I haven't seen it work out yet on the boards, post up if you have a solution

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

Chris, just a word of caution on two fronts...

first your glass filter has what appears to scratches, which is good as it is not glass. Bad, as a dropped wrench will shatter it, and a fire could develop around hot headers and manifolds or a spark from wires. hopefully the filter is plastic

Second, poly tanks are not the way to go, IMHO, you have to take the neck off of your old tank, with a chisel and tin snips, then clean up the rest with a torch to get the soldier off and remove the two palnuts. The poly tank has no way of soldering on your old neck, since it is plastic

You may come up with your own idea, but I haven't seen it work out yet on the boards, post up if you have a solution

I agree on the poly tank. Although since you are in Utah... not sure if you are near Salt Lake City or not, But if you are... You should be able to talk to High Country Fusion. They may be able to weld something onto the neck of that tank. Call them at 801 355 3877. If you decide to go this route and they give you the cold shoulder shoot me a PM, I will call their sales rep and see if we can sweet talk them. They specialize in the fabrication of high density polyethylene. The unknown is what kind of poly your tank is made out of. Can you post a pic of the tank when it arrives?

[simicrintz]

Nice work; subscribed.

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Thanks for the heads up fellas. The fuel filter I was just gonna chuck but after cleaning it up it looked perfect, no scratches so it must be a bad pic I have up but I will double check the material. The tank issue is no fun to hear, I was back and forth with poly vs metal and hoping I made a good purchase but this is the first I've heard of the filler neck issues. As soon as it gets here I'll post some pics.

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Well, the tank showed up a day earlier than expected. Let me know what you all think.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by Chris_72_JIMMY

Well, the tank showed up a day earlier than expected. Let me know what you all think.

Looks cool! and the wall thickness on the filler neck looks burly.
The question is how much room does the angle of the filler neck leave you to hook the filler hose to the tank once the tank is in. See the pics of my repop tank it points right into the body mount so I had the old filler neck installed onto it.

How wide is the filler neck when you put a tape measure on it?

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Tank went in tonight, the install fought me the whole way. The tank fit great and no issue with filler neck but all the little things were a pain. Put $30 worth of gas in it. No problems except i could only go to first click on pump handle. If i went full it would shut it off.

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Glad to get it moved so I could do a little of a much needed cleanup. The aftermath of the last month was getting out of hand.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by Chris_72_JIMMY

Tank went in tonight, the install fought me the whole way. The tank fit great and no issue with filler neck but all the little things were a pain. Put $30 worth of gas in it. No problems except i could only go to first click on pump handle. If i went full it would shut it off.

That is awesome, I'm jealous you are driving!!

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by Chris_72_JIMMY

Tank went in tonight, the install fought me the whole way. The tank fit great and no issue with filler neck but all the little things were a pain. Put $30 worth of gas in it. No problems except i could only go to first click on pump handle. If i went full it would shut it off.

well, guess I was wrong. What hoses did you use. can't believe every thing you read on the internet

don't throw your old tank out, guys need the filler neck

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

I ended up using a 1 1/4" hose from O'reilly. It was a little spendy at $36 but it worked fine and was plenty stiff for the application. Didn't get a chance to get a pic of just the hose.

On a side note, I found out the NP205 I just spent all that time on is leaking oil out of the front drive shaft yoke. I either didn't torque it enough or didn't apply enough sealant so that's gonna be fun as there isn't much room now that's is back in the Jimmy. I have plenty of impact sockets but they are almost too thick and I need a thin wall as I think that may be why I thought it was torqued and maybe it wasn't.

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

So back when I installed the new flexplate, I thought it was needed as the starter liked to skip some teeth every few start ups. So I figured the old flex plate was warped enough to cause this. With the new flexplate installed it still happens. So after some digging on the web a bunch of topics came up about the little support bracket that connects the front end of the started to the engine block can cause this. I looked at mine at lunch and sure enough mine is there but there is no nut holding it to the starter post and the bolt connecting to the block is very loose. Do any of you guys have and experience with this?

[Chris_72_JIMMY]

Well, I answered my own question. The top bolt on the starter bracket was very hard to get to but got everything tight last night. Starter turns over perfectly now, no more jumping off the flywheel. Was honestly shocked that it made that much of a difference.