Building the Black Pearl...

[90goldtsiawd]

So I haven't really updated this in a bit, the movement has been slow.

I am still anxiously awaiting my Shrockworks bumpers, and skids. So excited about that.

I had to put an Optima Yellow Top in, since thats all AutoZone had. I AM STILL WAITING on my big 3 wiring upgrade from Bumper2Bumper, so when my battery completely died, and I was sitting on a special order Odyssey battery. So fortunately they exchanged it for me. All because I couldn't install it though....waiting on that wiring upgrade.:frosty:

I need to re-bleed the brakes since they have been kind of soft. Has anyone had any issues with this? I did the 13WL upgrade, and now, I still have good stopping power, but the pedal seems consistently soft. I bled them through at least 2 bottles of DOT4 brake fluid. Am I missing something.

Since it has been too hot to do anything around here lately, the heat index has it at 99 degrees at 11:30, at 60% humidity. So I guess I am going to just go try to scrub my rig down and clean it out. My girlfriend told me two or three days ago that it looks like I drive around with the windows down and collect dust. So its that time to do a little bit of cleaning since I can do it in the garage.

Anybody have any suggestions to a good way to keep it more presentable being an everyday driver?

My pedal doesn't feel rock hard with my TBU as well. I just installed SS lines from Toytec front and rear and rebled the lines twice. The truck stops very good so I'm not overly concerned with it yet. I'll be watching if you find anything else out on this. My buddy who does my work thought the abs pump might have air in it. They felt better the second time after we let the computer bleed the lines using a scan tool but I felt like it could still be a harder pedal.

 

[jstim]

Well cleaned up...ish

 

[jstim]

My pedal doesn't feel rock hard with my TBU as well. I just installed SS lines from Toytec front and rear and rebled the lines twice. The truck stops very good so I'm not overly concerned with it yet. I'll be watching if you find anything else out on this. My buddy who does my work thought the abs pump might have air in it. They felt better the second time after we let the computer bleed the lines using a scan tool but I felt like it could still be a harder pedal.

I am considering having them computer bled, I really want to get the pedal a little bit harder. Just want some kind of normal firmness.

 

[jstim]

Well I guess it's about that time to dive into the hard and horrendous maintenance. I'm going to guess the easiest way to do it is to pull the motor out and do all the seals, belts, fluids and timing belt at once. It feels like it idles ok, then it drops to 700rpm, feels like it's chugging, then goes back to normal. It doesn't do it constantly, but it does it enough.

What do you guys think, I'm at 244k, the timing belt is way overdue.

 

[jstim]

So it's been a little bit since I have really done anything with my rig. I think either tomorrow or next weekend I will start on the cargo box. Need to get the oil changed in prep for the cove #5.

I ordered the fm/CB splitter, my power antenna is all bent to s*#t, so I'm going to get working on, take some pictures and do the write up on how to replace your power antenna with your CB antenna. I'll move my 3' Firestik up to the front and see how the reception turns out.

Just really prepping for the trip in the fall, and I need to get some sliders on order too, but that won't happen until October.

 

[usradoan]

We actually like the modified pictures of the truck more than the stock photos on this website. Nice truck BTW.

 

[jstim]

I may be in trouble, need some help guys

So I went to do my 245k oil change. I knew I had what had looked like the last time as a small oil leak from the rear main seal. Well now, its fairly wet from the steering rack, all the way back to the second of 3rd crossmember is wet from what looks and feels like oil, and is dark colored like oil. Could it be transmission fluid, it could, but if it was tranny fluid where would it be leaking from? I mean its even on the cat....

I am going to apologize for the bad cell pics in advance. Any input will help, what do you think [MENTION=92510]Ol'Blue[/MENTION], [MENTION=50342]JayRolla[/MENTION], [MENTION=65101]BrianSD_42[/MENTION], [MENTION=114863]4RunningDaily[/MENTION]? I know you guys have overcome some things with your builds...

 

[Ol'Blue]

Load the systems with the oil trace dye from O'R.

Drive it for a day aand get the black light out man. It will tell you asap what is leaking and pretty quick with no guess work. They sell the bottle of dye for 10 bucks and a black light kit with glasses for around 20 ish. Do that and you can pay me the rest of the dig cost for what ever a shop rate in your area is lol.

Try this first bud and see what you dind. You can put it in the Trans , engine oil, and ps pump. See what leaks and keep us posted.

Blue

 

[jstim]

Load the systems with the oil trace dye from O'R.

Drive it for a day aand get the black light out man. It will tell you asap what is leaking and pretty quick with no guess work. They sell the bottle of dye for 10 bucks and a black light kit with glasses for around 20 ish. Do that and you can pay me the rest of the dig cost for what ever a shop rate in your area is lol.

Try this first bud and see what you dind. You can put it in the Trans , engine oil, and ps pump. See what leaks and keep us posted.

Blue

Will do, guess I should go get it at least cleaned off before I go dumping that into there.

 

[CHawks_12]

I must of missed it as I read thru your build, but what year is the Pearl?

BTW... Awesome build

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[jstim]

I must of missed it as I read thru your build, but what year is the Pearl?

BTW... Awesome build

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

Its a 1999, according to the PO it was a special order. Thats what he got when he ran the vin down.

 

[Ol'Blue]

Will do, guess I should go get it at least cleaned off before I go dumping that into there.

Break clean the shit out of it. A case is about 24 bucks. That way you have more than enouph. Cheaper to buy it that way

Blue

 

[JBurt]

How do your valve covers look? Mine were leaking pretty bad and made a mess everywhere (kind of like your picture). On the plus side it was also free and easy to fix, just don't overtighten them and break the covers.

 

[jstim]

How do your valve covers look? Mine were leaking pretty bad and made a mess everywhere (kind of like your picture). On the plus side it was also free and easy to fix, just don't overtighten them and break the covers.

That was one of the first things I checked. No leaks from the valve covers.

 

[Ol'Blue]

That was one of the first things I checked. No leaks from the valve covers.

Try and look at the back of the cylinder head check and see if those copper plugs are leaking oil in the back of the cylinder head back there as high as it is if it leaks down that might be worth coming from also

 

[jstim]

Changed the oil, added the dye, and waiting for the it to cool. I am going to hit it with the black light here in a little bit. Brought it up to temp and ran it for a bit.

Awesomely enough, I added some DOT 4 to my master cylinder and got a lot better pressure in my pedal. So it feels WAY more normal now. Still going to give it one more bleed, but not bad.

I will give the CB stuff a work tomorrow.
[MENTION=92510]Ol'Blue[/MENTION] what part numbers did you used for the rear main seal? I can search around but I figured you might have them on hand with your engine still on the stand.

 

[Ol'Blue]

Changed the oil, added the dye, and waiting for the it to cool. I am going to hit it with the black light here in a little bit. Brought it up to temp and ran it for a bit.

Awesomely enough, I added some DOT 4 to my master cylinder and got a lot better pressure in my pedal. So it feels WAY more normal now. Still going to give it one more bleed, but not bad.

I will give the CB stuff a work tomorrow.

[MENTION=92510]Ol'Blue[/MENTION] what part numbers did you used for the rear main seal? I can search around but I figured you might have them on hand with your engine still on the stand.

I'm not sure I still have the package but it was an oe seal.

 

[White Stripe]

Well I guess it's about that time to dive into the hard and horrendous maintenance. I'm going to guess the easiest way to do it is to pull the motor out and do all the seals, belts, fluids and timing belt at once. It feels like it idles ok, then it drops to 700rpm, feels like it's chugging, then goes back to normal. It doesn't do it constantly, but it does it enough.

What do you guys think, I'm at 244k, the timing belt is way overdue.

If your going to do that you might as well do a head gasket and rebuild the heads. Also a good opportunity to port and polish the heads.

 

[jstim]

If your going to do that you might as well do a head gasket and rebuild the heads. Also a good opportunity to port and polish the heads.

I will once I get myself into a position where I can do that.

 

[BrianSD_42]

I wouldn't preemptively pull the motor and replace a bunch of seals or redo the heads.

Anything could be wrong. At 240k miles it could have some lower block issues that have nothing to do with the heads.

Even if you were to do all the work yourself it would still be a huge investment to pull the motor (or don't pull it) and replace the heads. You could do all that work for nothing. There is no way to tell.