72 IH + ‘85 Alaskan = Questionable Judgment...

[Nailhead]

I got some advice on engine cleaning from the old hands on Binder Planet and grabbed some tools I thought I’d need:

Started with a good vacuuming:

Next, I tried to gunk & water proof it as best I could:

I then grabbed my tools and got to scraping:

And scraping, and scraping, and scraping.


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[ExpoMike]

Bummer about the piston but not surprised. Good luck with the clean up of the engine. I hate having to clean up old, crusty ones.

 

[Nailhead]

Bummer about the piston but not surprised. Good luck with the clean up of the engine. I hate having to clean up old, crusty ones.

Thank you!


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[Nailhead]

Scraping done to the limit of tolerance, it was time for a wash.

The weather was cooperating, so first a pre-soak with rig soap:

Then I rolled the engine outside and the pressure washer with it, where I promptly had to disassemble the carb because it hadn’t been stored correctly:

Function restored, funk removed:

Mostly.

After we got it back in the shop with the winch on my Power Wagon:

I grabbed the Brakleen for a detail cleaning:

It turned out pretty well:

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[Hopeless Diamond]

Based on the looks of the 392 in my '75 D150 pick up, I'd say you got you a really clean engine Both heads have some of the exhaust bolt "tabs" broken, just enough left to catch a nut and washer behind them. Fuel pump eccentric is shot, carb is questionable to say the least, seems to hit on 6 or 7, on a really good day all 8 cylinders. The oil leaks over the years have saved the frame though, not the cab or the bed. Meant to be a yard truck so far does ok with that ( as long as you don't put your foot through the floor of the bed).

 

[Nailhead]

Based on the looks of the 392 in my '75 D150 pick up, I'd say you got you a really clean engine Both heads have some of the exhaust bolt "tabs" broken, just enough left to catch a nut and washer behind them. Fuel pump eccentric is shot, carb is questionable to say the least, seems to hit on 6 or 7, on a really good day all 8 cylinders. The oil leaks over the years have saved the frame though, not the cab or the bed. Meant to be a yard truck so far does ok with that ( as long as you don't put your foot through the floor of the bed).

Sounds like the punch line from that old dog joke: “answers to the name of Lucky.”

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

It's got the added bonus of being self-bailing too. All the water that leaks in through the rusted roof drains itself out through the floor

Love seeing you keeping it original. Not a lot of them left in that condition (they are made out of compacted rust).

 

[Nailhead]

It's got the added bonus of being self-bailing too. All the water that leaks in through the rusted roof drains itself out through the floor

Love seeing you keeping it original. Not a lot of them left in that condition (they are made out of compacted rust).

That self-bailing comment got me: LMFAO here.

I think IH sourced their body panels where Lancia did. They rust with the same boundless enthusiasm.


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[hbabler]

That self-bailing comment got me: LMFAO here.

I think IH sourced their body panels where Lancia did. They rust with the same boundless enthusiasm.


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Hahaha that’s an apt comparison. I love internationals but holy cow do they rust. Especially the light line pickups.

 

[Nailhead]

Hahaha that’s an apt comparison. I love internationals but holy cow do they rust. Especially the light line pickups.

I got lucky with mine: it was a bucket/utility truck owned by the GSA, then a fire truck after being surplused out. Used intermittently, and only in good weather in its second career. Very little rust in this one.

 

[Nailhead]

So I left the 345 to sit while I concentrated on my build-out, figuring that was that. I ordered a gasket set for a reseal, and a complete set of brass freeze plugs.

That was that, until about three weeks ago when a buddy of mine on BP PM’d me a Facebook screenshot of a 392 for sale south of Hesperus, CO for $350. The owner said he’d hold it for me until I got off work.

A winter tour of Colorado mountain passes in a really crappy snow vehicle— no big, deal, right? It hasn’t been that snowy lately.

The legend:

This is the one I’d been conditioned through the decades to fear, and I found it wasn’t a really big deal.

On to Lyn’s place where I turned the crankshaft, we loaded the engine, strapped it down, and I paid what I thought was a reasonable price, dice roll though it was.

Turn & burn, off to Ouray to a buddies place and a beer or two.

I didn’t give much thought to 550 between Durango & Ouray because I hadn’t been over that road since a summer road trip in grade school.

My first stop after Red Mountain Pass:

Now, I realize this is a family-oriented forum, not tolerant of expletives, but expletives are most effective manner to describe how ******** EFFING TERRIFIED I was coming off the Ouray side of Red Mountain Pass. I haven’t been that scared since side-hilling an M43 ambulance back in the early ‘90’s. I was born & raised on these kind of roads, and this one got to me.

My buddy JJ met me for a few, along with Tom, a local FJ-40 owner. Some pizza, some wine, and some quality time spent with the coolest cat I’ve ever met:

And sanity was restored.


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[Nailhead]

After a long, snowy drive back to Wheatland and a good night’s sleep, the testing began:

The 392’s compression numbers ranged from 90-120, the 90 psi figure being an outlier. Ok at this elevation, and likely usable.

The 345 however shined: 135-140. Pretty close to new sea-level numbers. We have a winner; I’ll run the 345 and keep the 392 in reserve.


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[Todd n Natalie]

Side note, I love that Power Wagon! Still has the original Alcoa's too!

 

[Nailhead]

Side note, I love that Power Wagon! Still has the original Alcoa's too!

Thank you! ‘08, 240K miles, and it’s been a really reliable vehicle.

IIRC, Alcoa wheels only came on first-year PW’s (‘05?). The later trucks came with look-alike wheels (like mine).

I’m not big on 99% of the aftermarket wheels I see, because it seems like 100% of them have the wrong offset. In fact, thinking back, the only vehicle I ever put different wheels on was my ‘76 VW Dasher, exchanging the stock steel ones for some take-off alloy Dasher wheels.


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[Nailhead]

A week or so ago, I decided to take a closer look at the rear axle third member I bought from JJ back in October.

I got it because it has a Detroit No-Spin LSD in it, which might have prevented the loss of traction that led to the Hagerman Incident.

After taking a closer look, I found I had some work to do:

Rust mitigation. On an IH. Go figure.

A little technical advice off of BP, and I was off & running.

Before:

After:

Good enough to run I was advised, so that’s next up.


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