74 power wagon dream truck...

j par said
I sincerely appreciate the encouragement men...
I painstaking put this engine together on an engine stand and thought I had it correct. Just like I've done dozens of others with no problems. And I had the intake manifold leak on the back after the first 50 miles. I took the intake manifold off and fix that. Enough I went for another 600 MI and find myself yesterday putting that intake back on for the third time... And when I say painstakingly I mean with surgical cleanliness.... All of which is to avoid having to do it again, just do it right the first time... I know I'm doing everything right with the right way but still after having to do it the third time it does try and let doubt creep into my head...
I'm making a little bit of progress every day but not that fireball of enthusiasm but I normally have building a new project....
I have some unscheduled work days coming up early this week and one scheduled for Friday as well. I was expecting to have this done in just a few days but it may be next weekend....
Again I appreciate the encouragement it helps tremendously....

I can completely relate to this, when I put my 360 together on the stand, I was very careful and meticulous about it, making sure that I did everything right. Only to find out when I put it in it had a coolant leak, I forgot to tighten the bottom bolts on the right side of the timing cover. After getting that fixed, the harmomic balancer was grinding on the bottom of the water pump. Then after the initial start up and cam break in, I had to tear into it a third time when I realized that I had misaligned the timing chain. The fourth time was to replace the passenger side head due to a bad valve seat. Then I finally got the intake manifold that had been in covid jail for 18 months, and swapped it out.
Last weekend I was putting in the defroster hoses, plus a new heater control cable and fan switch, and attempting to repair the turn signal switch cam. When I connected the battery to test everything, I found that the po had left some bare wiring inside the steering column, which quickly shorted out and fried a bit of the wiring harness for good measure.
Now I have to get another column, since the same po welded a large nut on the shaft of this one for a quick release steering wheel. I swear it never ******* ends.