I finally started in on the major truck project that was supposed to happen this spring before I broke my collarbone. I’m pulling the very tired 230 inline and 3-speed and swapping in a 18K mile 250 inline, and a 3-speed with overdrive. I’m also rebuilding the front suspension and adding disc brakes with a 2″ drop.

The day a friend came over and between her, my partner and I we had the hood, bumper and entire front clip pulled in an hour. That went so well we decided to pull the engine & trans while they were there. Disconnecting everything and getting the cherry picker set up took another hour. Then we spent the next 1.5 hours trying to get the driveshaft yoke to slide out of the transmission. It did not want to come out for anything. I ended up ratchet-strapping the engine to the front frame crossmember while it was supported by the cherry picker, then a combination of prying the yoke while someone violently rocked the engine from side to side and the third person trying to tighten the ratchet strap finally pulled it out.

 I separated the engine & transmission to free the bellhousing, the only major component I will be reusing for the “new” drivetrain.

I also got the left suspension stripped off. The only part of the suspension & brakes I’ll be re-using are the upper & lower control arms(with new bushings), the center link, & steering box.

Once all the suspension & brake lines have been stripped off I will be doing major cleaning/degreasing in here, then either grinding or sandblasting the frame for painting before slapping new components on and running new brake lines. Then the new drivetrain can get assembled and installed.

This shouldn’t be a time-consuming project, but a combination of weather, timing and health are conspiring against me, so I’m just hoping I have it buttoned up enough to get the sheetmetal back on by snowfall.