1996 K2500 “Krovvy”

[Husker6.5]

You can see the issue in the thread that DieselAmateur linked. I have pasted pictures from his thread below. The hole in the stud is about .200" from engaging the castle nut. The nut isn't short, it just isn't lined up at all. I'm going to shim it with some washers and call it a day.View attachment 87996View attachment 87997

Yup, those "shorty" style castle nuts. I've kept and reused the original, taller OEM castle nuts on ball joints, idler arms and tie rod ends just for that reason, or just kept the old ones if the new joint came with the taller castle nut.

100% on corporate bean counters! Somebody should contact customer service at Mevotech and complain about them making unsafe, faulty product because they do not include the proper castle nut for how the stud is drilled to properly retain the nut.

 

[dbrannon79]

This is where the famous "Copy of a Copy of a Copy" comes in with aftermarket trying to duplicate OEM parts and not doing any QC on them.

it's like when you make a copy of a door key so many times that it stops turning in the lock!

 

[n8in8or]

Started bodyworking the doors and cab corner tonight using sanding blocks and paper I bought for Frankensquare and body filler I bought last weekend. It shouldn’t take too long to have it good enough for primer.

 

[n8in8or]

The sandpaper is adhesive-backed and simply sticks to the sanding block. It’s really convenient to use so far.

 

[n8in8or]

Today I sanded the second coat of filler I applied last night. After that I got the inside of the doors prepped and painted.

I also got started on masking the the cab of the truck.




I’m hoping to get the bodywork on the doors and cab corner done tomorrow and then primed, ready for paint. Hopefully I can be shooting paint after work on Monday.

 

[n8in8or]

Lots of filler, primer and sanding this week, but finally I’m ready to go for final primer and paint tomorrow. Just in time because a heatwave is getting ready to hit us starting on Sunday.

I also made a stand for painting the doors. When I did primer last weekend, I had trouble getting a good finish on the doors with them laying horizontal on the stands. Having them vertical should take care that…..either that or give me some nice runs

 

[n8in8or]

Got the paint sprayed today. The doors unfortunately ended up with a fair amount of orange peal…..operator error I’m sure, but I don’t know what exactly I did wrong. I laid down 2 coats of epoxy primer, 3 coats of base coat and 3 coats of clear. I think it would have turned out better if my last coat of primer had been sandable primer and I had sanded it smooth, but I’m sure I also introduced texture with the base coat as well. I also got a run at the bottom of the driver’s door when spraying the first coat of clear - it said “2 medium coats”, but I guess my “medium” was a bit heavy. Luckily I noticed it running before I sprayed the whole door - the run is going to be hidden by the belt molding.



Another bummer is I didn’t see until I walked around to take a picture that some plastic masking got drug into the paint when I pulled the air hose back around at the end. So I get to touch that up. Yippee.



These are the products I used.

 

[n8in8or]

I think I’ve figured out what I did that caused the orange peel. Looking at the overall results I noticed that the rockers turned out great while the doors have the orange peel - I believe this means that the fan pattern on the gun was set too broad so it was casting paint too far up and down. That would have made a difference on the broader objects, but not on narrower objects that the additional paint wouldn’t have a chance to hit. I am going to jot down some notes to myself for the next paint job so hopefully I learn from this experience and do better.




Today, my dad came over and we worked on the 454 for Father’s Day. He had faith that the engine was in great shape, but I was concerned what we’d find after it had sat for 7 years. He was right, it was still in great shape, even with all the miles it has. One head gasket was on its say out, and the exhaust valves can use some help, so it’s a good thing we popped the heads off, but that stuff is minor. He’s going to grind the valves on the valve grinder I have, which will be great because I’ve never used one, so it will be nice to see someone with experience operate it before I try it.

 

[ak diesel driver]

I have yet to grind valves on my set up. New valves are cheap enough I just buy new ones and concentrate on the seats. Mostly eliminates the stem height issue.

 

[n8in8or]

I have yet to grind valves on my set up. New valves are cheap enough I just buy new ones and concentrate on the seats. Mostly eliminates the stem height issue.

Yeah, I was thinking about the stem height. I was curious to see what he planned to do about that when he gets the valves done. He was an Olds mechanic in the early 70s and did valve jobs routinely, so I'm really interested to see him run the machine. Hopefully he still remembers how to do it. The cheapest exhaust valves we found were Manleys on RockAuto for $12 each, not a terrible price, but he's trying to do this on a budget and he'd like to save that $100 if he can.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Yeah that's why upgraded mine. I couldn't grind the stems on my old one.