What did you do with your GMT400 today...or yesterday....

[MrMarty51]

For intitial start I would try to set it perpendicular to the engine. Last two times I’ve had to push the IP over to the passenger side to set timing and TDCO.

That I shall do before I try to start it.

Marty, That's a big turkey your taming there with a Snap-on and Craftsman ratchets!

Oh no, Snap On breaker handle in a 3/8ths drive, aaaand, dropped Forge Multi Wrench, sawed to pieces to make a reversable IP nut wrench.
@ak diesel driver is the one that give Me the idea to get a reversable ratcheting end wrench for building a wrench for the IP nuts.
The wrench aint quite right but it functions as it is and, I’m afraid to go to hacking on it and wind up with an even bigger mess.

 

[MrMarty51]

Welp, so phar today.
Lower shroud installed, then removed to trim off where the radiator drain cock is located. Make that a little easier to access.
Lower shroud reinstalled, fan attached to WP, upper shroud is on and the radiator is filled.
Cleaned the batteries, filled them with distilled water and now corrosion proof the posts and terminals, then, install the positive cable system.
Probably be about time to get the hands warshed, change out of these grubby blue jeans and get ready to go over to the catholic school for a feast of all feasts.
Gobble gobble gobble

 

[dbrannon79]

Went back and re-adjusted the light load advance cam on the throttle shaft after reading up on it last night. found out it's main function is to give a light amount of advance under low RPM and light loads. it's said that once the RPM is up the internal housing pressure takes over. it all kinda works together like the gassers with the vacuum advance and springs in the distributor. fired it up cold with the cold advance solenoid connected. it didn't sound like all 8 rods were trying to exit the chat like before. after warming up, I let it sit there running watching the engine and exhaust looking for how smooth it ran, dropping it into gear and only applying the brake just enough it held from rolling waiting for the engine to shake or move the truck. seems a lot smoother, prior to moving the IP, one thing I noticed was when sitting at a stop light with barley enough pressure on the brake pedal, the engine would have a random single shake that was enough to cause the truck to creep forward slightly then stop.

Probably not the right description (random single shake) but it's like a gasser with an occasional "half miss" caused by timing or a carb idle circuit not adjusted right. After retarding the IP slightly and going back and making the change to the advance cam it seems to run smoother and holds it's idle smooth. drove to my daughters house for the Thanksgiving celebration, all seems good but still throws light grey smoke unless I feed the onions then the grey turns to black smoke. My guess is the grey has to do with the blow by allowing some oil past the rings or valve seals.

before I left to my daughters house I noticed smoke coming from under the front of the truck and discovered the drain on the CKO provent must have came off on the road. the end of the hose was just there on the frame rail, it had painted the lower control arm and coil spring with oil too. ended up shoving a bolt in the drain hose for now. I would like to find a way for it to drain back into the block but not have to pull the pan or engine in the process.

all in all it seems to run better now, I will do another cold start test in the morning with the solenoid connected and see how it does.

 

[MrMarty51]

@dbrannon79
I call that a hickup.
My truck, very seldom has one of those, kind of a weird little hitch in the idle.

 

[Will L.]

To ID the oil is source of grey smoke- just drain all the oil and drive a couple thousand miles! Haha. Ok, maybe not. If you vent to atmosphere rather than pull back into the turbo- clean oil off the turbo and clean the intake manifold and plumbing best you can- then drive it a while like that with the oil slobbering on the hiway the smoke should clear up if it is from that.
The purpose of cleaning all the oil from inside intake and such is soon as you let it vent to atmosphere, the other oil if not cleaned will continue to feed the smoke and the testing will take a long time to determine if that was it.

Long term there are people who simply vent to atmosphere. I don’t suggest it because the epa and your local government won’t like you and might beat you with a wet noodle or something for killing the spotted tree whales. Also, you aren’t evaluating the crank case pressure as well as it should which causes more blowby and blows out seals which makes you use even more oil. And all your oil is being lost instead of used.
On a brand new engine it doesn’t make good economic sense to add a good provent system because it will be a few years before saving enough oil otherwise lost to pay for the filtering system. I justify it by knowing I am ahead of the game and hope to run in a slight vacuum to preserve the seals from day 1 and have considered using a vacuum pump to actually be in a slight vacuum for the power/mpg advantages (still jot economically justified).

In a tired engine it really depends how much oil you consume if it is economically justified. Visible smoke justifies it by ensuring you pass smog if required in your area, and stops people from turning you in to the po-po for a smoke show.

As to adding a return line to the engine for auto drain- I don’t see how without removing the pan. I am obviously pro-provent. But paranoid of the idea of returning it along with the turbo return location because I am overly paranoid about anything blocking the turbo return flow.
Really I am 99% convinced it should be safe. You have to have a lot of provent flow to mess with the turbo flow. But I am a “prove it” kinda guy and never wanna recommend someone becoming the guniea pig. But I could swear quadstar or someone makes a fitting for the two into there already. I really can’t imagine a scenario that the provent flows enough oil to impede the turbo flow- but my ofd red flags alert to a possibility so I have to mention possible sky falling along with the idea of returning there.

You HAVE TO HAVE the check valve in the drain line if not returning oil into the bottom of the pan sump thats has it submerged. DEFINITELY BUY THAT FROM PROVENT! A check valve of improper pressure will completely ruin an otherwise perfect system. Blocked valve obviously nothing drains. No valve and the system becomes pressurized equally on both sides and no oil will be separated or recovered.
A reminder of their system: