I picked this truck up for $900 a little over a month ago and immediately drove it home 150 miles. Ran 70mph down the highway like a champ, and I brought it to 90mph for a brief moment. I have no doubt it would run over 100mph if asked.
Click for larger.
I love the chrome headlight eyelids. A pretty girl it does not make.
I also love the pie-pan wheel covers. They're in great shape.
Ok, the deal was this truck didn't have a tailgate. But then they found it! But then again, it's mostly iron oxide. :(
"I N T E R N A T I O N A L" Spells rust.
As you can tell from the way the pipe is hanging, the rearmost exhaust hanger on this side is broke. The other side will never ever break.
And here's why. That's an engine conrod turned exhaust hanger. How cool is that? I think I'm going to start marketing these. Look for it soon in the trashy accessories isle of your local Autozone.
Since we're down here, here is the rear axle, a dana 44 with 3.54 gears.
Another angle shot.
I really like the the profile of these trucks.
Interior shots.
A mix of greens and gold. How could you go wrong?
View from the wife's seat. Takes two keys to operate this truck. The one in the column unlocks the steering, the one in the dash starts the engine and electrics. Don't ask me why.
So you might be asking why this guy is showing us some IH monstrosity, well here's why. That's a genuine AMC 401.
From the sides.
The engine is actually bright red under there somewhere. You can see just a hint of it where the valvecover somehow managed to escape total incasement in grime.
Line set ticket. You'll have to click this one to read it. This ticket is placed on the backside of the glovebox from the factory and outlines exactly how this truck was built. IH called the AMC 401 was that available in rare circumstances only in 1974 and 1975 the "V400". You can see that on the line set ticket.
Anyway, when I picked up the truck, it wasn't really leaking any oil. It had obvious seepage going on everywhere, but no serious leaking. The previous owner drove it into town and back regularly, a 4 mile treck with speeds approaching 30mph. I guess the 150 mile 70mph run back home pushed it over the edge, cause the rear main gave up entirely. On an incline, oil would simply pour out the back of the block nearly as fast as you could pour it in. After removing the pan bolts, I discovered you simply couldn't remove the oilpan due to the IFS crossmember. So I pulled the engine.
Here's a slightly dark shot my wife took.
The engine is emerging from it's home of 32 years. I think probably for the first time, too. As you can see, clearance was a real issue. One that apparently my oilpump pickup didn't survive.
And it's out.
On the stand on the other side of the garage. You can see one of my cool "Jeff" shirts from my tow truck driving days and my old school Nascar pit crew jacket. I've been told it's from one of Cale Yarborough's pit crew circa 1969. It says "Mercury's got it!" on a patch. It's really cool.
I had to kick my rare Integra out of the garage. Here it is on the side of the house. Yeah we park in the yard, I'm not proud. I'm sure the car's feelings are hurt though. First it was made to share the garage with a minivan, then a smelly old truck, and now it's been kicked out for the truck's engine. I don't trust leaving it outside though, too much of a theft target, so it's now over at my sister's house sharing the garage with her TSX. I'll may leave it there for the winter.
Here's the big end of the block. Crank and rods look pretty good so far. I found bits of what I can only assume was my old rear main seal dangling down on the left side.
No doubting the displacement. If you look up you can also see it has "dog-leg" exhaust ports. I've heard these heads flow very well, some claims even state they flow better than Edlebrock's aluminum replacements.
You might be wondering why I removed the driver's side exhaust manifold. Here's why, it's cracked. Amazingly it came off without breaking a single bolt. I got incredibly lucky. Now if I can just find one.
Here's my stupid oil sump pickup. I bent it badly where the tube meets the cup, I don't know exactly when it happened. Since it's all janked up at a weird angle I'm just going to get a new one. They're not too expensive and it's not worth risking the motor over.
Here's the engine bay as it sits now. The towel is covering the torque-converter. I was told it was best to remove it, as leaving it on risks damaging the pump element inside. The transmission is a TF727. You can see a puddle of oil in the bottom of the bellhousing. I beleive this is residual oil from the rear main.
Here's the engine as it sits now. I tried to turn it upside-down so as to give me easier access to the mains and oil seal I have to replace, but it appears this engine stand isn't going to let me. It just won't turn with the engine on. Because this engine is so heavy (850 pounds or so), I'm leaving the crane on it as well. I don't really trust this old stand. I may decide to replace the intake manifold though. It would great to go aluminium spreadbore and get a more modern carb than the two-barrel Holley 2210 smogerator I'm running today. Hey look, you can see my minivan in the backround. At least it runs.
Anyway, that's all I got for now. I'm hoping to degrease the motor some more. I may try to put some paint to it, but I dunno. I'm going to plastiguage the rear mains just to check if they've been receiving enough oil, then replace the valvecover gaskets, the intake manifold gasket, the oilpan gasket, the rear main seal, the oilfilter adapter with a Bulltear nickel plated and the exhaust manifold maybe if I can find one. Then slap it back in.
I hope to someday replace the cam with something a bit hotter, the timingcover/oilpump housing with a Bulltear nickel-plated, the oilpump gears with HRC, the intake manifold with an Edelbrock aluminum airgap Performer and the two-barrel 2210 smoggerator with an Edelbrock four-barrel. I'm also considering the Edelbrock MPFI, but $$$$.
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You sure do have the right motor!! Looks like a great project.
Originally Posted by Goose
