Actually not mad that my truck threw codes today, was waiting for it to be honest. Got a missfire I've been chasing
No codes when I pulled up to the house yesterday, started it today and within 3 minutes got my check engine light I had been waiting for

Do the coil packs normally get warm in 3/5 minutes? Mine was warm to the touch





Someone messaged me. Ignore the scribles

 

In stalled my new radiator. Can anyone guess what the first picture is? That is what I forgot to install on the radiator before it went in the truck. So upon my closer inspection I found it still on the old one after I had put all my tools away. So to the garage I go muttering some unknown language under my breath that only the truck gods can understand. Well the same gods must have had mercy on me cuz I only had to remove two 10 mm bolts to lift it high enough to put that baby in its place. Halleluya!!
Time for a brewsky....

 

Started it up for the first time in nearly 2 weeks and aired up the passenger rear tire.

 

Brand new coil, brand new champion rc12yc installed. Guess I have one if not more of my wires wrong (thought I had them right). Ran like complete **** for a couple seconds then BAM!! Turned the engine off and I'm gonna pull all the wires and re do everything lmao. Seemed like #7 plug didn't want to leave the engine at all
And it looked like the worst plug ever

 

Been running off-brand gas in that thing, or is the red tint on those insulators just a trick of the camera's color correction?

Hope ya get it fixed on the cheap, man. Good luck!

 

They look kinda rusty, not too sure though. They look like they have been in there too long
My distributor cap was loose too. In the process of pulling the plug wires and putting them back on

 

Filled up the tank with mid grade and drove it today, first time in nearly 2 weeks.

 

You might want to try running Top Tier gas (and no octane boosters) for a few thousand miles to see if the new plugs develop a less disturbing color. Red on the plug means MMT, Ferrocene, or some other additive you don't want in your engine and want even less in your catalytic converter has found its way into your fuel tank.

Here's a little light reading about MMT for ya to think on, if you're so inclined. It's cheaper in the long run to pay more for Top Tier, which can contain no metallic additives at all.

 

Today the old truck got new 1770lb. coil springs and the rear Ranch Hand Legend bumper. Holy smokes was that bumper a PITA to get installed. The first thing I found was that the insides of the mounting tabs are a half-inch further apart than are outsides of the frame rails, and those tabs being half-inch steel plate that didn't seem so right to me... a Ranch Hand dealer in San Antonio informed me that sometimes the steel deforms in the powder coat oven and the thing to do is to bash them with a sledgehammer. I opted to use a slightly quieter method instead.

Turns out that to make it coexist with the factory hitch I'd have had to hack up the mounting tabs that meet the bottom of the frame rail, so I just removed the factory hitch. Bumper's got the same tow rating anyway so now I'm wondering why I wanted to keep the factory hitch in the first place.

Guess who found out about the hitch interference by hanging the thing rather than measuring it, so had to hang it twice. With the door to his unheated garage wide open.

That was so much fun we're going to hang the front tomorrow after dark. It weighs a lot more, no sense tackling it during the warm part of the day.

 

I put some new eyes on the old girl. They were a little past due.





Comparison of old vs. new headlights. Don't mind the beauty mark lol.





Close up of the old light. Lens was cracked, so every time we got any precipitation it would blow the bulb. Turn signal worked fine, even when it was clear full of water.





Close up of new light. Had to massage the fender up a little so the clearance light would fit.

And this is why the fender is bent like it is and the lights cracked:






Out cutting firewood. I had backed up the hill so i didn't have to carry the wood as far. Yes, the photo is vertical, not sloped either way.