19trax95's 1986 CUCV M1028A1

I really wanted the retro bright lights. But they are $300+ so I got these for now.

Welp, one PA winter is already taking its toll. The little spot of rust that was on the front fender got bigger and the bottom lip of the rockers has some starting.

The fender I knew needed to be fixed anyway, so I'm not worried about that. The rockers looks like just surface rust due to some paint that chipped off. It doesn't appear to be deeper than that since a little scuff with Scotch Brite and it was to clean metal.

So I'll add that to the spring project list lol.

Haven't driven the truck in a little while. Fired right up tonight. Putting it to work tomorrow towing my trailer through some potentially muddy terrain.

Not much weight, but I figure this truck is the best of the 3 to take for potential mud. It's the lightest and has the locker in the rear and posi up front, plus the tires obviously lol.

Just need to help my father get some lacrosse nets delivered from the township building to the fields for the teams he's coaching starting soon. The one field they are working on, which is where the mud may come into play. I'm going early in the morning to try and catch it while the ground is still frozen.

I've been itching to start working on this truck again. But the weather hasn't cooperated whenever I find time to work on it.

Yeah $5.19 a gallon lol. But it was for my dad's team he's coaching so it was a freebie

Got a few things I want to do this weekend on truck. I actually already started.

I got two new 1000cca batteries for it. I also got some new cable to replace some that could use it.

Also want to do some wiring cleanup for the plow wiring and maybe keep going on the radio install if I have time.

I got the start to my experiment today.

I obtained a 55 gallon drum of diesel with some gas mixed in. Had a driver top off their tank with gas, so it needed to be drained. We need to pay to dispose of it, so I let it settle and then sucked the top 50 gallons out of the drum and pumped into a fresh drum then topped the rest off with diesel.

My plan is to mix that with filtered used engine oil. My initial plan is to try a 70/30 mix fuel and oil. May increase the oil mix if it works good. I have about 30 gallons of waste oil at home and a virtually unlimited supply at work.

I need to setup a filter system for the oil. My initial thought was doing small batches and then mixing it thoroughly before dumping it in the tank, then filtering it one last time before it goes in the tank.

I will be tracking fuel milage and fuel filter life, as well as how the engine runs and the power output.

My tank is full at the moment so it'll take a little bit before I get to test it.

Nope just the 86. I wouldn't even consider trying anything like that in a common rail motor. IDI motors are the only ones I'd even think of trying it in.

I drove the truck most of last week so I'll begin my fuel experiment this weekend most likely. I want to try and obtain an electric lift pump for the motor and change to a spin on filter as well.

I wanted to do a fass setup, but I can't justify the $700 for one that'll be WAY too much pump for this motor. So I'll likely do a 6.5 pump. They are cheap and work fine.

Had a little free time tonight before dark and was able to get my front dash speakers mounted and I swapped my cluster lights to leds.

Was able to get the dash pad installed but need to get a few new screws. Since the dash pad was off for the last couple months I have misplaced a couple of the screws. I know I was missing a couple to start with, but I lost some more for sure lol.

So now I need to run my wire for the rear speakers, make mounts for the rear speakers, and then clean up wiring. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get it done.

I also found why my 4wd light doesn't work. The wiring from the switch on the transfer case rubbed on the frame and corroded the one wire. So I'll fix that wire and secure it better and that should fix my 4wd light.

I also plan to mix my first batch of fuel this weekend.

Got my rear speakers mounted in the rear corners. I thought I had some stainless sheet metal at home but I guess not. So I'll need to make actual mounts for them. I also got my sub installed behind the seat.

Everything sounds really good. Still need to clean up the wiring once I finalize the position of everything.

I'll also be mixing my fuel today. Starting off with 5 gallons at a 70/30 mix of fuel to oil. I'll see how it likes it so in case it doesn't, it's only 5 gallons I need to drain out of the tank lol.

So the truck is officially running on used oil and the fuel mix.

I only mixed up around 4 gallons for now. My tank was basically on E, so it's mostly the new fuel in there.

I did change my mixture though. I went mostly used oil and then only used the fuel mix to dilute the oil so it was a little thinner.

Truck seems to run about the same as before, if not a touch smoother actually. I do have a very slight blue smoke from the exhaust. I only noticed it because I looked under the truck to grab a funnel I dropped and I saw the little bit of haze.

I will run this batch for a day or so to see how it does, and if everything is still good, I'll do half a tank of it

Scored a set of mirrors off a guy I work with. They need to be cleaned up and painted, but I was going to paint them either way.

I'm hoping to get them sanded down and primed tonight. I need to get some more of the black paint that was used for the wheels and bumpers. Hopefully I can match it decently enough. I have the old can of what the guy used, so I should be able to get the same color.

I'll post some pics before and after I get them cleaned up.

It actually really doesn't smoke much. You can see a very slight haze if the light is right, but other than that, it doesn't seem to smoke.

You can smell it though haha. Smells like you'd expect something burning oil to smell like.

Well my plans changed last night unexpectedly so I didn't get to work on the mirrors like I wanted.

But I also have a line on some turbos, intakes and exhaust manifolds off a 6.5 motor that my buddy in Ohio has. I'm buying those off him and will rebuild the two turbos, keep the better one, and then sell the rest to likely pay for the whole setup and then some.

Not sure when I'll attempt the install, but I'm going to start soaking the manifold bolts now and spray them a few times a week so hopefully the bolts will come out.

Mirrors are being media blasted today, so I should be good to get them primed tonight. I was going to just sand them down, but the media blasting is much easier and will remove any traces of rust and surface impurities.

My main hope is that the media isn't too aggressive and puts pits in the metal. Not a huge deal if it does, but it would add some extra steps.

I was, and still am, but these were free so I figured I'd run them for a little while haha.

I haven't found a decent source for the other, larger style mirrors yet that I can see what they look like before buying.

I eventually need to get down to the junk yard and see of they have any of these trucks left in there.

I may just bite the bullet and order a set off LMC or something and hope that they are what I'm after.