today's project was to a) tighten up all the valve and lifter cover bolts on the Ugly Truck to try to keep it from marking its territory so much and b) try to determine once and for all whether or not I could install a power antenna... I didn't get to b) at all but a) seemed to be fairly successful. I have no idea if I actually stopped the leaks or not but the valve cover bolts mostly took a little twist and the lifter covers seem like they would have fallen off eventually if I'd kept driving the truck - some of the bolts weren't even finger tight. I guess that would explain the massive oil leaks - I had the pan gasket replaced about a year ago because it was blown out, and had the engine steam cleaned at the same time, but it's all wet and nasty again. I suspect that it wasn't so much that the bolts loosened but the gaskets dried out and shrunk as the previous owner of the truck apparently almost never drove it.
Question is this - I got to all the valve cover bolts *except* the one at the very rear of the head, which I assume is actually the important one. There's something clipped to it, like it's actually a stud with a strap attached to hold some lines (I think they might be fuel lines?) question is, can someone tell me what exactly is going on back there, because I sure can't get my head in that area, it's part way under the cowl. If someone's pulled one of these engines and can post a pic that'd be great. I just don't want to unnecessarily break anything, although I will if I have to :)
Still haven't figured out the antenna situation yet, gotta work on that some more...
nate