Sooo, Dan and I had a chat about my plans yesterday and he strongly advised me to prioritze because he did not believe in me getting all the work done before Finnmeet.
Reluctantly, I agreed. So we changed the approach from "ripping it all apart" to "do one thing after another based on time left and importance of the job". The most important thing for the trip to Finnmeet, of course, was to get the new steering gear in so I'd benefit from that on icy conditions. And because we thought the steering box is in the way of the headers, we decided to tackle headers and the steering as one job. And of course, with exhaust and steering box out of the way, the engine mounts had to be done as well.
So, update on plan:
Day 1
Remove Exhaust
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Remove Headers
Remove Heads (which of course means the intake manifold has to come off as well)
Remove Fan
Day 2
Install Heads (and intake manifold)
Install Electric Fan
Remove Steering Box
Remove worn bushings on front suspension
Replace engine mounts
Day 3
Install Headers
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A first test fitting of the headers did reveal only two minor problems: The passenger side header had to be cut by 7cm (that's 2 3/4 freedom units) so that the mounting flange clears the transmission crossmember. The driver's side header made contact with the engine mount (a known problem on "some model years" according to Hooker documentation). But we quickly found out that there's no way to fit the steering box with the headers already installed - and installing the box lead to a massive fitment issue with the driver's side header.
With support from the
relevant expert video, we set to work.
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Also, we cut the driver's side header.
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Install new bushings
Install New Steering Box
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The guys from Blue Top were even nice enough to throw a Blue-Top hoddie into the parcel!
Day 4
Install Exhaust
Next up is replacing the front suspension bushings. After that depending on time either fan or heads, but at least one of these two probably won't get done before the trip.