Re: Will renz's ty ever be road worthy again? *poll*
I bought it november 2001....busted the tranny January 2002 after 4000 miles of driving. Stopped driving it January 31, 2002. Its gone about 400 miles since then, 200 on a trailer.
The 'nothing going right since then...' lets see....I rebuilt the truck while it was about 2hrs away from me. So I drove to it 2-3 weekends a month, but would waste time cleaning/sanding shit instead of just rebuilding the stupid truck. The first startup of the truck almost didn't happen - fuel injector harness wasn't plugged in, turbo oil drain line wasn't installed, and the gas tank was empty. I was way too antsy and wasn't too careful for those last few steps since i'd taken almost a YEAR to peice the thing back together.
Maiden voyage, 1st attempt to drive the truck home: 12 miles into it, a rocker nut backed itself off the stud and started clanking almost like a spun bearing sounds.
2nd attempt: made it about 40 miles this time....and then my tranny pump blew up. Smaug was actually there for that one. Truck had been running great, but then just gave up while going downhill. To top that night off....it'd been SO long since i drove the truck, i forgot you need different keys to get/start the truck. So i locked my door key in the truck, plus is was starting to rain. Luckily i had been taught a very easy way to break into the truck so I got into it in about 2 mins. Anyway, sent the tranny back for a new pump and got it back w/ some fresh parts.
3rd attempt: made it. but when i got it home i took it apart to install my turbo, downpipe, boost controller, and some other odds and ends.
Should have taken maybe a weekend, but i ran into further issues. Basically i lost any motivation i once had to work on it. So I parked it in a barn for the winter.....but then got the urge once again once winter broke. But winter wasn't all that broke.....my oil pan gasket blew out sometime on the first-third (thats all i started it) startup after it sat. Drove the 4 miles home, and left a trail of oil the whole way :lol:
So basically...its your love/hate relationship. It should have never taken me as long as it did to rebuild it in the first place....but i r&r'd the tranny about 6 or 7 times in that period, swapped/modded valve bodys, built my first engine ever, and lots of other shit that I'd never done before. I'm far from a good mechanic....but love to learn new shit - so thats why i decided to do it myself (but w/ help from friends)
www.michaelrenz.com/typhoon/mods <---outdated list of shit done to it. There is more in is, and some shit has changed. I'll get to redoing the site sometime in my spare time.
