Saturday morning I farted around a little with Darth; I verified that the clutch slave is working when I press the pedal and that it’s got a full range of motion. So I didn’t bother bleeding it again. I also put a short hose and filter on the end of the gas tank breather line to keep moisture out of the tank, something I should have done months ago. Finally, I ran it up to temperature again and recorded a data log for future tinkering.
With things at a standstill there, I turned to the Scout to-do list. The number one issue there was fixing the re-awakened exhaust leak on the passenger side, which has been plaguing me for several years now. I put the truck up on jacks, pulled the tire off, and poked my head into the wheel well.
At first I was having an issue finding the leak itself until I found a suggestion online which involved taping the hose on a shop-vac with the blower reversed to the tailpipe. This quickly showed the donut around the heat riser valve was bad, which is what I suspected. I pulled the assembly apart and went through my box of spares to find the old riser assembly without the flapper (this valve is designed to stay closed to heat up the engine quicker, then open and allow exhaust gases to pass through to the muffler normally) and several spare insulating donuts.
After using pliers to straighten out the mounting flange, I put the old valve on, then tried a combination of different donuts to see which one would close up the leak the best. This was mostly successful, but the leak came back after a test drive. The issue is that the mounting flange on the downpipe has been bent enough times that it’s not providing a strong enough seal to the donut, and no amount of bending it back will fix the issue. So I have to think on that one.
I also bought a set of rotors for the front brakes. The ones on the truck have been warped for several years and are rubbing during normal driving, which heats up the hubs and bearings. I was all ready to swap them on Saturday afternoon when I realized this process involves removing the hub assembly completely—something I’m not prepared to do. So I’ve got to find someone who can do a brake job on the Scout for me.
Then I loaded it up with tools and drove 70 miles over the bridge to Easton to do some work at Karean’s house. The truck ran flawlessly; other than the rotors heating up the front hubs, she ran cool and calm even through 45 minutes of stop and go bridge traffic. I was completely heat-soaked; even though the sun was down, the residual heat and humidity plus the mobile oven underneath me made that traffic a miserable experience. Luckily I was able to do 40mph over the bridge and that cooled things down quickly.