Welcome!

Welcome everybody! This blog is going to chronicle the rebuild that I am performing on my fire truck's engine from start to finish (exactly from the first bolt on the hood being taken out to it being put back in!). I'm planning on starting the actual project as soon as the majority of the snow melts and it warms up enough to do outside work (after all, the truck is outside, and I have to pull the engine to take it to the shop!!). For now, I'll be posting information about the history of Engine 1 and there will be plenty of pictures to go along with it. Sit back, enjoy the reading material, and when it comes time for the dirty work I hope everybody offers comments, opinions, and suggestions that will make this easier. I've never rebuilt an engine before (except for that time I took an old lawnmower engine apart to see how it worked!) so I have the complete teardown and build-up manual from International.

My plan is to do the majority of the work myself, as I can pull the engine, disassemble it, and put it back together with all the right gaskets by my lonesome (although my friend Jeff will be helping me, he already said he doesn't have any experience either!). Other work, such as replacing the main bearings, cam bearings, any piston work, and the pressure test of the heads will be sourced out to mechanics and machine shops.

I'm hoping the only damage I find is a blown head gasket, afterall that's why the engine blew....dumped all the antifreeze into the engine and out the tailpipe while on the road one day. But I know I have a bad cam bearing as there are chunks of them in the bottom of the oil pan....hopefully this was a preexisting condition and not related to the oiling and cooling systems becomming one that day.

Of course....I always plan for the worst in everything I do! So just in case, I do have a spare engine that is in running condition sitting on my trailer right now. It would need a good cleaning, maybe some new head gaskets and seals or whatever, but it's my insurance policy (which only cost me $200 to boot!! The guy had to get rid of it since it was sitting on an engine crane in the basement.....it was either sell it cheap or trash it! Good thing I got the engine when I did!!)

Alrighty! Like I said, sit back and enjoy the next few weeks as we talk about the history of Engine 1, it's service in Manchester, NH as a hose wagon, the restoration that it got in 2002, and a little history of the "joke fire department" aka the East Candia Volunteer Fire Department.

Josh