I have built 3 supercharged late model mustangs, run road course and drag strip, as well as built a 4x4 toyota. However, I have never owned or worked on a vintage carb engine. Crazy, huh? I am having a blast learning how to do the old school mechanicals. Learning is my addiction, and this truck has me reading hard!
Day 1: On delivery it had a miss and the lifter's were noisy. It had recently been in for $1000 worth of tune-up stuff so I wasn't sure what the issue was. The receipt said, rebuilt carb, fuel pump and lines, battery and charging system, plug wires, oil, and filter. I thought it was timing. My dad thought they put some aftermarket lifters in it at some point and that they were noisy. Well folks, you know you are supposed to start with the simplest explanation and troubleshoot up from there right? I never checked the oil, since the PO had just had the work done on it and was driving it. When I got it home I found the dip stick bone dry. It took 3.5 quarts to fill it!
Day 2: I worked on the paint. Cleaned it real well, and set to work with some rubbing compound. The paint is original and thin so I just did it by hand to get some oxidation off. Afterward I used some acrylic glaze to put a nice shine on it and protect it (Klasse high gloss sealant glaze, tough as nails). The paint is gone, but it did make it look a lot better. The attached bed rail picture shows one side after and the other without any polish or seal.
Day 3: I wanted to get it running smooth today. I ran seafoam into the vacuum line and let it choke out. Restarted it and dumped a bunch of smoke. I put the other half of the pint into the engine oil. The lifters quieted way down and it was running smoother already. The idle was low so I set turned up the curbside idle and it was running pretty good. Then I brought it over to my hotrodder neighbors and set the timing to 6* advanced. I gotta tell you, doing that old school timing with the light was so cool. So simple! He helped me find two vacuum leaks and locate a fuel leak.
Day 4: Took the truck down to discount tire and had them look at the old setup. Looks like bias ply tires from the 80's and original widowmaker rims. Got a new setup ordered.
Day 5. Been having an issue with the front right drum brake scraping and the high beam footswitch was shorted out. ALso researched the holley carb and found it was the diaphragm on the accelerator pump that was leaking. Hit the parts store for a few items.
Day 7: Installed the new footswitch and it fixed my issue. Awesome, no wire tracing on that job. I took the carb off and swapped the diaphragm and reinstalled the carb. The truck was running smooth already, but was hard to start. It now fires right up without issue and settles into a nice healthy idle.
Did I mention how much fun I am having working on this thing?Next-up- I have read about everything on drum brake overhaul. Trying to decide if I can get away with just disassembling them and putting new wheel cylinders in the front drums. I have them, but not sure if I am going to get new shoes and springs to.
