Well I guess it's time for an update. I have some good news, the truck is now running great. I can't say that it was easy or cheap, but it feels good to be able to drive it now.

Not everything went as smooth as I'd like it to, but that is life. The ballast resistor (white ceramic brick next to the ignition coil) was snapped in half, so I replaced that. As I posted earlier, the stud on the ignition coil broke off, so I got a new ignition coil. I stripped out the two screws that were holding in the bracket, so I replaced them with bolts. While the bracket was out I went ahead and sand blasted it and took it to a wire wheel, and it looks good as new. I also decided to get a new radiator cap since the old one looked like it was put through a meat grinder.

While I was waiting on parts, I drained it of oil and antifreeze. The first oil top off after a top end rebuild is vital. Since your block will still have some water and antifreeze in it, you want to make sure it is all gone since it is corrosive. You want to run some oil for about 100 miles, then drain it. This will ensure your oil is going to be clean and not corrode your engine. I say this because you don't want to spend the money on some really good fully synthetic oil like Royal Purple, just to drain it all out a week later.

After I put everything back together, I went to start her up. All I got was air blowing out of the carburetor. I made sure the #1 piston was at top dead center (TDC) and the mark on the upper timing chain gear was at the 12 o' clock position. After a few days of head scratching, I realized that the #1 intake valve wouldn't fully close on the compression stroke. So I rotated the cam 45 degrees, and this put the mark on the upper timing chain gear at roughly the 3 o' clock position. After that, she ran like a champ for 15 minutes then died and wouldn't start. I noticed that when I opened the throttle up, it was barely squirting any fuel into the carb. I was an idiot. I forgot to put the spacer back on the fuel pump before installing it in the head again.

So the next day, I installed the spacer, started her up, and drove her around. She ran good. Not only does the truck not overheat, but it stays on the cool side, about the first quarter of the temperature gauge. My next step was to get rid of my studded tires. ($50 per tire ticket if caught). So today, I took the truck to the tire shop with the intent to get the studs pulled out of the tires. Well, the guy said if I paid $100 and gave him the studded tires, he would just give me some brand new summer tires. How could I turn that deal down?

So here I am today, happy as all can be. My next project is going to be doing the Weber 32/36 2bbl carb swap. I just need to find some time to do it, but king salmon are running right now so Sundays are devoted solely to fishing for the forseable future. Maybe I'll do it on an off day or take a couple of days off of work and knock it out.

I'm sorry I can't post any pictures at this moment, my phone is having a hard time uploading the photos. As soon as they do I will post descriptive and informative pictures. I am by no means an expert on these trucks, but if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to give them. I am open to suggestions and idead. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

-Tyler