help me get this sucker running!
 

so im a huge car freak, know everything there is to know about my car, however i just bought a 1970 c10 pickup yesterday for 100 bucks and i dont know where to start on it. obviously it needs to run, so heres what ive seen in the few minutes ive been looking it over (first rainy day in weeks, what luck). first off theres something wrong with the ignition, when you stick the key in and turn it nothing happens at all. not like theres a dead battery but like theres no guts to the lock cylinder??? so thats screwy thing number one. number two is that i dont know if its manual or automatic! it has an automatic shifter on the steering column, but a hole cut in the floor for a manual shifter and a clutch pedal??? im sure ill figure that part out shortly. but the main reason for this thread is i wanna know what i should do to try to get this thing running. plans are to get new sparkplugs, sparkplug wires, distributor guts (cap rotor condenser and whatnot), put in new fuel?, make sure carbuerator is working right, what else do you guys suggest? any input/ideas/help is greatly appreciated!

sounds to me like that would be a 3 speed manual, column shift. if you get the ignition cylinder checked out, make sure the first time you try to start it you hold in that clutch, it may not be pretty if you dont

a 3 speed manual column shift? what on earth is that? change the gears on the column but still use the clutch like normal?

does it have 3 pedals or only 2?
like blue_71 said, it sounds like the 3 on the tree setup. another thing to look at would be the brakes. what's the use in going if you can't stop? everything else, besides what has already been named, would be cosmetic.

yep. first is pull towards the steering wheel, and push up, with the clutch in. second is straight down from there, third is (once you get back to neutral) away from the steering wheel, and up, reverse is straight back from that.

(you posted before i got my post out there)

its got 3 pedals, wow you guys are awesome, very quick responses

no problem at all. do you have any pics of the truck yet?

thats not how mine was nightmare, mine was to the steering wheel and up, R, straight down 1st, up-back-up 2nd, straight down 3rd

no im gonna take some tomorrow, it was just towed here today while i was at work and its too dark now to take any good ones.

By the way what kind of car do you know everything about?

your right, blue_71. it's been such a long time since i've driven mine that i got it screwed up. sorry.

proboner, sounds good to me.

the car i know everything about is my 1993 ford probe gt, a far cry from a 1970 chevy pickup

np nightmare :flag: i never drove mine in working condition on the column, it went to the floor, lol

Welcome to the board from South Mississippi. Way back in the Carburetor Age (between stone age and iron age) they put manual shifters on the column. Picture an H pattern with R and 1 toward you and 2 and 3 away from you. To keep from locking up the linkages you need to shift the "H". Have fun, after you realize how simple everything is you'll be amazed at how much fun it is!

i suggest pulling the sending unit out of the gas tank and blowing air through it to get out any gummed up gas or anygthing else out of it, mine sat for 2 months and i like to have never figured that out.

If it has been sitting for a while........

remove and clean gas tank...blow out fuel lines....(recommend rubbing alcohol) replace fuel pump..(cheep) and clean carb. put in new fuel(with some stablizer...it might take you a while to get it running)

make sure the engine can actually turn...physically

if you think the ignition is a problem block the wheels put it N (manual or auto...could have been converted to auto from manual...) check your battery for voltage (replace if bad) and use a remote start switch or (equivalant)and see if she cranks.....

if she cranks but doesn't start, check to see if your getting voltage to the distibuter if your getting volatage to the distr. check to see if your gettin spark.....also check to see if when your distr. is at #1 plug the timming mark is visible....

is still no good check fuel flow.........

if none of that works...tow it down here and give it to me...lol

click on my profile and e-mail me if you have questions or need furthor assistance......(yes I can get just about anything that isn't completely dead running...)

and yes I know I can't spell and I don't care....

awesome, i guess you are the man to talk to, thankyou greatly for all the advice

As far as the ignition switch, maybe it's been modified to turn with a screw driver? Can you feel the switch positions when you turn it: acc, off, run and start?

Ignition switch
 

I don't know everything about anything, mush less cars, but here goes....

I really like using a mechanics remote starter switch, you know the $9 ones at checker. It will bypass the ignition "fubar" and it saves alot of running back and forth.


swdobbs...

i got her running!!!!!! when i got off work today i set to work on getting this beast to run. its actually quite a little story. first i took out the stock bench so i could move around in the interior a little better. so the most visible problem was just that the wiring harness wasnt hooked up to the ignition cylinder. i reconnected it but it still didnt even attempt to turn over the engine. i took it apart again and realized that the contact points we'rent touching, so i went to kragen and purchased a whole new ignition cylinder for 26 dollars. put that sucker in, cranked it for a good 10 seconds and she started!!!! i was amazed!!!! i bought this thing for 100 dollars, its been sitting for i believe over a year, and the coolant has turned into a solid of some sort. anwyas, im all kinds of excited. anyone have any ideas on how to clean out the cooling system, because its definately destroyed.

coolent is some sort of solid?????

ummm I hope it's more of a gel than a solid....as you see the coolent goes inside your engine block and if it's not a least soft enough to push out with another liquid (water) then you might have a little bit of a hard time getting the junk out of the block.

you could take your radiator out and to a radiator shop (check yellow pages) and have them look at it.

If it's really that gunked up, and you can get the passages in the engine block clean (drain plugs on each side of the engine, you can get to them from underneth......) you should probally replace the water pump...(not very hard to do, not very expensive.) and all the hoses. you might also want to try to flush through your heater core.

Don't take any shortcuts with your cooling man...I sacrificed a 1950 ford falcon to the car gods that way...... :devil:

and I'm not the guy just one of many here...