[NC_John]

Been working on the truck whenever I have time- been travelling a lot for work..

Here's the latest (nothing really picture-worthy), mostly mickey-mouse type of stuff:

Gave up on the quadrajet (the donor carb was junk and corroded beyond being of any use, even after soaking for a week in carb cleaner) and bought an edelbrock 600 cfm, vac secondaries, electric choke. Autozone had the carb in stock and it was supposed to be a direct fit but I start reading through the book at home and discover I need an adapter plate for it to mount on the stock intake which of course needs to be ordered. Grrr.. so the truck will sit for the weekend.

I took the time to finish cleaning the backside of the intake and engine and got it detailed pretty good. Nothing but bare cast iron and what's left of the original chevy orange paint now.

I installed the window seals on the passenger side. Much easier. The driver's side was learning side and was a PITA. The passenger side went it in less than half the time and with a minimum of profanity. I am still having to slam the doors with ridiculous force to get them closed. If this keeps up I am trying a different seal. This is embarrassing and unnecessarily beating the heck out of the truck.

I had to drill out one of the bottom screws on the door panels on each side (seized and then stripped the head, even with the impact driver). The driver side drilled out clean and the nut was re-useable. Not so lucky on the passenger side- In the battle to get the screw out, the nut welded/tacked to the backside of the door skin came loose. I need to "glue" a nut on the backside maybe to snug a screw in there. I got replacement screws from LMC. I also got some escutcheons for the door handles and window cranks. They seem to work well but look goofy- they look like big plastic donuts with an odd shade of blue. I'm keeping them on for now as they eliminate any door rattles (important with all the door slamming!) but will get something else when I go to black panels. So for now, the doors are freshened up and done.

I bought an aftermarket lap belt from LMC so I can go three wide on the bench. It doesn't look factory but will do the job for now. Got black too, as that is the way the interior is going so its mismatched, but oh well. It was a PITA to install with the bench seat in, even with my gorilla length arms.

I got my headlight bezels painted flat black. Look nice.... Makes the grill look older... Cleaned up my grounds on the headlight wiring. One side was loose. Headlights are both coming on with full brightness now. Check that off the list.

I drilled out, tapped and replaced by gas pedal ball studs. I got the spacing too far off (it was tough to drill out the broken screws) so I had to elongate one of the holes and put a nut on the other side of the firewall. I spaced up the studs with some washers to compensate for the added thickness of the new carpet and underpad and the pedal seems to be good now.

I'm using my tap and die set a lot on this truck... Glad I have a good one (MAC Tools kit).

Finally yesterday I made an attempt to change the transmission tailsection extension gasket and rear seal. Everything came apart easy except I quickly learned that the tailsection will not come off the tranny body without opening it up (should have googled that first dang-it). Bolted it all back up and refilled it with new gear oil. I hope the gasket that is in there doesn't leak worse now or that tranny has to come out. Bummer... The factory service manual isn't very helpful for this truck. There is very little detail or even mention of most jobs I have had to do. I hate to say it but I might need to get the chiltons book too.

I am running out of these basic maintenance/road worthiness issues to do on the truck (not even sure what to do on it today- my wife is shocked). I need to start driving it....

I think I'll drill out my factory air cleaner today. I am going to retain it to keep everything looking stock but want better airflow so I am going to drill out the bottom and the firewall side to open it up.