[JohnIL]

That Danged Carburetor
So, I think I finally found a solution for the cantankerous Holley carb. I threw it out the window! That's right, I finally gave up fighting the Holley and replaced it with an Edelbrock.

If you've been following along from the beginning, I'm sure you're sick of hearing about my feeble attempts to tune the Holley 600 that came with the truck. In my last update, I mentioned that I had new #68 primary jets ordered. I installed the new jets along with a new 6.5 power valve. That finally fixed the lean stumble... For about two days... It ran beautifully for just over a hundred miles. Then, the engine started surging violently at light throttle and it died completely at idle. I'm pretty sure all of my tinkering dislodged some crud and fouled the idle circuit somewhere. I'm certain that a rebuild would put back right, but I was out of patience with the Holley. Really Holley, it's not you, it's me. It's just not going work out between us.

So, mysteriously, a brand new Edelbrock AVS2 650 arrived in the garage and found its way under the hood of the C10. I'm sure the Holley could be fixed, but it was time to try something new. I pulled the new Edelbrock from the box and plopped it on the intake. And, guess what, the engine ran perfectly. Well OK, not perfectly, but pretty darned close. The engine started, idled, and ran very well. I set the idle speed, adjusted the idle mixture a bit, and set the fast idle choke speed. Done. That's it. No more tuning needed. The engine idles smooth, pulls hard through the gears, and clearly has better low end torque. Thanks Vic!

While I was at it, I installed a 1" phenolic spacer to help with the hot fuel evaporation. When the engine is hot, it still takes a bit to refill the bowls, but it's definitely better than it was before, without the spacer.

There might be a slightly used Holley 600 available on eBay soon. It would be a perfect rebuild candidate for someone who knows more about tuning Holley's than I do. It really is a nice carb. It's just beyond my know-how and patience.

Electrical Fixes - Alternator, Ignition Switch, and Starter
I mentioned in my last update that I replaced the alternator. The new one seemed to be charging OK, but occasionally, I had trouble with a "dead battery". After driving and parking, the truck wouldn't restart. Click. Just click. Then, one day, I noticed that if I tried the key a few times, it would eventually start. The battery clearly wasn't dead. I just wasn't getting reliable voltage to the starter solenoid.

I suspected the problem might be the ignition switch, because of some electrical hackery by the previous owner. So, I installed a new switch. While I was at it, I replaced the ignition lock cylinder. The old one wasn't the original style anyway. Everything worked OK for a couple of weeks, then click returned.

Then, I had an epiphany. About a year ago, I replaced the starter because the PO had overtightened both the battery cable lug and the ignition wire lug and cracked the housing. Being paranoid about cracking the new starter housing, I purposely did not overtighten the lugs. That is to say, I undertightened the lugs. They weren't lose, exactly, but they weren't tight either. I gave both lugs a bit more snugging and the mystery click seems to be solved. Time will tell.

Electrical Fixes - Tail Lights and Marker Lights
When I first bought the truck, I had a flaky tail light. I thought I had if fixed with a new light bulb, but it's always been dimmer (not as bright) as the other tail light. It dawned on me the the other day that not only was the tail light dim, but so was the brake light. That told me that problem was something that impacts the whole socket, not just one circuit. The problem turned out to be a sketchy ground. The original light bucket was rusty and the light socket was corroded. I little emory cloth got things shined up. It's working well now, but the bucket and trim ring are both pretty banged up. So, I ordered a new set of tail light housings, light sockets, and new lenses. When those arrive, I'll go through the wiring and add new dedicated ground wires to both tail light housings.

Speaking of dim lights, one of my front marker lights (the right one) has always been dimmer than the other one. A few months ago, I connected the brown tail light wire to the purple wire for the front running lights. This turns the front running lights on, even with the head lights on. The problem was, at the same time, I lost the right turn signals when the headlights were on. Since I was messing around with the tail lights, I decided to dig into the front marker problem too.

If you are familiar with the wiring of the front marker lights, you've probably already guessed what was going on. Someone, in the past replaced the light socket on the left front marker light. They reversed the two wires (marker light and turn signal). The dim right light was wired correctly. The running light function is supposed to be dim. Then, when you turn on the turn signal, it flashes MUCH brighter. Because the wires on the left light were reversed, the bright circuit was lit at the wrong time. When I connected the brown wire, I made things worse by causing a short between the running light circuit and the turn signal circuit.

Once I corrected the wiring, everything started working. The running lights come on with the tail lights and both turn signals work, with and without the headlights.


Electrical Upgrades - Auxiliary Fuse Block, Cell Phone Charger, and Courtesy Lights
When I installed the bucket seats and built the console, I added an inductive cell phone charger on the console lid, but I never connected the power. I was a little leery of adding one more current draw to the ignition switch. So, I added an auxiliary fuse panel next to the factory replacement fuse panel installed by the previous owner. The factory replacement panel didn't have any unused keyed circuits, but it did have an unused keyed tap. I used that tap to feed the new panel. Now, I have fused circuits for the keyed accessories I've added in the cab, like the stereo, the tach, and the new inductive cell phone charger. And, I have three more unused fused circuits for future toys. If I add any high-draw accessories, I will use the keyed tap to switch a dedicated relay to power the auxiliary fuse panel.

Next on my list was a feature we take for granted in our modern daily drivers. This truck had no interior courtesy lights. The only interior light was the dome light, powered by the rotating headlight switch. It was terribly inconvenient at night. Sometimes, it was down right dangerous. Luckily, LMC sells a simple set of door plunger switches and under-dash courtesy lights. Wiring them up was tedious, but simpler than I expected.

Basically, here's how if works. You install the plunger switches in the door jambs. Next, you tie the plunger switches, the black ground wire from each of the new courtesy lights, and the ground wire to the dome light circuit all together. Then, you tie the white power wire from each of the new courtesy lights and the power wire from the dome light circuit all together. Now, when either of the doors is opened, the plunger switch grounds the whole circuit and the dome light and the new courtesy lights all come on. And, if the doors are closed and you rotate the headlight switch all the way to the dome light function, the dome light and the new courtesy lights all come on. It's downright futuristic! I can't recommend this upgrade enough. It's really nice to be able to see to get in and out of the cab at night.

What's next?
When the new tail lights arrive, I'll get them installed.

I'm also going to replace the cooling system thermostat with a 160 degree unit and add a fan shroud. The engine doesn't really get hot, but it hovers around 190 on hot days. I'd like to see that come down a few more degrees.