Acquired a Mess 1980 K10

[wrinkle]

Hey Guys,

Just to start, this site and the contributors are AWESOME! Ive used this site as a resource many times in the past couple of weeks.

Here's the story. Acquired a 1980 k10 shortbox project that the previous owner got over his head on. Came with a basic 350 chev crate engine in the box of the truck, and the old engine out. Unfortunately, prev owner decided it was a good idea to cut most of the stuff away from the engine to get it out rather than disconnect.

I've slowly re-wired, and re-plumbed the engine bay, and have the engine dropped in. I've come across a few oddities that i haven't been able to solve as of yet.

1) Old engine had a mech fuel pump that i fit to the new engine, but it doesnt have a return fitting on it, even though the truck appears to have two lines on the frame rail. Did the prev owner swap in the wrong fuel pump at some time?

2) Single orange wire coming out of the firewall below the throttle linkage. It has a rubber "hood" on it similar to the oil press connection. No idea where this one goes as temp and oil are accounted for

3) Prev owner mounted the water pump on the new engine before i bought it, and i should have checked it before install i guess, but didnt. Started to fill up the rad yesterday, and it would start leaking out of what appears to be an empty mounting hole on the right side, right below the main mounting point of the pump. Hard to tell exactly where the water was coming from, but is there a passage i need to block there or is there something else im missing. Maybe just replace the gaskets and the pump to be safe?

4) Prev owner plumbed in a t vacuum fitting at the back of the intake, but I cant seem to figure out where the one side would service. I have the other side plugged in to the cruise control system, vac advance from the dist direct to the carb. I did notice a line coming from the trans that appears to be vacuum, but it was disconnected and crimped awhile ago by the look of it. Could that be the missing line for the other side of the T?


Any help or advice you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!