Look what my wife let me bring home

[oldstuffrunsbetter]

Hello from the Midwest.

I've been lurking and looking on this forum for quite some time by now. Some on the other newer truck forums, but mostly in the 60-66 forums as of recently.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to convince the wife I needed this old pickup truck:

It is a 1964 short bed step side. The 230 - 6 cylinder was "rebuilt" a mere 3000 miles ago (although I still am not sure what the PO means by "rebuilt").

As time has allowed, I've been going through the standard checkouts and diagnostics. I've checked timing, changed oil, greased the front end, performed compression checks, and corrected many bad grounds on the tail light / headlight / parking light harnesses. Evidently, the PO thought proper grounding meant looping a bare wire around a sheet metal screw.

Engine runs pretty well. Other than running a bit rich, it fires right up and purrs at anything above an idle. While idling, though, I get some hiccups and black droplets of liquid out the exhaust. Furthermore, when I changed oil, the used oil wreaked of gas. I have rebuilt the carburetor, and have been very meticulous about setting the height and drop of the floats. Draining out the old gas yielded in filling up my fuel filter with sand. Fresh gas has solved 75% of my sputter at idle, and I am now thinking the remainder of the problem lies in ignition rather than carburetion. I am anxiously awaiting on the Fedex truck to deliver my Pertronix kit today.

Future plans: I plan to continue to troubleshoot and correct the small mechanical problems and get this truck into a good running, reliable runner. Thereafter, I think I'll simply drive it and enjoy it before giving it a coat of paint (maybe flat black?). This may be a good project for my son and I to play with as he grows older, and I'm in no rush.

One more note - I am on many forums by now (antique John Deere tractor forums, lawn mower forums, and car forums). I must say this is the most well-behaved and respectable group of gents (and ladies) I have encountered out of the many forums I attend. Thanks to all for making a nice cyber-playground!

-Dan