New member New Truck

[tkuligowski]

Hey everyone. My name is Tony and this is my first post and I just bought this truck a few weeks ago. I drove by this truck for a month and fell in love and decided I might as well get it. I didn't need it, but definitely wanted it.

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It's a 1979 Chevrolet C10 Cheyenne. It supposedly only has 28,000 original miles on it. The truck isn't near perfect but it's very clean. I've only found one tiny spot of rust on the right front fender, but it's not through yet and appears to be just surface rust.

I came across this website and was surprised how active the forum is. I want to keep this truck in good condition and I hope you guys can help me. I have moderate mechanic skills and can do most things with instructions and a bit of help. I'm definitely not a natural gearhead by any means.

My long term goal is to get the truck repainted. and get the interior back to prime condition. Supposedly the truck just had a RV and Tow cam put in..have no idea what that is or the specs. The engine is dressed up with edelbrock valve covers and airfilter cover. The electric system and rubber was replaced recently as well. There are headers put on it recently too I have no idea what size the primaries are or anything. It appears the catalytic converter was removed from what I can see. All this work was done by the previous owner and he had someone else do the work and couldn't really tell me any details about the mods.

The truck seems sluggish to me. I've never had a 350 truck so i'm not sure if it's supposed to be this sluggish. It moves around fine but def has no pep. It's hard to start sometimes and I have to choke it often and white smoke comes out when I start it. Even if it's hot out I will have to give it gas sometimes to keep it going, other times it starts and runs fine.

I need to change the coolant as it's just filled with water now. I'm thinking about just draining the radiator and pouring coolant in and seeing what my ratio is with a test strip since there will be water in the block. I'm guessing the guy just used garden hose water and not distilled, i don't know how big of a deal that is with these trucks.