Baby Steps

[Clemsonhelo]

Its really the little things.

Don't have much mechanical knowledge at all. Have a 1970 Step-side with a SB 350. What I lack in knowledge I make up for in passion, because I love that damn truck. Had to store it at my moms for about 8 months courtesy of Uncle Sam. Went to bring her home at Christmas, and couldn't get her to start. It was dark and late, ended up putting her on the trailer with the assistance of a tractor. Got her in the garage at home courtesy of brute force and a few buddies. Went to try and crank it again, noticed gas pouring out of the middle of the carb; figured there was a bad gasket somewhere.

Don't know **** about rebuilding a carb, but tackled it anyway. I know in the scheme of things its a drop in the bucket, and the tip of a needle jammed into an iceberg. But I got it all rebuilt (thankfully with no leftover pieces haha) and not only does it run, it cranks and idles better than ever before. So I know it ain't much; but dang it feels good to learn and make it a little better; especially without paying someone to do it for me.

Love reading the posts of the fellas that know and do it all; always encouraging to see. Thanks for inspiring a know-nothing to start at it one step at a time. A toast to you gents (and the wives that support us all;god bless 'em)

[Synestran]

Originally Posted by Clemsonhelo

Its really the little things.

Don't have much mechanical knowledge at all. Have a 1970 Step-side with a SB 350. What I lack in knowledge I make up for in passion, because I love that damn truck. Had to store it at my moms for about 8 months courtesy of Uncle Sam. Went to bring her home at Christmas, and couldn't get her to start. It was dark and late, ended up putting her on the trailer with the assistance of a tractor. Got her in the garage at home courtesy of brute force and a few buddies. Went to try and crank it again, noticed gas pouring out of the middle of the carb; figured there was a bad gasket somewhere.

Don't know **** about rebuilding a carb, but tackled it anyway. I know in the scheme of things its a drop in the bucket, and the tip of a needle jammed into an iceberg. But I got it all rebuilt (thankfully with no leftover pieces haha) and not only does it run, it cranks and idles better than ever before. So I know it ain't much; but dang it feels good to learn and make it a little better; especially without paying someone to do it for me.

Love reading the posts of the fellas that know and do it all; always encouraging to see. Thanks for inspiring a know-nothing to start at it one step at a time. A toast to you gents (and the wives that support us all;god bless 'em)

That's one of the things I love about these trucks. I don't know a whole lot about mechanics but tinkering on these helps me to understand how things work.

[7tee]

We all crawled before we walked and some of us are still crawling. It does make you feel good to make something work and work right, good for you...ed...

[drewbert41]

Did you follow a book or youtube videos? I have a 4 barrel Holley carb I need to rebuild to replace my rochester 2 barrel.

[Clemsonhelo]

Originally Posted by drewbert41

Did you follow a book or youtube videos? I have a 4 barrel Holley carb I need to rebuild to replace my rochester 2 barrel.

I just bought the Edelbrock rebuild kit that was for my model
Number. It came with directions and a pretty good picture. I supplemented that with google image searches a lot to figure out exactly which piece was being referred to. I took lots of photos at each stage of dis-assembly; which was very helpful when re-assembling. Also put each little batch of parts in a ziploc bag with part numbers pulled from the instruction manual. I went extremely slow since this was my first attempt. All in all it took about 5 hours from pulling it to cranking again.
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[davepl]

All of us one day faced that exciting day when it was time to tear apart out first Quadrajet. And 99% of faced having a bunch of parts left over. Look at all those little rods and tubes! It had like 8 of them, I'm sure 6 is enough. If you took a carb all the way apart and put it back together, even a Holley, it's a good start!

[Clemsonhelo]

Originally Posted by davepl

All of us one day faced that exciting day when it was time to tear apart out first Quadrajet. And 99% of faced having a bunch of parts left over. Look at all those little rods and tubes! It had like 8 of them, I'm sure 6 is enough. If you took a carb all the way apart and put it back together, even a Holley, it's a good start!

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[Clemsonhelo]

Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement from everyone. On to the next part of the project!
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[hugger6933]

Lots of guys on here have been where you are. It is just a matter of the road and how far down it some of us have traveled. Like in my business[ I rebuild wrecks] I have an occasion to tear trucks of all different models all apart even down to the frame rails. I have been doing it since 1987 so I have picked up a thing or two. There are a lot on here like that.

[73737373]

I read this board for the same reason I read "Men's Health" magazine, it keeps me motivated. I'm 56. Will I ever be like those young, fit, super healthy guys in that magazine? No way. Will I ever be able to do all the really neat things that a lot of guys do to these trucks? Probably not, but in both cases, I keep trying.