My new truck..a few problems...

[yellowbomber]

HEI is the way to go. I run an HEI in my 68. You will not have to worry about reducing power or anything. Just use the 12v lead that is there. Make sure the 12v lead you use is a decent wire, (not some speaker wire that the PO rigged in there.)
Also make sure that it is hot while cranking. Most of our old trucks are, but if someone has chnged things around a lot, some times a wire will go dead while cranking, then you really chase your tail.
Could not agree more to get rid of funky spark box set-up. They were quite the rage for some years, but an HEI is every bit as good and waaaay less headache.

[El Rondo]

Cool, thanks for the link! Yea, that goofy rig up has to go. Tonight's the night and I'm gonna run on points just to get on the road until this gets in the mailbox, then I'll slap on the HEI.

[El Rondo]

Well, well...my mechanic bud and I were discussing it, and we decided the HEI had to happen...slapped 'er in and WOOOOM! That thing is awesome. Running like a ruptured duck! Little tweaking here and there on the carb mix, and now I'm i'm gonna be haulin' it.

Right now I'm wore out money wise, so I'm gonna just enjoy driving it...maybe after the holidays I'll look at the next thing here and there. Needs a new fuel sending unit, so that should be a quick change out.

Thanks to everyone for all the great help. Hope I can do the same for someone on here sometime!

[Green Hornet]

Glad it worked out for you.

[70Custom10Nut]

I agree with all the insight but also be mindful of vacuume leaks. With age the rubber vacuume lines will crack and leak under load but look good from appearance. just my 2 cents. Oh and welcome to the insanity club.

[El Rondo]

Thanks, and yes indeed on the leaks. In fact, I've already found and changed out about 3' of hose here and there. This weekend I want to pull the plugs and clean them (had new ones in, but they got gunked a bit in all the melee) and do a squirt test for more leaks.

[72kool]

my '72 with a 350 had the same problem and it still had the ol points distributor so we just swapped it out with hei and retimed it and found it was a tooth off and never had a problem again

[El Rondo]

Yea, I am suspect of the timing. I think I might check that. Right now it's running pretty well, but it still coughs a bit here and there in idle..I'm gonna re-install my spark plugs after cleaning (they're new, but got gunked while trying to get this thing running), and we're going to check that timing...my buddy's been saying "a tooth off" too...better check it.

[72kool]

I would definitely check cuz it sounds like its doing exactly what my truck did and it was a tooth off and now purrs just perfectly

[El Rondo]

Thanks...may go at it tonight after work!