Restoring Rusty

[LT7A]

Man, sorry to hear about the house. Total swift kick in the (name anyplace that hurts). Glad you found something so quick. Good (great) grab on that front clip. You blew it apart fast. You are on your way to having a spare Not So Rusty. I hope the pack-up-and-re-lo-cate goes well.

[rusty76]

Sucks you have to move again. I hope the new digs will suit you and your family a long time or until you if d more permanent digs. That front clip is really making me jealous. Gosh do you really need that. I will give you 150 for the whole shebang. Lol.

[green72s]

Gregski, sorry to hear about the house situation, but then happy that you already have a prospect in mind.

Looking forward to seeing what happens with Rusty (Fleet or Stepper).

[Hewfil1]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Well get this my brethren, we once again was served a 60 Day Notice to move out, yup our landlords want to sell the house (and we asked them when we moved in only 18 months ago if they had any intention of doing so, oh well they have the right to change their minds) but the timing couldn't be worse, we want to buy a house this year but not rush and find something in 60 days

So at least this time Rusty is all in one piece and runs great, so he will come in handy, but I am hiring pro movers since I did hurt my back and I'm no spring chicken.

In related news I am downsizing from a 3 car garage back to a 2, I know I know, Cry for me Argentina!

Good News is we already found a house a little bit closer to the kids school, and in the same area just half a mile away.

Been there before man, sorry t hear!

[Gregski]

So moved in to the new house over Superbowl Weekend

Couldn't resist taking this pic of one of the first boxes moved. Epic!

[Gregski]

Truck Doing Truck Things!

Rusty sure earned his keep! I don't know how people live without a truck in their stable?

[Gregski]

One load down, dozens to go...

Apologies for posting one pic at a time, its all my iphone allows me to upload at once

[Gregski]

Since I went from a three car garage to a two I tried storing some truck parts in the kitchen, but the wife didn't go for it😳

I don't get chics, hee hee

[Gregski]

When it was all said and done you couldn't fit a que tip in that garage...

Fun Level = 1.1

[RDrancher]

Originally Posted by Gregski

Since I went from a three car garage to a two I tried storing some truck parts in the kitchen, but the wife didn't go for it😳

I don't get chics, hee hee

Me neither! That stuff really brings out the color in that room.

[moregrip]

Originally Posted by Gregski

When it was all said and done you couldn't fit a que tip in that garage...

Fun Level = 1.1

[rusty76]

Glad you got moved. Can't believe you sat that box like that. Can't you read? Lol.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Glad you got moved. Can't believe you sat that box like that. Can't you read? Lol.

LOL yup, it was one of the first ones we moved, and I thought oh boy it's gonna be a long weekend

[Gregski]

Captain's Log March 3rd, 2017, today Rusty becomes my Daily Driver. That's right after a 3 year lease I returned my electric Nissan Leaf and will try to drive this 1974 rig on a daily basis, wish me luck.

[Gregski]

so finally got a couple hours to work on the truck, one thing that needed doin' was to swap the side hung float bowls with the center hung ones on this Holley carb, this also called for replacing that silly little straw connecting the two float bowls with the single fuel inlet with a proper dual inlet hard line (though I am not a fan of the hard line and may try a rubber hose solution some time down the line)

[Gregski]

the last time I attempted this swap I did not have these two coupling adapter thingies to screw in the smaller fittings of the hard line into the much larger openings in the float bowls

so I scored this one on eBay...

[Gregski]

and this second coupling I bought directly from Holley, same thing just a little bit more money

I honestly don't know where the smaller gasket is supposed to go as it just falls in if inserted towards the cab side

[Gregski]

so having those two thingmajigs allowed us to mount the chrome hard line to the carb, it took some gentle persuasion to separate the inlets to be as wide as the carb they came about 1/4 inch too narrow I think, hey aftermarket parts right!!!

[Gregski]

then the typical interference problems started, hey it's Hot Roddin' aint it, nothing fits on the first try

that pesky chrome hard line hit the water inlet/outlet for the heater core in the intake manifold, go figure right?!

well we was ready for that, so I busted out one of my trusty 1 inch 4 hole plastic carb spacers and gave that a go

[Gregski]

well naturally now we needed longer carb studs, so we tried the 2" tall ones and not even they were tall enough

so we hit Oh'Reallys and picked up the 2 1/2" ones and they did the trick

[Gregski]

by then it got too dark to take a final pic, but we got everything assembled and after tightening that silly hex stud in the chrome dual hard line inlet we stopped the gushing gasoline fountain

we squirted some gasoline into the float bowls via their vent towers and the truck fired right up

I adjusted the float bowls so that the gas is half way full in the sight glasses both front and rear float bowls

the truck warmed up in the garage and then we took it around the block for a test drive, it ran good

I kept the same carb configuration I had before:

69 primary jets / 73 secondary jets (I think best I could see)
35 accelerator pump squirter
10.5 power valve (cause I'm pulling silly strong 20 inch vacuum at idle)
yellow vacuum secondary spring
no idea what color accelerator pump cam, will check in the morning (what ever stock one it came with)

[Azryael]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I don't know how people live without a truck in their stable?

It's awful!

I've never owned a pickup of my own, but that's why I'm on the hunt for one.

Getting into woodworking and metalworking means I need to be able to haul materials!

Same thing goes with landscaping.

My Wrangler can only carry so much even with the top down and the rear seat bench out!

Great thread, at any rate!

[rusty76]

I have had a truck since I was 19. I don't like borrowing a truck. If you own a house you really need a truck. Be it big or small a truck will save you in the long run. I have a small truck. It's plenty for what I need. I get my 76 on the road and I'll have two. Glad to see you back Greg.

[RDrancher]

Good on fixing the hard line clearance. I had the same problem installing the one for my Summit carb. Funny...a gazillion carbs using basically the same setup on a gazillion SBCs, and it doesn't quite fit.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Azryael

It's awful!

I've never owned a pickup of my own, but that's why I'm on the hunt for one.

Getting into woodworking and metalworking means I need to be able to haul materials!

Same thing goes with landscaping.

My Wrangler can only carry so much even with the top down and the rear seat bench out!

Great thread, at any rate!

thank you, right now trucks are hot, ie popular, people are buying them for all the wrong reasons like me to Hot Rod them, so they are way overpriced right now, however for your needs a long bed would make very much sense, and they tend to be "less desirable" in the eyes of the Hot Rod TV car show watching knuckleheads like me, so you can still probably land a very good deal, think lumber rack etc. right

I love wood working and am trying to learn metal working, do you have a link to some of your work or future project ideas would love to see them.