Project Charity Case

[brn agn]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Hey if you're up visiting...make sure you let me know....would love to meet you too....I could meet you over at Les' shop too!!!

That sounds good. I'll keep that in mind the next time we are in the area. Our friends actually live in Cornelius.

[sourkraut]

brn agn , i love your truck it looks great and good work you have done!

[brn agn]

Originally Posted by sourkraut

brn agn , i love your truck it looks great and good work you have done!

Thanks for the compliment. I have really enjoyed looking through your build thread too. Your truck looks great with the rally wheels. I can't wait to see it finished.

[Larry S]

Awesome job... Man I just thought my cab had alot of rust. Mine was a piece of cake compared to what you had.

[brn agn]

A few people have asked me about the specs on the wheels and tires I have on this truck. I am putting the specs in this thread not only as info for other people but also as documentation for myself, since I am slowly losing my memory.

I am running 17"x8" wheels on the front with 4" of backspacing. The tires are 255/50/17 Nitto NT-450's. I have not observed any rubbing.

On the rear I am running 17"x9.5" wheels with 6" of backspacing and 275/50/17 Nitto NT-450 tires. The rear axle is from a 72 model, so it is wider than the 1969 rear axle. There is only about 1" of clearance between the back of the tire and the fender well on both sides. If I had to do it over again, I would use rear wheels with 5" of backspacing as a cushion and to bring the wheels out closer to the bedside for a "nicer" look.

[lolife99]

Ever thought about running a 1" spacer to bring the wheels out?

[brn agn]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Ever thought about running a 1" spacer to bring the wheels out?

I have actually. I think it would look a lot nicer and it may be in the plans for the next year.

[72BlckButy]

What else are in those plans for next year?

Give my best to your family during the holidays!

[brn agn]

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

What else are in those plans for next year?

Give my best to your family during the holidays!

Here is my wish list for the year:

-Fix an off idle hesitation in the engine (I may work on this tomorrow)
-Order and install a hidden hitch/wiring harness from ECE
-Add a couple of more "vintage" accessories
-Buff the paint
-Drive the wheels off the truck!

Thanks for the Christmas wishes. We did not make it home this year, but I heard there was a fun, family gathering in California, MO.

[72BlckButy]

Good old Cal, MO; I know it well as you know.

Keep me posted if you ever decide to make the trek back to MO.

[brn agn]

I thought I would share a couple of pictures of the truck in it's current state. I replaced the side mirrors recently. Besides that, I have been working on the 307 that is in the truck. It has a little hesitation in it at cruising speeds. All of the spark plugs look good and compression ranges from 150psi to 160psi. I'm having a hard time determining if the problem is ignition related or fuel related. Tuning either one does not seem to have much affect on the condition. I may just buy a HEI distributor and start there. At least it would eliminate the variable of a points distributor.

Anyway, on to the pictures, here are a couple I took today:





The truck needs to be washed, but with temps in the 20's and 30's, it is not going to happen!

I'm not a fan of decals, but I have really been wanting to use these two for awhile. So, I put them in the back window:



The NHRA Nationals sticker has a date of 1969 on it to match the truck. The County Speed Shop sticker is a reminder of my home state of Missouri.

[VA72C10]

Truck looks great! I know you said it's dirty, but you've done a good job with bringing out the paint already!!!

[wancosc356]

Looking good man!

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by brn agn

I have been working on the 307 that is in the truck. It has a little hesitation in it at cruising speeds. All of the spark plugs look good and compression ranges from 150psi to 160psi. I'm having a hard time determining if the problem is ignition related or fuel related. Tuning either one does not seem to have much affect on the condition. I may just buy a HEI distributor and start there. At least it would eliminate the variable of a points distributor.

Your truck looks GREAT! You ready to sell it and get a new project? Hey, before you go buy an HEI distributer, Let me look in my stash I have a few I think...I would donate one to your truck. The ones I have were in running condit and may need cleaning and caps but I seriously doubt I will ever use one of them...just let me know,
Mike

[brn agn]

Wow, it has been awhile since I have updated this thread...

I finished up a couple of projects on the truck during the last couple of months. First, I want to publicly thank mcbassin for graciously selling me a used HEI disributor for only the shipping costs. After I received it, I installed a new cap, rotor and picked up some 77 Corvette plug wires from Napa. These wires are extra long and worked great in my application. Here is a before picture of the stock 307 in the truck with the old distributor set up (don't laugh too hard at the "crustiness" of the engine...it runs better than it looks!):



...and here is the new/used distributor:





It still looks like a crusty old 307, but it runs 100% better! I should have changed the distributor a long time ago. The trucks starts easier and runs better on the road. In fact, I had been battling a hesitation and the distributor and wires helped it tremendously. Thanks again mcbassin!

Speaking of the hesitation, I recently realized that I had made a mistake when I first bought the truck. After I rebuilt the carb last year, there was a very bad off idle stumble. So, I lengthened the pump rod on the carb to give it more gas. After I did that, the stumble was better, but not eliminated so I disassembled the carb again and found that I had not thoroughly cleaned out some of the circuits. I cleaned them and reassembled it. It ran much better, but it still was not perfect. Fast forward to last month when I did the distributor swap and I started thinking about the carb rebuild. That is when I realized I never adjusted the pump rod length back to the factory spec. I did that and the stumbling and hesitation is just about eliminated. There may be a little hesitation left, but it is hard to tell. I think for a 41 year old vehicle, it is about as good as can be expected.

One other thing that I did recently was change the steering wheel. The stock steering wheel was in really, really bad shape. I searched for a replacement blue steering wheel, but never found one, so I picked up a black one and installed it. Here is the before:



...and here is the after:



Personally, I think the black wheel matches good enough to leave it.

My wife and I took a ride in the old truck today and had a blast. It is a nice departure from modern cars with fuel injection, power brakes, good weatherstripping, etc... Ha, ha!

[VA72C10]

Looks great!!!

[72BlckButy]

Nice progress, and glad to hear you and the wife enjoyed the day.

[sourkraut]

keep up the good work.

[dkb1970]

Subscribed to this thread. I really like what you've done to the old truck. Thanks for taking the time to document and share the build with us.

Dennis

[RCbowtie69]

Hey from N.C. your truck looks great,looking at the work you did,i say you did a heak of a job, and those wheels set the truck off, keep up the hard work, keep on truckin.

[brn agn]

Originally Posted by RCbowtie69

Hey from N.C. your truck looks great,looking at the work you did,i say you did a heak of a job, and those wheels set the truck off, keep up the hard work, keep on truckin.

Thanks. Are you going to the gathering in Salisbury this May?

[steppside69]

Good job on the fender, The tt and the rake look sweeeettt!!!!!!! Very nice

[lclippard]

Originally Posted by brn agn

Thanks. Are you going to the gathering in Salisbury this May?

im going! look forward to meeting you if you come.

[threeonthetree]

Nice truck!
diggin the orignal motor in there

[wancosc356]

I think the black wheel looks great in there! So whats next on the agenda for the truck? Aside from driving and enjoying it!