Help a NOOB - A continuing saga

[ncpetersc]

Hello all, first time posting, after a long time lurking. Great site, with lots of knowledge and advice!

I'll try not to get too wordy with this, but I want to provide a short history of my trials and tribulations with a 1972 C-10.

I inherited the truck just about 2 years ago now, and had it shipped from AZ to NC where I now reside. It ran when I got it, though not well. I remember having to drive it home a few blocks from where the car hauler could drop it off, and I had to put it in neutral at intersections so I could rev it up a bit so it wouldn't die.

I didn't do much to it, as I am NOT a mechanic. Changed the oil, tried to clean things up a bit so I could see what I was looking at. Made some small idle adjustments so it would run semi-smooth. I drove it rarely, as it was more stressful than enjoyable.

It pretty much sits in the driveway, and I would start it three or four times a month. I knew I had carb issues, as every once in a while it would drip gas when I tried to start it. My solution was always to pull the filter out and give a couple squirts of carb cleaner into it. Temporary I know, but always worked, so I could at least start the thing.

Two things in particular I wanted to figure out. There was always a slight ticking under the drivers side valve cover, it would come and go. And the thing smoked like crazy. White smoke; always seemed more on the drivers side to me.

Anyway, I just kept starting the thing. Added rislone to a few oil changes, thinking if something was just "sticking" that might help. And I was basically too much of a chicken to even take a valve cover off and have a look. I have no experience doing any of this, and also have a history of making things worse when attempting to do this sort of stuff.

Time for a bit of honesty here. Being white smoke I suspected (feared) head gasket issues. So I tried a bottle of that Barr's leak fix stuff. Now I don't think this could have hurt anything, but I could be wrong. Something more severe did occur within the next few weeks.

One morning I started it, and it started backfiring. I didn't run it long, but it was long enough. Dejected I know I was getting nowhere, so I called an auto repair shop to come and pick it up.

I'm not originally from the area, and have only owned newer vehicles while living here. So I had to roll the dice with the choice of mechanic. I mean I asked around, and looked up what reviews I could find, but it was still just a shot in the dark really.

The day they picked it up, they called me back within about two hours with a report. What they had found were two SEVERELY bent push rods. We talked about how everything else looked in there, and how much the repair would be. I didn't want to start putting money into a repair, and have to have it torn open again later. But the guy said everything looked good, and for a couple hundred bucks he'd replace the pushrods. On reassembly he said he would adjust all the rockers, and check the timing.

I was pleased with how quickly they got back to me. But, I think that first day they had the truck was the ONLY time they called me.

I called them that Friday before they closed for the weekend. No parts yet but should be early the following week.

I was out of town for work that next week. Never heard from them, so I called on Friday again looking for an update. I had to stop them half way through, when I realized they were not even talking about my truck but some other vehicle. But the report was that it was done, but not running well. They said something was wrong in the motor, and the labor required to get to it, find it, and fix it, might mean a new motor was the best option.

I didn't want to make that decision without thinking about it, and thinking about how to make it work money wise. So the following week I went to pick the truck up. The mechanic took me out to the truck, and tried to start it. It wouldn't start, popped the hood and he tried to start it again. Gas was leaking out of the carb, it wasn't happening. We went back inside and got the owner of the shop out to look at it. But the battery was pretty much done now anyway.

SOOOO they talked about a number of things, but the carb needed to get fixed first. Which I agreed with, I knew it would need to be rebuilt at some point. Might as well be now. So they said $300 to rebuild it, and I just said fine.

Another Friday comes along and I hadn't heard from them. I didn't get to call them in time before they closed. So I called during the day early that next week, and sure enough they said it was done a few days ago. So I go to pick it up, pay them close to $800 and they hand me the keys.

I had a heck of a time starting it, and it was running very rough. Any throttle would cause coughing, spitting, backfire out of the carb? I looked around, and noticed the plug wires on the passenger side laying on the exhaust manifold. I shut it down, moved the wires, and went in to get some zipties or something.

The owner came back out with me, and I showed him the wires and asked for something to tie them up. While I was showing him, I noticed the 6 wire wasn't even on the plug. I was disappointed to say the least. I just wanted out of there. He plugged the wire in and tied up the wires. Unfortunately it only ran nominally better when I started it again. But again, I just wanted out of there.

It died the first few times I tried to pull out on the highway. I took a little longer route home on some back roads where I could limp along. It was smoking like crazy, and coughing/missing quite a bit. It was hot, I was upset, and stressing about getting home. I will say that it ran a little bit better further into the ride. Anyway, I made it home, and didn't even want to look at it.

What to do next? I decided to take some baby steps. I have no confidence remember. On the way home from work I bought some plug wire clips to route them more properly, and borrowed a compression tester. The next day I pulled all the plugs, to do compression test. Plugs looked pretty nasty. Compression test seemed positive to me. Pretty much 120 PSI across the board, with an odd 115 or 125. Got 130 once, but retested and got 120. I'm hoping this tells me things aren't hopeless at least as far as rings and valves go.

The next day I went to buy new plugs. BTW has anyone else struggled getting to the #4 plug? There was no way to get a socket on it with the exhaust manifold. I finally puzzled a way to sneak a box wrench on it and get a small turn at a time. When I went to get the plugs I found a set of those thru-sockets they use for long bolts. The plug slid through that, so it worked well to put #4 back in.

I measured all the old plugs. And they were a consistent .9mm gap (about .035). So that is what I gapped the new ones to. I then tested each new plug on its intended plug wire for spark. Everything looked good, so I put them in with a little anti-seize and connected all the wires back up.

Was all set to start it up... and the battery was dead from all of my tests I guess. Left it on a charger over night to try again the next day.

Next day, it starts. Not running all that well. And anything but the gentlest application of throttle caused it to "caugh" or miss or bogg or whatever that is. Noted that the 'tick' I used to hear did seem to be gone (probably valve/pushrod related). I also looked around the carb and noticed an unplugged vacuum port. If I put my finger on it the rpm would change and it would sound different. I don't know about better but different. I also saw that my choke was not connected. The clip holding the bar to the linkage was gone.

Once I shut it down, I looked at the carb some more and discovered the hose for the choke vacuum canister (cutoff?) was tucked under the fuel inlet but not actually plugged into anything. Looking on-line I think it should go to the port right above/behind the fuel inlet which was plugged. So I hooked it up there, and used that plug to cover the port I noticed was open. This port is straight out of the passenger side of the carb.

When I restarted it, I was actually pretty pleased. I would say that it was probably the best I heard it running since I got the truck.

A few hours later, however, was a different story. I had fashioned a clip out of a beer can and connected the choke back up to the linkage. I had also checked the oil, and added a little. I think that's all I did, and the darn thing was difficult to start. And I had to feather it or keep some throttle to keep it running. I can't think what could be so different from when it ran fairly well a few hours earlier.

I shut the hood frustrated again.

Sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to share as much "history" as I could, before humbly asking for any advice/support.

I had planned on putting my timing light on it next, but if it runs like it did the last time, that seems pointless.

Any thoughts or advice for a NON mechanic?

THANKS!