THANK YOU! "New" Engine is running!

[shifty]

It fired up! WOOT!

I finished putting a rebuilt L6/250 in the truck today (finally), put a new clutch, harmonic balancer and rebuilt carb in the process. I have several leftover parts including: engines mounts, alternator bracket, ignition coil bracket, intake manifold, half-used clutch assembly (minus the bearing!!) and a few others. If you know anyone in dire need, let me know and I'll contribute (Sorry for taking too long, Robby )

I could have never done this without feedback from several members here, and I want to extend a personal thanks to all of you who chipped in. I would have literally been floundering if the following people hadn't chipped in their 2¢:

TX Firefighter
bigjim
Longhorn Man
CPNE
Gee Emm
CE20934
Fred T
67ChevyRedneck
Palf70Step
jjk3
'68OrangeSunshine

If I forgot anyone, sorry

So, if anyone wants a heads-up...

The engine fired up without any issue. It's tough to turn that key the first time (I was nervous as hell and not confident in my abilities), but ... it fired up like a champ! The only problem that arose was a minor water leak from not torquing down the thermostat housing enough. Engine runs fine and ... MAN! The three on the tree is like ... wow, it's a massive difference. I can actually feel the gears now and the clutch feels like it exists again.

Only problem thus far is the truck is running a little rough on startup and needs a little gas till it warms up - I think part of this is timing and part of it is the carb. I was confused about adjustments on the carbouretor and think I helped a little, not sure. I think I might need to carry it into an ASE mechanic for fine-tuning. Anyone know of a good place in the Atlanta area to do this work? I'd prefer something inside the city limits (southwest side of town, near the capitol bldg, close to where I-20 and I-75/I-85 meet).

Again - THANKS guys. I couldn't have learned more about my truck than tearing the original engine out and sticking a new one in. I can't wait to ship off the original motor to be cleaned and machined so I can put it all back together again.

[krue]

IT's a good feeling when they fire off for the first time.

[Tx Firefighter]

You will learn to love that inline engine. They are bulletproof and dead reliable.

[shifty]

I'll be a lot happier with it when I fix the exhaust situation. Still have a mild knock caused by the old, beat up exhaust manifold. The studs on the bottom of the manifold that tie up to the exhaust are rusted and broke off so the pipe doesn't marry up too well.

Both of the intakes I have are in great shape, though. Gotta look into what exhaust options I have still. Need to replace everything from the manifold back. Want to keep the stock intake.

I already love this engine. If it works after a jackass like me puts it in, it must be bulletproof

[Palf70Step]

Congrats on the progress. Mine is a little tempermental on startup also, but I don't have a choke on mine either, it is just wired open, so it tneds to be a bit cold natured. I think that is inherent with these ole inlines. Mine got a lot less tempermental when I went to the HEI.

[shifty]

That's one of the next projects - moving away from a points system to a "proper" HEI setup.

[chickenwing]

Well, if ya can't get new studs into the manifold, maybe this will work. http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...splay/ss-10101
Can't testify how well they work though.

Congrats on gettin her goin.

[guyryan100]

I have several leftover parts including: engines mounts, alternator bracket, ignition coil bracket, intake manifold, half-used clutch assembly (minus the bearing!!) and a few others.

Extra parts is never a good sign - these sound like parts that should have fit in there somewhere!

[shifty]

Originally Posted by guyryan100

Extra parts is never a good sign - these sound like parts that should have fit in there somewhere!

The rebuilt engine I just installed cost $300 and came with a box of several spare parts including the motor mounts and all the other stuff. The guy who had it dropped a V8 in his truck, so a lot of the parts he threw in were worthless to him.

I'll tell you what, I appreciate the hell out of all of the gaskets he gave me. He basically gave me every gasket in the book shy of the valve cover gasket and the thermostat housing gasket .... Saved me several bucks. Definitely worth the purchase.

Thanks for the link, chickenwing. I was looking at some possible solutions this weekend at the local parts store. I noticed that Flowmaster makes a "pipe reducer" that bolts right up to the manifold. I was thinking in a worst-case scenario that I could just build a new exhaust using the bits and pieces at the local store. My exhaust is so completely rusted out it's almost stupid. Everything from where the manifold bolts to the head and back is a pile of rust.