I just realized I never posted a report of our Easter trip... you remember,
I peppered the List with questions about timing before we went!
I finally got the timing/carb/mixture right enough to drive; the truck
still idles rich and idles high, but otherwise seems ok. I decided to take
the access roads and 2-lane blacktops as far as possible to San Antonio, as
I didn't want to throw it on the freeway without breaking it in a bit. This
was a mistake. It took me 45 minutes to get 6 miles outta town, with one
light taking 25 mintutes and 20 cycles to get through!!
Next, I discovered that there are only 2 bridges across the Blanco River:
I-35, and a road even the locals in Kyle claimed not to know how to get to.
As soon as I got on 35, traffic slowed to a crawl. Now, I am not a speed
demon, but those who ARE seem not to notice that my truck is not a
3literABSairbag hotrod, and ride my bumper like mad in stop/go traffic, or
they cut in front of me (hey pal, that was my SAFETY SPACE!!). By the time
I got to San Marcos, it had taken 90 minutes to get 45 miles. The hell with
it, I'm staying on the highway; I set the tach to 3100 and settled in...
too slow, just pass me (for the record, 3000-3200 rpm seemed to be 55 or
60. We have 16" LT 215/r85s and a stock 4:11 rear - any math whizzes wanna
tell me what I was going? The speedo works every now and again... mostly
again).
The remaing 60 miles to my destination went by pretty quickly, and I
ended up in San Antonio during rush hour... and the truck had a new trick:
it would sputter to a halt every time we slowed down. It would start right
back up, and as long as I kept a bit of pressure on the pedal it would run,
but it was not a good experience. I finally pulled in to the breakdown lane
and popped the hood. The idle adjustment screw (the one on the throttle
arm) had backed out, lowering the idle speed below stall point. I cranked
it back in, and joined the crawl again. I stopped every 20 miles or so to
screw it back in, as it kept backing off.
I finally got to where I was going, except I missed the exit! Luckily, the
road I got off on eventually led me back to Stephanie's house. After 3
hours of driving instead of the normal 90 minutes. Tranny had a lot of
fluid dripping from it, and was low again. Added some fluid, and retimed
the valves to check for any changes from the freeway cruising.
Sunday we got up early and headed out to where the Easter family reunion
was - near a large recreational lake in the south of town, about 20 minutes
away. No problems. Unfortunately, it was 90 degrees and 96% humidity, and
noone wanted to wear a big fuzzy bunny suit and ride The Easter Bunny in
the truck for the kids. I must say, I was a bit miffed, as I'd rebuilt the
bed and the rear axle JUST to do the Easter thang!
To make up for it, her Uncle offers us his aftermarket sun visor (he has a
48 Chevy dumptruck), which he paid ONE DOLLAR for. Has the brackets and
everything!! Stephanie isn't sure as it means cutting holes in her baby.
We packed up and headed home early, as the lights on the truck are not
reliable (new harness, but the original lightswitch still has that
bimetallic strip for a fuse... the new headlights pull more amps through
the old connections, heat up the strip, and out go the lights. They'll
blink on and off about every 2 minutes. Not very legal). We got 2 miles
from the picnic and whoooooaaaaaarrrrbumpbumpcoughbuck.... the truck had NO
power, was kicking like a mule, and wouldn't accelerate. Stopped at a gas
station, poked at it, filled the tank... gas in pump, gas in carb. Hmmmmm.
FELT like an icing carb, but it was 90 degrees out! Drove up and down for a
bit, no change. Sigh. Called the road service for a flatbed tow home, as it
was now too dark to drive even if I COULD fix the thing. I had the carb
apart and was cleaning it when the wrecker showed up; NOW the fun began!!!
The driver attepmted to drive the the truck onto the flatbed. 45 degree
angle! Needless to say, it didn't work. Stephanie turned away and told me
to let her know if he wrecked the truck! He gave up, and went to put chains
on it - "Say, where are your chain locations?" Ummm, our truck was built
many years before and doesn't have em. He wanted to use the motor mount,
and then the front axle... I didn't think the axle would like it, but we
didn't have much choice, as otherwise he was gonna leave. Got the truck on,
and now we had to chain it down. As we discovered the first time we went
round a corner. Ever see an AD tilt on two wheels? On a flatbed? Not
pretty.
Stephanie decided to ignore it all and stay sane; I made the guy stop, we
chained it down using a hole for a brake line ("I'm not allowed to do that
- might cut the brake line!" Flipping the truck, however, is ok...). He got
back on the freeway, and said "I'll take it easy" and proceeded to get in
the passing lane and go 70!!! I had my eyes glued on the rearview mirror;
if the truck moved an inch I would see it. After 10 or so miles, he turns
to Stephanie and says: " Do you want to hear the radio?" Wanting to be
'polite' she says, "oh, uh, ok, sure."
My blood freezes.
He tunes in a 'modern country' station and puts it up pretty loud. Now I
work at a record store, and I love music, and I love country music, but
'modern' and 'country' don't go together too well for me... softrock/pop
tunes sung by guys in cowboy hats are my idea of hell. For 20 minutes.
Seemed like 2000.
We got home safe, and got the truck off the flatbed. Tipped the guy $20,
because he wasn't as bad as I make it out to be, and was as concerned as I
was about damaging the truck once he realized it was going to be a
more-difficult job than with a modern car. LONG day. Now, how am I gpnna
get home?
Woke up early and attacked the truck. I had begun to suspect the carb, but
went through the whole tuneup procedure - points, timing, advance. Then
repulled the carb. Yanked out the main jet and looked through it... or,
MOST of it, cause there was a big ol goober of potmetal corrosion or some
such in there, effectively cutting off all but the lowest fuelflow. The
poor thing was starvin'! Blew it out, reassembled. VROOOM! As long as
nothing else gets in there, I'm home.
Left a bit later, and made good time till I got to New Braunfels. Now, New
Braunfels is EVIL on I35 - either little ol ladies are STOPPING on the
highway after merging, or it is torn up to make a new I35 that seems to go
zigzaggy all over 10 miles or so. Today it was torn up. Luckily,
Stephanie's Grandmother lives here, and I know the town ptretty well; after
crawling for 15 minutes, I spotted an exit, zipped off and cut into town,
and went up the Old I 35; it meets back with the highway a ways past NB.
Luck was with me, and I soon raced ahead of the jam; a school bus stuck in
the jam didn't catch up with me until we hit the Austin city limit sign!
I think the truck was as glad as my dog and I to see our gate.
Tranny needs attention (no real seals, just gaskets, right??) and I still
need the correct main jet (I ran a 50 to San Antonio, and the plugs showed
it ran lean - no pitting, but very white and dry. I put in a 52, which is
too rich... need to find a 51. Guess what the stock jet size is? :) ).
I pulled the headlight switch; taking it apart and cleaning it would
certainly help the problem, but I punted, and wired the bimetallic fuse
shut, and put an inline 16 amp fuse between the power wire and the switch.
Tooled around town today, and it all seems dandy. Except fot the puddle of
tranny fluid it leaves everywhere :P
craig
caretaker of
stephanie's 50 3104 216 5-window deluxe
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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