The bite has been made, but this is not "Soul Surfer".

 

That guy looks oddly familiar.

 

Well, it's my first old vehicle in a long time. My first car was a '57 Ford Custom. And I once owned a '40 Pontiac 4DR Touring Sedan with suicide rear doors. But I never "rebuilt" either of them.

 

I took a bite out of the elephant today. Yes, I'm off work this week, so I hope to get some things done on the truck.

The flatty 6 hasn't idled since I got it. Started every time, but wouldn't idle. I was hoping the carb rebuild would fix that, since the idle mixture screw made no change at all. And it was quite dirty, so I wanted to clean it inside and out. I got a gallon can of Berryman Chem-Dip from AutoZone, printed out the Holley Service Manual, and got to work. The last time I rebuilt a carb, several decades ago, it didn't work, so I was a little leery.

But this time it worked like a champ, and after I adjusted it, the truck runs real nice. I've been grinning all afternoon...
Here's a before shot


And here's an after shot


And here's a link to a video of it running, which probably nobody but me will ever watch, but I'm glad I took it.

 

Hey! I watched it! That thing runs pretty good! Nice work! Have to do something with that air cleaner.. that'd drive me nuts...

 

Yeah, the wing nut is missing... because someone stripped the end threads. I'll fix it, but didn't even notice it until I started making the video. It has been running at such high RPMs until today, that I can't say for sure it was rattling earlier.

 

watched the vid and checked out all 146 pictures in the album

 

Nice work, Joe!

Speaking of air cleaners, here's a little project I did a few months ago that may interest you, in case you missed it. You may have joined after I posted it.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...r-cleaner.html

 

You're right, this was before I joined. And this is exactly what I want to do... but didn't know how I was going to do it.
Thanks for sharing.

 

We love videos! That really runs smooth, good job!

 

You're welcome, Joe. Glad you found it helpful. And for the record, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing. I was very happy with the outcome. (except for the part where it wouldn't fit on the V8 carb.)

 

The carb was missing the throttle stop screw spring. This was bugging me, and I couldn't find one on the Internet. So I made one out of an old ballpoint pen spring. I had to cut it in half and increase the diameter by stretching it in steps over a series of Phillips screwdrivers, but it works.

I also used the instructions from 52Merc to easily convert my oil bath air cleaner to use a Fram CA568. Thanks again for that tip!

Oh, and I rethreaded the post so the air cleaner lid could be tightened down and the incessant rattling is gone.

And I got lucky and adjusted (tuned) the right horn so it works now. It wasn't working before now, and I thought it was bad until I saw the adjustment in the Shop Manual and decided to try it.

 

The original glove box was ruined by water leaking in through the cracked windshield rubber. So I removed it and ordered a new one.


When the new one arrived, I tried to install it. But the dimensions seemed really far off.



So I measured it...









I was thinking about returning it when I decided to try to stretch and squash it to make the entrance fit the opening, or vice versa. And what do you know, it fits! Now, hopefully, I have the leaks plugged so this one won't be ruined.

Guess I need to get an Owners Manual to stick in there.

 

I just found this thread and I have to say that is a nice truck!

 

I hate to admit it, but I cursed the way mine fit until I realized I had it upside down