Well guys, I figured it out. The vacuum line that had come loose and fallen off probably did not fall off at all. It probably blew off during one of the very bad hesitations the truck had on my way home the other day. Well, yesterday I completely rebuilt the carb,and no change. Ok, now I can rule that out. So, I went ot the next thing. That was the points. I ordered some points from my local napa dude,and picked them up this afternoon. When I got to the shop ,I noticed they were the wrong ones. So, I removed both sets and carefully filed them smooth again. Both had some pitting in them. I put them in the truck set the gap, and she fired right up. Not even a stumble. It idled like the day I bought it. Well, a little better. So ,I decided to change out the plugs too,along with rotor ,cap and condensor. This is the stupid part. My needle nose pliers were laying in that little channel on the front of my truck, when I noticed they fell down between the radiator and the grill. I picked them up and went on working. A moment later ,I felt a wet sensation on my leg. My radiator was peeing all over me. My needle nose pliers had punctured my radiator. Can you believe that? I just laughed .But , whoever owned the truck before me had put the tranny cooler bewtween the radiator and the cross member on the front. He used ty raps to hold it in. And used the radiator to pinch the tranny cooler to the crossmember. That gave me a chance to change that up. I soldered the radiator and repositioned the tranny cooler. Now, everything in my world is right. I took off early today to work on it. One of those nagging things , .. you know what I mean. The real funny thing ,is the other day my wife just blurted out ...did you check the points? She laughed ,and said ... heck I don't even know what they do... I just heard my dad say it all the time. Turned out , that was good advice. Thanks for all of your help guys. Maybe I can help you some time.

 

Good For You !

 

Glad you got it going. Now the 10 million $$$$ question, Did you learn anything? I wouldn't ask if I hadn't done things very similar. Burned points will act very much like fuel problems. It would be a good time to start looking for an electronic ignition system, they are almost trouble free.

 

Do check your timing chain though. With the distributor cap off, rotate the motor by hand until it moves. Reverse the rotation and see how many degrees of crankshaft rotation it takes to take the slop out of the chain. More than a few degrees and it's replacement time.

I used to notice my idle fluctuation between kind of crappy then smooth out. The theory was the slack in the chain evening out and cam/ignition timing moving around.

 

Glad you got it figured out

 

Well, had the truck just crapped out ,and I had to trouble shoot it, I would have done things different. But when I got home and found that vacuum plug laying on the manifold,I just figured that's all it was. Because I knew that truck would n't even run with out that plug connected. Thanks again fatfndr

 

You mentioned your running dual points. No offense but they are the worse!!!! I bet if you checked the points they are most likely fried!. I had nothing but trouble with my Mallory dual point so I tossed the points and put in a Pertronix ignition. No more problems. Come to think of it, my dual points did the same as your engine is doing. Edelbrocks run well even if they are dirty. You may want to check the screen at the carb inlet (where your fuel line connects) sometimes that get plugged with crude which cause the carburator to starve for fuel.

OOPS! I just read the other posts and you figured it out. Anyways, get rid of the points. You'll be much happier.

 

Victory!..I second Mechmagcn , Toss that point system ,go for the reliability of solidstate...just another upgrade to make your life easier! Good Luck!

 

YYaaaahhhhh! another happy ending. You went from pulling your hair out to point guru in record time. But, you know it's just a matter of time until those points do it to you again.

As for the slipping tool problem, I bought several of the rubber fender covers. I have the traditional leather covers also, but the rubber mats are better at keeping the tools from sliding. They sell them at car swaps for $15 and they are worth it. Good luck, Jag