But, that one wasn't locked up. mine does have the mud dobber nests though...

 

Yah, but we don't know how much penetrating oil he sprayed it the cylinders, or how long he let it sit, and if he broke it loose with a breaker bar. Of course break it loose with the plugs out, to make it easier for to turn over, when it does.

 

He never said whether it was or not. That's just one of the problems with TV, they can edit out hours, days, or even weeks/months of waiting time........

 

I emptied a whole can of PB in all six cylinders, now wait.
as soon as Tracy said they "already determined it's not locked up", I left it.

 

Jim- work and kids, or what?

Didn't do too much for the truck today. It's currently loaded with 26 bags of leaves and some pallets to dump tomorrow.


I did get a free Holley 4bbl. Setting about trying to identify it now.

 

Drove to work, and when I was stepping out, noticed I could see the ground through the vinyl floor. Hmm. Look underneath and there is about a 1" diameter hole under my heel. The rest of the floor looks ok, so maybe a small patch. Or maybe I should pull the vinyl floor, that I never have, and see what the rest looks like.

 

I don't blame you. I'd pass on it too. Either way, buying a motor from someone or a vehicle with a questionable motor is always a gamble.

Had some help today replacing the steering gear shaft seal on the steering box of my F150. Thanks to a trick I was led on to, we finally managed to blow out the old seal with the new power steering pump and after finally getting the new seal up in there, have a working power steering system now.

So, now I have nice and buttery smooth steering. I hope the seal holds for a long time so I won't have to buy a new steering box right away.

To be honest, I've never turned such an easy turning wheel on a vehicle, ever. It turns easier than the new stuff! Maybe it's a byproduct of 28 years of hard service and the new pump and fluid.

Also, stood next to an almost 1000 horsepower big-block 555 Chevrolet rail car earlier today while it was clearing its throat. 4.82 at the 1/4 mile fastest time with a 2-speed powerglide, what looked like a 9'' rear, and a 555 roller motor with just around 990 horsepower at 6800 RPM. I was ten feet away from it idling and when he goosed the throttle and broke the back wheels loose (and she hollered at about 5000 rpm!), I was in hog heaven. Single 4bbl mounted on a high rise intake manifold, cammed to the max, custom headers, aluminum heads, electric fan, the works. It was beautiful. And she shook the earth.

 

Nah, that can wait as rust travels slowly. Go solder something together.

Cool!

 

Good to hear that about the steering '83! I've still got that crack head like tick at any speed, but in parking lots she's confident and smooth. I noticed parking today how nicely she turns. Tighter than my mom's '04 outback.

I think the best turning vehicle I ever owned was an M5 BMW. 3 turns lock to lock. Almost never required more than flick of the wrist. 4 steering dampers, and a nicely padded/heated steering wheel.

Turns out this carb has a FOMOCO stamp on the bowl.

 

Always read/heard that the M5's are faaaaaast. Have never been in one. Never been in an M3 either, but played with one on some roads in knew in DE one day. I'd been driving my Miata somewhat aggressively on those roads to/from work each day, so knew how to take each corner. In fact, I'd had a guy on a motorcycle and a guy in a DeLorean give up earlier. I stayed on the tail of the M3 - until we hit the straightaway. Don't think I've ever seen anything disappear off into the distance like he did. Musta shifted into Hyperdrive.

Is that carb a 4180 off an HO?

 

Fast they are Gary. On a cool night my best pull was 0-170mph in a little under 40 seconds. At 55mph in 2nd gear I unintentionally spun the tires and nearly wrecked when I'd first gotten the car. Probably more times than I want to know higher powers kept me above ground with that thing.

.
So far these are the only identifying marks I see on the carb: "410" on the top cover and 10258 on the base.

Edit: Here it is. E5HE-9510-EC, List 5026Q-2, 0796.

Seems like it's a 4180C from an 85 351w or 460.

 

170? Kilometers? No, you said "mph". What tires did you have on it?

As for the carb, what do you think of the weight of the carb? I think it is at least twice the weight of an Edelbrock and much heavier than most Holleys.

 

Haha I had it laying on my chest while I texted someone. I did notice some labor to my breathing hah.

Tires were Y rated. I think it might have been a 225/???. Lot of fun miles in that car.

I'll weight the carb. Anything else you need? So far it doesn't look like it'll work with my 300, at least not without an offenhauser.

 

Yes! It steers wonderfully. I could tolerate manual brakes if it had it, but manual steering (particularly with the wrong type of gear box)? Haha, no. Not going to happen.

What kind of tick is it (you might've already said, but it escapes my mind at the moment)?

If it's a valve-train tick, I'd pop the valve cover and see what re-setting the rocker-arms does for you.

I had to replace the rocker arms and push-rods on my 300. We could get it running with the bad rocker arms, but it ticked like a mother and only managed to draw around 17'' of vacuum. After we put the new rocker arms on there, I'm able to get it to pull 21'' of vacuum when it's fully warmed up. I haven't played with the timing yet with the vacuum gauge to see what I can really get it to pull. The vacuum gauge still tells me it's wanting a richer mixture, and this truck having come out of the mountains is probably jetted one size lower than what it should be for down here. In fact, I'm certain if I pull it apart and stick in jets that are one size bigger than what it's got, then I'd be set for business. I can back the mixture screw till it almost falls completely out, and the spring tension is off and the spring is flopping around, and it's perfect.

Other than that, the only tick I have is a lifter tick that appeared right after the new rocker arms, and coincidentally I just put a new lifter cover gasket and new grommets on a month before the new rocker arms. I'm going to hate having to deal with that again, but I've got plenty of practice now. 12 new lifters and my motor ought to be dead quiet.

I think my motor has steel timing gears though. Of course, I can hear that YFA sucking air like a jet plane, but I can also hear that low whirring noise characteristic of the metal gears.

Things until my truck is in (almost) perfect mechanical shape (to me):

Figure out my issue with my brakes

Get a junkyard YFA and rebuild it with the appropriate size jets so I can now have a working fast-idle cam and choke

Replace the clutch shift lever and clutch rod so it won't leave me on the side of the road

Everything for the parking brakes is msising, so I'm probably just going to do that whenever down the road, as it's really a non-issue

And... that should be it. It should be road worthy then.

I'm still curious as to the actual mileage of my truck. The title says 122K. It might be that, given the truck had a hard service life in the mountains, but that motor has a little amount of blowby. Not a lot, but enough to be noticeable. I think it's 222K. Either way, I'll drive it and take care of it until it decides to quit on me. If I get the new, built 300 in it that I want to put in it before that happens, I'll tear the old one that's in it now down and see what it looks like inside, then rebuild it.

Gosh I'm long winded.

 

I like the sound of it. We still need to get our trucks together.

Twitch was the word I meant to use. I have vague, twitchy, over correcting steering. Heard steering box, maybe king pins.

And yes if I had it to do all over I'd get a mid 90's 250. Ext cab with an injected 300, auto, and A/C. But until I'm given my uncle's truck the ghost is doing nicely. Beenfaithful, and most importantly cheap.

From what I'm reading I won't gain much other than top end with an offy and this 4180 on it? And that's at the cost of low end. Think I'd rather put in a 5spd and be done with it.