Thanks! Technically it doesn't work at all But hopefully once i take the gas line off the main vacuum and put the correct hoses in their spot, everything will work out. Once of these days if i don't replace the valve covers, i want to paint them black to offset the green. It will be interesting to see how the paint holds up under that amount of heat.

 

I grabbed a replacement throttle spring from Advance. Only costs a few bucks and now my 68's throttle is nice and tight. Isn't your kickdown vacuum operated? Or is it a linkage?

Glad to hear you got the intake on tho. Laying those front and rear beads is the hardest part.

 

Mine is linkage operated. I had 3 springs, one that came on the 4bbl when i got it and the 2 from my old carb. I tried all 3 in the stock spots but one spring was too weak and the others, the coils would catch on the adjustment spring causing the throttle to stick and make an annoying sound. so i switched back to the spring it came with and switched to a further position and it worked out ok. Once i get it fired up i can see what happens. I will also get some pictures when i go out to do the vacuum lines and such

I bought 10 feet of 3/8 gas line so i shouldn't have to worry about running out anytime soon, and i got an assortment of caps for random vacuum ports that are uncovered/leaking. It is probably 70 to 80 degrees out so i will probably get the vacuum lines done and i might work on the dizzy. When i do it will give me the chance to see if i got a true 400 or 351M, IIRC the measurement from the top of the piston to the spark plug hole will be around 4 inches for a 400 right? That would be cool if the work was already done. Though i doubt it is considering this motor was pretty stock when i got it. Once can only hope though.

 

Alrighty, most of the work is done, I got all the vacuum and fuel lines re-routed, And i test fired it.


When i first fired it the engine came to life and sputtered a bit, then i tapped the throttle lever and it shot up to probably 3k RPMs, it scared the crap out of me so i shut it off. For a few minutes i sat there thinking about what it could have been, and i looked at the throttle, i noticed then i pulled the throttle it moved back towards me quite a lot. Then i realized on the left side there is a spring loaded lever for the secondary butterflys, that lever was jamming up against the throttle on that side.

I "adjusted" it with some channel locks so it didn't hang up and moved smoother. then i ran it again and it sounded ok, rpms were normal but it was misfiring a lot. So, it seems i won't have to pull the dizzy but it does need a lot of adjutments and i need to look into how i can get the kickdown mounted. I have the part numbers for an Edelbrock adapter plate for the throttle, then a number for a Carter extension that goes on the kickdown bar. When i got the carb it had an adapter with a cable on it that wasn't on, i don't know if this is the adapter i need and i don't know how it mounts up. I can get pictures.

And in regards to the throttle spring, this is what i used




It looks like the one included in the edelbrock adapter.

 

This is the linkage, i see where i could put the kickdown, sorta. I just don't see anywhere it could be mounted.



The cable behind it had a ball joint type thing for the throttle, the throttle currently is hooked up great, just not the kickdowm.

 

Alright guys, my brother came down and we timed, and tuned the carb. All seems to be well so far and we did a small test run where we went to a back road and floored it a few times, though after that it made it idle real low and it died as we rolled into the driveway. Got the idle kicked back up after that and it seems to run fine. We also got the electric choke thermostat on but we don't have a vacuum source to it yet. Tomorrow i plan to drive it up to AZ to look at some stuff like a new air cleaner and a PCV breather replacement. And the price of a new air cleaner as this one now hits the fuel line so it won't go down all the way. Over all it seemed like everything worked itself out pretty well.

 

Bought TGM another goodie, I decided after fueling up to run it out to AutoZone again. Turns out it was a good idea.

Old, boring:


TOTALLY AWESOME:


It cost just under $40 and it gave me 1 point on my new AZ reward card. Buy 3 more items of $20 or more and they pay me $20. Pretty cool.

 

Got TGM all cleaned up for the car show on Saturday, it was a PITA to clean but worth it. Down to the nitty gritty though.

All dirty, hasn't been washed in a long time.


After the wash and a little bit of shine added to the tires.


I can't tell you what kind of shine i used because it is sort of stolen from my old work and i never wrote down the name


And the finished product.


It wasn't easy and i didn't really do the roof cause i didn't have anything to stand on to reach it. But no one will see it anyways.

 

As an update, i never did win anything in that car show, no biggie. I did some recent small work on TGM, i added this bracket on the throttle side of the carb so i have a working kickdown now


Then today i took some time to rig up a new radiator overflow tank. My old milk jug just wasn't cutting it on the looks.


I made this because i saw a car at a car show that was using a 24 oz beer can and thought it was a great idea. I also figured since i am not legally able to drink yet, Mountain Dew will be the next best thing. I used some pliers and an adjustable wrench to bend out a bracket, then drilled the holes and mounted it up. I also used a really thin piece of dark green wire to tie it on so i don't lose it in my fan.

 

Hey Dylan? There's a thread about a 78 Ford with an Isuzu Diesel truck for sale in your area. Seems to be a dealer install. Grab it as it should all but bolt in and like 22 miles to the gallon and will tow anything any other pickup would. Now how cool would that be for TGM?

Just swap running gear than sell the truck. Cost ya nothing but time. Maybe make a few bucks.

 

Now that would be a sight to see. Unfortunately i dislike diesels so it wouldn't be for me.

 

Did a little bit more work for TGM, more cleaning and some essential. I needed a spacer for the air cleaner to get it off the throttle linkages now it sits with plenty of clearence.


Then my speakers wires and stuff was quite a mess so i decided to clean it all up


So i bought more zip ties and 10 ft of wire conduit to bundle this better.


And zip tied to the fire wall it is clean and out of the way.


It wasn't exactly something that HAD to be done but i was tired of seeing the wires and thinking that there might be a day when i accidentally hook my foot in it and rip it all out. This way it is supermodel quality now

 

Haha, supermodel quality huh? Yeah it looks pretty good though. I need to do some wire cleaning up under the dash too. I rerouted my CB a while ago and added a switch for my electric fan. I have it kinda neat, but I need to tuck it away a little better. And un-wire related, I need to fix my glove-box.. the hinge on the passenger side broke off and the glue I used didn't hold. I may just screw in a metal bolt type thing instead or maybe try to gorilla glue the hinge this time. It makes opening the glove box pretty.. annoying.

 

Hah yeah, i like hiding wires but i hate it too, it means i have to get into some uncomfortable positions. Thankfully TGM is up high enough to practically lay on the floor so it isn't terrible. I figured with looks it's nice and it helps because i won't end up snaging wires.

 

Just finished reading your whole thread (yes, some of us actually still do that) and I must say you have done amazing work to TGM. Now I am inspired again and am heading into the garage to work on my 78. In the middle of swapping the front axle to 8 bolt outers using D44 HD parts from a 76 F250. Had to do something to match the rear Dana 60 swap. Keep up the good work and keep the updates rolling.