Can any one talk me through the process for setting/adjusting the tappets on my side valve please.
A starting point would be a step by step idiots guide.

All help and advice will be willingly accepted.
Cheers
Andy

 

This may become a very involved project depending on what parts are in your engine.

If you have the G series engine note that they did not come from the factory with adjustable lifters. The G motors did use the same lifters as the flathead V8 engines so adjustables are available if you need them. Many G motors had adjustables installed during their life. If you have a G motor without adjustables you will have to pull the head off to remove valve, etc.

If you have an H or M series motor you have adjustable lifters by default.

There are three covers on the side of the engine block below the exhaust manifold. Remove these covers to gain access to the top of the lifters. Rotate the crankshaft (I think the crank nut is 13/16) until the lifter is all the way down before adjusting. Different year motors used different clearances. Also note that the 226 has the lash adjusted cold.

 

unfortunately it is a G series without adjustment and sounding very old school tappety, its looking more and more like a rebuild from the bottom up at some stage the old girl is now getting very hot under load and i have a weeping core plug.

Having said that i would not swap the truck for the world i may have to swap the engine though??

Thanks for the advice
Andy

 

Can you replace the fixed lifters with Johnson adjustables?

 

Unfortunately I dont know the dimensions of the lifters and Have no idea if they can be replaced, finding data and guidance on the engine is very difficult here in the uk.

Again thanks for the advice

Andy

 

38 Coupe's response above says you can use the Johnsons, I would do that. A set of 16 for the V8 is about $200 - 250 depending where you get them. Red's Headers sells good ones individually for $15 apiece, so 12 would be $180.

 

Thankyou for the advice, I will need to rebuild from bottom up at some point so I will leave tilll then.

Do you have any electrical knowledge, how does the dual filament bulb in the tail light run stop, tail , and indicator??

Cheers
Andy

 

The turn signal switch blocks the brake light function on the light to the side you're turning.

 

The tail lights operate just like any modern car. The dim filament is the tail light, the brighter side is the brake and turn combination. It's controlled through the turn signal switch. The switch overrides the brake light to flash the circuit. Some early aftermarket or add on switches do not have the override provision and will have to be wired separately, ie; separate brake and turn lamps in the rear, which is probably more what you're used to in the UK.

 

Thanks for this I am being a bit daft I think but still cant figure out why the lights wont work for all 3 functions, Tail/Stop/Brake. I have 3 cables feeding in to each light.
on the left a yellow, Brown & Black and on the right I have green , brown & black.
Each of the light units have a black & a Green, one to each filament I guess.
What do I connect to where, to this point I seam to have tried everything but no luck??
Thanks
Andy

 

Most likely, Brown = running lights (parking lights), Black = ground, Yellow equals left turn/brake light, Green = right turn/brake light.

Edit: I'm confused; you say each has a Green and Black, but you list a Yellow for the left, not a green? Is this original wiring or has it been replaced?

 

Thanks Ross
I bought replacement lights from the USA on ebay which have the green and black wires which I am guessing are one for each filament in the bulb.

There is not a ground connection and I imagined that the black in the loom would connect to the lamp body somewhere but there is not a connection point.

The loom itself is as you said with the left having yellow and brown in addition to the black and the right having green and brown plus the black.

The indicator unit is strapped to the steering column and has Chao Chi stamped on it, I am guessing this is aftermarket?

The old lights I removed where not the originals and the black did not seem to connect to anywhere.

I don't seem to be able to get all 3 functions working on both lights at the same time.

Believe it or not although I am now a firefighter I used to be an electrician (houses not cars) so you can imagine my frustration at not being able to sort these 3 bloody wires out.

Again thanks for the advice, I will continue to play around my only concern being I dont want to fry anything while going through a trial and error process.

If you go on Youtube and look at my channel ( thehiggys999 )you can see the truck.

Thanks
Andy

 

I suspect you have a VOM or DVM from your electrician days? Just power up the system thru a temporary 5 amp-fused power supply, and see what's hot coming out of the loom with the different functions energize (brake lights on, turn left, turn right, etc.). Are you sure the new taillights have dual filaments for tail and brake functions? Black is almost universally ground (except in Germany). Open up the lights and see where the wires go. Using the case of the light for ground is common.

 

Let's start with some basics, here. On your turn signal switch, do you have 4 or 7 wires coming out of it? Using the diagrams Ross provided above, that should get you a wire routing for the turn signals. If you have a 4 wire signal switch, those do not have a provision for combining the turn and brake functions. You'll have to either add a second lamp or find a different, 7 wire switch. You'll need to trace your wires in the truck's harness to find the source for each color, just to be sure of what you have. On your new lamps, the green wire should work the stop/turn filament, and the black would be the tail light side.

 

Thanks guys, its sorted, I went back to basics stripped everything out and reconnected the earths, this solved it and everything now working.

In the end I re soldered an earth to each of the lights which seamed to solve the problem.

Thanks for the diagrammes and help, I do have a 7 wire indicator system so the truck is running as it was intended to I think.

Thanks
Andy