It wasn't the throttle body coolant hose after all, the leak was coming from the heater core hose with the flush/fill tee adapter. Also can't get the bottom of the t-stat housing to seal properly. Was going to try to tackle those today ... instead wound up having the truck towed to a shop

It starts just fine then immediately dies. I can keep the rpms up around 3 grand but it still wants to die. Probably a failing fuel pump, damn near everything on the truck is original. Even the hoses have factory labels with part numbers on them

So with 251K miles on it, the mechanic is going to give it a good once over and try to locate my oil leak, transmission fluid leak, confirm my rotted motor mounts, and try to get the timing cover off to fix the initial leak that started this mess.

Depending on his estimate, I might consider swapping motors. He says he can put in a sealed Jasper engine for about $7k. I'm going to browse around the net looking for complete engines in case I can find a better deal.

 

$7,000! OUCH. If you werent in Commiefornia you could just put in a good built hi-performance engine and drive it.

 

Can't you buy a stock long block with 36 month warranty from Summit Racing for like $2000

 

I don't know, I've been looking at crate motors ranging from $3700 up to $5900. I don't think piecing together an engine is going to be cheaper because of the labor cost. He's the cheapest in town at $118 an hour

 

I didn't do anything... nothing to see here.

 

Hey guys when soldering on stuff like batt cables It works best
as said to use a cheap bottle torch. But the trick I found is to
heat the bared end of the cable up and add solder to it Before
putting it into the hot soldered cable end or clamp. This gets
the solder down into the wire and makes for a much better
connection. I do hope this makes sense. Do this with all soldered
connections when you can. And if possible crimp it on as well before
the solder cools. Than seal it with like heat shrink. I have tried to
use the spray on sealer but heat shrink works better to keep the
elements out and it will last like forever.

 

Good advice my friend. And yes, heat shrink is good stuff. I use heat shrink connectors too... crimp em and shrink em... no leaks.

 

Well thank Ya Mike. Now go have a beer.
Ya know I have found that beer works great
to cool the solder. I always seem to have an
open can handy.

 

THAT IS ALCOHOL ABUSE!

 

And if anyone knows alcohol abuse it is Mike

 

Well I hate licking the stuff up off the floor and getting solder in my teeth.

 

Ya catch it in an old Mason jar Mike. Never waist a drop.
And please tell me how the heck do ya abuse Alcohol? I just
can't get my head around that.

 

You spill it.

 

And it gets kind of warm and flat at that point.

 

Going to adjust the choke before it gets too warm ort. Then try and adjust the carb some. Runs like crap till it's warmed up. Don't know why cause it ran well when I parked it last spring.