My main goal today was to get the truck inspected, so it could haul the
Easter Bunny w/out getting a ticket; truck was still running poorly, but
running. Inspection station found one brake ligt intermittent, but the guy
said: "aw, ya don't need more 'N one on a 50 anyhow, you pass!"
Ran some Seafoam stuff thru the carb this morning, and then took it out to
a small highway and drove through all the bluebonnets for awhile; it seemed
to clean things out a bit, but it still had to idle at 800 or die at
lights, idled rough.
Redid ALL the valves, and some had changed, so I assume that deposits were
cleaned out some.
Idles MUCH better now; still a little rich, but I can get it down to 500
and it won;t bog.
Two new problems:
Almost ALL the tranny fluid disappeared on the trip (I could hear the gears
gradually getting a different tone), and that little collar on the torque
tube seemed to be the culprit - it was dripping. I also suspect that some
fluid drained back to the differential; now that I have new rear seals, it
should actually STAY in there!
Can I pack some felt into that collar for now, or is it mandatory to pull
the rear and replace the packing? Has anyone put some moly grease in the
tranny to help deal with leaks? Or should I just put some 190 in there :)
I would say I had one of those pointy bottles of tranny fluid left in
there when I drained it. A thimbleful of steel in the drain block, and most
of one tooth. Drat.
And I need some more answers on timing:
our flywheel has a triangle stamped in it, which the books say is TDC -
this seems ok, as #1 does line up TDC w/ this mark. NOW, the OTHER timing
mark is supposed to be a steel ball pressed into the flywheel, and we do
have a BB sized ball in our... about 2" AFTER TDC.
I thought these motors should be timed Before TDC? I'm curious if we have
the wrong flywheel.
When I set the firing point of #1 at the little steel ball, it idles ok,
but seems to be running hotter than when I have it set other places. Also,
do I do the timing WITH or WITHOUT the distributoer can hooked up? With it
hooked up, the dizzy seems to go to work at 600 rpm or so. And when I hit
the gas, the timing light shows #1 firing CLOSER to TDC. Since my ball is
ATDC, this would be retarding the spark, right? This all just seems
backwards to me - I'm used to timing VW motors, which I can do with my eyes
tied behind my back :)
Thanks for all the anwers; I'll post some pictures of the kids in the truck
if we make it down to San Antonio in one piece!
craig
caretaker of
stephanie's 50 3104 216 5-window deluxe
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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