Installed new Water Pump and steam cleaned engine since everything was taken off the block.

 

Finally got my electric choke and fast idle straightened out, whoever converted the Holley from manual to electric choke had no clue what they were doing and had the linkage mangled. Once I had that working correctly I went after the non-functioning horn. I determined it had a dead short somewhere, 4 hours later I found that whoever had butchered the radio wiring had spliced the horn ground wire from the fuse block into the power wire for the cigarette lighter. It was obviously the same genius that installed the electric choke. I need to yank the dash bezel back off and see what else he may have done before the truck catches fire.

I then pulled the LH tail light lense to change a backup light bulb and discovered the tail light and backup light sockets are almost completely rusted away. I cannot believe the tail and brake lights even work! Found replacement tail light sockets online but the didn't have the backup light sockets. Heading for the junkyard in the AM to check the sockets on the W250 I got the tailgate from.

I have been doing a lot of tuning on the carb and choke so I have been starting, idling and revving the engine a LOT but I can already see a significant improvement in mileage. If I make it through tomorrow without having the fast idle hanging up then I'll fill it up and try for maximum mileage on the next tank. I'll post the numbers from this tank just to see what the improvement was even with all the idling and revving.

 

this seem to be a very common problem. i replaced 1 and istalled the other(someone removed the backup light and did not replace it) of mine a couple of months ago. i used the turn signal sockets from the front. wise idea is to grease them.

 

Has anyone had problems with the lic plate lights? Mine dont work at all after i put new bulbs in.

 

try unplugging them behind the bumper and test the wires for power.
there should be a plug similar to this hooked up to the licplate lights.

 

i finally got my bigger tires and rims back on my truck after they spent 6 months on my dads ford. i still have to find a place to store my smaller tires and rims. man am i soar. i changed 8 tires today and i mounted 4 tires on rims yesterday for my dads ford.

 

Looks like I finally got the fast idle problem licked. Got 9.5 MPG on this last tank, which was mostly short trips, idling and revving the engine while working on the choke and fast idle so that knocked some off, of course dragging around 500 Lbs. of winter ballast doesn't help either. Not great mileage but still a 21% improvement over the previous tank. I'm going to try to limit this next tank to highway driving. Since this isn't my daily driver that should be easy to do.

 

Workin' it hard, it's firewood season! It will be gettin sum new shoes in a couple of weeks.

 

I got a used tire for it but i have to have it put on. It has rained for a whole day now and my pass door and i opled it up to drain it. Some of the water is coming from the bottom of the door panel i may take it of and put some caulking on it see if that helps

 

i fixed my leaking transmission fluid line today. the line felt like there was a peice chipped off of it. i cut the line and put it back together using a rubber line. i still can't figure out where the engine oil is leaking from yet. i plan on doing the timing and testing the vacuum tomoro as long as the it is another sunny day.