The next morning I hit the O'riely's and once again was happy to own a Chevy 350 as they are pretty much the most common motor out there.
I ditched the original burnt up 61amp alt for a replacement which they actually had in stock.
Put in another external voltage reg....I had read about the alternator upgrade but since they had the original parts in stock I wanted to just get back on the road.
Then since had drained the battery tuning/starting the rig I ask them to give it a top off charge. Of course this meant I had more time to kill so I replaced the belts...hey I was in there anyway doing the alt.
And then figured why not replace the spark plugs. I took out the AC 44TS and went with the 45TS I had read about on the forum...I think I am still a bit off on plugs. The nice thing was no plug looked oil fouled which makes me think the story about this being a recent crate motor is true. I also had the pleasure of remembering an old trick for reaching the back plugs which can be a pain. Just pull the PVC hose and use that.
Now my rig has no lift but I am running 33in tires and I ain't that tall. So I grabbed my Pelican tool case and put it to use. And this is why as much as I love the look of the Alum expedition cases I will more than likely stick to my Pelicans.
The truck ran great coming home, has run great since. I returned the alt & extern volt reg and upgraded to a 94amp alt from a trans am and all seems well in the world.
Well I still need to jet down the Holley and change plug temps as I think I am too rich.
I am looking forward to getting more work done soon...big thanks to Tom for the parts which my son was super jazzed to see. Of the big stuff what we don't use will become welding practice and go into other parts. The spot lights are going to be great!