Re: Restoring Rusty
 

tranny came out real nice

Re: Restoring Rusty - Its Fender Time
 

Environmental fee? I mean it's not like your dumping off some used tires or a battery. And a core charge on a junkyard part? Both are rip offs by the state and the junkyard.

Re: Restoring Rusty - Its Fender Time
 

Yeah... our Pick-n-Pull has core charges on almost everything, from motors to mirrors, you name it.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Yep, Pick N Pull does core charges. Maybe they want to sell the scrap metal after, who knows.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Correct, my friend and I guestimated their business model, and basically they buy the cars for scrap metal and anything they part out to us is gravy, ie icing on the cake, ie their profit margin, that's how they keep the prices down, especially if they sell us the interior, rubber, plastic parts, seats, tires, glass

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

You got to admit they are pretty sharp ,they sell used anti freeze for cheap instead of paying a company to take it ,they sell the used oil to recycling companys .Im glad they are there as it does keep prices pretty affordable .I just wish they would open one near me ,Heck I would lease them the land for certain discounts as I have 40 mostly unused acres in pasture .

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

It is a perfect crime... er... business model...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

The tranny looks good.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thanks rusty

Re: Restoring Rusty - HEI Distributor
 

replaced the stock points distributor with an HEI model made by ProForm

for now I just connected it using the stock pink resistance wire until I pull a 12 gauge OEM one from a junk yard to replace it with (seems to be running just fine even if it is only pulling 9 volts instead of 12)

the pink wire was spliced into a yellow wire running down to the starter which I just cut off (and will delete at a later time)

set the initial timing (no vacuum advance to 6* at 900 RPM) then I connected the vacuum and it started idling at 1,400 RPM so I backed the idle speed down to about 800 (not sure what I am doing exactly)

Re: Restoring Rusty - HEI Distributor
 

I bet you will like it better if you bump the timing up more like around 10-12*.

Re: Restoring Rusty - HEI Distributor
 

Thank you I will try that, at what RPM?

Re: Restoring Rusty - Tune Up
 

In addition to an oil change I always perform an old fashion Tune Up to any used car I buy.

In this case I held off on the tune up (aside from visual spark plug inspection and re gap to .035) because I knew I was going to be replacing the distributor with an HEI design, which dictates new (different) spark plug wires anyway

did you know HEI is not a company that makes these distributors but actually just a GM acronym for High Energy Ignition. I did not know that till recently I thought some company called H.E.I. which maybe stood for Something Something Inc made them, LOL

I used the ACDelco R44T Mexican spark plugs like the manual calls for, and Duralast (made in USA) new plug wires deisgned for the HEI distibutor (difference being the dizzy end is a female, on the traditional points dizzy the plug wire end is a male)

I also regapped the new plugs from .035 to .045 cause you can run them hotter with an HEI distributor

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I once worked on a 64 GTO where the resistance wire was coiled up under the dash. I can't remember if it then went through the firewall into the engine compartment, or if it connected to a regular wire. Are you sure the pink wire is, in fact, resistance wire?

I have no idea why GM just didn't stick with an under-hood ballast resistor. Guess they must have had a reason. On the GTO, the resistance wire's heat had begun to melt insulation on other wires in the underdash bundle.

On another note, what are your impressions of the Proform distributor?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Yes absolutely, 100% sure it says so on the wire itself, it's written with white letters on the pink wire every foot or so. My buddy and I verified it with out own four eyes, LOL, we also were looking for a cylindrical resistor mounted somewhere.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Hi Mike

Very good question and I am holding off on any disclosure as it is clearly too early to judge. I was skierd by some posters saying don't buy these cheap distributors made over sees, buy a used GM one from the junk yard then replace every single part on it with name brand parts, that didn't make much sense to me.

I picked Proform for two reasons:

1. I am stupid and don't like the "look at me" red MSD distributor everyone and their mother is running, I also think they are grossly over priced

2. I happen to call Proform and speak with their Technical Support staff, and
A. They have a Technical Support team (unlike LMC Truck catalog folks)
B. They were very kind, professional, and helpful, I hung up the phone and ordered the part.

So more on the performance of the dizzy later.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I was thinking that cylindrical thing you were looking for was actually under the cap along with the points. I don't know for sure but this is just what I thought. When my uncle got first got my '76 it had points. Somebody had swapped out the HEI for a points distributor. Soon as he replaced it with the HEI he was very happy. Oh so many years ago that was.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Nothing at all wrong with the Proform unit. Sure, stock HEI units work fine for stockish engines, but the problem for me has been finding them with advance mechanisms still in good shape in the salvage yard, plus you still buy new cap, rotor, mechanical advance kit, adjustable vacuum advance... by that time you may has well gotten the aftermarket cheap new one and avoid the headaches. I bought the Accell one though for $119.

Re: Restoring Rusty - New Distributor
 

so this is what the new HEI distributor looks like installed, it sits rather low

pardon the wiring harness mess, it was all tidied up and then I tore into it again

Re: Restoring Rusty - Fun With Tanks
 

decided to drop the tank to see if I can fix the following two problems

1. fuel gauge not working

2. tank difficult to fill up at the gas station, acts as if it is already full and stops every 5 seconds or so

so first I removed the three phillips screws from the filler neck, and learned you can drop the tank with the filler tube attached there is enough wiggle room

Re: Restoring Rusty - Fuel Tank Removal
 

I think it took me longer to undue this silly bracket clamp thingie, top bolt in the corner than to drop the entire tank, but you have to do it or the tank will get hung up, its the bracket holding the two hoses together in the bottom pic

Re: Restoring Rusty - And She's Out
 

actually the removal wasn't too bad, it was poring the 8 gallons of fuel out of it 2 gallons at a time to a little red canister and into my wife's car that took a while

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

For some reason I could loosen the front ban (first pic - hole large enough) while the tank was on the truck, but I could not get to the rear one (hole too small to turn the socket) this proved to be a much needed feature when mounting the tank bank on

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

plugged the hoses using an AC Delco R44T spark plug, lol - that whole Safety Third thing

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so I recall somebody saying blow the lines out leading up to the charcoal canister to fix the fill up problem we may be having

well I don't buy that, not after seeing how the tank actually works

it seems that the vent needed, simply vents to the filler tube and it would take some serious clogging to plug this big 1/2 hoser, needless to say mine was working fine

by the way that vent tube runs on the inside of the tank to the middle of the tank way up high maybe two inches from the top of the tank

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

then it was time to remove the fuel sending unit and I was shocked how much a brand new one costs I was expecting to pay about $25 bucks, but they are around $75 bucks even at AutoZone

I carefully used a hammer and a large screw driver to screw that retainer ring off, praying the whole time I would not blow myself up since AutoZone does not rent a tool for this job

Re: Restoring Rusty - Fuel Sending Unit
 

tried testing the fuel sending unit using the Ohms setting and not sure what the verdict is, sometimes the Ohms changed when the unit was on it's side and I moved the float back and forth, yet when the unit was vertical like it is when its in the tank the multimeter read 1 and did not change when I moved the float up and down

I wired the unit to the truck without the gas tank and turned the key to see what the fuel gauge says and it reads passed Full regardless if the float is almost at the bottom or in the middle or almost at the top, I thought it was a bad ground so I cleaned the rust off of the frame, the bolt, the connections, still no go

no idea what is bad the unit or the gauge or if there is a wire short

Re: Restoring Rusty - Fuel Sending Unit
 

I'm guessing mine idles around 750 in Park? Not too sure really.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Enjoying your build, keep up the good work!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thanks you, I really enjoy working on these trucks very simple and everything is easily accessible

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

nothing ever good happens when I go to check out CraigsList, especially if I say I'm not going to buy anything but just to look

so I see this benign ad for a '75 truck short bed, I do need one but wasn't planning on getting one till summer, don't want to store it for 6 months cause I don't want to paint it in the winter

so I call the guy just to see how much he wants for it ad he says $40 bucks, next thing I know I am filling up the tank, hitting the ATM and askin' my boy to come with

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

$40 bucks?!?! I wish I could find a bed for under $400!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

only took three guys to load it up, she aint perfect but she will do, the gentlemen who sold it to me was really nice and I figured the wheel wells are worth $40 by themselves

best part, Rusty ran real good and there is nothing better than using the truck you are working on as a parts getter, and not beggin the wife for hers

Re: Restoring Rusty - Old Short Bed
 

let me set the stage so you all can see what we are dealing with

this is the condition of my old bed, I bet it is one of the worst ones you all have ever seen, it's pretty shady

Re: Restoring Rusty - New Used Short Bed
 

so my son and I unloaded the new used bed in the garage and I began the disassembly process

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I would say I spent a good half a day taking it apart, stopping to take pictures, documenting where certain bolts go, since there are two different types, ones are pointy at the end ones are what I call flat, but both are just 1/2 inch so one tool can pretty much take the whole bed apart, how nice is that

oh almost forgot PB Blaster (move over WD-40 this stuff is the bomb!)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Wow, super nice score on the bed! Best I've ever seen around here was 100 bucks and that was a steal.

Re: Restoring Rusty - Welds
 

so is the entire bed held on with just nuts and bolts or is it welded on too?

I was a bit surprised to find out that the sides of the bed are welded on to the bed in the bottom corners of the tailgate section and need to be ground off / cut with an angle grinder

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

then it was on to the other side

Re: Restoring Rusty - Pulling a Dent
 

I mentioned before this 40 year old bed was not perfect, and the truck was hit in the driver side rear tailight corner, so the bed frame rail was slightly bent, nothing a 2x4 and some C clamps couldn't handle