My air cleaner is F-body and had the cold aire snorkle. I may even have the snorkle laying around somewhere,

I am also closer....

This is true. PM me your asking price. I forgot I also have an open element one barrel air cleaner form a 60s era Mopar, if that tickles your fancy.

Well, I have a complete air cleaner assembly with 2 "super six" tops. I wil even throw in a 318 BBD with the proper choke linkage. I even have the paper tube that goes to the snorkle. But i haven't located the snorkel.

I am willing to trade for something.

Do you have any EI distributors, maybe a single pickup lean burn distributor?

Do you have a pair of good axles for that 8.25 you had/have?

Those kyb shocks still available?

We can figure out something.

I DO have some EI distributors, but no single pickup lean burn distributors. KYB shocks are tentatively sold to someone in California, pending me receiving their money. No extra 8 1/4 axles, but I DO have a complete 7 1/4 axle with good rebuilt ten inch finned rear drum brakes (the should bolt right on to an 8 1/4 axle housing).


I will keep digging around.

I replaced the window felt on the passenger door and the window channel weatherstrip on both doors. That makes all the door window weatherstrip replaced, except the vent window weatherstrip. The door to cab weatherstrip actually looks OK. The driver's side needs to be reglued in one spot, but it looks serviceable.

All the parts are now gathered for a Super Six conversion (thanks again NeilskiW, Dusteridiot, and Wes!), might get to that this coming holiday weekend, but might not. That will fix the exhaust leak and hopefully give me some more pep. I will also do a thorough checking of all settings- timing, valve lash, plug gap, damper timing mark accuracy, and adjust the bands on the trans.

Back at it today! I stole a couple hours and started chipping away at the list of things to fix on the truck. I:

1. Replaced the missing driver's side windshield washer nozzle
2. Replaced the missing bushing in the wiper linkage so that now the driver's side windshield wiper actually moves. This is important in western Washington in the winter.
3. Vacuumed out the heater box under the dash
4. Unfroze the coolant control valve in the heater line but
5. Discovered I need a new heater temp control cable because the old one is too stiff and the clamp on the cable by the controls is busted.
6. Set the air flow to come out of the defrost vents. This cable is also stiff, but that might be due to corrosion inside the heater box. I need to open it up to be sure.
7. Got the heater blower fan working again by jiggling the wires at the plug on the switch. Obvious corrosion buildup on the plug tines, so cleaning is necessary.

Still have plenty more to do, but at least now it can be driven mostly safely in the wintertime. I still have no dash lights....

Reed, on those heater/defrost cables- If they have the plastic over-wrap, you might try slicing the plastic for the length of the cable and removing or prying open the plastic cover. Then lube the outer spring-like steel winding with a penetrating oil like PB Blaster, WD-40 or something. The oil may seep through the coils and free-up the inner core wire, saving the need for a new cable. Maybe. P

_________________
"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)

Thanks! When I get back into it I will see if I can do that.

Meanwhile, tomorrow it is hauling a cord of firewood up to my brother's place.

Wow, what a trip! I spent the morning installing an old stereo in the truck just to have something to listen to. To save time I used the wiring the previous owner did to power the stereo and send the signal to the speakers. I need to rewire the stereo,. Only the right speaker works and the power supply is pretty dodgy and cuts out.

During the course of installing the stereo I discovered that this truck was a bare bones model. I know it didn't have a radio from the factory (no fuse terminal for the radio in the fuse box) and I don't know if it had a cigarette lighter either. I got a cigarette lighter wired in place to be able to charge my phone., but I need to rewire that, too.

I started the trip by locking my keys in the truck. I actually don't even have keys for the doors yet, so i really should never lock the truck. I was able to get a ride home and back to the truck where I broke in by levering the vent window open with some flathead screwdrivers and using a long flathead screwdriver to flip the catch on the vent window. Voila. Reach in the open vent window, roll down the window, unlock the door.

The drive up was OK, but NOISY. I need to fix the exhaust leak in the manifolds. I also need to install some kind of delay wiper. This truck has off, low, and high wiper speeds only which is annoying in drizzle.

The drive home was also interesting since it was at night. I did a quick and dirty headlight re-aim so i could at least see the road. I was also able to hotwire the dash lights to come on by jumping the fuses in the fusebox. There is a problem somewhere in the headlamp circuit between the battery and the fuse box. I can get the dash lights to stay on continuously if I jump the fuses to provide power to the instrument lamp fuse, but the headlight switch does not control the dash lights then.

Also, all the lights are VERY dim. This truck needs a thorough going overrun the electrical system. All grounds and terminals need to be cleaned, definitely headlight relays, alternator needs an upgrade, etc... The usual stuff needed for a 40 year old neglected vehicle.

It rides like a truck and gets pretty crappy gas mileage. I used about 3/16 of a 22 gallon tank to go 37 miles in highway driving. That's 4.125 gallons to go 37 miles, or about 9 MPG. That's worse than my 351W powered van! The carb seeps gas so I need to do the Super Six swap ASAP, and the filler neck flanges are event so the gas cap doesn't seal tightly anymore.

Still and all, it does OK as a dump run/ hauling rig. t has enough work needy to keep me busy for years to come. Yay! A good project truck.

AND! I found out someone replaced the ignition switch at some point and cut and spliced into the main wiring harness to do it. Ugh. I am going to have to spend a large amount of time cleaning up and correcting the wiring on this truck. At least it doesn't have a full-flow ammeter.

My family got me some great early Christmas presents for my truck. I will be getting a brand new tone cover to keep the rain out of the bed (yay!) as well as a redlining kit and heat and noise reducer from Al's. I am very lucky! Now i just need the time to get these things installed/applied.

A few weeks back I broke my left foot. This has kept me pretty much house bound and unable to do any project work. Today I finally decided to get out and try working on my truck.

Ever since I got the truck I have known that there was a huge exhaust leak around the exhaust manifold. It also had a non-functioning manual choke and it was a bear to start if it had sat for a few days. Finally, I knew the carb was messed up because once the engine did get running it would run when cold with NO choke and NO fast idle linkage or cam or screw. I figured that (1) since I would be pulling the manifolds to fix the exhaust leak anyway, and (2) the single barrel carb has been molested and parts are missing, that I would just go ahead and upgrade to a two barrel carb.

I went out this morning and started taking it apart and, wouldn't you know it, it started to SNOW. I pressed on, anxious to get at least SOMETHING done on my truck. I got the old parts all stripped off and discovered the the exhaust manifold was warped badly and sagging in the middle. I scraped the gasket surface on the head clean and fit the old exhaust and new Super Six intake on the motor. The warp in the exhaust manifold was bad enough that it was hard to fit the ears over the outermost studs.

Working on a truck is a new experience for me. I am having to get used to how far back in the engine compartment the engine is. I actually have to climb into the engine compartment to reach things and getting the washers on the lower manifold studs at the back of the motor is a challenge.

I FINALLY got the washers and studs on and I was doing the final torque on the three intake to exhaust manifold stud and bolts when the stud snapped. Ugh. So the manifolds came back off and I scrounged around my parts stash and found one used exhaust manifold that actually looks useable. Its my last one, though, so any more exhaust manifolds will likely be Chinese reproductions.

I got the two barrel intake and the "new" exhaust loosely hung on the head and then called it a day since I was cold and my foot was hurting. Still, I got a lot done, and found more that I will need to address.



Every day, in every way, it's getting better and better.

The paint is actually in pretty bad shape. There are some big dents on the roof and the passenger door has some bad bonds work hidden under a bad repaint. Lots of bad paint but no rust. I can't complain, though. I didn't want a trailer queen I was afraid to drive. I wanted a simple slant six powered truck I could drive and have fun with.

More tiny progress made.

I got the engine back together and running tonight. Barely. Suffice to say the main fusible link has been replaced with a mini-fuse that blows with any fuse rated under 30 amps in it. The vibration dampener has slipped. badly, and the timing mark is about 120 degrees out of place. The old one barrel carburetor was completed out of tune and the motor was running pig-rich. As best as I can tell, the timing was badly retarded, but with an inaccurate timing mark I don't know by how much.

The slant six BBD I put on is also worn out. There is a steady drip of gas out of the canister purge port while the engine is both off and running. I also think it leaks down the throat of the carb with the engine off. I have a 318 BBD I pulled of a junked van a few years back that I am going to try. If that doesn't work, I am going to order a carb from THESE GUYS and I will report back my experience with it. I just don't have the patience any more to deal with junk parts.

The retarded timing and out of tune carb make sense with the horrid fuel economy and performance the truck had when I drove it home. I had absolutely NO acceleration even though it has 3.9 rear gears. Actually, I think the 3.9 rear gears contributed to the vibration dampener slipping since the engine has to run at much higher RPMs to move the truck along with traffic.

The motor runs strong at idle now, but I am still sorting out the kick down linkage and throttle return spring. Eventually, I need to pull the manifolds off (again) to install the Remflex gasket for between the intake and exhaust manifolds.

I confirmed that this head is not original to the motor. The motor is Mopar blue, but the head is a red peanut plug head. I think it came off an industrial application because the two bolt holes on the top of the head near the manifolds were plugged with threaded studs like you see things bolted to in industrial applications.

I think this motor will eventually be a good runner, but it definitely need some TLC. And the wiring on this truck has some big problems. Somebody hacking in a new ignition switch and I think they did a poor job of it. The horns and dash lights don't work, the ammeter jumps around like crazy, and the interior dome light doesn't ever come on.

Also, I drained and refilled the radiator a while back because the fluid in the radiator tank looked pretty nasty and rusty. Well, I checked again tonight and the clean green fluid I put in is now nasty and rusty. Time for cooling system flush. I will probably replace the heater valve at the same time. The heater temp control cable is also broken at the dash controls and the air flow cable is bent and doesn't really work. I have the heater valve jammed "on" and the air flow vent stuck in the defrost position, but the whole cooling and HVAC system needs help. And the blower motor only works on low.

The list of things to do on this truck keeps getting longer, but at least the body is OK and the brakes work GREAT!

More to come later.

I forgot to mention that I haven't had the valve cover off yet but I was looking down through the oil fill hole to watch the rockers move when I was trying to find the timing mark and I noticed rust on the rocker arms. I think this truck sat for a very long time leading to the rusty rocker arms and the badly faded plastic "wood" dash. But it is getting better....