More progress. Today I fixed the wobbly rear view mirror and driver's door mirror. Turns out it is super easy to adjust the tension on the ball and socket joint. However, the passenger side mirror base is stripped on the threads for the mirror head, so there is no cure for its floppiness. Since these parts are shared with the Warlock and Little Red Express, chrome mirror bases are hard to find and expensive when you do.
I upped the idle from stall speed to close to right. I have misplaced my tachometer so I am setting it by ear. The truck actually runs pretty smooth when it warms up. Right now I am running it with no choke since the manual choke doesn't work.
The silenced air filter made it quieter, but now the big exhaust leak is much more noticeable. I think it is coming from the union between the manifolds on the exhaust tower.
I found out that the PING and tinkle I heard in the driver's door was part of the latch mechanism breaking off, rendering the latch inoperable from the outside. This is really annoying since I have to open the door from the inside, which means crawling through the passenger door or leaving the window rolled partially down. Leaving windows rolled down isn't an option during western Washington State winters. Door latches also are hard to find and EXPENSIVE if you do. EDIT- unless you scrounge on eBay! I found a NOS one last night for cheap, so this problem will be fixed soon.
Discovered the passenger door vent window weatherstrip leaks. Also discovered that replacement vent window weatherstrip is hard to find for 76 Dodge trucks. I'l keep on looking.
Also discovered that ashtrays with the cigarette lighter in place are expensive and hard to find for this truck. You wouldn't think it, but I am coming up empty.
I have want ads placed on relevant forums, and I will have one here soon.
I actually drove the truck today. I loaded an extra set of cop rims in the bed and took them to my storage unit. While there, I swapped the original chromed slotted rims for a set of aluminum finned rims I have.
I did that because of the tires. The tires on the chromed rims were 11 year old passenger car tires that were too small for the rim and the truck (these are 15x8 factory chromed rims). The tires on the aluminum rims are five year old light truck tires in the correct size. I will likely be getting new tires soon and putting them on the chrome rims, but until then I am riding on my aluminum mags with old truck tires.
I switched trailer balls from a 1 7/8 to a 2 inch and I wired in a flat four trailer wiring harness. The truck has a funky old 6 pin plug that isn't wired right. At some point I am going to have to clean up the trailer wiring. It looks like the truck was built with a factory trailer wiring option, but 40 years of dirt and corrosion have made the connections poor. I have brake lights and turn signals, but no running lights, and the lights are all dim. Good enough for a dump run.
So, it is decision time. I have to pull the manifolds to fix the exhaust leak. I have a Super Six intake, a couple carbs that will work on a Super Six intake, and a Lokar kick down linkage. Do I upgrade to a Super Six or do I keep it stock for now? I don't have a good two barrel air cleaner, and I generally like to get an engine running well in stock form before I modify it, but swapping manifolds is not something I do casually.
Also, there is a definitely lack of power issue and the shifts are not right. I need to check base timing and the advance mechanisms and adjust the bands and kick down. I also don't think this 727 has part throttle kick down. I know the truck weighs about 4000 pounds, but it has a 3.90 rear gears. It should be able to accelerate fairly quickly. However, acceleration is terrible. Something isn't right.
I'll keep chipping away at the little projects. I ordered a new set of window felts. Maybe that will help quiet down the interior. The old felts are GONE.
Loaded up and ready for its inaugural dump run in the morning:
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The tires are cleaner, but the rims look pretty much the same.