Show that qaud who's boss!...After my swap I've learned how "adjustable" they are. Get'r right!

 

After that episode, I still had the hard start issue with a few more problems to boot. Seems that one of the little arms on the passenger side of the carb was mispositioned and jammed the secondaries shut. Not only that, but I was still having the hard start problem. I tried a ton of things. Noticed that the bracket for the vacuum advance dashpot was bent so I replaced that. While I was in the distributor, I removed and cleaned everything, installing new springs and bushings for the mechanical advance. I also removed the carb again to fix the other issues. This time I went through everything all over again. I found that the float valve had fallen off of the float, but was still in its proper location so it would have still worked. I took everything else apart and inspected it all over again. When I reinstalled the fuel inlet seat into the carb, I noticed that I was able to thread it down in deeper this time. Looking at it more closely, the small seal that had come in the kit had not properly fell down into the bore that it was supposed to go into and was not properly sealing off the fuel inlet when the float commanded. This allowed the fuel bowl to over flow basically all of the time. It was not a gusher, but just enough to flood the engine after it would sit for a little bit.

Now, it idles great, runs like a raped ape, and best of all, starts beautifully when hot!!

Also, just cause you guys cannot get enough of me finding cheap parts... I just found a 74 Jimmy that I'll be able to pick up for $150-$200. It is an L6 4x4 w/ an NP205 and 3-on-the-tree manual trans. The body is pretty much gone, but it still has a lot of good parts on it. Namely the running gear. D44 front. 12 bolt rear. Nice frame with no visible rot. I will scrap off about all of the sheet metal, strip the doors to make a new set for mine (need the glass, inside parts, and reinforcing brackets). The low back seats will be useful.

But my plans are really in the frame. I will get it stripped down, cleaned up and then detailed out before plumbing it for brakes and fuel, putting a set of 4" springs with 52" springs up front, and then hang my 3/4 ton running gear under it. I will then mock it up with one of my 350 blocks and a TH350 trans mated up to what I hope to be putting together as well --> NP203/NP205 doubler setup. New driveshafts and a crossover steering setup then it'll be ready for the body once that is completed!

That way I can continue to enjoy the K5 while I am doing the drivetrain updates. Have a complete rolling chassis that will be all detailed out to drop the freshened body down onto after it is all painted up nice nice!

 

Ohh
Emm
Gee

Very nice Kyle. Is this all on craigslist or where are you finding stuff?

 

The 74 Jimmy I just happened to find when we went to a fire call. It was out back of the guys house stuffed into the weeds. I am picking it up for scrap value. I hope to salvage the top on it as well, but it is pretty racked.

 

Well this weekend I tackled the job of pulling the dash apart to replace the bulbs for the gauges. While I was at it, I removed the clear bezel, wet sanded it to remove the discoloration, then polished it back up.

Surprisingly, now that I have the problem with my hands/forearms, my hands do not cramp up like they used to when working in tight areas or with repetitive motions. Good thing!

Put it all back together and found that the fuel gauge and temp gauge did not work. Removed it and traced out the lines. Found a bad connection to the temp gauge and fixed that with a short strand of copper and a little bit of solder. Removed all of the gauges and cleaned them while I was in there. Put it all back together and still nothing... Checked the fuses and the 3A cluster fuse was blown. A quick run to Autozone for some fuses (all I had was the mini blade fuses) and it was back to working great.

While I was at autozone I bought a new headlight pull rod/**** to replace the broken one that was there. So that was done.

I also picked up a new window crank handle for the passenger side. Put it on and noticed why the previous owner had removed the old one... The window track was broken making it almost impossible to roll the window up once it was down. I had another rear window track from a pickup that I was able to cut off the upper bracket and weld on the bracket for my cut down doors (73-75 full convertibles had a different upper bracket). Put that in and tried it again... The window still jumped off... A bit more inspection showed that the window regulator was bent up to the point that it was pulling the window out of its channels. One of the doors out in my shed had a good manual window regulator so I removed that and dropped it into my door then dropped the window back in. ALL IS WELL!! It was a bit of a hassle to get the window back on the regulator, but now that it is in, it worked as good as new!

Now that my roof is done, my next purchase will be that 74 Jimmy to cut up! The first thing I am planning on doing is skinning the doors to get the additional supports out of them. Then I will be converting my extra set of doors over to full convertible use.

 

sounds like your having fun with this one. that's cool.

 

Is that a factory spare tire swing arm on there, or is it aftermarket?
Either way, could you get me a close up picture of both the arm and the latch system?
I'm trying to either find a new arm, Or I'll be fabricating my own, so I need a good idea how to fix the latch.

Any help would be great.

 

None of the tire carrier stuff is on the truck anymore and is in storage. It isn't factory though. There is half a sticker from the manufacturer on one of the pieces IIRC, but I don't remember what it read.

The K5 is running GREAT! Only gets around 9MPG, but with a 350, th350, 203, 3.73's and 33x12.5 tires, I am not complaining. I was down checking my tree stands this morning. Did a few creek crossings with it with no trouble at all. Forgot the camera at home though...

 

Changed the oil yesterday. All went fairly well except for the oil out of the filter that had the consistency of cold maple syrup. NICE! Well... Not so much...

I flushed out the crank case with some fresh oil, installed the drain plug, installed a new filter, and filled it up. Started it up and the oil pressure rose up to around 45psi with a cold engine. Took my kids for a spin and it dropped to around 15 while cruising down the road at probably 2200RPM. Hot idle, stopped in gear is down around 7psi. Hot idle in park is about 10psi.

There are no noises (lifter tap, etc) to warn of the pressure being too low so I currently am going on the assumption that it is ok and that the factory gauge is just not that accurate. Heck, it only has 6 lines on it with only the last one being marked at 60psi. The other lines are 0, 15, 30, and 45... I have a 3 gauge cluster that I have been toying with installing. It came out of my Chevelle and has a mechanical oil pressure, mechanical temperature, and a volt gauge. I could steal the tachometer out of my Chevelle as well.

Since I have another motor, I am not too worried about it. If this one dies, it will just step up the time table on my 90 TBI motor swap which is currently scheduled to start in the spring.

 

Found a replacement tailgate for my truck. I'll probably be going to take a look at it this weekend. Seller is asking $75 for the shell and glass. I'm hoping for a little lower than that.