I hope you make it back without anything happening, but if you run into trouble in NC, give me a shout. I can probably come and deliver snacks and look confused about one of them there carbure-taters.
After Gary’s trip north, we were ready to fly up to Connecticut, finish getting our new ramp truck road-worthy, and drive it back to Florida.
Day 1 was long. We toiled away on the truck for over 12 hours. Still, we got an awful lot done.
After checking over the brakes, we installed the rebuilt carburetor and got the old truck started again. But no matter how much we fiddled and adjusted, the truck didn’t seem to idle well.
Finally, upon closer inspection, we realized the brass tubes of the nozzle bar and booster venturi assembly had split.
Since we couldn’t quickly find parts, we decided to solder the split. To our own surprise, the repair worked and suddenly the truck ran well, very well.
Next we needed to address the exhaust leak. We found the primary culprit was a missing bolt from the rear of the right-side exhaust manifold.
We thought it over, tried tightening the rest of the bolts to compensate, and decided that while it would be nice to fix this problem but it wouldn’t keep us from getting home. The chance of breaking more bolts and having to remove the head from block was very real. This could take days to fix. So we decided to live with the leak and move on to the next problem
The next step was to clean the truck up some. It was way too filthy to drive to Florida. We also wanted to confirm there was nothing living inside the cab.
As we scrubbed, we were pleasantly surprised how the 42-year-old interior cleaned up and looked almost new. Perhaps this was going to be a good deal after all.
We then changed the oil, set the timing, and fixed a couple of vacuum leaks. We also devised a battery tie down system and figured out a safe way to mount the spare tire.
We determined that 1/2-inch threaded rod bolted through the frame with large fender washers would safely hold the spare in place. We used Loctite to help secure the threaded rod to the frame, and Nylok nuts to bolt the tire into place. We made completely sure this rig wouldn’t loosen up and drop our spare on the driver behind us.
By day’s end we were ready for a test drive. The truck started, stopped and ran well. It was actually fairly comfortable, and after rechecking all the lights, replacing he wiper blades, and cleaning and applying Rain-X, we were ready to go.
After a much needed night’s rest and a few more tweaks in the morning, we would be ready to drive south and pick up our Spitfire.
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I hope you make it back without anything happening, but if you run into trouble in NC, give me a shout. I can probably come and deliver snacks and look confused about one of them there carbure-taters.
Sounds like a fun trip. Be safe and good luck! I'll be following the updates.
No doubt about it, this is cool. Thanks for the updates.
Swing by for a beer Tim... lol
After you make back to Florida you need to load that fancy GRM Camaro on the back.
Remember, having the biggest truck around is like having o-positive blood; you can help everyone else out but even if your friends want to they probably can't do much for you.
You broke it guys, dang it
It's not an adventure without something coming apart. Unfortunately I know that F350 driveshafts aren't too hard to Dixon the side of the highway.
Is something happening that's being broadcast somewhere else? I want to keep up.
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