Got the new carburetor, fuel pump, coil, and Pektronics ignition. Working on putting them in today. Made some pretty good progress.
And then, some bad news came along my way. While I was working on the truck the other day, I got it fired up and could keep it running like seen in this video here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
It just had no ability to rev up, and it was spitting up black, liquid gunk through the carb. So I pulled the plugs and did a compression test, which I should have done way earlier on. To my disappointment, these were the results in order from 1-6:
0,50,0,0,0,20
And when I say 0, I mean not even a budge of the needle. I asked a few people around the shop to verify and make sure I was using the tool correctly, and they said I was. I probably should have figured this out before putting all the money and time in to new parts like the carb and fuel pump. The only thing I can think of that may be throwing it off so much is maybe the head isn't sitting right? I pulled it off because I had the stuck spark plug. Before putting it back on though, I buffed down the surfaces and cleaned everything up, plus installed a new gasket with the copper spray. It did have a slight mismatch in the alignment, which you can see from my previous pics in this post, but it didn't look as if it were going to leak. I am also missing one of the screws from the top of the head that holds that little bracket for the two vacuum lines. It's around somewhere. So those are the only two things I can think that may throw off the test. Thoughts?
I poured some Seafoam down in the block. If that doesn't free stuff up, which I don't think it will, I figure I have these options:
1. Pull the motor and find some place to help me rebuild it from the block up. This keeps it stock.
2. Pull the motor and scrap it, replace with a crate motor.
3. Try to rebuild it while it is still in the truck. Someone suggested dropping the oil pan, but I'm not sure I am ready for that.
I've about reached my level of expertise here. I am a hobbyist/enthusiast with little to no qualified skills to work on this thing. Plus, it's costing me $75 to store it at the garage where I work on it, and about $30 a day for the bay.
So I am asking you guys what your opinion is here? I'm sure that the gut reaction is to say keep her stock. However, if I go with a newer motor, I could potentially swap out the transmission too and get something that could be a bit more versatile for highway driving (I live in a city). I could also look in to getting a transfer case with super low gears for off roading too, which is something I considered.
What do you guys think?