Despite hosting this site, I'm not comfortable being the centre of attention. Happier to stand back & observe. Gonna be tough blending into the background in this though.
Loony & I pulled up at the end of the yard -Hey mate, we've done it. We've built a hotrod.
Lots left to do, but yeah, we're a huge leap further forward. Everything's a bit rough at the moment. "Brutal" would be a fair description I think. The gearchange is very kachunky -as we notched it into gear the truck would lurch forward. Brock reckons topping the transmission oil up will smooth that out. It's also revving a bit high which won't help.
Running it on just the open headers obviously messes up the carburation as well as making it sound like a tractor. Adding the rest of the system will hopefully fix that, as well as quitening it down so we can hear each other talk in the cab. The headers will only really get uncorked now & then for shows. 90% of the time it'll be running through silencers & long tail pipes.
The water got up to temperature & the radiator fan kicked in at about 95 degrees, so that all seems to work. Even the heater got hot.
So. Things to do-
We found a crack in the carb manifold casting -my own fault. I'd fitted the sender unit for the water gauge & wound it right into the manifold.
Looks like it was a tapered fitting though so should only have been tightened enough to seal. Brock reckons it can be fixed in situ with some "Chemical Metal" putty.
The bottom radiator hose is still weeping water. Loony thinks it's just a matter of reseating the jubilee clip.
The oil pressure gauge wasn't working as there was air in the line. I just need to loosen the pipe from the back of the gauge & run the engine until the air bleeds out.
We need to find someone who can check the timing & adjust the distributor position if necessary, (no points as it's electronic, so turning the dizzy body in it's clamp is the only adjustment). Also find out once & for all if we need that ballast resistor or not.
I need to remake the HT leads, using a spare set of plug caps I have.
The biggest problem was the front mudguards. Something we only confirmed by actually driving the thing. On full lock & bouncing the suspension, the back end of the guards taps the front exhaust pipe. Shortening the guard by about 4 inches would probably cure it, but would mean reworking the mounting struts. The easier option might be to fit 1 inch wheel spacers to give us more clearance, although we'll have to extend the struts to keep the guards over the tyres. I'll look at that tomorrow.
All in all though, not bad for a maiden voyage. It didn't burst into flames & no-one got killed, so a success I reckon.
As Loony climbed out after that first run his hands were shaking -"What a buzz!"