55 Fargo

Yup, that kinda leaking is definately valve related. I willwatch the video tomorrow morning, at work on nights, no You Tube or Photobucket allowed..... I have no idea why yours and mine does this slight bounce, either a valve or 2 not sealing 100% , possibly ignition related, I dunno. In the grand scheme of things it don't really matter

Good go, sounds like it's running nice, the needle is still bouncing slightly, like mine does, but why? On my other engines, that needle is dead steady. How was it before?

Since when have you Guys been living anywhere cold? Nebraska, heck that's balmy compared to this place, ask anyone from Grand Forks ND

Cooler weather most likely, you really need to experience driving one of these in sub-zero weather...........LOL

Norm was a great Guy, but Paul takes his truck off the driveway, should he though????..LOL

Why wouldn't I?

I dunno, is this an attention seeking thing? or someone's punching bag thing? appears to be a vast amount of metricious piffle to me......LOL

Pertronix must be a half way decent upgrade or they would not have been in business all too long, most users appear happy with the product. I think points are just fine, infact for most on this board, it would be a good choice, as most do drive their vehicles all that much, and seems a lot don't drive them at all. Good ole Normscoupe had a nice P15 Coupe, that he mostly drove from garage to the end of his driveway. Norm was a great Guy, and too bad he's gone....

The slant dizzy, should be very good, its proven itself for years, the module boxes could fail though, the modification went well, so have not discovered the issues, could have been a bad wire for all I know. The fact you have a spare, most likely you will never have an issue. You an I both agree, these trucks were built for work, not speed, in the stock form. Good radial tires make a difference, 80 mph, in these old crates is getting up there, and if you feel comfortable cruising yours on the Interstate at 80 mph, my hats are off to you. The SWB will make for a choppier ride, but the engineering of the suspension and steering is not designed for super high speeds.....

Sidenote, had truck out this morning on highway, speeds at 60-65, these trucks like 60 mph, IMHO. This has nothing to do with a revving engine, it has all to do with design, suspension handling etc, these truck were not built for 70-80 mph cruising, in stock suspension form, if yours is great or anyone on this forum. I find the speed on the truck itself is more of a stumbling block, than my engine running too fast....just an observation

Yes well I agree, with your post, I was able to correct this situation in no-time flat, no waiting for any part to be delivered in the next 3-5 business days.....LOL Still have not re-tried my slant six dizzy set-up, not sure why it failed too, old module, bad grnd or short, have not investigated it yet.

2600

Well hijinks at it's best today. Wife and Daughter have the "Flu" real bad, so was looking after them for the bulk of the day. Late in the afternoon, pulled out Fargo ran her a bit drove down road to neighbours farm and back, parked truck outside. Little while later start truck, it starts, then stalls and will not start again, oh **** now what. I was a little or a lot low on gas, so primed carb, nope, pulled fuel line off carb, fuel pump works great BTW. Carb bowl full, accelerator pump pumpin gas, nice solid streams. Meanwhile, I had already primed carb with more gas, no start, and run battery down, so it's getting late in the day and gettin cool, so gonna pull out 4 WD ATV, it won't start, battery low, this is a 1 year old machine, but I hardly drive it, so charge it up and start, leaving battery tender on from now on. I then pushed the Fargo back in the shop, did the ignition tests, ballast is fine, coil tested fine on meter,tried a different coil and wire, still no starting or firing, WTF. Have son watch dummy sparkplug, as I crank engine, no spark. I pull dizzy, and see point gap moved in again, tightened up little wire and condenser connection. The US made older points,I have in this dizzy are not the best, sorta misaligned, have tried to straighten them, but should be replaced. Install dizzy, put cap back on, and still no fire, then hook up wire from dizzy to coil, bazinga, she fires up like nothing. The darn crappy points closed up the gap, no wonder she would' start. Drove truck tonight in pitch dark down through Deer country to the highway, 65 mph no problem still a bit slow getting there, and still some rear driveline vibes. Now ain't this fun............

Hi Reg, you have what I basically have a 251, granny 4 spd, and mine is a 3.23 set of gears. Now with yours, how do you find it turning onto a highway or busy roadway, and you need to get to 60-65 mph in a hurry? I really find mine lacking say on those windy days, getting on the highway, and some idiot is not far away doing 70 mph, and me trying to get to 60-65 mph, as fast as I can. Reg how do you find the pickup from a dead stop, mine is lacking at times, maybe something wrong with mine. Repeat question for you too Jerry, how do you find performance off the line, or when you have to get to speed ASAP..

No not yet, gonna be some warm dry days again for a bit. Greg, that has to be 1 of the best lookin P15 Coupes on this forum, nice and straight panels....

stuck and badly rusted valve or valves, pull head and side covers to see...

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Amazing how that happens.........

All buttoned up, cleaned out oil filter, fresh Klondike 15W40 Heavy Duty oil, even has .14 zinc, not that I care. Wonder how long the oil will look clean now, used to get black fast.....

Neither Dave, was hanging on the block in crud and fell off when oil pan was pulled. Appears to be a part of a glass bottle....

Just pulled oil pan, some sludge in the sump area, not that bad, but not good either. I have the bottom end open, so will have a good look at things. I am not planning on pulling mains or rod bearing caps or anything though.

Hi Jeff, glad it worked out, yes even my older 12 volt starter fires up like what you mention. Infact, my truck 90% of the timer starts as easy as any of my modern vehicles, it may not run as smooth as they do at first, but starts easy. Today I plan to drop the oil pan and clean out and inspect the bottom end etc. The other day before it became like a rain forest here, went for a drive on a real windy day. On the highway from a dead stop, going against the wind, had to floor it to get to speed 100 kmh or 62 mph, had a hard time climbing to speed, but once there no problem. Now with a lot of traffic on a 2 lane highway with most doing 65-70 mph, this ain't fun. I am wondering why this engine is so sucked out at times, it does not burn oil, runs well enough. I just seems to not breath well enough and rev fast enough. Now is this the results of a 3.23 rear gear, or a tired engine? Now I do not need a truck to drive 80 mph , like you guy's in busy areas, but do want to drive 65 mph, and get there in a safe and reasonable manner. I have almost everything for the 318 V8 swap, but will not dive in just yet. This is no show/museum truck, but an old beater, so no issues with originality for me. Just sayin, if more performance, at a reasonable cost, would keep flattie, oh yah, those truck granny 4 spds suck, cannot see down shifting from 4th to 3rd on highway to pass, gear spread, might be too far off....

Hey JR, can't help you with any pics, but interested in what you are planning to do here, will be following along with this build. When you start all, this, or even right now, start a build thread, and keep us posted, with your progress. Looks like that leanin 6 can already pack a whallop, any ideas how many ponies and twist it has. You souped up flattie guys might get a lickin with this combo. Good Luck with your build..

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UPDATE: Thought it only fair I give an update on this topic and my slant 6 dizzy electronic conversion. Now engine started and ran great, used it till late last night, but it failed at home in my garage. Last night after installing shims to my diff, to change pinion angle, thought I should go and try it out, it would not start, coil tested fine, as did the ballast resistor, there was power to the ECU, the pickup coil and dizzy checked out fine on the meter, the wiring harness was checked okay. So in goes the points dizzy, but I at first put my plug wires on cap wrong, but thought I was indexed out a 180 degrees, got that straightened out, and she fired right up. When I pulled plugs they looked super clean, and did not have any gas on them, a little suspect, fuel filters and pump bowls full of gas, carb squirting gas. Not sure hwy the plugs were dry after a lot of cranking attempting to start engine. My newer plug wires are solid core wire, probably not the best for electronic ignition. 2 other things occurred after this conversion , my Sun Pro tach went to over 10000 rpm and stopped there, not to work again, in the dark I could see my spark plugs and wires firing faintly through there insulation, very strange phenomena. So not sure what went wrong, and what failed and what caused it.....