Jeff Balazs

I recently experienced some starting issues with my truck. It is a daily driver and my only ride so I take all this pretty seriously. I pulled the carb and serviced it pretty carefully. It was pretty clean after 20,000 miles but the needle valve and accelerator pump looked like they should be replaced. I put fresh components in and it starts and runs like it should again. I believe these modern fuels we are forced to use are harder on things like this than the old stuff was. At any rate the truck runs better than it has for awhile so I will service these items more frequently. As far as pumping the pedal more than once or twice goes I have found this practice to cause starting issues rather than solve them. But I run an electric fuel pump rather than the stock arrangement.......and it has no problem filling the carb bowl instantly. Jeff

Have you checked the position of the rod on the accelerator pump linkage? Might be in the center (standard) position....and starting may benefit from a change to the longer stroke winter position. I think it is worth a try. Jeff

As Merle has said plugs do not have any effect on compression ratio. 😀 Unless of course they are loose... But running the wrong plugs can effect an engine in many adverse ways. As an example running a plug of too high a heat range can cause the engine itself to run too hot...and even cause detonation. Heat from combustion is actually transferred through the plug into the head and then on into the cooling system. The heat range of the plug actually regulates this process. Jeff

Fernando; It is possible that your engine is running too rich a fuel mixture....and that is why the plugs are black. There may be other causes as well. NGK has a good catalog that shows exactly how to read your plugs. Running the correct heat range of plug is important. Running too hot of a plug can cause your engine to run too high a temperature and can cause other damage. Running too cold a plug generally results in a poor running engine and foule plugs. I tried several different plugs in mine. The BR6S run at a nice even light tan color without too much fuel deposits on the electrode. That is what I wanted to see. Hope this helps, Jeff

I run BR6S plugs in mine. They are the correct heat range for these motors. I definitely would not run anything hotter based on my plug readings. Jeff

I agree that pictures can be deceiving........but this looks like a very close check is warranted. I am sure Fernando would rather not find out the hard way. Jeff

Hey DJ; No I stuck with 6V Pos ground. The vintage unit I bought is supposed to work on any set up....regardless of voltage and polarity....just wired differently for each. It will read at idle speed but as I said drops off once above about 1000 rpm. I disconnected it because I didn't want any issues with the module. Jeff

I have a vintage Westach tach that I have never been able to get to read correctly. I am using the Pertronix module as well. I was able to get it to read at idle speeds but it would drop off as I raised Rpms. I went ahead and disconnected it because I wasn't sure if it would do any harm to the module. That was four years ago. Would love to hear of a way to correct this......but it ain't the end of the world. 😀 Jeff

Fernando; I know you don't want to hear this but it sure seems like you probably have a blown head gasket. I can't imagine having that amount of condensation develop in one of these engines........ Jeff

That much water in your oil is not likely to have been caused by condensation. Before you did the oil change was the dip stick milky white? Usually when you see that amount of water in the oil it is an indicator that the head gasket has failed. Have you checked the water level in the radiator? Have you had to top it up? Hope this helps, Jeff

I had similar problems with my headlight switch this last year. I ended up taking it apart and cleaning all the contacts. Worked fine after that treatment. Fairly easy job on the original type switch. Hth, Jeff

The reason I brought it up was to put some emphasis on how important it is to look at what it is we build with a realistic point of view. The world is full of projects that don't get driven much. That is OK I suppose if that is what you are after........but there are steps you can take to make these trucks very functional. It is all in how you chose to look at it. Jeff

There are so many ways to look at this situation. I suppose a lot depends on how you intend to use the truck and the tools and resources you have available to you. When I started my build I did so with the idea of keeping it 100% original. I even bought all new brake parts and 90% assembled the braking system. Then reality (at least mine) set in. From the very beginning I wanted this truck to be a daily driver. That meant it had to keep up with relatively high speed traffic and it had to stop pretty much like all the modern vehicles around me. If not it simply would not make any sense to continue building it. I just could not see putting something like this together that I would not be totally comfortable driving all the time in any sort of traffic. As I re-evaluated my build ideas It became apparent that I would need to do something about the gearing. Pretty quickly it was obvious that swapping in an axle out of a late model Cherokee with a better ratio for todays traffic was going to be the easiest fix for the gearing. As I started looking into this I found a 2002 Grand Cherokee axle with 3.55 gearing....and 12" discs. Little more digging and the rusty hope disc kit combined with a Cherokee M/C and two major items were taken care of. And a huge side benefit to doing this is I am not going to need any "unobtainium" in the future to keep this truck on the road. Had the wheels off at around 20.000 miles and the pads and discs show very little sign of wear. So after 4 years on the road zero maintenance or adjustments....and stops like a modern vehicle. Another way to look at all this....fwiw. Jeff

So here is a photo of my buddy Mike Kennedy's FI Hemi T-bucket. And yes it not only runs but can be driven on the street......thanks to a very trick computer controlled injection and ignition. Super clean build too. Also a photo of some "spare" injection set ups ........wonder how a 3 hole cut down system might work as a side draft on the old Dodge truck? Jeff

Tim..........Chrome? I don't need no stinking chrome. I was looking at the stuff my buddy got yesterday. He has a whole mess of Hilborn injectors. I need to see if 3 of them could be cobbled together as a side draft fuel injection system. Now that would be cool with a nice pair of split headers. Jeff