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1970 C10 project

Another slight update. Hopefully if it's not pouring rain tomorrow I'll put the carb back on and get it to crank and run. I'm gonna replace the fuel pump at some point, but it's working for now, or was last time I had it running. Apparently if they fail and go bad it dumps gas in the oil, so peace of mind there.
Also gonna put the new (second ignition set now) keys and door locks in the truck. Back then (1970) the ignition key unlocked the doors and glove box as well apparently. Not sure when GM went to the round keys for the door and square for ignition, but anyway gonna swap all that out I hope.
Also, my dad and stepmom texted asking what I'd like for Christmas, so I suggested a new steering wheel cus mine looks like ass. Also new gas pedal and the little stud things in the floor that it sticks to.
They make reproduction stock steering wheels, and maybe one day I'll go back to that, but they're like 300 bucks so I tried to keep it reasonable. here's a pic of basically what I'd get, but it might have the black horn button with red chevy outline, I told dad to decide so it'll have a little of his touch on the truck.
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Well I got the steering wheel and replacement accelerator pedal with floor studs (1970 factory style) for Christmas today. I tried to grind out the old rusty floor studs but the floor is damn near gone there already, so gonna take more work than I really want to get into at the moment.
Anybody got the accelerator assembly from a 73-87 chevy truck? I don't need the throttle cable, but i'd take that too if someone has the whole deal laying around. It's a pretty common upgrade to the trucks because there was concern about motor mounts breaking and jamming the metal throttle rod wide open.
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Went out today and got a little closer to driving the truck from dad's house to my house so I can continue working on it easier.

Put the carb back on and it'll run smooth as silk for about 30 seconds. I'm pretty sure the fuel pump has left the chat. The clear fuel filter I put in front of the carb filter you can see a burst of air bubbles at first crank, but after that the filter never fills up, and the fuel in it just kinda gets a minor little wave to it, not looking like it's really spraying gas in there.

Also learned yet again that they don't make shit like they used to. The brand new positive battery cable I picked up earlier this year at some point, probably when I put the new starter on, broke one of the ears on the terminal today.

Also installed the new steering wheel, which really makes the interior look a whole lot better. The old wheel looked like ass.
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How much fuel is in the bowl once it dies after 30 seconds?

the clear filter at idle won't always fill up, air is fine in there. If you get it started and apply the throttle it should pump more fuel to keep up. No reason to replace the pump if it is getting fuel up there and not sending it into the oil pan.

if you've got fuel, are you losing spark instead?

Drummer79 said:
Went out today and got a little closer to driving the truck from dad's house to my house so I can continue working on it easier.

Put the carb back on and it'll run smooth as silk for about 30 seconds. I'm pretty sure the fuel pump has left the chat. The clear fuel filter I put in front of the carb filter you can see a burst of air bubbles at first crank, but after that the filter never fills up, and the fuel in it just kinda gets a minor little wave to it, not looking like it's really spraying gas in there.
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Provience said:
How much fuel is in the bowl once it dies after 30 seconds?

the clear filter at idle won't always fill up, air is fine in there. If you get it started and apply the throttle it should pump more fuel to keep up. No reason to replace the pump if it is getting fuel up there and not sending it into the oil pan.

if you've got fuel, are you losing spark instead?
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It's got spark. It will run on ether, and as mentioned above, the way the fuel line is run now, there's a loop in it. After letting the truck sit a while (installing steering wheel) and deciding fuck, try it, it cranked right up and ran a bit til it emptied the fuel line again. I even added more gas to tank, but the only thing I did differently this time was not pulling vacuum all the way to the carb to prime everything. One way or the other, it's getting a new fuel pump for peace of mind. I'm just wondering if I'm missing something else.
 
Drummer79 said:
It's got spark. It will run on ether, and as mentioned above, the way the fuel line is run now, there's a loop in it. After letting the truck sit a while (installing steering wheel) and deciding fuck, try it, it cranked right up and ran a bit til it emptied the fuel line again. I even added more gas to tank, but the only thing I did differently this time was not pulling vacuum all the way to the carb to prime everything. One way or the other, it's getting a new fuel pump for peace of mind. I'm just wondering if I'm missing something else.
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why is there a loop in the fuel line :confused: and also, where is the loop, I only went back 1 page to read and didn't see the routing mentioned. there's really no reason to loop the fuel line.


however, if you do try to keep it low. I've got a couple loops in my fuel line, below the pump and below the fuel tank and immediately before the pump suction. Not ideal, but I didn't want to buy a pre-formed fuel hose when I had hard line handy. Using a non-formed length of soft line to make the turn resulted in a kink that starved the pump.

so make sure your lines aren't degraded and allowing the sucking of air along the route, free of kinks and internal clogs, and avoid loops above either the pump suction port or the fuel tank
 
Provience said:
why is there a loop in the fuel line :confused: and also, where is the loop, I only went back 1 page to read and didn't see the routing mentioned. there's really no reason to loop the fuel line.


however, if you do try to keep it low. I've got a couple loops in my fuel line, below the pump and below the fuel tank and immediately before the pump suction. Not ideal, but I didn't want to buy a pre-formed fuel hose when I had hard line handy. Using a non-formed length of soft line to make the turn resulted in a kink that starved the pump.

so make sure your lines aren't degraded and allowing the sucking of air along the route, free of kinks and internal clogs, and avoid loops above either the pump suction port or the fuel tank
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Only reason it's looped now is because with this carb the piece of old hard line doesn't thread in with the bend pointed same way any more. Not ideal I know. All fuel line is new from tank to pump, and pump to carb.
 
Drummer79 said:
Only reason it's looped now is because with this carb the piece of old hard line doesn't thread in with the bend pointed same way any more. Not ideal I know. All fuel line is new from tank to pump, and pump to carb.
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do you have a way to try it without the loop or at least get the loop to lay flat so that the height still falls in one direction?

pre-fil the fuel bowl in the carb with gasoline, fire it up with a spray can handy, get to higher (2kish) RPM as quick as possible and see if it will push enough to clear itself and start feeding on it's own.

you can still be fancy and buy a new fuel pump as well
 
Provience said:
do you have a way to try it without the loop or at least get the loop to lay flat so that the height still falls in one direction?

pre-fil the fuel bowl in the carb with gasoline, fire it up with a spray can handy, get to higher (2kish) RPM as quick as possible and see if it will push enough to clear itself and start feeding on it's own.

you can still be fancy and buy a new fuel pump as well
Click to expand...
Yeah we laid the loop down flat as well. disconnected it from the carb and let it try to pump into a jug to hopefully prime the line and just got foamy really aerated gas but to my untrained eye didn't look like alot of flow to me. I'm putting a new fuel pump on anyway, and had planned to before this, just because that one is at least 10 years old if not as old as the truck, and sat dry for a long time.
The only reason I'm overthinking it so much is because with the old carb on the truck, I had it start and run (not great, but ran) for like an hour before.
Best I can figure is that the diaphragm was dry as hell for a long time, then got gas soaked and used for a while, then has sat again for months so now it's given up the ghost.
The gas in the tank is non ethanol, and before we tried cranking it with the old carb we pulled vacuum through the fuel lines before the pump to clear any dirty old gas, etc.. Tank appears to be newish, compared to the truck anyway. All fuel lines are new.
So, plan now is try a new fuel pump, reprime everything with vacuum like before, and see what happens.
 
On your throttle, the later years (71-72?) Had a cable. I picked one up for my 70 Jimmy but went DBW instead. I'll look around for it if you still need it you can have it.

Edit: I may have a 73+ one as well too now that I think about it.
 
toomany said:
On your throttle, the later years (71-72?) Had a cable. I picked one up for my 70 Jimmy but went DBW instead. I'll look around for it if you still need it you can have it.

Edit: I may have a 73+ one as well too now that I think about it.
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Yes I know 71-72 had a cable as well. I can buy the cable, the hinge part for the firewall, and the accelerator pedal pad, but not the actual bent piece of steel that makes the assembly complete. 73-87 is supposed to fit well too, and likely far easier to source a whole assembly, which is why I've jumped straight to searching for those. I'd need a bracket for the throttle cable on the engine end as well, which LMC truck sells for like 70 bucks. Finding a 73-87 truck to rob the parts from, or someone who's done a DBW project like you have, seems to me to be a easier and probably cheaper solution.
If you can find the pedal assembly you're speaking of from a 71-72 truck I'm definitely interested. Give me a week or two to get a paycheck from the new job so I can pay you for it though. :beer:
 
This is what I've got if you can use it. From what I remember when I was looking to do it, it's basically a bolt on affair.

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I haven't looked for the 73+ one yet. That one would be in the storage trailer which is currently buried in snow.
 
toomany said:
This is what I've got if you can use it. From what I remember when I was looking to do it, it's basically a bolt on affair.

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I haven't looked for the 73+ one yet. That one would be in the storage trailer which is currently buried in snow.
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That would definitely work. Let me get settled at the new job for a week or so and I'll be in touch. That has everything I'd need from end to end.
 
Not really an update, even though I have a new fuel pump to try maybe next weekend. More of a question that I should maybe put in chit chat for more views.
Where can i buy a set of battery cables that are worth a shit? I bought the Autozone cables back in the day when I got the truck running the first time, because the cables on it were all chewed up with those shitty screw clamp terminals on the end of shitty looking wires. One of those cheap ass cable clamps has broken already.
I'm gonna call the local tractor trailer parts shop and the local Case heavy equipment dealer to see if they can make me a good set with good ends not made of cheap chinese metal that splits after 3 times of loosening them. Any other ideas?
 
_stucky said:
That sounds like a good plan. Maybe get something off a newer chevy. Or make your own.
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I'm still interested in that gas pedal assembly too. I haven't forgotten. Just trying to keep expenses low right now til i get my first paycheck from the new job.
 
Ok, I wasn’t sure if you were going to get the one from the other guy. I don’t have a cable, just the pedal and bracket.
 
Have you replaced all the soft fuel lines ? They like to collapse internally on themselves and now allow fuel from the tank after a decade or two of sitting .
 
I still haven't made any progress or thought any more about the new accelerator pedal situation. I've got the new fuel pump, and just ordered enough shit to rebuild the rear brakes. Hopefully next time I go out there and make a project day I can get it running and drive the bitch home so I can tinker on it here.
 
Still no new updates.. With the on call and all with the new job, and sump pump project under my house, I haven't done shit to the truck except reinflate a rear tire that leaks down a couple weeks ago. I've rented a Uhaul tow dolly though and tomorrow morning early, before I'm officially on call again, I'm going to drag the truck home. Taking the drive shaft out before towing just to be safe, cus I know the tranny leaks from somewhere. It does work in forward and reverse though.
Getting it here will give me the chance to work on it when i'm on call instead of stuck a half hour ride away from it.
I'll report back tomorrow :beer:
 
I feel you on that. My truck has been at my parents house almost 10 years due to all my surgeries starting and my town not liking vehicles with no tag. 30 mins drive isn't that bad normally but when I can only work on stuff for a bit before pain is too bad it sucks to drive 30 mins, work for maybe an hour then drive 30 mins home in pain.
 
Well, I got it home without issue. Got to hang out with dad a while this morning too so that was nice. Now I can start tinkering on it after work and stuff. Also on the way home I stopped at a gas station and put about 15 gallons of non ethanol gas in it so I don't have to keep toting cans around.
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