There is always that return trip then! Come back through St. Luis and take 44 down to Joplin, hit 69 North just a tad to here, jump back down to 44 and hook up with 40. You will be running the southern route to how you went out. Fresh scenery. AND, I can finally meet you and give you a ride in the G you helped build! Hopefully the rain will have finally moved on! It was nice and sunny/hot/humid here today. MUCH more like it is supposed to be this time of year! Enjoy your trip, stay safe, and hopefully you will have one heck of a father's day!
Road Trip NOT Fun THANK YOU for the kind invite Paul ! . I really wish I could but it doesn't seem possible this time out . In Kansas I had to buy my Brother FOUR new tires due to blow outs , , then more hassles as we worked our way to Carbondale , Il. where Mom was born , then up to Silver Spring Maryland , now I'm in Waldoboro , Maine , was pretty lucky to arrive alive I think ~ . Between the heavy rains and my Brother's terrible risk evaluation that gets far worse when he's tired and doesn't want to stop...(13 hours straight over Sunday/Monday) , I'm pretty sure I'll bail out and hop a flight home if I can just escape this alive . Burying the family dead always seems to send folks off , WAY off . Anyways , it's very pretty here , more so whenever the rain stops .
I guess I missed this post, Nate~ One way or the other, you're making memories, huh? Some road trips are better than others!
It's the final countdown! So I finally have all these other things that just had to be done, DONE! Tomorrow I can start back to getting the fluids changed and the garage opening ready to let my truck run free! Fluids won't be a problem. One thing I didn't catch was on the new u-joint I installed that connected the old drive shaft to the new rear end. The new u-joint has a zerk, of course. The only problem is, I can't get the gun on the end of it. I doubt there are any "slim line" grease gun ends that would slip in this spot, so I guess I'm going to have to take the u-bolts out So I can fill the joint with grease. Another thing I noticed tonight was that at higher RPMs, the 228 seems to be a bit rough. Need to work on that as well. Bill was telling me about his cruising speed in his truck, so I thought with the day being close to roll my own, I'd pretend I was rolling down the highway. It didn't sound too smooth.
Zig, could you turn the u-joint around and have more room to grease it? If you lack just a tiny bit, sometimes you can grind a little off your grease gun tip. I had to "customize " one of mine. I'm turning a little green, Zig...
Now you suggest this? That is a great idea, and if I had been engaged in thought when I was putting this in, everything would be perfect. The only problem is, to turn this around now, I would need to press the joint out, turn it around, and press it back in. I just don't think I like that idea~ Instead, I just unbolted the straps, popped it out of it's cradle and greased it holding the caps firmly. When I felt them wanting to push back, I quit applying. Check that off the list of things to do.
Foreplay? Every little thing is now done. All I need to do is cut the board off that fills the space from the door bottom where the concrete will eventually go and turn the two boards into one long one. (The one side was made operable because that is the side my boat is on. Now the whole thing needs to be operable so I can drive in or out at will.) Both the rear and tranny fluid I drained looked really good with hardly any "swarf". It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to fill the rear end back up! Thank God I had plenty of other things to do while it took its time s-l-o-w-l-y draining through that narrow tube. I just went with 4 pints as that was more than I got out. Someday I will buy another bottle and top it off. Oh! It has a gasket! But the whole plate popped of perfectly! (hanging by the top bolt) The gasket looked really good, so I just cleaned everything up and screwed it back down. We'll see how that ends up working... (I'm thinking it will be fine.) I reworked the wiring to the fuel gauge wahile I was piddling around. I also found out that the front cab mounts were never tightened down~ I left them loose so I could install all the front sheet metal. Oddly, the fuel gauge now reads about a quarter of a tank. (Every time I turn the key on... This could be a good sign. I'll mark where the needle is when on tomorrow, then go get some more gas (cause I know I'll need it anyway) and see if the needle moved up or not. Oh, BTW, I DROVE MY TRUCK TODAY!!! Backwards~ about 2 feet. I couldn't believe how it spun the tires just putting it in reverse and *easing* it back! (My garage floor is currently gravel, misc. hardware and wood chips.) Finally, I took my timing light and got the timing taken care of. It was just a tad off of where it was supposed to be. Once that was done, I sat behind the wheel and gave it steadily more gas. Like running it up through the gears RPM kind of thing. The higher the RPM, the more the missing. This just won't do~ I am not taking it out on the street until I can have steady firing. When I shut it down, I got out and checked the fuel filter up by the carb. Hardly a drop in it. It's kind of hard to run smooth if it's being starved of fuel. WT??? Oh well, tomorrow is another day and this WILL get worked out!
grrrrrrrrrrrrr..... Well, we went exploring today, so I didn't have much time with my truck. I did put in 4 gallons of gas to check the gauge, and ~ well, it will need it anyway. The gauge consistently went up a tad from where it had gone before! Then one time it pegged to full~ Who the hell knows~ I'll just make sure to stop by a pump on a regular basis while the gauge figures out what the heck it wants to do. So anyway, I fired it up. Checked the timing again. It looks just like the picture in the manual where the ball is advanced beyond the pointer. (as per 228) Fiddled with the jet on the carb one way then the other. It will start fine, idle even better, allow for a slight rev or two, but when I start applying the steady increase in RPMs, it starts supplying me with more and more misses. (No, not beautiful women, but the spit and sputtering sound) Hey, it's a manly truck~ I thought I should clarify. I thought I should try doing this from the outside, so I could keep an eye on the fuel filter just before the carby. There was a very minimal flow of gas punctuated with bigger splashes. For the most part, just a trickle. I guess it doesn't take much to get these things to run, but this just doesn't seem right to me. What say you? Thanks! I am not taking this to the street until it can keep it together and not sound like it does. That would just not be cool~
Not getting enough gas Paul. Pull the line at the input to the fuel pump. Assuming that the truck is parked fairly level, Nate says (and I agree) that gas should flow from the line at a steady pace. If not, the line is clogged and/or there is crap in the tank. If it flows, put the supply line back on and see this: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/gmc/5559mm/5559mm451.html
Thanks, Bill! New fuel pump on it's way. Should be in tomorrow from oh-really. Just stopped by and talked to my dad a while back. He remembered a conversation I had with him about the fuel pump that I put in (this one) way back in the beginning. The original had a cracked glass bowl, so I got this one. The thing I mentioned was that the arm on the new pump was a bit shorter than the original pump. Since this problem has been a problem ever since, it makes sense that short arming it wasn't pushing the amount of gas needed, and why it had a hard time keeping the filter by the carburetor at least half full. BTW, what is a normal amount of gas to be in one of these filters? (just forward of the carburetor, and below the level of the bowl) I wouldn't assume they stay completely full, but surely to only have a drop or two in it wouldn't be correct. Correct?
Mine typically ran about 1/2 full. Never all the way full. My fuel pump quit working just after buying my truck. Replaced it with a new NAPA dual diaphragm pump as I still had vacuum wipers then. Took the old pump apart and found 2 problems. 1. Pump chamber was about half full of brown powder crud from the gas tank. 2. Input check valve had popped out of the casting. I cleaned up the pump and reinstalled the valve. Put it on the shelf as a spare. I'll bet Ken's life that it'll work fine.
Fuel Pump ' Fun ' Progress , even if slow . A few things here Paul ; # 1 is : the pump's arm must in every case , match the original pump's shape , length and so on *perfectly* when viewed across the flange . The rest of the pump can look wildly different but if that operating arm it's the same shape / bend it'll either not work properly or wear out and break before too long . I can't tell you the number of times I have had to replace a wrong pump that was " perfectly good ! I just replaced it ! " but had failed and the only difference was the arm was 1/4" different . The other thing is checking the fuel flow to the inlet side of the pump ~ it's critical for the fuel to gush out of the end of the open inlet pipe in a solid stream as big around as the inner diameter of the pipe . Any bubbles or if the fuel makes a 90? bend down wards as soon as it burbles out the inlet pipe , you're going to have lean running troubles . It's also a simple thing to use a 'T' fitting between the fuel pump and carby , 2# is barely enough to keep it running at idle , what you want & needs is 4# . The clear glass filter or sediment bowl needn't be full or even show any fuel as long as the carby end of the fuel pipe/hose will shoot a SOLID STREAM of fuel when you disconnect it and crank the starter . FIRE WARNING ! when you're doing fuel pressure and volume tests , BE DILIGENT ! .
O.b.t.w. : THANK YOU for allowing me to usurp this thread . I am home again , in the end i had to bail out and blow $800 on a last minute air plane ticket , walk a mile in the rain and on and on.... Now , back to old trucks ! . I saw plenty as I traveled America .
Glad you made it back home quickly!!! I wish we lived closer! Instead of fixing the fuel gauge maybe you could tell me what the %#@$%^%$$$* I need to do to get my 228 to like the idea of high RPMS!!!! Put a new fuel pump on, (only $40?) and it does a great job of keeping fuel supplied now, even under advancing to higher RPMS. But then the same old #@$%!!!! Misses work their way in more and more the higher I go until it almost falls flat on its face. Ideas??? Thanks!
Paul: Does the miss start occurring at about the same engine speed in neutral as it does under load while driving? If yes, it is more likely a spark problem. Ignition system demands stay pretty consistent at any given RPM, load or no load, with the exception of the vacuum advance. If no, it is more likely a fuel problem. Fuel system demands at any engine speed off of idle are much heavier under load than with no load. I'd pull the spark plugs, keeping them in order by cylinder. Take close look at each one, looking for one that is different than the others. Put them back in and leave the wire off of that one. Does the engine run any worse than before? If not, you've found the bad cylinder. If the miss is noticeable at no load (in neutral), pull #1 spark plug wire while running. Did the miss get worse? If it got better, you've probably got two plug wires crossed. If it didn't change, you've found the bad cylinder. If it got worse, put that wire back on and do the same with #2, #3, etc. Do yourself a favor and use plastic pliers or you may have a experience. You could also try the picture below for "reading" your plugs. Problem is that it usually takes quite a few miles on a set of plugs before the bad ones get as bad as shown in the picture.
Thanks, Bill! I'll go try that. I love the thing about plastic pliers! Been there, done that! As far as under load~ That won't be known until this problem goes away in neutral. Then I'll feel safe taking it to the streets.
It is good that the problem is occurring in neutral. Makes troubleshooting easier. Another thought, If you have access to a fuel pressure gauge try plumbing it into the system right at the input to the carb. Mine is a cheapy Harbor Freight manifold vacuum/fuel pressure gauge.
For a $150 dollar deposit, Autozone has one I can rent~ What kind of pressure should I be looking for?
Here is what I use, on sale today for $12.99 http://www.harborfreight.com/fuel-pump-and-vacuum-tester-93547.html Book calls for 4 to 5.5 PSI at 1800 RPM.
that looks oddly familiar~ I need to go look through all the goodies my dad gave me. BTW, just for fun I thought I'd try a bit more aggressive revving of the engine 2 outa three times it farted through the carburetor. (if that helps any...)
