1978 Pickup, giving her some love...

[94touring]

Before you do anything pull the plugs and see what they look like again, perhaps they fouled for some odd reason.   Reinstall and try to fire it up.  If nothing happens, clean the ground contacts and battery terminals.   Try to fire it up again.   If nothing happens, pull a plug and crank it and see if you have spark.   If there's spark, spray some starter fluid in the carb and see if it fires then.  Report back.   

Edit: there is fuel in the tank right?  Is your driveway sloped hard?   Another thing crossed my mind too.  My old pickup would die half full of fuel.  The pick up line in the tank starts about half way up and had broken.  Put gas in the tank and see if it fires up. 

[Jims5543]

I am afraid to dig into it right now as I am elbow deep in honey do's around here. I have 5 interior doors that need to be mounted that have been sitting for 2 weeks now. What sucks is that I was counting on using it for work tomorrow. Unless there is a miracle tonight tomorrow is going to be a clusterfuck. 

[94touring]

I had disconnected the fuel pump on this auto while I was screwing with things.  Fired up and ran, then ran rough, then died.  Fired up again with some choke and died shortly after.  Then I was like oh right, it needs fuel.  Duh.  I'm willing to bet it's something very simple that's jacking you around.   

[Jims5543]

I had to go to Harbor Frieght for a "Quality Tool" (router) and decided to see of you were right. I put my 1 gallon emergency gas I keep in the back and then pulled 2 plugs to get a look at them. Pig rich....

So I gave the jet 1/2 a turn in, pushed in the choke (no choke) flipped the ignition to on and waited for the fuel pump to prime and she fired right up.

I drove to gas station put in 5 gallons of Rec90 on top of the 1 gallon I already put in and drove it to Harbor Freight and back. She is not 100% happy I am going to turn the jet back out 1 to 2 flats now and see if I can find the sweet spot.

Oh and I had to lock up the brakes as some asshat almost hit me head on driving the wrong way on a 4 lane road trying to beat the cars coming down the road turning into a parking lot. Maximum pucker momen . 

[94touring]

From my experience once I fouled the plugs bad enough, I had to buy new plugs or it just wouldn't run right.  So on this tuning deal, from a cold start it should require some choke to get it to fire up quickly and run happily for a few minutes till it warms up, unless of course it's the dead of summer and then it may not need any choke or very little for a very short period of time.  If it fires up with zero choke and runs happy, it will probably foul or run stupid rich after a few minutes of warm up.  Sounds like you're in the ball park, just needs some fiddling.     

[94touring]

Another thing you can do is fire it up, let it warm up for ten minutes or so.  Now rev the engine from the carb by hand, keep leaning the mixture equal amounts on each carb till it starts to miss when you rev it up.  Then turn it back rich and rev till it smooths out when you rev it.  Take it for a drive and put it under load and see if it still runs smooth.  Richen as necessary if it starts to miss. 

[Mudhen]

If I keep this truck I am going to send it out and have the engine rebuilt. I would love to do it myself but I hoestly do not have the time.

What about bringing it somewhere now just to deal with the current issues?  I've taken mine to a local shop a couple times to bail me out when I've gotten stuck - nothing like having professionals who have seen it all to get things fixed up quickly.

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[jeff10049]

Reading back through sounds like adding fuel fixed this last issue, along with putting the carb. setting back to where it was running good before. Looks like narrowed down to fuel pickup or lack of fuel? Sounds like you are very close to getting it dialed in.

  In my experience dual or more carbs. on anything require regular adjustment to keep in the sweet spot, I have owned plenty of stuff with multiple carbs. They also tend to react to weather and altitude changes more than a single.
I am not knocking dual carb. setups here but I think if it's ease of tune and consistent drivability you're after maybe a fuel system tune up from tank to carb. and a single carb. setup might not be a bad thing for you.

Keep in mind sounds like you had this setup working good, I would not go pulling the carbs. off just yet and creating another headache. first you need to determine if some underling cause like a fuel delivery issue has been giving you grief.
Some dual carb. setups end up working particulary well that might be the case with yours and you keep it. but after ruling out all the other systems if you find yourself having to mess with the carbs. a lot you won't regret going to a single. Some engine cam combs just don't produce the air flow to make dual carbs. work good at idle or start up.

Something to ponder.


Jeff

[Jims5543]

Fyi - I have a single carb setup. A single HS4.

I just put four new plugs in. Going to try to drive it tomorrow.

Bringing a spark plug socket with me to keep an eye on the plugs.

Basically,  I ran out of gas, I put a tad over 6 gallons on the tank. I need to sort out the gauge / sending unit.

[94touring]

I've had bad sending units and just filled up every couple hundred miles.   My old pickup I carried a gas can cause I ran out often lol. 

[jeff10049]

I  got confused somewhere along the line thinking you had dual carbs.



Jeff

[Jims5543]

If I keep this truck I am going to send it out and have the engine rebuilt. I would love to do it myself but I hoestly do not have the time.

What about bringing it somewhere now just to deal with the current issues?  I've taken mine to a local shop a couple times to bail me out when I've gotten stuck - nothing like having professionals who have seen it all to get things fixed up quickly.

82.gif

LOL! I might do that if this keeps up,  I feel like I am very close, although with 10 PSI oil pressure at idle and 20-25 while driving we all know what is coming.

When I pulled the plugs last night they were perfectly tan, like dark tan, not really tan, so I feel like it is tuned slightly rich, but I will check these new plugs after a little driving today.


I have poured over the shop manual and looked all over the engine and I will be damned if I can find the engine temp sending unit, I must be blind.

Any tips on that one?

[94touring]

Look below the tstat housing on the front side of the engine for the temp sender.  I need to dig up your engine bay photo.   

[94touring]

Found it. 

And yeah, you may have just simply ran out of gas. 

[Jims5543]

Eff me... I have to pull the Alternator again.....

At least I am getting to the point where I can pull it in seconds now.

[Jims5543]

I  got confused somewhere along the line thinking you had dual carbs.



Jeff

It is Dans fault, he is always posting drunk on here and gets confused easily.

[94touring]

lol Why do I think you have dual carbs?   :-[ 8.gif  Maybe I'm the only one with dual carbs. 

[94touring]

Ok I went back and looked.  Jim has a single carb and Dan has dual carbs.  I think I even emailed you about dual carbs at one point.  I must be losing my mind. 

[Jims5543]

Broke out a Jai Aliai IPA and pulled a plug a little on the.light tan side. Turned it out 1.5 flats and will see tomorrow. Yes I am trying to DD this thing.

Also "fixed" the temp sensor. Between running out of gas and this I think I am my own worst enemy. I started to pull the alternator (because  a/c)  then decided to get 2nd degree burns on my hand and just try to reach in and get the wire I knocked off like a dumbass pushed back on. I am a little numb so I was able to persevere and get it done.


1 sensor problem fixed.

I understand dropping the tank on a pickup is a PITA. Not sure it looks like it runs across the entire back of the truck. Not sure how big of a job maybe a weekend or afternoon?

[Jims5543]

Also- any tips on getting the valve cover to seal up?

I purchased a new one with a new cork gasket.

Is there a rubber one? Gasket sealer? I feel the cancer growing in my lungs from the fumes. 

[94touring]

Ha.  Minis are fumey.  The gasket just seals the oil, if that's leaking try some silicon.   

Not sure you need to drop the tank just yet unless you've confirmed the pickup lines are an issue or you plan to put in a new sender for the gauge.  Watching you go through all these issues is like de je vu for me.

[MtyMous]

They do make a silicon valve cover gasket. I have 2 in my garage safely set aside.

http://www.the-vintage-racer.com/index.php/manufacturer/12-gasket-innovations?page=2

[Jims5543]

They do make a silicon valve cover gasket. I have 2 in my garage safely set aside.

http://www.the-vintage-racer.com/index.php/manufacturer/12-gasket-innovations?page=2

Ordered one and thank you!!

I know these things leak oil but this is crazy. I am leaving a puddle of oil at the end of the day. I thought putting anew valve cover would help and it did not.

[MtyMous]

Make sure you get the right one for your application. There's 2 mini gaskets. One for the standard valve cover, and one for your design. I've got the same design valve cover.

How you enjoy yours as much as I've enjoyed mine. No need to over torque. No cracking, no shifting around and breaking up into powder when too old.

[Mudhen]

The most important quality for Jim is that it can be reused...although, aren't Mini valves sort of a set-it and forget-it thing?