Project Ole' Red is back in full swing!

Gonna be a long post. Bought this truck several years ago but had to stop and put it on hold due to life issues. We sold our house and moved to the country and bought some land. Figured I'd start back up once my shop was complete, which it now is. Managed to negotiate a 30X60 shop with a lift with the wife...I got a good one (I mean wife) for sure! Plus she likes to work on the truck with me.

Put the 4" lift on back at our old house along with wheels and tires and a few small cosmetic items. Truck is solid inside and out other than it sat outside and the sun burnt through some of the clear coat. I know some don't like it but thinking about just going the patina route to give it some character.

One of the things I posted on here about the most was the Duraspark II swap. Mine is an 86' so wanted to remove the computer, associated wiring, cats and all of the emissions garbage and go to the much simpler system. I went with the Painless harness and it was actually extremely simple. Most of the harness plugged into the existing spots already there in the truck so I literally only had to hookup 3 wires. When everything was hooked up I held my breath and it fired on the first crank, grinning ear to ear all the way! Set the timing and adjusted the carb and it runs like a clock. Can't even describe how much better this truck runs with no vacuum leaks and new exhaust, never ran this good. I kept it simple and just went with the YFA single barrel along with stock intake and exhaust manifolds. I was able to source an intake manifold without the EGR hole so didn't have to plug anything.

Truck is fully on the road and I'm down to a few more things I want to do. Throttle cable is binding a little. Carb is sitting lower without the big EGR spacer so I may end up needing to fabricate a new bracket. Gas guage is also acting up but I bought the new tank and sending unit before we moved so it's just sitting there waiting to go in. Also needs a new sound system put in, will get to that after a while. Main thing I need is AC. Truck was manufactured without it and it ended up getting dealer air which sucks and is not efficient at all. Plus over the years it's a hack job anyway with the way they wired it. I'm in Texas so it's brutal here in the summers. Going to end up biting the bullet and going with the full Vintage Air system so everything is updated. Other than that...drive the hell out of it right?! Maybe I can make it up to one of Gary's Bullnose events sometime if they're still going on. They are in OK correct? I'm only a few miles from the red river south of the OK border.







 

Welcome!  

Glad the DS-II swap is working well for you.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you either block off your old EGR spacer, or source one from a Canadian truck that didn't come w/ EGR.

Much easier than screwing around with modified brackets, and everything fits as it should.  

Thanks for the suggestion. I have a 1/2 spacer on there now but the original EGR spacer was higher so the carb needs to go up a little more. Saw some old threads in here sourcing some taller machined spacers. May go that route instead of the non-egr spacer. Looks cleaner and the non-egr spacers seem to be hard to find.

Cory, "Rembrandt" from Nova Scotia has pictures and part numbers in his posts.

Good deal...thanks again!

It is wonderful that the DS-II swap is working nicely and the truck is running well.  

As for the shows, they are in Skiatook, OK and in September.  Maybe the 14th this year?

Thanks Gary...not gonna lie, was a big relief when it all worked out so easily. Never happens like that.  I'll keep a lookout for the show later this year.

Got my throttle cable issue sorted. The old cable sleeving was cracked up by where it connects to the carb underneath the spring. Was also an issue with the plastic gromet where it connects to the gas pedal. Put in a new cable and no more binding, all is good with the world lol.

Simplest answer is often the best answer!  

Welcome.
Your truck is sweet.
Glad the DS-II worked out perfectly.  I'll be watching this and how you proceed with adding A/C as I've got a no A/C truck and I'm thinking about the same thing.

Thanks bud. Actually going down to my wife's cousins shop today to have him take a look at it and see what the install cost will be. The kit is pricey...for non-A/C Vintage Air wants like $2,100 but it literally has everything to convert it to factory air and it's designed for our trucks. Sure I'm looking at least around 15 hrs for the install. Gonna be a little painful money-wise lol.

https://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/300-I6-Carburetor-spacer-tp70890p148455.html