1964 C10 "The Ugly Truck" (3)

(01/17/04) While I've been driving the Ugly Truck as a winter beater the urge to hot rod it finally got the best of me. For a long time I debated about it, then I debated whether to use a Clifford or an Offenhauser manifold. I finally decided on the Offy, since it didn't need an adapter plate to fit an AFB carb. I got it from Summit. They had it in stock and it was delivered from Reno to Utah in about 3 days. Absolutely amazing. First time that's ever happened that quickly.

A friend from the El Camino list had several AFB carbs for sale. I decided to go with the Carter 625 CFM with electric choke. It's very similar to the Edelbrock 1406 and I've had real good luck with those carbs. I wondered (and I still do) if it will be too much carb for the 292, but I ran a 1406 on a 305 in the orange Camaro for a while and it ran fine. It was a vast improvement over the DualJet that had been on it before. If it turns out to be too much, I can always jet it down a bit. I also ordered Headman Hedders for it thru Barnett's in Atlanta, but they had to special order them and they haven't arrived yet (as of 01/17/04.) Another thing I've ordered and haven't received is a throttle pedal and cable from Jeg's. I wanna get rid of the throttle rod, since they have a habit of sticking if the motor twists from its own torque...and that 292 has plenty of torque...even with the little bitty carb that's on it.

When I got the truck, the temperature lever on the heater control was broken off. After driving it for a week or two, the fan lever broke. Great. At least it broke with the switch in the "Hi" position. Otherwise, I'd never get any defrosting and it's been brutally cold here in Happy Valley, Utah. So I started looking around in different places for replacement parts or controls. I finally found a place that had several in trucks that were being parted out (RJs Truck Parts in Colorado.) They sold me this used one which (although a bit dirty) seems to be in fine shape. I'd recommend these folks. I don't have a website for them, but if you want to get in touch with them, drop me an email and I'll send you theirs.

I finally got stir-crazy enough to go out in the cold and work on something. I'd had to replace the disposal in our kitchen (the old one blew a hole right thru the side. I'd never seen that before...and there were bubbles all around it where more holes were ready to blow thru.) So I went out and looked at the dashboard and shifter.

Since I'd had an attack of impulse buying a couple of weeks before I had a kool rat rod type shift knob on hand from Mooneyes. I kinda like this guy. I haven't given him a name yet, but Smiley comes to mind.

And I got a matching brodie or suicide knob for the steering wheel. Yeah, they're illegal. But they were illegal when my dad put one on his 41 Dodge back around 1956, too.

I kept at it long enough to get the heater control removed from the dash. I got looking at the way the cables are connected and they don't seem to match the worn spots on the levers of the replacement part. I don't have a manual, so I posted a question on the Stovebolt Forum. I'm hopin that someone there has some info on it.

Here's another pic of ol' Smiley. I wonder if he's gonna stick around there for a while or if someone is gonna decide to "borrow" him.

Next Page: An organ donor.

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