Didn't make any progress on the truck this weekend, still waiting on the extra column to show up. I did sort through a giant bin of miscellaneous parts my uncle gave me when I got the truck though. Found some goodies. More fuses for the truck than I will ever need, an extra water pump, extra windshield wiper motor and assorted wiper parts, extra brake hardware, and a mess of points and condensers. The most relevant part I found was NOS steering column bearing. I should've went through this box years ago.
I ordered a steering column bearing from Mac's and was extremely disappointed. The "new" bearing from Mac's had way more play in it than the worn out original bearing! What a waste. I had decided to just keep using the old bearing but now I'll be putting this in the column.
Not truck related but I did get some welding done this weekend on my buddy's bike. We're working on his '74 Harley XS chopper. He had me weld up the seat/rear fender support and a bracket for a fake oil can that will house his electronics. It was good to dust off the welding skills and start getting them ready for when I turn the torch on the '63
Sorry for the late reply but in regards to the seal at the end of your steering column, 64-68 Mustang uses the same seal and its reproduced so shouldn't be hard to find. Some early 60's Galaxies used this seal too. Been enjoying your progress on your truck, hopefully I'll get some posts in on my 63. Keep up the great thread!
Thanks for the tip nightmare! I did some googling and found a place that reproduces them.
My steering column came in today. The exterior rubber piece I was missing (which has been ordered) and there is an interior rubber piece which I am missing. I’ll do some googling on that (maybe the mustang place has them?). Anyone have a part # for it?
Got the column all put together. No wiggle, play, and the gap between the shift collar and steering wheel is gone
Unfortunately I may have to take part of it apart again because when I put the left turn signal on I blow the signal fuse. I think I may have pinched a wire in the column. Also my 1 amp radio fuse is blowing, not that I have a radio, but it bothers me.
Got some free time I wasn’t planning on. Found a pinched wire in the steering collar that was grounding out my front left turn signal. It’s all fixed and working great now.
Truck started running a tad rough again. Sort of an erratic pop in the exhaust. Popped the valve cover and found that some of the rocker nuts had loosened up a little bit. I’m going to put some extra nuts I have in the parts bin in and hopefully that’ll sort it out.
ThinLizzy13 wrote:Thanks for the tip nightmare! I did some googling and found a place that reproduces them.
My steering column came in today. The exterior rubber piece I was missing (which has been ordered) and there is an interior rubber piece which I am missing. I’ll do some googling on that (maybe the mustang place has them?). Anyone have a part # for it?
Dang.... We gutted the column in the '62 and pitched everything. It was all pretty tight too. Could've been yours for the price of UPS. Wish I could have discovered this place sooner...
Well I'm getting pieces in place to convert my engine over to a carter YF and either DSII or just a conventional points dizzy. The rebuilt autolite I put on about 2.5 years ago is already starting to get leakage out of the accelerator shaft. I know that's a common problem but I thought I would've gotten more time out of it. I have a carter I'm rebuilding, but the dizzy is a different issue. I found a new '64 223 oil pump in my extra parts bin which would be easier for a dizzy swap than machining up a new oil pump drive shaft.
Is it possible to drop the oil pan with the engine in the truck?
Got some road time in the old truck this week, about 70 miles. Did a couple dump runs, grocery runs, and put some fresh gas in (tank was almost 2 years old ) Turns out I had the timing wayyyyy too advanced once I got out and under load, it was pinging like a tin roof in a rain storm.
Once I retuned it and drove some more it’s running right but my plugs are reddish. I read that this can be from fuel/oil additives. I have marvel mystery oil in my oil right now. Can this or fuel additives from the gas station cause the reddish plugs? Other than the red the plugs look ok. A little ashiness in plugs 3 and 4. Those two plugs have rockers that don’t stay adjusted well. I was attributing it to that and the fact that I have half a tank Of Old crap gas lol.
I got all the pieces now for the swap. Made some time this weekend and got the old dizzy out, removed the drive gears from both dizzys, dropped the oil pan (came off no problem with engine in truck), and removed the oil pump. Next up I have to ream the old dizzy gear out to 17/32. I only had a 1/2 inch bit so I gotta run into town tm and pick one up. After that it should be straightforward, just put everything back together.
Before I pulled everything apart I rebuilt the Carter YF and put it on. Just wanted to see how it ran at idle. Fired the truck up and it ran so much smoother. With the Autolite I had a persistant erratic pop I could never seem to get rid of at idle. I always thought it was a rocker out of adjustment or maybe a vacuum leak. The pop was gone with the Carter.
Biggest hurdle I have now is the linkage to the carter. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to rig up the gas pedal to it because the throttle on the carter travels differently than on the autolite. I do have another autolite that is not load-o-matic that I may use until I can figure out the linkage issue.
Got the DSII all wired in and installed this evening. Wow. What a difference. Just idling and driving around the yard. So much smoother. Can’t wait to take this thing down the road once I sort out the throttle linkage
Scratching my head trying to come up with a temporary throttle linkage until I can get a 65+ pedal assembly together. Had a couple beers while cleaning out some boxes when I came across an old speedometer cable. Then my inner redneck came out
Picked up a tiny air filter to hold me over. Seems to work fine. Also rigged up the choke assembly. Next up is to fab up a better return spring assembly
Got a decent return spring setup rigged in. I was having an issue with it high idling after I revved it. Realized that I still had the autolite carb gaskets in. Swapped in some 300 style carb gaskets I had and that solved that issue. Took it down the road a few times to dial in my "throttle linkage," and I have a stutter when accelerating. I'm assuming my accelerator pump is out of adjustment, so that's next on the list. I will say this DSII is awesome. Truck has wayyy more oompf than it did before.
Also the kid demanded that she play in the truck today. Guess I'll have to put in some seat belts at some point here
Haven't figured out a better way to rig up the carter yet, my makeshift cable was good for yard driving but that's about it. I have an extra autolite that doesn't have a SCV, but the throttle shaft linkage is in a different spot than the stock autolite with a SCV. So I cut it and welded it to match as close as I could to the original carb. Now I can use the original throttle linkage and at least drive the truck
Unfortunately the carb's throttle shafts are a tad worn. I get a little bit of popping at idle. I'm going to order some throttle shaft bushings and give that a shot at some point.
I tuned the auotlite in as best I could and took the truck out for a real drive today. Ran pretty dang good at speed despite the throttle shafts.
It dawned on me while I was out cruising that this was the first real drive I've taken the truck on since last summer!
Since I've owned it I've practically run the thing ragged and drove it every chance I could get! I better get my act together and pay more attention to it or next thing I know it'll be out back with a tree through it and i'll have become the "I'm gunna rebuild it someday" guy!
Seems I spoke too soon. I have an off idle stumble that I can't seem to pin down. I thought maybe it was the carb, but I have it both with the Autolite 1100 and the Carter YF. From a stop when I give it gas it stumbles, bucks, and will miss a bit. At speed (30-45) with low throttle it's fine. Increase the throttle at lower RPMs and it'll stutter again. The engine will completely die if I floor it. Doesn't matter if the engine is hot or cold.
Both carbs have their accelerator pumps tuned in correctly. Timing is set correctly. Plugs are gapped properly and all the sparkplug wires are snug. Checked the vac advance and it's working as it should. I looked for vacuum leaks and the only one I found was the throttle shaft leak that I already knew about on the autolite. No leaks on the Carter.
I swapped out the DSII module with an extra and still had the same issue. Swapped in an extra coil as well to no avail.
Only thing I can think of trying that I haven't yet tried is getting a coil doesn't require a resistor. When I converted to DSII I overlooked upgrading the points style coil. Not sure if that could be causing the issue.
I once put a yellow accel coil on my 300 and it never did run right or start well, finally took it to a shop.... the tech replaced the Accel with the an old fashion black one problem solved...has run excellent since then......Good luck with it...
___________________________________ "DW JONES TRUCKING" WHISKEY HAULED,LIES TOLD AND WIDOWS WOO'ED...... "By appointment only"
Thanks for the input Mr. Jones. I hate dealing with coils. I’ve had them test good and be totally shot lol.
I wired the resistor wire back in and gapped the plugs down to .040. Runs a bit better. Plugs were black and sooty. Spark looks to be orange. The coil was a cheapo from rockauto from 4 years ago. Gunna pick up a new one tm and see if that makes a difference.
) Turns out I had the timing wayyyyy too advanced once I got out and under load, it was pinging like a tin roof in a rain storm. 
