Hey, free stuff...

[Chevystep]

I've had my 66 longstep for about 33 years now, second owner from my uncle-in-law, bought it with 55K on the odo, has 86 or so now. Came with a 250 I6, 3 on the tree and thrift air, ran like a top. So a friend back in the late 80's has an Impala he's junking with a 283 and asks if I want it, sure, it's free! Rebuild it and slap it in. Then this same friend's dad has a 3/4T early 80's Chevy diesel with this overdrive 4 spd in it that he hates, because he needs to tow cattle trailers and such and this thing takes 3000 rpm just to get rolling and he never uses the overdrive. Now the deal is if I can find a granny 4 spd and put it in, his tranny is free! $50 junkyard tranny and two working weekends later and I've got this cool New Process (Chrysler A-883) overdrive tranny bolted up through a hole in my low hump and highway speeds are suddenly comfortable. Fast forward to the swap meet guy who sells me a 283 4bbl manifold with a Rochester 4G on it for $75, so not free but close. Now the last two years of restoration is nearly over, and lo and behold, the Rochester is a pill to tune, idles lovely but dies on throttle bump-so a rebuild is in it's near future and the 4 bbl manifold now has a little leak of coolant at the second bolt back from the pass side front like coolant is wicking up the bolt threads.....The restoration is DONE, but if I hadn't accepted all the "free" stuff, I'd be driving my old truck every day with its 250 and 3 on the tree..

Sure, it sounds great when you get this stuff, but these upgrades are keeping me from toodling around today! Now where did I put that Mikes Carburetors address for rebuild kits........Here comes another 2-3 weeks of waiting, at least I have 3 yards of light fawn vinyl coming in from SMS, so the seat can get recovered in the meantime!

I know.....