The re-reawakening

[72afr]

Hey all!

After a sweet 16 years of general sitting around post the initial "reawakening" (with a rough total of maybe 500 miles put on the OD within that time), the time has come to reawake the previously reawoken. Now that schooling and early career a**-busting has passed and the kids are of self-occupying age, I can (hopefully) get my first love back out and maybe correct some of the sins of a younger me with a high schooler budget. The Mrs. agrees, so here we go!

Mostly parked since easily 2006, the last time I took it out and drove was probably 2016. In 2017, the grille suffered an unfortunate incident with my floor jack and I replaced the egg crate in place. July 2018 rolls around and I'm looking to take the little ones for a spin. Crank, crank, crank. Nada. Pushed it back in the garage. @68speedalert diagnosed with gunked fuel because I'm a former idiot who never used stabilizer before the Great Sleep. Either that or the plastic tank we put under the bed is starting to corrode. Based on the gunk coming out of the fuel line at the carb and the residue it leaves, him and his esteemed colleagues didn't believe it to be just gas gone sour. Either way, I've already ordered a new metal tank and sending unit from LMC. I know I'll be in for a fuel pump and carb rebuild, but I'd like to replace the fuel lines as well instead of attempting to clean this crap. I don't recall how exactly we ran the fuel lines in our previous venture, but am pretty sure it was a type of cut existing line and extend to the tank. To those who've relocated the tank to under a shortbed, what lines did you use for this?

On to other matters, there are a few odds and ends that I didn't deem necessary or have the spare funds to repair at the time. Notably tires. At the time (2004 yeesh), the tires I had on there were already used and a bit bigger than I'd like to use now. I'm looking at BFG Radial T/A in 255/60 and 275/60 on my 15" GM Rallys (if anyone has this setup on a 2.5"F/3"R drop, please post!).

One item I never addressed and am seemingly having issues finding how to resolve is the hazard knob on the column. Mine didn't have one upon my purchase and still doesn't. I know my dad's '68 has a knob with spring, but in looking that up, it appears to be for a '73+ setup. Does anyone know what the factory control is?

Also, my truck didn't have a radio or speakers or antenna from the factory, and instead had a radio delete plate. When we redid this thing, we also had that painted to match, although we were intending to put a knobbed radio in at the time because a high schooler can't cruise without tunes and bluetoothed phones were in their infancy. We mounted this, with some under dash tweeters, small bookshelf speakers (box and all) behind the seat, and a short antenna under the dash. It worked, but is kind of a janky system. I'd like to replace the radio with the plate and move to a bluetooth amp and a more correct speaker setup. I don't have an issue with wiring of such, but am looking for any leads for the plate mounting tabs as I don't know if I still have them after multiple moves, etc.

Thanks all!

PS, here it sits as of the last time it was out of the garage, circa 2018