The project begins... Finally.

[Blue Ox]

Well, about a year ago I was out in MT visiting my great uncle. When I was there I spotted this old 1960 GMC (with a hood from a '65) that we used to take up into the mountains camping when I was a kid. It was just sittin' there out behind the barn... So I asked Uncle Ray if he'd be willing to sell it. Gladly, as it turned out... he darn near just gave it to me. That was oddest negotiation I've ever participated in "...Ray, I'm giving you money for the truck and that's the end of it!"

So the plan was I'd return in a year to get it patched up well enough to drive home to MI.

Fast forward to early July this year. We got it running, but not anywhere near well enough to drive any kind of distance... No big surprise there. But we did get it running well enough to load onto a trailer and haul across the country. Five somewhat grueling days later, it was parked in my driveway

Now the real fun begins... I discovered that the reason the thing was running so rough (and why messing with the ignition and timing did nothing to improve things) was that the intake pushrods for #1 and #5 cylinders (it has the 305 V-6) had popped out from under the rocker arms. #5 is bent (must have stuck a valve), but #1 is straight as an arrow... Weird.

Anyway... The more I dig into it the more I'm thinking the right thing to do is going to be to completely tear the whole truck down and rebuild it.

Let the fun begin (and expect a lot of questions)...