Misc. Questions on new 1963 Pick up. Engine/Trans.

[1Loud63PU]

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum.
I have a 1963 pick up with a 78 drivetrain and suspension, I may be posting in the wrong section of the forum since I have a 78 drivetrain, sorry if I am.

I got this truck about a week ago, I believe it has a 450 v8 engine.
I just ordered some summit racing headers for it. I was thinking of getting 2 flow master mufflers, super 10 race muffler.
Any thoughts?

I will be cleaning the carb next weekend.
It has a Rochester quadrajet-17080230----0290CMN

The truck will start right up with 5 pumps of the gas pedal. It has some back firing during take off at red lights or stop signs.
I am thinking it needs a carb cleaning and rebuild.

Looking at carb kits, found a few on ebay, 1 on carbs unlimited and 1 on the carb doctor.

Best recommendation on where to order one that will come with everything needed for the carb?

It has a light transmission fluid leak too that has to be addressed too.

Pretty much it for now.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[PGSigns]

Post some pictures. Not sure if you meant 350 engine. There are numbers on the front left of the engine on the deck surface that can further refine your engine and this may make it easier to find a carb kit. Carb may be really lean as it should not take 5 pumps to get it to fire up. One should do it. Many things other than the carb can cause the issues you have including bad timing, bad distributor cap, burnt valves, and the list goes on. So take a good look at everything to get a good idea of the overall condition of your new ride. I have 40 series flow masters on my 66 and they sound like crap unless you run a cross over and that takes the bark out of them. I am getting ready to go to 2 into one with 2 1/2" pipe to the union and 3" out through a 50 series flow master. Saw this setup on an engine on my buddies dyno and it made good power and sound.
Jimmy

[sirJim]

Take a look at this! Print it take it with you while working on the quad.

http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/QJetTuningPaper.doc

Carbs unlimited were great with me.

Originally Posted by 1Loud63PU

Hi everyone, I am new to the forum.
I have a 1963 pick up with a 78 drivetrain and suspension, I may be posting in the wrong section of the forum since I have a 78 drivetrain, sorry if I am.

I got this truck about a week ago, I believe it has a 450 v8 engine.
I just ordered some summit racing headers for it. I was thinking of getting 2 flow master mufflers, super 10 race muffler.
Any thoughts?

I will be cleaning the carb next weekend.
It has a Rochester quadrajet-17080230----0290CMN

The truck will start right up with 5 pumps of the gas pedal. It has some back firing during take off at red lights or stop signs.
I am thinking it needs a carb cleaning and rebuild.

Looking at carb kits, found a few on ebay, 1 on carbs unlimited and 1 on the carb doctor.

Best recommendation on where to order one that will come with everything needed for the carb?

It has a light transmission fluid leak too that has to be addressed too.

Pretty much it for now.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[1Loud63PU]

Originally Posted by PGSigns

Post some pictures. Not sure if you meant 350 engine. There are numbers on the front left of the engine on the deck surface that can further refine your engine and this may make it easier to find a carb kit. Carb may be really lean as it should not take 5 pumps to get it to fire up. One should do it. Many things other than the carb can cause the issues you have including bad timing, bad distributor cap, burnt valves, and the list goes on. So take a good look at everything to get a good idea of the overall condition of your new ride. I have 40 series flow masters on my 66 and they sound like crap unless you run a cross over and that takes the bark out of them. I am getting ready to go to 2 into one with 2 1/2" pipe to the union and 3" out through a 50 series flow master. Saw this setup on an engine on my buddies dyno and it made good power and sound.
Jimmy

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I meant 350.
I will post some pictures tomorrow.
Ok it will start with 2 pumps of the gas pedal.
I haven't tried it with 1 pump.
I did get the summit racing 3" headers on there.
They are really loud but sound pretty great!

I am thinking of buying a muffler valve that will go from the exhaust pipe and dump out half way through the truck then have the other side of the valve go to a quiet exhaust. Straight pipe when I want the noise, and silent when cruising.
Currently battling the radio cutting off when the volume is up, bought a new stereo today to see if it will help.

Originally Posted by sirJim

Take a look at this! Print it take it with you while working on the quad.

http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/QJetTuningPaper.doc

Carbs unlimited were great with me.

Wow very informative! Thank you.

Looks like I have a 1980 Cadillac carb.

Tuning the jets seems confusing. I will have to read it over a few times.
I am used to doing jets on Dirtbike's or ATVs, but those are single main jets.
I will probably go with carbs unlimited then.
Just need to see what main jet to get.
Running a k&n filter and sometimes might be straight pipe exhaust or going through a muffler. That might be an issue.
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[1Loud63PU]

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[1Loud63PU]

Here are a few pics. Metallic orange, black stripes from the hood to the tail gate, leather tonneau bed cover, wood floor bed. Black seats with the interior painted the same color as the truck.
It had sat for about 5 years when I got it. So it had a ton of dirt on it.
I washed a few times then went over it with a clay bar and polished it with a DA buffer.
I would really like to sand and buff it sometime soon.
The last pic is the night I polished it, I think.
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[Clyde65]

Welcome! Looks like a pretty decent truck!

[1Loud63PU]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

Welcome! Looks like a pretty decent truck!

Thank you!

New kenwood radio fixed the radio shutting off issue. Guess the pioneer one I had gotten was bad.
Waiting on the JBL amp to get here.
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[raidmagic]

I like that color.

[1Loud63PU]

Hi all, back again.
I figured out little things wrong with the truck and fixed them.
First off, the vacuum line to the trans was disconnected and that’s why it wouldn’t shift.
Second, an open port on the back of the carb causing an air leak which would make it backfire when taking off from idle, fixed that by just plugging the port.

It ran good for the past week, but yesterday it started backfiring like crazy.

Only thing I did, was on Friday night, I changed the accessory belts and took the air filter off to clean it at a friends house.
Truck drove home fine. The next day(yesterday) it starts back firing like crazy.
It will barely idle, and when I take off, it just backfires and stumbles and shuts off most of the time.

I pumped 91 octane Friday and thought that was the issue, so I put 87 octane and the issue still persists.
Got it sanded and buffed and ready to cruise and now this.

Any ideas?

All I can think of is I knocked something loose when I took the air filter off or the accessory belts are on too tight, but it drove home fine the night I did that.

Pictur s of it after the cut and buff.

[Palf70Step]

Since it caused the issue before, look around for some hose or something that might be causing a vacuum leak again.

Check fuel filter at carb or inline (if it has one).

[1Loud63PU]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

The thing is, the backfire before was very minor and would only do it when I took off from a stop, then it would run fine. That was happening because of the trans vacuum line being disconnected and a port by the distributor being open. After those 2 leaks were fixed it ran great for a week.

Now though, it backfires all the time at any throttle range when driving.
I noticed when in park or neutral, the truck will rev up fine and not backfire. Only under load when driving does it backfire.



I just checked all hoses, replaced a few and blew compressed air through the rest, all hoses are good now.
Also replaced fuel filter and carb gasket where the plastic seperaters sit.(plastic pieces between the air filter and carb)

Does the air filter use a huge o ring when it sits on those plastic pieces?

I drove it after I did all this, drove okay for about 10 seconds then kept shutting off after that. And now I have a leak from the fuel filter on the carb.

Here is how the carb looks and what ports I have plugged off.

[1Loud63PU]

Not sure what goes into these ports, and the back port by the distributor is also plugged.
The front blue part, no idea what goes there, comes from the engine and has 2 ports on that piece.

Note: none of these ports had any hoses when I got the truck.

[AcampoDave]

Have you checked the timing? By that I mean the initial timing, the centrifugal adavace, and the vacum adavance. In my opinion, knowing that the distributor is timed and functional is always the first step. If you're unsure about how to verify all of the above, take some time and do a little reading. The internet contains volumes of information on sbc timing and distributor troubleshooting. This site also has a sub-forum dedicated strictly to engine and drivetrain. Use the "forum jump box" on the main page. Also the forum search feature can keep you busy reading for hours. Being confident in the workings of a distributor will pay many dividends. You know what they say, " Timing is everything."

[Captainfab]

The vacuum port back under the distributor is normally where the vacuum line for the trans modulator is connected.

On the front drivers side of the carb there is a piece of the carb base broken and missing right under the blue vacuum cap.

Do you have a vacuum line from the carb to the vacuum advance on the distributor?

[1Loud63PU]

Thanks for the reply AcampoDave and Captainfab.

AcampoDave, I will try to check timing tomorrow. Going to buy a timing gun and vacuum gauge. I have been reading and watching videos, hopefully I can figure out the timing.
My front door neighbor thinks the timing is good because it won’t backfire during idle.

Caprainfab, thanks for the clarification on that port.
The trans modulator line goes to a “T” fitting with another line that I believe is the secondary choke diaphragm? Then the 1 line goes to the back of the carb.
I will separate the line tomorrow and run the trans modulator alone to the intake manifold.

Yes, I do have a vacuum line from distributor to the carb, the line goes to a vacuum port on the front of the carb.
Can’t find a diagram online to show what the rest of the ports are.

I think the broken piece of the carb is where someone popped the factory cap off to adjust the idler screw, or not.

Does it matter if this blue valve isn’t connected to anything?

[1Loud63PU]

Double post

[Rusty63]

still running points? could be condenser or coil breaking down under load?

[WorkinLonghorn]

A cheap little vacuum gauge will tell you a lot. Also, I don't see the hose for the PVC. On mine I think it is coming out from under the filter area. Also, you need to test to see if the vacuum advance diaphragm has broken by sucking on the line to the distrib. And like Rusty63 says, you need to check and set or just replace points and condenser. Check the coil with an ohm meter. -BA

[AcampoDave]

This one helped me a lot. Even tho' it's written by a Pontiac guy. It's not uncommon to find plenty of folks in the car hobby who just don't get this, but understanding it makes even small motors feels peppy and fun to drive. http://www.angelfire.com/on/geebjen/timing.txt

[Rusty63]

your set up sounds exactly like mine,my engine in mine is a 78-350,still has original 3 speed manual,points dist.tiny 2bbl carb,but not near as nice as your body... :^)

[shp4man]

'78 was kind of a rough year because emissions regs stole a lot of horsepower. Mostly that involved no spark advance when cold (your blue valve) and a modified timing curve. Also, an EGR valve that recycles exhaust gas into the intake manifold. Plus some internal engine changes. Maybe an AIR pump.
What you want to do is set it up like a late '60's, pre-smog motor as best you can.

[1Loud63PU]

Thanks for the replies and help everyone.

Originally Posted by Rusty63

still running points? could be condenser or coil breaking down under load?

I am going to check these and possibly replace them.
From what I have read, I just pop the cap and rotor off and replace the points and condenser right? Then turn the engine over till the point lever is furthest away and set the gap there?
No need to turn cyl1 to TDC?
And gap the points to .019”?

Originally Posted by WorkinLonghorn

A cheap little vacuum gauge will tell you a lot. Also, I don't see the hose for the PVC. On mine I think it is coming out from under the filter area. Also, you need to test to see if the vacuum advance diaphragm has broken by sucking on the line to the distrib. And like Rusty63 says, you need to check and set or just replace points and condenser. Check the coil with an ohm meter. -BA

One valve cover has a hose that goes to the bottom of the air filter. The other valve cover has a pcv valve but it never had a hose, so I just put one of those little vent filters on it, should I run a hose from the pcv valve to a vacuum port on the carb?
I will check to see if the advance diaphragm is in working order too.

Originally Posted by AcampoDave

This one helped me a lot. Even tho' it's written by a Pontiac guy. It's not uncommon to find plenty of folks in the car hobby who just don't get this, but understanding it makes even small motors feels peppy and fun to drive. http://www.angelfire.com/on/geebjen/timing.txt

Thanks a lot for this! A lot of reading, gives me more of an understanding for all of this.
I’m thinking of setting the timing to 12° and putting new plugs gapped at .045” with new plug wires.

Originally Posted by Rusty63

your set up sounds exactly like mine,my engine in mine is a 78-350,still has original 3 speed manual,points dist.tiny 2bbl carb,but not near as nice as your body... :^)

Thank you. Hope yours runs better than mine! Lol.

[1Loud63PU]

Originally Posted by shp4man

'78 was kind of a rough year because emissions regs stole a lot of horsepower. Mostly that involved no spark advance when cold (your blue valve) and a modified timing curve. Also, an EGR valve that recycles exhaust gas into the intake manifold. Plus some internal engine changes. Maybe an AIR pump.
What you want to do is set it up like a late '60's, pre-smog motor as best you can.

Thanks for the reply.
My neighbor said something similar about the carb and it being set up for emissions because of the newer year.
Every vacuum on the carb is blocked off.
The only things pulling vacuum is the advance diaphragm, secondary choke diaphragm(I think that’s what it is, it’s on the back of the carb) and the transmission.
5 ports plugged off in total.

[nail pounder]

Originally Posted by 1Loud63PU

Thanks for the reply AcampoDave and Captainfab.

AcampoDave, I will try to check timing tomorrow. Going to buy a timing gun and vacuum gauge. I have been reading and watching videos, hopefully I can figure out the timing.
My front door neighbor thinks the timing is good because it won’t backfire during idle.

Caprainfab, thanks for the clarification on that port.
The trans modulator line goes to a “T” fitting with another line that I believe is the secondary choke diaphragm? Then the 1 line goes to the back of the carb.
I will separate the line tomorrow and run the trans modulator alone to the intake manifold.

Yes, I do have a vacuum line from distributor to the carb, the line goes to a vacuum port on the front of the carb.
Can’t find a diagram online to show what the rest of the ports are.

I think the broken piece of the carb is where someone popped the factory cap off to adjust the idler screw, or not.

Does it matter if this blue valve isn’t connected to anything?

I agree that timing sounds like the issue. What is that blue port, I can't tell from the pic but I would plug it. Vacuum leaks can make a good motor run like crap. If you can get the truck to idle, I would spray starter fluid on any possible vacuum leaks and see if your rpm increases.