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Truck runs ok and drives well, but has a lot wrong with it. The guy I bought it from got the head ground and put in all new gaskets. He had reciepts for the work. Anyway, the engine is running rich and idling super high. It also pings a little and the oil light rarely goes off. Oil is full. Temp gauge doesnt work either.
Adjusted carb the best I could to smooth it out. Throttle adjust screw does nothing to bring down the idle, but if I pull the cable a little, it idles down to normal. Maybe cable needs lube or is caught on something? Vacuum lines all plugged with bolts and not connected. I am going to reconnect vacuum lines and see if that does anything. My guess it's that way because the pump doesn't work or something. I hear a rushing sound near the carb but can't pinpoint it. Thinking I have an air leak because the carb seems to be held on by only one bolt and may not be original to this truck. Looks exactly like the one from my 1980 Mikado though, which is the same series. Just wondering about it, because not all the mounting holes match up.
Any suggestions on any of the issues? Want to chase down the temp gauge problem and figure out the oil light before I mess something up by driving it. The vacuum lines and carb stuff need to be addressed so I can smog it.
Also, I noticed the donut gasket from the headers 4-1 to exhaust is leaking significantly. Wondering how much the back pressure effects how it runs.
thanks

air cleaner held on by one of the two bolts. other one doesn't match up to anything. accidentally wrote carb. it sucks to chase down the vacuum lines when you can't see under there. gonna try removing the air cleaner so I can actually get something done

sounds to me like you do have a carb issue. as for the cable it sounds like it wasn't put back together right when they did the head gasket and cable isn't going back to normal position i.e. stretched out too far. definately try to put the vaccuum lines in the proper position and that should help the idle. as for the exhaust donut all that will do is annoy you it shouldn't change the idle that much. is it the air cleaner or the carb that is held on by one bolt i is confused now, if its the carb and none of the other bolts line up then its either on wrong or backwards or its totally the wrong one. if it is i have one for sale and that would make it run bad also, if its the air cleaner that only held on by onwe bolt it shouldn't make that much difference it will just get dirty air and run rougher.

hope this helps

_________________
zyanug
75 luv stepside... Work in progress
76 fleetside 350hp 1968 327cu
"No replacement for displacement!"
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[_@l__l__@_]***

ok. well i bought a new exhaust donut already, so will throw that on when I have time. Removed the air cleaner (which was held on by nothing but the one bolt) and the carb is on there right and everything seems ok. Might clean it later on. Got the air cleaner reinstalled correctly with a new filter, reconnected all the vacuum lines and adjusted the carb to run better. Big improvement, but I think I need to adjust the timing at the distributor and should be good to go on that. Gotta figure out my temp gauge issue and why my emergency flashers are shorting and draining the battery. Thanks for helping out