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Can't get new plugs until the first. Carb is on...just wondering if the plugs can spark enough. Gonna turn it over in a few & see if the old plugs will work.

Agree, once they are gas soaked it is a waste of time trying to salvage the plugs, put in new. I would also dissable the ignition by grounding the coil - terminal temporarely when you crank it over to expel the gas. You don't want sparks from the plug wires igniting things.

O.K. so I will have to wait until the 1st for plugs then. I did turn the engine over for 20 seconds with the coil wire off the coil so I wouldn't cause a sparky mess. Thanx guy's

truck is now running, but is dying as the float bowl fill's only 1/4 way to the half-mark.

The float could be sticking or out of adjustment. I think it is second to the fuse box as a source of problems.

I adjusted by eye, the float tang & it is now too much. So I assume that by doing this method over and over until it sit's in the middle, then all sould be fine. I don't feel like taking the carb off again to invert it to set the float. But the book say's to set the float parallel with the top of float bowl. So I did & it was starving it.

I never remove the carb to set the float. Just remove the three screws that hold on the bowl cover sight glass thing, and carefully slide out the float and spacer assembly ( carefull don't loose the little brass spacer).
Lightly push up on the float until it stops and at this point it should be parrelel with carb top cover. This is a ball-park adjustment so you may have to do this a couple times to get the gas at the center window level. The trick here is go slow and careful to get this right.

I got it centered now. Started it back up & drove to the store & on the freeway for 40 miles with everything great. Then stopped to buy something & when re-started.... it fires, but very weak. will die all the time & barely move. Does this sound like a possible electrical issue? like intermittant ignition power or power to fuel pump(from fuse box)(which was cleaned but not soldered)

I'm gonna try to start it again. It was also heavy heavy raining.

Started up this morning fine. I let it warm up. Then turned it off to check the #4 plug for minor fouling. Fine. Then it didn't want to start again. I wonder if it is electrical or a vaccum leak still since it seems to wanna start when I put my hand over the top of the carb or when it is cold & the choke is closed. Any idea's?

Are you sure the choke is working? My 77 is the only thing I ever had with an automatic choke that worked very well. But nothing last forever. Even if fairly worm weather, I think the choke should be closed with a cold engine.

Labman: yeah, the choke is almost all closed when cold, then opens slowly when warming up. Then act's like there is a vacuum leak as when I put my hand on top of the carb... it wants to run again. I'm stuck. I redid all the hoses too. points,plugs,wires,coil,ect. I'm super stuck.

is it normal to be getting 8.9vdc from the neg. pole to the neg. cable?

I don't think you should. I get 12 volts on mine due to an after market stereo.

I removed the fuses one at a time and the 8.9vdc didn't change. Shouldn't that have told me what circuit the short is in? Would a short cause the not running all of a suddon

Also the plugs(which only have 40 miles on them) smelled like gas and has oil on them. So fouled it has a hard time firing from the weak spark due to the 8.9 vdc short....I'm guessing here on this.

I think the start circuit bypasses the fuse box. Take a look at it. Since it also connects directly directly to the coil, a short in it could sabotage your ignition. The wet sparkplugs mean an ignition problem.

So if I have a dead short of 8.9vdc & it doesn't go away when I pull the fuses one at a time, where could it possibly be coming from? Also I get the 8.9 at the fuel pump as well. Also 8.9vdc to the coil when starting, yet 12vdc to the coil when in on.

There is a double throw relay under the cover in front of the washer bottle. The common terminal runs to the fuel pump. The normally closed terminal connects to the start circuit and with the ignition in run, the other connects to a terminal on the voltage regulator that is hot when the alternator is working. There is another relay there too. I think it connects the coil directly to the battery in start. It sounds like it is stuck. You shouldn't have 12 volts at the coil in run.

Labman: Thanx for the help through all of this. It seems like I should only have 12vdc when in start & then the 7-9 when in run, thanks to the ballist resistor, right? It is backwards for some reason. So the relay @ the V. Reg. is inside the cover plate? If it is stuck how can it be free'd up and how can I test this possibility? I have V. meter too that is good and digital.

The voltage regulator is over on the far fender. You should have a black wire coming from the one relay directly to the coil and a short wire connecting the coil and ballast. The wire from the ignition to the far end of the balast is black/yellow. This is a link to a wiring diagram, http://www.luvtruck.com/PDF/Series6.pdf You should be able work out the testing you need to do from it.