- Project Responder Blog
- New fuel pickup installed
- Getting back up and running
- The engine is finally 100%
- Replacing the valves in the 460
- Engine to be torn down
- Quincy Home Show
- New fan clutch installed
- Keeping it simple
- Trip to Chicago, part 3
- Trip to Chicago, part 2
Trip to visit RKO in Indiana
posted @ Sunday, September 3, 2006
After testing the truck on Friday, September 1, it seemed that everything was good to go but that I had gotten some bad gas at a local gas station. Saturday, September 2nd, I headed out to visit RKO Enterprises to pick up our new Skid Unit. The drive was fairly uneventful until I got into the hills of Indiana and Kentucky. The truck began to experience significant issues when traveling uphill. When the truck was under a load, it would ping and it begin to pop back through the carburetor and backfire through the exhaust. So this was not good. I tried to retard the timing slightly to eliminate the pinging and try to get it to settle down, but I had very little success. Because the truck was running so lean, it ended up running very, very hot, but not to the point of overheating. So on a few occasions, I pulled off the highway and let it cool down. While I was waiting, I went ahead and got gas and something to eat.
Finally, I was able to limp it along and make our exit onto 421 in Kentucky. But now I was on a two lane, winding road and the truck did not want to stay running. The hotter it got, the worse it ran. So I pulled over one more time to let it cool down. This time, a local mechanic happened by and took a look at it for us. His conclusion was that it was vapor locking because the fuel line was running too close to the engine block and header. It made sense so I made a mental note to re-route the fuel line once I reached RKO. I did finally reach our destination and immediately began the process of removing the old skid unit and installing the new skid unit.
Once the conversion was complete, I took some time to reroute the fuel line. Keith was able to scare up a timing light for us and Sunday morning, I re-set the timing. It seemed as if everything were going to be ok and I'd be able to limp the truck back to St. Louis. But a short test run told us otherwise. It just seemed as if things were getting worse. The starter had developed a dead spot because it could not turn the high compression engine over when it was hot. When I did get it started. it ran terribly. So after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, it was decided to leave the truck at RKO's shop and have a local mechanic try and resolve the issue or just have it brought back on a flatbed. I caught a flight back to St. Louis out of Louisville and left it in Keith's good hands.