Thanks for the thoughts on the hubcaps and grill colors. Nearly everything I have read agrees that the colors were thistle gray. But then I read one thing where it was said to have been anvil gray. another thing that causes confusion is that so many trucks of the same color green, that I see in photos, have the yellowish cream color on the grill and the stripe around the cab. Then, the stock bumper we found in the attic of the chicken house is the same cream yellow color. That bumper was removed long before my grandpa ever had the grill and the pinstripe painted. then, to makes things even weirder, the backs of the original wheels are the same color!
It's not all that important and I really like thistle gray better than yellow anyway, but I am just used to finding a definitive answer online and I haven't got that yet.
Last time I posted, I mentioned that I was going to have my daughter help me bleed the brakes now that I finally got the new master cylinder installed. Well, we went there and i filled the MC with fluid and pimped the pedal and was rewarded with a very solid pedal feel. I removed the right rear wheel and attempted to open the bleeder but it just didn't work. It was rusted solid and I didn't want to risk breaking it because I really do not want to replace the wheel cylinders immediately.
So, plan B. Put the wheel back on, fire it up and give my daughter her first ride in the truck, around the yard and see if the brakes work well enough without bleeding.
Astoundingly, the truck fired up instantly and ran well. I have been starting it with the air cleaner off and this time it was on, but uncovered. I went to put the lid on it and it seemed to over choke the motor. It started to die and gas began pouring out of the carb. Of course, with this unique design, when gas runs out of the carb, it runs down on to a nice, hot exhaust manifold. I decided to postpone my daughters first ride to save her from the indignity of having to recount how she got to ride in her daddy's new truck, right before having to bail out and watch it burn to the ground.
Oddly, a lot of the gas seemed to be pouring right out of what turns out to be the vacuum advance line! I took the carb off and brought it home and found that the floats were extremely maladjusted, probably due to my mishandling the last time I opened it up. Hopefully that fixes the issue.
Anyway, I have added more photos to the album so take a look if you get a chance!
1953 Chevy 3100
