On the contrary, I look forward to finding the little rigged fixes and giving them a hard time about it. Payback for decades of ribbing me for not being mechanically inclined. There was speaker wire connected to the starter, I accused everyone of doing it.
I did have the plugs out, and had the charger on the battery. Of course my starter is old and tired, and the motor is still recovering from being frozen solid. My dad is of the opinion that those readings are normal for an old 6, I have no idea. I did run across another compression tester in the shop, so I will take a new set of readings in the near future.
Dogged determination served me well last night, it was a massive pain to put the 50 gallon side saddle gas tank back on the truck. Big, awkward, and heavy, I had to draft my girlfriend into the project. Part of the problems was that I wanted something between the straps and the tank. I did not have actual gas tank strap gaskets, so I cut strips off an old conveyor belt. The added 1/8" thickness really made things complicated. I was able to thread the back strap, but after an hour of wrestling, and prying, and jacking on the front, I about lost it. Instead, I cut some strips from an old fire hose that was only 1/16" thick, and it strapped right on. Today we see if it will run off the tank.
Dave,
I have enjoyed reading your truck story...interesting read if nothing else. You most certainly have the determination to make this happen and that is a huge plus. From my experience; will, determination, and dogged perseverance are a must when working with old obsolete iron. The one problem I see with your situation is that if you "cuss" poorly implemented previous mechanical repairs on your project, you may make a relative mad at you...tread carefully!
Your compression readings are all real low, so low that I would question the accuracy of the guage. Did you check compression with all of the spark plugs removed using a freshly charged (good) battery?
Also, have you gotten a parts manual for your truck? Finding parts by part number is a great way to locate parts that no longer show up on modern computer systems. Google is your friend.
Keep up the effort!
Paul
