The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 65 C60 292 out of power

I do not have enough power to haul a load of dirt up my hill in 1st gear.

Vacuum is just at the green line (forgot the measure I think about 21) I don't have a timing light or tachometer and adjusted the carburetor to a decent idle and adjusted the air screw to get the best vacuum, found top #1 cylinder and the timing mark wasn't even close and adjusted the best vacuum by advancing the distributor.

The vacuum is low but steady and punching the throttle it goes down and comes back but seems steady no wobble at the needle.

I checked the cylinder compression and 1-4 is about 145 lb and 5&6 are 136lb (Manual says it should be 130???) I squirted 5 & 6 with 5 pumps of oil and the compression test went to 150 lbs. Why is my compression so high?

I don't know where I'm loosing vacuum, intake at 5 & 6 is wet so I tightened that but might still be a problem. sprayed it with starting fluid with no response.

Spark plugs are black sooty and re-gaped to .35 and checked the firing of all plugs and got a good bright light on the tester for each. The system is good plugs, points, condenser and ??transformer?? (brain cramp)
The truck was parked for about 3 years from last use because of cracked manifold which I sealed with Hi temp silicon. (I have another intake and exhaust manifold) (but need this project of hauling dirt now to get sawmill running)

I use to haul dirt over this hill which is a task with full load but always did it. I don't have brakes because of hard as rock peddle so I plugged the Brake vacuum if that was a problem. I back down and dumped off 1/2 the load and finally made it over the hill but had to abuse it to get her done. Truck would run out of power and I held the hand brake and increased the rpms and made some head way (about 2-3 feet) and finally crested the hard knoll with about 4 try's then I could finish the hill which had less incline.

When I worked on the truck it smoked like a fogger but that has cleared up after soaking the carburetor down with wd40, now there is some miner exhaust smoking. The exhaust manifold to pipe leaks and not tight because of rusty bolts and fear I will break them off because of corrosion.

I need to haul 2 or 3 more loads, what can I do to build better power.

I love mu truc, she has done a lot of work for me in the past 32 years and I am going to take the time to get her back to shape, but don;t have the time now to rebuild anything as I need the dirt hauled to finish setting up my saw mill and then some other projects before winter.

I believe that I have sealed the cracks in the manifold. The first crack was sealed several years ago and I thought that was the problem, so I cleaned it off to reseal but it was still stuck real good with hi-temp silicon. Removing the carburetor I found another crack. So I cleaned it then washed it with acetone and then reapplied the silicon. To test I sprayed questionable areas with starting fluid and found no increase in vacuum gauge or idle.

I've studied the truck manual and searched this forum and did the best I could. can someone outline a procedure list of recomendations to get my truck hauling dirt over this hill, then it will go on the project list to get it repaired properly.