Last afternoon my friend calls me and says we have to move the truck tonight or it will be towed. I went through the plugs-other than being slightly worn they are OK. The engine still would not run much above idle.
I checked the valve adjustment, which was a little off, but not far enough to cause problems. I removed the distributor cap and had someone spin the engine over, when I noticed a BIG spark arcing at the points. A voltage test revealed 24 volts going to the coil. I removed the resistor that is supposed to drop the voltage down only to find that there was no resistance across the coil. After double-checking the resistor, I got it to read 6 ohms, which would drop the voltage down enough to save the points. I re-installed the resistor, cleaned and reset the points, and the 302 GMC finally ran like it was supposed to. I was genuinely impressed with the power put out by this engine.
We took the truck to a local shop that has the time and equipment to go through the brake cylinders. What a beast!!!
