I’ve been doing tune-ups ever since I got my first lawnmower engine back in the late 40’s. Pop was an old school mechanic that worked at the trade in the 20’s 30’s and 40’s so he taught my brother and I the basics early on. So of course when I got my ’50 216 back in Oct., of ’06 the first thing I did was a real good tune-up. The first step is always making sure that the engine is sound. She had good compression, 130lbs across the board, that is all except for #3 and that showed a bad exhaust valve. But after a complete valve job we now had them all sitting at 130 and now, it was ready for that tune-up. While the head was out I pulled the distributor and did a complete disassembly and rebuild on it to make sure that it would be trouble free for the next few years. A week or so spent on the Rochester ‘B’ (they are an on going project you know) and a thorough going over of all the vacuum circuit and the old gal just purred like a kitten.
One of the fun little things that I always pull whenever anyone is around is to say as I’m jumping back in and getting ready to leave, “Gee, I sure hope it Starts!” With 3000 plus miles on her since I first brought her home, she has always, hot or cold, fired on the first turn. After being set up to think that they might have to give you a push, It’s always fun to see the look on peoples faces when she fires on the first tap of the starter. Now mind you it’s been that way since day one till now.
The other day I pulled up an parked right next to the service door at our local Chevy dealer within plain site of the service desk, parts counter and a couple of mechanics. After checking with the parts man for a listing I was walking past the service desk and the service manager and writer asked if they could look her over. Sure so we popped the hood and opened the doors and I was just soaking up all the comments like, “you doin’ all the work your self,” “great job,” “man that’s a cool truck,” “they don’t build them like that any more.”
Then came my usual good bye, “Gee, I hope it starts” and proceeded to do the foot stomp and after cranking for ten seconds nothing. darn that Rochester, what a time for it to food on me. One more ten second try and now I was getting that “we gonna have to push it to get it started” look from the onlookers. As I was about to jump out and pop the hood to check the carb I reached down to turn off the key and low and behold, I done forgot to turn it on in the first place. I guess I was a little nervous, having all those Genuine GM service people standing around watching me and skipped that part of the start sequence.
I switched the key on and first turn over she popped right off. But by now the damage was done and I was back on amateur status. So it will probably be a while before I’ll park in that same spot right up front, when I visit the Chevy garage.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL


Denny G
Sandwich, IL