Darrell,
I would live with the truck for 6 months and then ask the question again.
A 6 volt electrical system will be fine, as long as you clean and re-tighten the contacts every 6 or 10 years. It will work well.
The 216 is a fine engine, and if it has been recently rebuilt, you will get many good years or driving out of it.
If you decide you need to go faster, you might consider Patrick's higher ratio gears for your existing rear end. This will keep things original, or at least an easy conversion back to totally stock.
A question I get all the time with my truck is "does it have the original engine?" I think you will get a lot of pleasure out being able to say "yes". Unfortunately when I bought my truck 40 years ago, it had a bad rod, and I did not have the skill or dollars to rebuild it. So I swapped in the 235 powerglide engine from my car. Been happy with it, and it's still 6 volt, and I drive it all the time, but I sure do wish sometimes that I still had that original 216 engine...
Have fun and join in the disscussion!
Kurt
Last edited by Kurt_51carryall; 01/31/2012 3:14 AM.
