and after all this, she still won't start

This post might be a little scattered, as I'm attempting to write up all the work I've done since February...

I installed the new fuel tank a while ago. (photos) It wasn't too bad, although the original flexline between the fuel filler and the tank was too short, so I had to order a replacement from LMC truck that fit. I got a replacement fuel filler and cap while I was at it.

The new flexline fit just great (photos). Also in that set of photos is the beginning of fitting the new stainless fuel lines that I ordered from LMC truck. I had to buy a new Dremel to be able to cut off the old rusted fuel line mounts that you can see here:


I ran a short piece of flex fuel hose between the line coming out of the fuel tank and the stainless line, which can be seen here. I had to get a couple of unions at the NAPA near my work to get the proper male/female connections. Then I installed new fuel line mounting clips to the old holes in the frame, as shown here and here.

While I was at it, I decided to replace the battery, and in the process found the bottom of the battery box horribly rusted and flaking. So I pulled it out, wire brushed the rust off, and primed the metal with some POR-15.

I got a new fuel pump with an integral fuel filter and glass bowl, because I never liked the way the old fuel filter was installed (by just hacking the fuel line to the carb and installing a bit of flex line). I installed new brass fittings in the pump (also found at the local NAPA) with some Permatex hi-temp thread sealant. Then I cleaned off the engine mounting point for the fuel pump with some gasket remover and a wire brush (photos here), and installed the fuel pump onto the engine with Permatex blue gasket sealant on both sides of the gasket and blue Threadlocker on the two mounting bolts. The pump was pretty easy to install - the lever for the pump pushes up against part of what I think is the camshaft, so the installation by feel is pretty straightforward.

After a bit of bending, I was able to connect the fuel line to the pump, then connected the second fuel line between the pump and the carb. The above photos link also shows how I hooked up the throttle rod, the gas pedal return spring, the carb vacuum line, and the choke cable. I set a .035 gap on some new spark plugs and installed them with anti-sieze. Then I hooked up the coil input wire (+) and output and tach wires (-).

I installed the new battery a week later (photos) (and noted that I really need to make a better battery hold-down that utilizes the built-in hold-down rods from the 6V battery) and hooked up the negative terminal. I shortened the flex line between the main fuel line and the tank line in order to better clear the crossmember.

I poured in 3-4 gallons of fuel, hooked up the heater hoses to the water pump and poured in 3 of the necessary 4 gallons of coolant,... and found a great leak coming out of the fuel filter's inlet. The leak was fixed several days later when I made a 2-foot cheater bar out of some electrical conduit and used that to crank down on a crescent wrench on the fuel line flare fitting. I slowly poured 4 of the necessary 5 quarts of oil on the top of the engine (which still has its valve cover off), and then put a really long flatblade screwdriver bit on a drill and used it to prime the oil pump as shown here:


I inserted the screwdriver bit into the distributor opening and cranked the drill until I saw oil flowing out of the galleys along the valves. Then I installed the distributor based on a photo I took before the disassembly (incorrectly, as I later found out), hooked up the spark plug wires, and tried turning the key. The engine cranked quite well, and I might have seen a puff of something pop out of the top of the carb, but it never turned over.

So today, I went to page 12-32 of the shop manual and found the instructions for installing a distributor when the engine has been turned (which obviously mine had). I removed the spark plugs and tightened the fan belt so that I could hand-crank the engine by turning the fan blades. I attempted to find top dead center by turning the engine until the #1 intake valve closed (in the up position), then turned it a bit more until I could see the ball bearing on the flywheel lining up with the timing indicator, as shown here:

Then I turned the oil pump a bit with a screwdriver to line up with the tang on the base of the rotor shaft when the rotor was at 90 deg to the engine, and then installed the distributor (photo). I turned the distributor body about 1-2 deg CCW until the points just began to open, then tightened the distributor clamp screw. I reinstalled the spark plugs and the wires, double-checked the fan belt play (about 7/16", which is just fine).

I installed some leads onto the starter motor so that I could crank the motor from outside the cab by touching the ends of the leads together. I used this method to crank the engine quite a bit, but it wouldn't turn over. I adjusted the points a little bit - they were maybe 0.002 under - to no effect. Pulling a couple different spark plug wires showed no spark, and clamping an inductive ammeter over the "high-tension" wire between the coil and distributor showed zero reading. I double-checked the inductive ammeter on my Honda, which showed roughly 2A while it was running, so the method is sound, and there's just no juice coming out of the coil.

So I'm thinking this might be a good time to chuck the points altogether and finally switch to HEI (high energy ignition). I just emailed the manufacturer of this HEI distributor to double-check that it's the right one for my truck - it's a deal at $160, and comes recommended by members of the discussion forum at stovebolt.com. I also have the battery on trickle charge right now to replace all the juice I pulled out with all that cranking.

I'm on vacation from this coming Saturday through the following Sunday, so it looks like I'm not going to make my goal of getting Peanut running by the time my work moves into our new (much closer to my house) building. But maybe I'll be able to do some evening work this week.