[Thomasbuilt]

Hey guys thanks for the input, this may be another long post, but I assure you not all my post will be so long.

Just so you guys know. I have been really busy working in the Natural Gas field last 4 months, plus I build houses on the side. But this truck is not a garage queen. I use this sucker when I'm off work from time to time. I go to home depot and buy supplies to build privacy fence or whatever, I put a moving blanket in the bed and take measures to protect the truck. But I have no need for something if I'm not going to drive it or use it. Just the last couple times it burned me going to town. So I have not drove it in two months and thats the longest I have ever gone. Thats why I'm here trying to get input to save time and energy getting to the source of the issue.

I agree the tires are way too low profile, and I do miss the ride of the stock tires. I had a blow out on the front right side with the stock tires and luckly there was no damage to fender or truck. All the tires had great tread, they did not show signs of dry rot or cracks, but inside they were breaking down from being 10 years old kept in a garage. I had a matching spare I was able to use. I was going to buy all new tires with same 2" white wall, but I could not find them anywhere. So the only choice was 3/4" or the full white wall, which I was fine with full white wall. But it was gonig to cost me $850 to $1000 for new white walls. So thats when I come across the 20's that are on it. The older men over 60 tell me straight up they hate the wheels, and it would be much nicer with factory. I do agree some. By the way I know the hub caps are from a 80's model GMC jimmy or truck, my granpa I guess was too cheap to fine put the orginial ones one it. I wanted torque master wheels, which in my opinion; is one of the best looking wheels that look good on older hot rods and trucks. I got these wheels for $300 and I spent a month looking for used newer tires at many tire shops. Finally found some tires for $200 and the guy let me mount one to see if it would clear the inside of the back wheel from the bed, I only have a 1/2" between the bed and tire. I would of love to put a bigger tire on the truck. I liked the height of the truck with the tires that were on so, I took the 20" rims and found a tire size that was the same height as the other. I did not want the truck any higher off the ground. On a side note: my personal truck is a Z71, that I could also put those wheels on so thats why I bought them. By the way the Ford Truck in the back ground is my company truck not personal, Sorry we are GMC and Chevy family. My wife drives a Yukon as well.


I will never ever never put anything other than the 305 V6, that is what I get asked all the time by respectable truck people. Plus I care nothing about speed. I never drive the truck over 45 mph or ever get on the interstate. One day I would like to get another 1962 305D rebuilt on a stand for back up.

Information about the truck: It is a 1962 with a 305 V6 engine number (#305D170241) with the single port carb and oil bath breather. The truck has 102,000 orginial miles on it. I have paper work and maintance receipt dating back 30 years with mileage recorded when work was done. It was in great condition before it was restored. It has the torsion bar front in with coils in the back. Only thing after market is a under dash AC unit and hidden hitch reciever under rear bumper.

Lets get to the reason I posted this thread: By the way the truck always starts everytime no matter how long it sits with little effort. The last couple of times I drove the truck it died on me and both times it was wrong day and time for it to happen. So I was little frustrated with it and foggie on finding the issue. About 6 month into driving it after I got it. One day it just turn off like someone turn the key off going down the road. After 10 minutes later it started. It was a hot day around 95 degrees, but the engine was not over heated. So I took it home and check the wiring going to coil and distributor. I clean and lightly sand the contacts on the points and reset them. Drove it for a year with no issues. Well!, after reading some response made me think I may be dealing with two issue happening as same time. Sometime when I pull up to a light and get stopped and wait a few minutes. When it turns green I take off normal and after about 800 feet + it will start to spit and sputter. So I will start pumping the petal for the excelrator pump to kick in to refuel the carb and most of the time it works. So with that I'm thinking if the RPM's are not kept up I'm losing suction from my pump, and very well may need a new pump.

Then this issue: I drive it to town and run in to a store for 10 minutes come back out and it will not start every now and then. So I grab the carb cleaner behind the seat and shoot a decent amount in the carb. It starts and runs for until the cleaner burns off. I was trying to get it running to prime the fuel pump or whatever. But after thinking last night. Maybe the points are going bad and are gettting extra touchy with heat. So my thought is carb cleaner is little more flamable than gas, So lets say I have a weak spark and under compression with gas and it kills the spark, and with carb cleaner it has enough to ignite it?? I don't know forsure the BTU rating between carb cleaner and gasoline. But common sense I figured it was a little more flamable.

I would like to get one of those HEI distributors off ebay, so I can have a hotter spark and run a bigge gap on my spark plugs. Has anybody bought one of these or know if this is the best way to go. They cost $255.

Things I will do in the near future:
New Plugs, New Plug wires, all new bigger gauge wiring running to coil and distributor. Maybe new HEI distributor, after market air cleaner, do a compression test, and last INSTALL LAP SEAT BELTS, so I can take my kids for a ride. My wife will not allow my kids to ride in the truck without putting seat belts in it. Has anybody out there installed lap belts, I;m sure I will have to drill through the bottom of truck to attach these? Here are some pics when I first got it. Thank again for reading the extra long post and additonal information.