Re: "Papa Smurf" - 1966 GMC 1500 Custom
Merry Christmas! I hope you all are enjoying time with family this holiday season.
Papa Smurf is unfortunately down for the foreseeable future. Last night I attempted to drive it around the neighborhood to view Christmas lights with my family. I didn't even get down my street before it blew a blinker fuse, sprung a major fuel leak at the pump, and 3rd gear disappeared.
I can shift into 1, 2, 4, and reverse, but the detent for 3rd seems to be gone. I'm guessing there is an issue with the shift fork, or maybe the detent is full of crud. Either way the transmission needs to be looked at.
The fuel leak obviously needs to be addressed as well. A while ago I had a small leak, but I was able to fix it just by tightening a loose fitting. That same fitting is leaking again, but it is much worse.
As far as the blinker issue goes, I have exhausted every potential cause except the wiring in the steering column. I will have to pull the column out and disassemble it. The short has to be internal.
As always, this presents opportunities for upgrades. I like the heavy duty nature of my truck and I want to keep that theme going. Since the transmission might need a rebuild, maybe I look into swapping it for something else. My truck screams at 50mph and would benefit from having an additional gear just to bring down the RPMs at 55mph. One way to accomplish this is with a NV4500 transmission. A 5 speed manual with a granny first. These transmissions were used by The Big Three behind various big blocks or diesels. Not uncommon to find one in a 8.1L Chevy bucket truck. The ultimate dream would be to find one of those bucket trucks and take the whole powertrain. I would be converting my truck to EFI at that point, but it would provide me with all the towing and hauling power I could ever ask for.
Realistically, I need to open up my current transmission (NP435) and figure out what's happening.
I am still waiting on my Rochester carb. I was told it should be shipped out within the next week or two. My Carb Cheater has already arrived. Neither of these are going to be of much use if my truck can't shift gears.
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