Hello, everyone!
What a great community here. My name is Brandon and I live on Whidbey Island, Washington. I have wanted an old truck for several years and yesterday my beautiful wife finally relented
and let me bring home a 1966 GMC C25. It has a V6 305 with a 4 speed. In the interest of full disclosure,
I know next to nothing about vehicle maintenance or restoration. I have never owned a carburated vehicle. I have never owned a vehicle without power steering. I have done oil changes, a couple brake jobs (discs only), and changed the serpentine belt on my wife's Toyota. That is the grand extent to my ability. I can follow directions, but this is new territory for me.
So on to the truck. Here are a few pics from her "better angles".
So much like me, she isn't too bad looking, given enough distance. But there are problems.
She has a leak in the radiator. Not a huge one, but once the truck is hot, it spurts a little from... somewhere. Really hard to tell from where.
There are also other leaks... I have put a photo below of where I think they are coming from (based upon the puddles in my garage). The red circles are where the fluid appears to be coming from.
Apart from the leaks, she probably needs a carb tune / rebuild. Unless I set the choke really high, she will die when I press the accelerator from a stop. With enough choke, I can make that go away, but it brings her idle very high.
And finally, the turn signals are not working. Brake lights are good. I know that troubleshooting will probably require pulling apart the steering column, which is a little intimidating, based upon what I have read.
I am not looking for a show truck. I just would like a decent runner. I only have basic tools, but I also have access to the local base Auto Hobby Shop (I am a Chief in the US Navy), which has lifts and every tool under the sun. I really just need some advice and information. I can follow directions and figure out a diagram.
Once I figure out the mechanical issues, I have a lot of body issues to sort through, until then,
I BEG FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE!