I only have about an hour of driving time behind the wheel of this rig, and never have I encountered such odd mannerism's from a vehicle. Besides the clutch engaging near the end of the travel, which can be adjusted I believe, when I let off the throttle the engine goes back down to idle and downshifting has no effect on the rpm's. It's almost like there is a mechanism in the transmission, clutch or rear end that acts like a 10 speed bicycle does when you stop peddling. I don't like that so I need to see what may be causing that because I do like to go camping and want to take this truck, and I go up to 7,000-9,000 feet elevation on mountain roads and I want some engine braking coming down the grades. Or if towing or hauling something in the bed, I want engine braking when coming to a stop. When the clutch engages it grabs strong so it doesn't seem to be going out.
And the edelbrock carburetor has a huge lag from when you give it gas to when it starts delivering enough fuel to get the rpm's up. You can hear it sucking air and then it catches and sends you back in the seat. That happens at any rpm range, idle, going down the road, doesn't matter. I have never operated a vehicle with an edelbrock carburetor so I don't know if they are different than rochester carbs or not. My guess is they are. Tonight I will adjust the A/F mixture screws and see if there is a vacuum line disconnected or something. It has no problem delivering power when you get on it, but light throttle it does the air sucking thing and can't catch up to the rpms until you give it more throttle and then it slams you in the seat.
I can't wait to try the overdrive on the freeway. But I want to do some stuff to the truck before I take it out on the open road. I have a flex fan I want to put on it so I don't have to listen to the fan going down the road, and I need to clean the radiator and flush the cooling system. He said he runs pure antifreeze in his cars because water is poison to an engine. So there's that to deal with too. The shroud is cracked, so I need to add one of my good ones on there, and if the radiator won't unclog, I have two radiator's to choose from to take its place. And I eventually plan to swap in my HEI distributor, but right now I will run the points distributor because he replaced everything right before I bought it. I also have a front and rear sway bar to add so it will corner a whole lot better. Some of the stuff mentioned will be done right away, other will be done down the road. And some stuff wasn't mentioned yet for anticipation sake
Hope you guys enjoy seeing a solid stock, three owner, 1965 truck being fixed up a little at a time as I daily drive it to figure out what is wrong and what isn't.
