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Hey guys, I have a 1980 pickup that has been changed up a little, and doesn't have the original engine in it, but my questions are pretty general for pretty much any carbureted engine with adjustable timing.
I brought the truck from Colorado Springs to Nashville, TN, which is an elevation change from about 6,000 feet to about 600 feet. The truck still runs awesome and has excellent power, but doesn't want to start if it sits long enough to cool down.
I've been able to get it started the past few days to mess with it by spraying ether in the carb first thing in the morning, but I know that isn't good for it.
Have any of you guys had to adjust some things to get a cold engine to start after moving to a lower altitude?
I'm hoping this is irrelevant, but the truck has a Ford 302 v8, with an Edelbrock 1406 carb, Mallory distributor, MSD coil, Hooker headers, a holley electric fuel pump and regulator, set at about 5 psi, and the rest of the drivetrain is stock Toyota stuff from a newer v6 truck.
Axles are the stock 1980 units.
I'd appreciate any help I can get, I'm hoping to drive this to work a couple of days a week as well as wheeling this rig, to keep some wear and tear off my 2017 Taco.
I drove it yesterday and today, after using ether to get it started, and it did really well once running for the 50 mile each way commute, and had PLENTY of power for the 35" tires.
I'm not much help with altitude as I live in the flattest state in the country, but when I go to Knoxville area to ride my motorcycle I do have to tune the programmer which I know isn't a carb, but that's all I have. Btw your "old clunker" is a bad a** rig.
I don't know anything about Edelbrock carbs, but if they're like Webers, they'll need different jets with that much altitude change. If they're like Weber, they'll have an instruction manual (hopefully available online as pdf) with tuning instructions. I'd start with that, if this has only been an issue since the elevation change.
My carb knowledge is starting to fade but I know a hard cold start is a thing with some known causes...
It's the old model Truck Lite LED headlights..known issue causing interference.
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just kidding, probably need to adjust the carb for the lower altitude, maybe re-jet. Nice looking truck, what later model V6 trans and TC? Hopefully not a chain drive case
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the Edelbrock/weber copy carbs, so rather than put time into jetting it and all that, I'm gonna get a Holley Truck Avenger for it and call it good until I can afford a FiTech EFI setup for it, or maybe switch to propane. I'm gonna play with timing, too, and see how it does.
As for the LED headlights, I think I like those, lol. They were on it when I got it, and they're plenty bright.
Nearest I can tell, the trans and tcase are from a mid 90's 3.0 truck or 4runner, and I think all of those had chain drive cases? It works really well for now, and shifts very cleanly and smooth, so I'll run it until I break it, and replace it with whatever is compatible and available.
In the meantime I have this cold starting issue, and a coolant leak, some hacked wiring, and some minor rust to tackle, so this thing will keep me busy, I'm sure.
I traded a perfectly dependable mildly built jeep wrangler for it, haha. I guess I'm a dumbass, but I've always wanted an early yota, so I'll make the best of it
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the Edelbrock/weber copy carbs, so rather than put time into jetting it and all that, I'm gonna get a Holley Truck Avenger for it and call it good until I can afford a FiTech EFI setup for it, or maybe switch to propane. I'm gonna play with timing, too, and see how it does.
As for the LED headlights, I think I like those, lol. They were on it when I got it, and they're plenty bright.
Nearest I can tell, the trans and tcase are from a mid 90's 3.0 truck or 4runner, and I think all of those had chain drive cases? It works really well for now, and shifts very cleanly and smooth, so I'll run it until I break it, and replace it with whatever is compatible and available.
In the meantime I have this cold starting issue, and a coolant leak, some hacked wiring, and some minor rust to tackle, so this thing will keep me busy, I'm sure.
I traded a perfectly dependable mildly built jeep wrangler for it, haha. I guess I'm a dumbass, but I've always wanted an early yota, so I'll make the best of it
a friend of mine installed a similar carb on his 72 C-10 with pretty good results, runs great at the 250' or so that Portland is and does decent over the mountain passes.
As far as being a dumbass for making the trade, i would say that I would rather work on an old toyota than a Jeep, welcome back from the Darkside!
i go on trail runs with a lot of guys with the whole spectrum of high dollar trucks to low buck Toyotas, the Jeeps have their share of problems
I had the 2nd generation of Truck Lite LED's in my 81, loved them. Now I am accumulating mounts, grill etc so that i can try to get them mounted in my 94 4Runner. Output and cut off was outstanding.
edit: just out of curiosity what do you think of your MTR's? i had them on my 81, PITA to keep balanced, seemed like they got flat spots after sitting for just a couple of days and am debating about selling them or transferring them to my 94 when I SAS it next month.
I adjusted the timing just now, as it was very far retarded from factory settings, at about 3* after top dead.
I set it at 15* btdc, and it seems much better, although I now need to back the idle down, but morning will let me know if I've solved my problem for real.
I'll keep you guys posted!
I adjusted the timing just now, as it was very far retarded from factory settings, at about 3* after top dead.
I set it at 15* btdc, and it seems much better, although I now need to back the idle down, but morning will let me know if I've solved my problem for real.
I'll keep you guys posted!
cool, sometimes a quick little change like that can make a huge difference
As for the MTR'S, they look great, and I haven't been wheeling with them yet, but so far, compared to the Cooper Discoverer STT's I usually buy for my weekend warriors, they really suck. Lol. They're super noisy, and seem to be egg shaped from the amount of wobble I get on the interstate. Granted they don't appear to be balanced, so I bet some weight in the right places will help, but when they're bald they'll most likely be replaced by TSL's since I now have a new Tacoma to commute in when the weather doesn't support my motorcycle habit.
Well, it still didn't start easy today. I'm thinking it's possibly flooding? It actually fired immediately, then died after 1 second, and wouldn't re-fire. I smelled gas really strong when trying to start it the second time, but it just wouldn't fire. Quick shot of ether and VROOM.
What to try next?
Got it running great, and went wheeling. As soon as I got in a hairy off-camber situation, the damn carb caught on fire, and I almost rolled the truck with the sudden loss of power.
Edelbrock carb is going in the trash, new wiring harness is ordered, and FiTech EFI is getting ordered as soon as I can get a few things I don't need sold.
I guess I'll park this beast for a couple of months and work on my vw instead.
Sorryfor the crappy pics, photo quality was kinda far down the list of priorities lol
Yeah, I'm really glad I keep a fire extinguisher in my rides.
It'll be sucky cleaning all that baking soda out of the engine bay, but at least it didn't torch the whole truck!
I'm also glad it happened within walking distance of my house. I just went and got the new Taco and dragged it home. Hopefully in the next couple of months I can get this sucker going again and do some more wheeling. This mishap will slow down some other upgrades, but will also force me to fix the 2 biggest issues the truck has, within 2 months of owning it.
I'm sure this is better for the ultimate goals I have for this truck.
Wow. I wasn't sure at first whether "caught fire" was literal, or you just meant a huge boost of power. But damn.
Glad it didn't cause too much damage.
These trucks are worth it. Yeah, they'll have their problems, I mean they're almost 40 years old. But unlike some other makes, Toyotas were built well and built to last. So if you're going to go with an old vehicle, they're worthy of the work they often need.
Yeah, it's definitely a cool truck, and by the time I have 2 grand in it, I imagine it will perform just as well offroad as many $40k rigs if not better.
What is kind of funny though, is that the same spot where I almost barbecued my offroad rig, my 2017 base model Tacoma went up with no issues whatsoever when completely stock on the small street tires it came with.
The traction control and fuel injection proved more useful than the 35's and v8 swap of the 80 truck.
Lockers and EFI will most certainly be in this truck's future.
Oh right I forgot it doesn't have a Toyota engine.
Whenever people come on here and right away start talking solid axle swaps and lockers for their slightly later model Toyotas, I always wonder...do they really know much about offroading? I haven't done anything like the Rubicon trail or any true rock crawling, but I've been down some crazy roads. Never once have I wished for a solid front axle. Or larger tires. Those things really only help in extreme (by my standards) rock crawling. I've never needed anything more than a stock truck with stock tires to get the places I want to go, though the high stance of a stock Toyota makes that easier to say. A stock Cherokee is lower to the ground than most cars...
Yeah, I'd be mostly just as happy with a 22re, but the v8 is in there, and the power is definitely fun.
The kind of offroading I do borders on the extreme, even when in a stock vehicle. But I still mostly manage to get where I want to be with just slightly oversized tires and a little finesse. But for my dedicated offroad toy, lockers have spoiled me. I get legitimately pissed when I'm stuck because one wheel doesn't have traction. Lockers rule, and I'd rather have a welded differential than no traction aid at all, tire wear or not, haha.
03-04-2017, 02:52 AM
