New Grl from NorCAL

[HIO Silver]

Congrats from the SF East Bay. Looks to be a clean rig. Where ya located?

...1. Get a repair maintenance manual. A $20 Chilton/Haynes manual from Autozone is better than nothing. Read and learn about your truck.

2... Hardware and electrical integrity check... go bumper to bumper and torque/tighten everything to spec. Verify all systems work. Excise those demons like wire nuts and electrical tape connections, and wires that do nothing.

3. Lube the chassis... every zerk fitting.

4. Rebuild the carb and a full tune up and fluid & filter change.. Your issues sounds carb related.

5. Inspect the brakes, suspension, and steering systems. Also repack the bearings. Air up the tires including the spare.

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... Basically what you'll want to do is "baseline" everything to establish a starting point.

[sargentrs]

To start with check for vacuum leaks. Grab a can of ether (carburetor starting fluid spray) from your local parts store. Spray it around the base of the carb, the perimeter of the intake manifold, power brake booster if you have one, anywhere you might suspect. If the engine revs up, you've found your leak. Fix the leak and retune your carb. My '64 Fairlane wouldn't idle and I kept it revving high every time I started or stopped. Sprayed the ether around and when I hit the base of the carb it revved up. Replaced base gaskets and it sealed up. After that I was able to idle it back down and have no issues now.