Got the engine running today. Completed the charging/ignition system of my 12volt negative ground conversion. New 12volt battery/cables installed under the floor. Disconnected all gauge wiring but kept the Ammeter and reversed the wires for negative ground. Made up all new 5/16" fuel lines incorporating 2 inline fuel filters, drained the old gas and put in 10 gallons of ethanol free gas. Used a hand pump to fill the gas filters/lines up to the fuel pump.
Gave the carb a shot of gas and a blast of ether. Closed the choke a bit and spun the engine over. It fired up. I had set the idle screw on the rebuilt carb a little high knowing I wanted it to catch and run a higher RPM when it first kicked. Ran smooth and when it warmed up, I brought the RPM's down by adjusting the idle screw. When I hit the throttle, the engine responds instantly. I had to call my brother and tell him his truck now runs and let him hear it. He was all excited because we were not sure how well the engine ran as when I backed it off the drop deck trailer that delivered it to my house, it took 2 of us to get the engine running, it ran poorly, and had barely enough power to make a small hill 1/8th of a mile to my driveway.
Still have to get the distributor unstuck and the advance mechanism working. My brother is flying in for Turkey Day and he is going to help with removing the front fender assembly so I can get better access to the distributor and..........
Now that I know it runs well, I can continue on to the next step in this project. Got a brand new wiring harness, made like the original with cloth covering, from Rhode Island Wiring Service
http://www.riwire.com/ Wires are all numbered and the quality looks excellent. Also have a new gauge cluster, 12 volt turn signal/4-way flasher set-up, and have to rewire all the rear lights and do a changeover to 12 volt lights/bulbs. Got a bunch more things to do on this truck to get it back up to snuff.