We are working towards getting Jorge's '86 on the trail and hope to make this one. Yesterday we removed the old gas tank, and good thing we did. The old tank was so gunked up that no fuel would flow from it, then we saw the hole that had rusted through the top as we lowered it from the truck. I had been hanging onto a replacement tank for my turbo truck for years and I got it out of the shed and looked inside - perfect. After using the shop vac and compressed air to remove any dust and make sure all the fittings were clear, Jorge went to NAPA to get a new fuel filler hose ($37, 2" diameter). We then shot compressed air back down the open lines after spraying carb cleaner in them and reconnected the tank to the lines. Tonight we'll put some gas in the tank and try to get some fuel to spew through the new fuel pump.

Next up is figuring out the fuel line fittings on the rebuilt carb we have ready to install and reconnect the vacuum lines (I actually have a diagram for the vac lines). A couple of more details and we may be good to go.

At least we hope so. This truck has never been driven by us, but has a LOT of new parts including a clutch, Clearwater head and a whole bunch of stuff I've forgotten. I'll take special pride in getting it going since we've been working (and painting everything but the body) since late summer. For a basic 2.6 truck, this one is really special to us and we're really looking forward to showing it off.

John B.