Carbureted Camping Truck Had Some Elevation Problems!

[00:00:00]Hey guys, my name is Natasha Adams.

[00:00:01]Today I'm working on my 79 square body here behind me. I just got back from like a week long camping trip and I was up in elevation which means probably about between 7,000 and 9,000 ft up and down just wheeling, driving, exploring.

[00:00:15]I'll put some really cool pictures that I did get during that trip. The only thing is my truck here is carbureted and that means in up elevation I was in thinner air without adjusting anything.

[00:00:28]I didn't adjust anything. It's bad on me, but this is for you guys to learn.

[00:00:32]So, after about 4 days, I started running pretty rich. Well, I probably was running rich before, but I actually was able to feel it after 4 days. I ignored it. I was like, "Okay, whatever.

[00:00:42]I'll probably just go down the mountain and it'll be fine." No, I followed some spark plugs. I started getting a misfire, which means we're opening it up today. We're going to pull the plugs, see what they look like. Make sure that that's my problem, which I'm pretty sure it is, cuz when you go up an elevation, the air is thinner, but your carbureted car is not fuel injection. So, it does not adjust for it itself. You have to adjust it. I did not do that. So, I started running rich, and I ran rich for so long that I followed some plugs. So, let's pull them. Other than doing that, this truck ran great all the way through the trip. It still got me home despite the misfire.

[00:01:22]I need a ladder. So, the only thing you're really going to need for doing spark plugs is a gapper or a spark plug gap tool, which is we're going to be gapping these to 035. Even when you get them from the store, even if they say they're pre- gapped, always check the gap because these boxes, they get tossed around.

[00:01:45]They get thrown from store to store.

[00:01:48]You'd be surprised. You always want to make sure that the gap on all your plugs are the exact same. And then you're going to want a 5/8 socket. Don't judge my spark plug wires. They are. Just don't look at them. They were like that when I got the truck and I they're expensive. Wires are expensive. So, I'm not changing them.

[00:02:10]You have four on this side, four on the other side. You don't need top down center. You don't need any of that to change your plugs. The only thing I will recommend is doing one at a time. So, let's do cylinder one. The other thing that you always want to be careful with the spark plug wires is the fact that you don't want to pull out the inside of them by accident because that is super doable. Kind of want to like wiggle them off and you want to be kind of careful with them. So, I have long tubes. It might be easier for somebody without long tubes to get to this. Oh, I might need a nice spark plug socket. Turns out, and spark plugs don't necessarily need to be super tight. I mean, obviously, you don't want them to back out, but you do not need to crank spark plugs in.

[00:03:01]Oh. Oh, yeah. That is. So, this being our first one, it has definitely seen better days.

[00:03:11]These are auto lights. See how in here, I mean, for one, it's covered in oil, which is not good. But in here, this is all brown and gross. So, this is the new versus old. Obviously, this one is disgusting and dirty, and this one it's clean. The other thing you always want to make sure when you're changing spark plugs is they are the same. So, sometimes part stores will give you the wrong spark plug, which means you always want to make sure that the part that's going into the engine, which is this part, is the same on both.

[00:03:42]Same size, same thread, and same length.

[00:03:47]This side, not so much. Doesn't matter as much. These are the same, but you just want to make sure that before you put all of them in that they're all the same size and the same like width, basically. So, after comparing that the two spark plugs are the same, you're going to want to take your gapping tool, which they do look different. This is just the one style that I like. Um, but they come in like little circles and stuff. Let me see.

[00:04:18]This is Yes. So, we're gapping it to 035. And how you gap it is you put the tool right in between here like that.

[00:04:30]So, this is definitely the right gap.

[00:04:32]Um, as long as you can put it in here and then there's not like any room to go up and down, but you can wiggle it a little bit, which is fine. But ideally, you don't want any extra room or any or too little room. So you don't want it to be too tight, but you want it to go in and out with no problem. So this is gapped correctly. Most likely one of these is going to be way more fouled than the other. So I'm kind of excited to see which one is the most fouled. So I thought I had lost it. So I'm just going to add it in here. I'm switching sockets. So, I'm going to be instead of using my 5/8 long one because these spark plugs because this silic or not silicone, this ceramic spot or ceramic piece is so big, I'm kind of worried about breaking it. Um, so I have a 5/8 spark plug socket which has like a little insulator on the inside.

[00:05:26]So, when you put it in, goes like that and it holds it. So when you're tightening and stuff, it doesn't hit the glass and you run a lot smaller of a risk of breaking this because you might.

[00:05:40]I have. Not this time, but I have. Do it by hand first.

[00:05:51]By hand first. There it goes. Wow, that was easy.

[00:05:56]Sometimes you got to kind of like wiggle it around and stuff, but that actually went in really easy. That's nice. And spark plugs, you don't really need to crank on them. You really don't.

[00:06:08]It should be something like that. And that is tight enough. And when you take it off, you want to be careful cuz these are those long, really long ones. Let's see. So, I am actually I think now that I'm doing this later on, I think I'm going to actually get those boots for my for my wires cuz these wires are pretty much on the header, which I do not I do not enjoy that. Okay, so that's spark plug one, cylinder one. Now, we're going to this one. Same process. Be careful taking it off like that.

[00:06:51]Yeah. See how not tight that was? That's how it should be if your spark plugs are ever like super tight.

[00:06:59]Just, you know, be careful. Did that just take the whole insulation out of my socket? Yes. Okay. Well, we're going to put that right back in there. Pretend that didn't happen.

[00:07:19]Let's see the quality of this one. Oh, also bad. Got some scary stuff here. It is so hot in the shop. I almost feel like I should be doing this outside.

[00:07:30]Take the new one out.

[00:07:33]Check the gap.

[00:07:36]Gap is good.

[00:07:39]And we put it back in.

[00:07:52]Okay, be careful. The boot goes back on. And that's up. Now we go to the next one.

[00:07:59]Same process.

[00:08:11]Well, I turned the fan on cuz it was just way too hot in here. But I think this is one of the worst plugs that I've pulled this. I mean, besides the oil, I think the oil is just cuz I have a really bad leak. But see the tip?

[00:08:27]Really bad.

[00:08:44]Okay, so these two plugs are probably by far the worst too. And these were the two rear plugs, which I do have a leak back there, so that might be the situation. But the little arm on the spark plug is definitely fouled out. So, and I know I only had I pretty sure I only had a misfire on one uh one cylinder. So, getting rid of these two, putting the new ones in is going to make the world of difference. It is hot in the shop, but I'm glad I got that done.

[00:09:14]I'm going to go clean up a little bit and then take this thing for a test drive. Okay, so first start up with the new plugs.

[00:09:23]See how it goes.

[00:09:35]Okay, so I took it around the block.

[00:09:37]It's doing really good. Before I end this video, though, I'm outside in the shade cuz it's way too hot in the shop.

[00:09:43]I'm going to replace my fuel filter. I think I think that thing I haven't replaced it since putting in both new tanks. So, I figure I might as well do that now. I have the exact same kind. I always have a spare on me. With this kind of truck, you always want to have like an extra fuel filter with you, but and a fuel pump. Both. Anyway, um so I'm going to replace this one really quick, and I'll show you guys the kind that I have because I really like the see-through kind, but not the glass one.

[00:10:11]The plastic see-through kind that you can see the dirt, but the glass ones shatter. I've had like heard so many horror stories of that happening. So, and when I was apprentice, one of my people that was teaching me everything, they told me never use those glass filters. They look good, but when they get too hot, it's glass. Imagine that.

[00:10:32]Anyway, so let's get this replaced. And then that's it. So, the kind of fuel filters that I like are these, which are these plastic, simple, see-through ones that they actually come with the the uh hose clamps and everything. And yeah, for anybody that wants one, here's the part number, maybe. Yeah, here's the part number. You can also get them on the floor at O'Reillies or anywhere else. But these I've seen are just I mean they can get hot. They can get like hit around kind of get bumped around if you wanted or not really wanted but they can get bumped around as an off-road vehicle and you don't have to worry about them shattering. Totally worth it. And I like that you can see them see through it.

[00:11:21]That's the number one thing. Okay, let's put this on. Recently, those Harbor Freight uh uh hose clamps have been driving me nuts.

[00:11:31]These I'm so glad that this came with new hose clamps cuz those are like I don't know, man. They just strip out. I wouldn't have to worry about this leaking cuz even if the hose clamp wasn't full or tight, this this is not This is a fight to get this off.

[00:11:55]Okay. So, yeah, this one's dirty. Let's compare this one to my new one. This is the old one.

[00:12:05]This is the new one.

[00:12:08]Crazy, huh?

[00:12:12]It was definitely time for a change.

[00:12:15]So, this has to the carb to the carb to the carb. So obviously this side goes to the carb. This side goes to your fuel pump which is I mean in general if you're not used to doing this stuff that's nice to have.

[00:12:36]Okay. And the bottom one.

[00:12:41]Perfect.

[00:12:43]So, with these metal hose clamps to a rubber line, you never want to like really crank on them because they will rip on the line, which would be unfortunate. So, you want to get them tight, but not too tight.

[00:12:58]There's a feeling for it. You'll get them. Okay, let's turn the truck on and check for leaks.

[00:13:09]Well, that's it for this video. Thank you guys so much for watching. The square body is running and driving just fine. So, word of advice, if you're going to be up in the mountains for more than like two days, I would just recommend uh me messing with your air fuel mixture. If not, if you're just going over an overpass or something for the day, you're fine. Thanks for watching. Like, subscribe, do all that YouTube stuff. Bye.