Tune up?

69gmc · July 12, 2005

Ok, so I will be picking up my 1969 GMC 1/2 ton short step on friday, and i plan to do a full tune up. It only has 78k miles, but i need to know what the best parts are to use. What oil is best? Synthetic? what filter? I plan on changing coolant, but the stuff i have should work. What sparkplugs do you guys use? what wires? its a 350 V8 Also, how hard is it to change fuel filters on these? and where are they located stock?

thanks in advance.

Steve

fortop · July 17, 2005

I'm no mechanic, but I have owned several old Chevy pickups. Assuming you are also not a mechanic, here are my suggestions:

1) The most important thing is genuine Belden brand spark plug wires. Accept no substitutes. Change them out one at a time so they don't get crossed. NAPA carries this brand - but make sure they are genuine Belden brand. I think these have a lifetime warranty, but keep the old wires in case you have to take the Beldens back in for replacement - you will have something to keep the wires oriented correctly on the truck.

2) Buy the plugs on sale at Autozone, Checkers, etc. Champions or AC are what I usually get.

3) I have been using Walmart oil (less than $1 per qt. and has been the best I have ever used - no oil consumption on my old 454.)

4) Change the air cleaner element, PCV valve and small breather element. Any brand is OK - look for sale at Autozone, Pep Boys, Checker, etc.

5) Oil filter - genuine AC has been my previous choice, but are hard to find in the big standard 1 QT size. For my last change I used a Fram oil filter, middle of the line with a nice black coating on the end - made installation easier - I like it better than AC and it was on sale at Walmart cheap.

6) Buy a good Big manual grease gun at Autozone, Pep Boys, Checker, and a few general purpose tubes of grease. Stay away from the mini guns - they don't have enough force to pump well. Check the front pages of a Chilton manual (scan off the rack at Autozone or ask them to print a schematic for you) for all of the grease zerk locations. Don't forget the u-joints, center carrier, etc. Don't over pump the zerks - you can create a crack in the old rubber boots on the ball joints, etc. Just pump enough until the boots start to bulge out. Just grease a few times a year and you will be OK.

7) Unless you have the tools and knowledge, take the truck to a good mechanic after you have done all of the above to put it on an engine analyzer (scope).

Should only be about $20-$30 to get an opinion on the engine condition and have the carburetor adjusted. If he says the distributor is OK - leave it alone. If not, get his opinion on distributor replacement - consider upgrade to electronic (pointless) ignition. This could be $250-$500, so don't do this unless your distributor is completely shot. You can limp along with a weak distributor for a long time for that kind of $$. You might want to ask him how much he wants to just install new points, rotor, condensor and set the timing on the original distributor. You can put these parts in for about $10, but will have to go back to a mechanic to have the timing/dwell set accurately later.

8) Unless you have an inline fuel filter, let the mechanic replace the filter. If the filter is located in the inlet nut of the carburetor it is best to leave it to the mechanic. It is easy to strip these nuts and cause big trouble for your carburetor.

9) If you have not done so, I recommend taking the truck in for a free brake inspection at a brake service facility. Don't let them sell you drums or rotors - get them online at an aftermarket supplier - will cost about 1/3 their price.

10) If the truck is running good after all this, consider a good set of tires, especially if you are driving on the highway a lot. Around town you can nurse old tires for quite a while, but at high speed bad tires can cost you your life. Keep your old tires. In case your truck turns out to be a lemon, you can sell the new tires for some recovery of cost - you won't get anything more for selling the old truck with good tires.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck.