1979 C10 250 l6 engine, Column shift 3 Speed, no power anything, very little rus

[DanInMichigan]

I've had the truck in the garage since late fall.  The column is tired.  I'm probably going to pull the saginaw and column and trade it to zieg85 for an automatic column, turbo 350c and a driveshaft.  I've been working on the engine getting it ready for the road.  Got her fired up, in the process of changing the heater hoses, radiator hoses, and radiator.  The radiator hoses still had GM ink stamped on them.  Put a new starter on it too because the old one was dead.

I'm interested to see how it drives with the straight 6.  It will be my first one, in any type of vehicle that I have owned.  It is equipped with the integrated head and a vara-jet carb.   Anyone here driven a vehicle with this type of carb?  What did you think?  I hope to use this as my daily drive during the summer.

Do they still sell sliding rear windows for these trucks?  Mine is a regular non-slider.  I'm thinking it might be nice to have that airflow in the summer.

[zieg85]

Had the very same truck in the GMC version.  The six did fine, wasn't anything that would turn a tire but it did a decent job.  Mine had an annoying exhaust leak at the head and with broken bolts I just left it.

[DanInMichigan]

How long did you have it and how many miles did you put on it?  What kind of mileage did it squeeze out?

Dan

[zieg85]

Drove it about a year, just basic running 2-3K miles.  Never checked mileage, speedo didn't work.  Sold it to my brother in law who drove it another year.  He roasted the clutch and we put an auto in it, same as you are doing.  This was 96-98 or so when gas prices were not too much of a concern, sorry.

[bake74]

     They still sell the rear sliding window, and yes it helps to have air flow if you are like me and like the windows down most of the time.  That is unless it's 90+ outside, then it's AC time if you got it.