Is the front of the 216 crank supposed to look like the picture? Plugs look ok? Has the bed been altered or is this the norm? Is there a good book or another forum out there for a Chevy Truck rookie?
Looks like it rusted out on the bottom of the front panel, very common on these trucks, then someone made a new brace. Easy fix. That is the crank damper bolt it also is used to crank start it. I'd ditch the 216 in exchange for a 54 and up pressure oiled 235 you will be much happier. Sent from my XT1585 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I think the 48 short block I have in the shed has the same setup to hand crank it. You would have to be a whole lot stronger than I am now to be able to hand crank one though. The plugs, probably running rich as Schwanke engines said and the farm and garden fix on the bed is just that. Someone's haphazard repair to keep it going. I participate a lot on this truck board. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=13 Good folks who are helpful for the most part and you will probably see a few names there that you see here. The 47/59 group ranges from serious restorers that like them show room stock to full on rodder/customizer and everything in between. I haven't found a really great book on working on these trucks and I have had mine since 1973. I'd highly suggest investing in a factory service manual (reprint of) that you can find on Amazon or Ebay That gives you step by step instructions written at a real basic reading level. The tech writers who originally wrote them did not assume that the mechanic working on the truck and reading the book as he went knew anything about the truck and the instructions are usually well detailed. The 47/54 assembly manual is real handy for fitting sheet metal and getting measurements but does not have one thing about the bed/box of the trucks in it. Here is a link to it on Amazon but you can find it on Ebay or some other vendors. https://www.amazon.com/1947-1954-Chevrolet-Factory-Assembly-Manual/dp/B00BGB7FXC That link also shows the shop manual but there are year specific ones if you hunt a bit. Well spent money because it will answer a lot of questions and if you ask on one of the boards who ever gives the answer for a stock truck question will refer to it anyhow You can download a free copy of the owners manual here http://freeshopmanual.com/downloads.php?cat_id=1&rowstart=15 That will give you the basics of operation and how things work
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