Well, I did some work to get the truck tuned up. Advanced the timing a little, installed new spark plugs, plug wires and put a #6139 Thermoquad on it instead of the Holley. Seems to run pretty good! Off idle and cruise are OK. The one area that needs work is stabbing the gas from a roll. Put some richer primary metering rods in it, may need bigger secondary jets and more air door/spring tension tuning.

In any event, I drove the truck to work today (110 mi. round trip) and it performed great. Temp stayed at 180 the whole time, even in stop/go NYC area traffic. Oil pressure was steady enough not to worry about.

Frankly, the brakes are not that great. That being said, I doubt anyone in their right mind would expect a '70s D series with stock brakes, 15" wheels and a big block to stop like a modern vehicle. As mentioned already, the rears need to be adjusted. I tried briefly the other day to do it but I always struggle with that operation so I left it for another day. Might pop the wheels off this weekend and take a look at the rear drums to see what's what. Looks like the RR axle seal is a leaker so that will have to be taken care of.

The truck handles surprisingly well. I think the front sway bar makes a huge difference. Lowering the rear a bit it might make it even be better. It's not harsh or bouncy at all like my old '72 4xr4 was.

One thing that was sort of annoying was wind noise. With both windows open, it sounded like a hurricane in the cab. The passenger side window roller is too far to reach when driving so I had to deal with it for a ways until I could get to it. The L/F vent window is a little balky so I didn't mess with it.

All in all a good trip though. I'm stoked!