Cookin' with gas, but no fire

Billy came over yesterday and we hooked up my battery and tried to get Big Red to turn over. The truck cranked, and the starter was willing, but no fire. We checked the headlights since the starter sounded a bit week, and they were on but faint. We decided that charging my new battery would be a good idea, since it might have sat on a shelf at the store and lost some of its charge. If you remember my Father bringing a bunch of tools last weekend, one item he brought was a 6 volt trickle charger. So, an overnight charge later, and we tried again this morning. Unfortunately, it was the same story. The battery was stronger, and the headlights were nice and bright, but the engine didn't want to fire. Time to check the spark plugs and wires.

While we were working on getting Big Red started, we looked over the carburetor, and noticed that it will need a rebuild. Some of the gaskets are in rough shape. I was able to find my rebuild kit a Carbs Unlimited, so add that to the "parts needed" list. I also need a larger size socket set to get to the spark plugs. Billy should be able to let me borrow those until I have my own.

Come on, start - please?

So that's where I'm at. Projects on my list for before Spring are:

• Rebuild the master cylinder. I still need the brake line wrenches before I can get this done.
• Remove the spark plugs and wires to either replace or at least check.
• Purchase carb rebuild kit and rebuild!
• Clean and polish the chrome and stainless steel parts that I've removed and moved to the basement.

Not a bad place to be after about a month and a half. Obviously, I'd like to have the master cylinder at least out, and the engine started, but for every step forward on an old vehicle, there are two steps back, right? The cold is definitely moving in, as the leaves are all orange or red or yellow, and we've already had two hard freezes here. I don't really have a timeline for when I'll be getting back to work on one of those four items on the list. Three of them require some sort of monetary expenditure, so they can't be checked off until the items are purchased.