Update. Today was test drive day, but before that I wanted to check the timing again with my light. Turns out the timing was way advanced, I think when I put the light on it last time, I thought I was seeing the timing mark but I wasn't. It was running like 16 degrees advanced. Set it back to 12 and what do you know, fixed the hot start problem, cranks right up now and runs better. I suspected this was the problem. So victory there. I got 2 drops on the ground last night no bigger than a dime each so, victory there. Not quite sure where they are coming from. One drips off the starter and one off one of the tranny cooler lines. Ideas? They are so small i'm not concerned with them at the moment. Going to move on to some other stuff first like a holley carb and new back tires. The only other thing I noticed today driving the truck was that its ticking under load. If its in park and I rev it I can't hear it but if you put it in drive you can hear it while accelerating and idling. It could very well be as simple as an exhaust leak because I reused the header gaskets, though they are only a few weeks old. Also could be a rocker arm tapping, I haven't investigated but there weren't any ticks before I pulled the engine. Ideas on what to check first? Overall its running strong and sounds good. Oil pressure is normal. Im happy. One more question, this may sound stupid but am I ok to still run 87 octane gas? Or should I run 93? My first thought was that to low octane fuel may be causing the ticking but that may be a far shot. Let me know what y'all think.
