low budget mods?

I just bought an 87 2200 ext cab its quite the fixer upper its having trouble idling it smokes pretty bad when I start it but stops after its running i had to idle it up just to keep it running i love this truck but im new to this where is a good place to get parts and mods and anybody have any ideas about this idling problem the smoke is blueish grey i was told it was the rings and that as long as it stops its not a major problem. i want to make this truck into something nice but im working with a low budget. i want to lower it this site helped me with that blocks and torsion bars huh cool

did you crank or index the torsions? Get a weber carb from what I been reading on here....hunt around and find a good deal on one...I have seen from $250 to almost $500!! I wouldnt pay the $500 obviously. Rebuild kits izzzz CHEEEEP for these trucks. Everything on em seems pretty easy to deal with.

i havent lowered it yet whats the difference? I read that you loosen the torsion bars

if the smoke is going away it sounds like the valve steam seals are getting worn. not going to affect performance but its not too difficult of a task to change them. A weber carb would for sure be the first mod if you live in a area that doesn't do emissions testing. this also allows you to remove all that junk under the hood associated with the stock carb, that also causes more problems than solves sometimes. If you keep your eye out you can get a weber much less than $200 but you just have to dig. also this carb will bump up your mpg's

ok ive got in the motor a little bit and noticed that the choke on my stock carb isnt even hooked up ive seen alot of talk about webbers and i dont have 300$ to get one yet so i have to make do the plug has an adapter like it has a particular place to go i looked at the alternator and there is no room on it to put it there so where can i put it I heard also the coolant sensor but when i looked at it i did not see any male end that would match my adapter also i tried to splice into the wire and it pulled out of the socket could this cause the gadge to read wrong because now my truck is running hot

update ive lowered the truck i crank the torsions and intstalled 3" blocks not quite as low as i wanna go in the back though i think the idling problem was just that the truck needed to be drove because it sat up for a long time ive change sparki plugs distributer cap oil truck is running good but still cant burn rubber yet its getting me around though ill get some pics when I get some more stuff done to it

good job so far
if you want it lower, take the rear suspension apart again, and pull out the leaf spring with the clamp that holds the spring pack together, if you have bumpstops on the axle, you should cut them down so there slightly higher then the thickness of the U bolt so u can have more travel, if you dont have any then i wouldn't worry.
and for the front, crank the torsions down more, and trim the bumpstop, that is a must, but it'll most likely break off the bracket, so what you can use is an energy suspension bumpstop, there are many to choose from, i just bought the thinest ones,
you can also flip the balljoints, the easiest way for me without disturbing the baljoint boot, is to just unbolt it , cut out the round hump on the control arm, and then bolt the balljoint on top of the control arm

cool i dont know how to post new topics on here so this is where i will be doing my posts i changed the front brakes and shocks this weekend it rides alittle better but still wants to bounce in the front when i hit a big bump and also i painted some accents on the dash like my bezzel and the trim around my shifter to match my paint on the outside looks pretty sweet im needing to know how to rmove the window handle the one on my passenger side somebody had the bright idea to put a wooden knob on it im also getting a new passenger side mirror today mines cracked

It's gonna ride like hell up front w/ just the torsion bars cranked down

well i dont have the money to get drop spindles so what else can i do i also dont have acsess to cuting torches or any kind of fabricating tool so if it cant be done with hand tools im screwed