It makes me wonder sometimes what people are thinking when they do certain things on their vehicles. The guy I bought my truck from has an excuse. He bought it, to sell it. He did some really good work with the truck. It has a new carburetor, a new fuel pump, fuel line, fuel filter, a new ignition box, intake and exhaust gaskets, wiper blades, etc.

Now for the strange part. If you're going to bother to do something, do the whole job. I burned a half tank of gas coming the 35 miles home. Why? The choke was never hooked up, so it was stuck on. The turn signals only worked sometimes because the switch had dirty connections, most of the vacuum lines were either unhooked and open or looped back to another vacuum source. The choke, idle, and choke idle were never set. The ignition box was never mounted, just laying on the fender well.

The exhaust is pieced together, but savable. I have to weld in a new intermediate pipe and tail pipe, then it'll be good. I also need to get a set of tires for it. That's about it. Some paint and body in the spring and this truck will be nice. It's tan right now with the chrome rocker moldings. The moldings are in good shape, so if anybody needs them, they'll be available. I'm thinking black and silver or blue and silver. Maybe a solid color. The interior is tan so if anyone has an idea for exterior color, let me know.

Since these truck look awesome as 4WD's, I may make a pre-runner out it to get the stance I like. Ok, I'm just rambling now. I'll stop.

 

It least it sounds like he did some good things, like no sawdust in the xmsn. Or a mess of stripped brake bleeder screws, it could always worse.

My truck PO put 3" FRONT blocks after he hit the oil pan with the pumpkin........

 

I might be interested in the rocker mouldings and any trim you may not want.

 

Well, I looked it over when I got there. I saw more good than bad, that's why I bought it. I only paid $1,000 for it, so I think I did pretty good. I sold my other dent for $1,200 with a bad engine and a missing tail gate. That truck had a lot of new parts too, though.

I'll message you when I pull the trim off, 'Bama. The rocker molding is the only trim on this truck. I didn't even get the narrow chrome for the dent. It makes the truck look weird.

I think I decided to put the 4WD springs and blocks under it to pick it up off the ground a little.

The worst modification I've ever seen was a 5" body lift done with PVC pipe. Or maybe the guy that stacked four blocks on top of each other, FRONT AND REAR! This truck is pretty tight as far as a 30 year old truck goes. I'm on my out to fix the exhaust now.

 

pvc pipe? you have to be kidding!? some people should never work on vehicles imo. sounds like you got a good deal for 1k. with a little tweaking and tinkering it will be a reliable truck

 

PVC pipe...WTH!!! Now that's a new one I haven't heard of, some people's kids, I swear.

 

I'm ready for inspection now! I guess I spoke too soon on this truck. The exhaust was rigged up pretty bad. I just cut it off at the trans crossmember. Get this, he used galvanized chain link fence post for exhaust pipe. clamped it to a glass pack and used electrical wire to tie it to the frame. The insulation on the wire was all melted from the heat. yay!

I had some 2 1/2" pipe, so I bought a 90 degree elbow and a hanger. I cut the glass pack out, welded up the elbow to one side, and a new intermediate pipe to the other. Then I notched the end and made my own adapter for the smaller exhaust pipe on the truck. The tail pipe comes out right in front of the right rear wheel. It's tight, doesn't leak, and is legal. Good enough. The horn was also missing, so I bought and mounted a new one.

Here's a couple pictures of what I'm working with. What a difference from when I brought it home a few days ago. It runs even better, and now the power steering works!

 

Slick ol truck and I am digging the finned rims and "Bigfoot", is the windshield crack going to pass?

 

Yeah, it's not in my "field of vision", so it's good. I'll replace it a little further down the road. Probably when I do the body work. I had to chuckle when I saw the footprint gas pedal. With the orange tinted bug-flector, the tube grill, and the aluminum running boards, all that was missing was the "Let's Boogie" license plate.

The bug-flector and the running boards didn't make it. I think the gas pedal and the tube grill may be terminal as well.

 

Mine had a tiny "bigfoot" installed in on the floorboard dimmer switch, I kinda like it.

 

I've heard them Bigfoots referred to as "Hippey pedal"... combined with the license plate frame, the rig couldda been called "period correct"!

Seriously, you're one brave dude for driving a rig with all the hack jobs that were on it. More power to you, bro.

Colors? Hmm. How about going subtle with a coffee (with milk) body color accented with chrome and black? Simple, understated, yet strong and refined. Check out some restored cars from the 30s and I think you'll see what I mean.

 

I keep looking through picture threads to get ideas. I'm not ruling browns and tans out. That way I wouldn't have to paint the inside of the cab. I want it to be nice, but it doesn't have to be a show truck. Burnt orange is in the running too. I just painted my Nova burnt orange metallic pearl and it looks great in the sun. Something with a little more orange would look pretty good too, I think. Anyone here is welcome to chime in with ideas. You can't hurt my feelings here.

As far as the "period correct" modifications go, they're all going to the recycling yard. The only thing I'm keeping is the wheels. I like them. Reminds me of the General Lee. ..........Hmmm, maybe hugger orange for the color? .........NAH!

 

Just making a few subtle changes so it doesn't look so bad as I drive it around. Someone spray bombed the headlight bezels so it looked like the truck had two black eyes......



So I took them out, sanded them and painted them silver. I think it looks tons better. Of course it accentuates the fact that my grill shell is pinched on the passenger side. I'll be on the look out for another '79 shell, or a whole '77 grill. I think the earlier ones look better.



I'll keep you guys up to date on the changes I make. This really isn't a build thread so much, just fixing up a clean solid old truck.

 

U gonna keep that tube grill? I don't really care for them too much. I like the stock grill much bedder, but to each his own. The truck definitely looks nice though. I like the color the way it is, but I am partial to those "creamy" colors.

 

I'm not sure on the grill. If I find a nice shell I'll try to find a nice grill. This shell was "modified" to accept the tube grill. It looks ok for now, but it's not staying in there. Like I said, I really want to put a '77 grill in it. The truck may end up tan and brown, but I don't know yet. I like the vehicle to tell me what they want to be, but she hasn't said anything to me yet. Once I bead blast the wheels and get the rear bumper and grill taken care of, I'll start to really look around the truck to see what color would best suit her.