2x! It took me years to finish my build. I started when I was 16 an I finished with everything when I was 20. But, granted I didn't have and kids to raise and I was living in a rental house my grandpa owns so I didn't have a house payment. I had money to go around. I almost sold it MANY MANY times but here I am 11 years after I started it and I'm so glad I stuck with it. Even though I know I will never get my moneys worth out of it I'm just glad its not sitting in a junk yard some where.

 

I know that feeling all too well, I probably have about 3-4K into my truck (not including purchase price), but all that money is in the motor, and other misc. mechanical parts...the truck still "looks" like a 2K truck to others, but I know otherwise, i'll give it away before I sell it.

 

No the problem is my Dad in one of his drunken rants told me he was going to sell it. And if he sells it lord knows I won't get any of the money I put into it. So ill sleep on what I'm going to do.

 

Same here, I'll never get my money back out of it but it's appraised at $18,500 so that's comforting..........

 

Ahhh. Well why does he want to sell it??

 

I pissed him off and we might be having to move... again... for the fifth time in four years... It might wear off when he resobers up. Who knows he might be a kiss a** like he always is after he does something stupid like this.

 

Wow. That really sucks! I'm sorry bud. Just try to keep it out of your mind and try your best to get it done. Is he saying you can't keep it because its not drivable or is it just the liquor?

 

Long story. Its a bit of both. It'd be a pain to drag a truck with no interior across town, but its more the alcohol. Life happens. But he wonders why I'm chomping at the bit to get out of here for college.

 

I hear ya. Things like this happen, all you can do is sit back and let it pass. More than likely everything will pan out and you will be fine. If all else fails there are always more opportunities to build a truck.

 

Well in light of tonights events I decided I was going to come up with a build plan that will still let me be happy with her throughout senior year, be affordable enough to finish by the beginning of senior year and not kill me if it does get sold. I'm finishing the interior as planned. Too far done with it to stop now.
The 390 is going to get a gasket overhaul, some cool valve covers, a ford blue Holley 4160, twin electric fans, a dist recurve, a bit of ignition upgrades and a cab exit exhaust. The C6 will get flushed and a shift kit added. The Dana 60 will get new rear end lube and gaskets. I'll be flushing the radiator at the same time as well. I'll be putting on rear disc brakes for a bit of peace of mind. And maybe a little RV cam or something with a little rump rump. All together it should only cost 450-500 to get done, and give me a good solid mechanically driving truck.

 

There ya go. Since you are a high school student there is no need to do a lot of things to it. Just as long as it is mechanically sound and looks decent you should be alright. Then, when you get out of school you can do whatever you want to it. Maybe even get your hands on a 4wd frame and swap over the body since your truck looks to have a rally good body on it.

 

Yeah its pretty solid for a Kansas truck. I've seen mid 80s models with more rust on them than she has. I have come to the realization that a cougar or crown Vic will be the best thing to get for college and let the truck chill in Kansas. There's no reason to dump 3000 into a truck that may or may not be sold and will only be used for about a year before I ship out to college. So I'll just build something that can do good burnouts, pull boats, and have fun with.

 

There ya go! That seems like a smart way to go after it. Plus, a cougar or a crown vic will get better fuel mileage than that hog lol.

 

Like mudrat said, get it driving down the road safely, and then worry about it. Doing anything more gets challenging. The balance of time, money, and motivation (maybe throw decent weather in there?) is always fracked up.

Just look at my project. I'm a Junior in high school, freshman in college, and working at a NAPA store. My '79 sits with nothing being done to it about 8 months out of the year. Only time I can really devote to it is during the summer when I'm out of school, and then I'm limited to how much my wallet can cough up. I've been working on stripping the truck down to the frame for almost a year because whenever I'm not in school I'm either working, doing homework, or too tired to do anything.

So long story short, keep it simple! Good luck man


-Jameson

 

So I got a lot of small projects done today. I got my wheels painted up in black, the hubcaps cleaned up, the tape off of the truck and the dash is halfway painted. I'll be posting pictures ... Except I forgot my laptop charge cord. So I'll be posting them on my phone...slowly...if it lets me