potential project need some advice
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Freshman User
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 26
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From: coldlake Alberta
yes this will be my first vehicle older then 89. i have driven a few 70's trucks but not for long periods of time. and i would like to get something that is in running driving condtion but up here in canada esspecialy in my area of alberta it is extremely hard to find a decnet non running truck more over a running driving one. all the ones that run here are old work trucks and the bodies are completely shot and anything with a solid body has a siezed or blown engine. and up here people think things are worth a whole lot more then they are so a $500 truck in texas or someplace else down in the states is a $2000 truck here and thats if you can find one there is alot less of these trucks up my way then accross the border. i would buy one in the states and bring it up but i would lose all i save getting it through customs. so thats my pickle either a get a running truck with a shot body or a good body with a blown engine. and i need to think of my budget for now i cant spend $2000 on a truck that i still need to restore alot on.
Elder User
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 562
Likes: 1
From: Texas
yes this will be my first vehicle older then 89. i have driven a few 70's trucks but not for long periods of time. and i would like to get something that is in running driving condtion but up here in canada esspecialy in my area of alberta it is extremely hard to find a decnet non running truck more over a running driving one. all the ones that run here are old work trucks and the bodies are completely shot and anything with a solid body has a siezed or blown engine. and up here people think things are worth a whole lot more then they are so a $500 truck in texas or someplace else down in the states is a $2000 truck here and thats if you can find one there is alot less of these trucks up my way then accross the border. i would buy one in the states and bring it up but i would lose all i save getting it through customs. so thats my pickle either a get a running truck with a shot body or a good body with a blown engine. and i need to think of my budget for now i cant spend $2000 on a truck that i still need to restore alot on.
So....if you have an overall budget of $2K and can get into this truck for under $500 you should be ok as long as the thing isn't just ate up bad with rust.
For the short term, locate a running engine that will drop in place with no modifications....have someone with some decent engine skills help you with the swap and get it running (preferably all in the same session).
Then you can drive it and improve it over time.....replacing panels, improving the brakes, etc, etc, etc.
At that point, you can also tear into the old engine and see if it's terminally hurt. If it's not, you can have it rebuilt at some point down the road and drop it back in it's old home. Then you'll have a fresh engine in a truck that, by that time, has also had some other work done on it and you'll really start to have something special (and from the way it sounds....unusual for your area).
But the real key is that you'd be driving it that whole time...and enjoying it instead of staring at some hulk sitting outside.
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Freshman User
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 26
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From: coldlake Alberta
thanks for the advice shortwide, i can see where you are coming from and agree but my whole thing is that this would be a long project and i dont mind it just sitting there and me doing a little work here and there to it. it will need a safety inspection before i am able to insure it here anyways so i will need to fix it up before anyway. plus i already have 2 vehicles insured in my name and i live in a semi-isolated area so everything is more exspensive on a privates wage things are tight some months and i just cant add onto that with another insurance payment. but i am not the type to lose intrest i tend to get over interested in something and wont leave it alone until it is done. so my plan was to get it home and this summer work on the body and such in my driveway then in the fall i will go to the auto club we have on base here and do all the stuff i will need hoists and jacks and all the stuff a shop has that way by next summer when i get my promotion and go up a pay grade i will have something nicer to drive around while i finish the smaller things.
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