I picked up this fall a 83 Parts truck for my 85 truck. This has a decent fixable truck box. The truck was totaled 15 years ago. Then sat and some parts were removed. The intake and carb of the 351 HO eng. are gone .
The box has some dents and minor rust. The back left corner is worst for rust.



The right side looks good, but pics are deceiving.



The damage from accident The frame is bent badly.


The left side of box has some damage from accident. But the wheel well is not rusted.


This is the worst spot of rust on the box


The right side looks good but there is some damage near the top of the box that needs work.


The right wheel well is starting to rust through. It will get a patch on it.


My 85 will come together some year soon now.

 

Looks like it was a darn nice truck before the accident, there's lots of good parts so you should be well on your way. I`m looking forward to seeing your 85 back on the road.

 

It is on the road. I'm just afraid of those spot checks in the warmer weather. Make me fix it before I can get to it at a bigger cost that I just do not have the coin for it now.
Nice to have half the front replacement parts ready to go on.Now to get the right side suspension parts off the other parts truck and paint them with Pour 15. Then I can go to town on the truck.
This will provide a box and the intermittent wiper system for my truck. It has cruise. I may see if I can put that on my 85 also.

 

As soon as you get your 85 on the road again we`ll have to have a Chapter get together again.

 

Looks pretty good for that year, Lucky it has been sitting for so long and missed out on the salted roads.

 

Looks like a decent score. Little bit of work and youll have that 85 of yours all rust free and ready to rock and roll and pass those inspections!

 

Inspections on the 85 are needed?

 

No not yet. It has not been in any accidents except what the farmers son did to it before I bought it. Just my 85 is getting rust spots and the multiple fender colors makes it a target for the spot checks when they have them. The checks would probally pick it apart and say it is unsafe just because it is old looking. I want to get more things fixed on it like suspension and diffy and my rusty box. My cab just started to rust on the back corners. So when i change the box i will also fix the cab.
There are a few things on the truck that would just make the spot checks wanting me to do a total rebuild before I can fully afford to finish it. I can afford a little at a time now.

 

Yeah thats what I was meaning, if ya ever got pulled into an inspection it would pass!

 

My impression is that if they don`t find anything wrong they`ll still hassle someone with an older vehicle.

 

Yes they do hassle older car owners. Especially trucks that look like mine. Does not matter if they see signs of it being worked on or mechanically good shape or the body is still decent.
They have flagged guys vehicles for inspections because they have ome loonie size rust hole.

 

I dont agree with the flagging guys for a loonie sized rust hole, but in reality who do we expect them to pull over? Brand new vehicles?

As most of us in here try our best to keep vehicles up to par, there are probably ten times the amount of people that drive vehicles that let them drive till they drop. As much as I hate the inspections, I totally get why they have them, and why they choose older vehicles with rust.

 

One of the guys that does these inspections is a car salesman for a dealership. He admits several salesmen do these inspections. I find that a conflict of interest. They are hoping to pull cars off and help them to sell cars.
I even proven to him the new cars have holes in them from the factory under the side moldings. Especially the back bumpers where the air vents are hidden to help with air pressure in the car when you close the door and A/C flow. It is a rubber flapper vent. The rubber gets distorted real quick.
Their arguement is the Loonie size hole lets exhaust gases in the car. So does the flapper vent under the bumpers. But they get away with it by not revealing that part to the public.
Have a look under the bumper usually on the side is a 4 x4 rubber vent. this is soft material for air to flow through. These get damaged from mud and such reaching it. Over time the rubber distorts from a stone caught in it and eventually falls one thus leaving a fin distorted. Now it too lets exhaust fumes in.

Granted I agree some vehicles should be pulled. I seen my share of the badly rusted one get pulled. I got two here as parts cars. Yes they definitely needed to be off the road. My 85 has mostly surface rust now. Which I hope to nip in the butt soon.
I herad too they are now pulling trucks off for rusty boxes. They did not before. Only if the passenger compartment structure was being comprimised.

 

Totally agree with ya Glen about the conflict of interest.

Rust on the box seems silly as well. If these inspections are getting that brutal, maybe they should quit salting the roads. That would increase accidents by many, and SGI would in turn shell out much more then they make, hence be unprofitable. They would raise the prices so no one would be able to afford to drive, but people still would. Mass chaos would ensue, and people would revolt!

Ease up on the inspections is really the only solution haha.

 

Using abit of common sense for safety inspections would be a good idea.