The truck sat there for who knows how long.
The dust layer getting thicker.
The price kept going lower and lower, week after week.
Finally it was tagged to be towed and he gave up, and in an apparent fit of frustration put a huge "FREE TRUCK" sign on it.
He was now willing to meet my price!

Why "FREE" you might ask.

1: I does not run, and when it did it overheated in less than 5 miles as it blows all the coolant out so it must be a cracked block or head. His estimate for a new engine @ $1000+

1a: Five minutes under the hood to fix a few vacuum leaks and adjust the carb/choke, install a thermostat and gasket, and I drove it home!
A pressure test cold as well as hot shows it was only a bad thermostat causing it to overheat and the steam to blow out the coolant.
It will need a carb overhaul kit and to replace some, well, all the vacuum hoses.
Change the filter and oil, did he ever change it, I wonder, but the oil pressure shows good.


2: The trans is stuck in 1st gear as he ran it low on lube and, the shifter is broken in an attempt to pull it out of first after it seized there and the clutch hydraulic system is shot.

His trans estimate @ $1900+ parts and labor
Mine @ $600-$800 from a junk yard, double that anywhere else.

2a: Ok, it was SCREAMING like a pro stocker hell bent for the finish line in 1st gear as I flew (well it sounded like I was flying) down the FWY @ 45 mph!
First off, junk the manual trans.
Get a C6 core with a flex plate, linkage and yoke from a wrecking yard,
Ill need an overhaul seal kit, but I have one left over along with an E4OD low gear set and I also have the fluid, in line filter, trans cooler as there is none in the stock radiator, but I will need a shift kit.
Overhaul it myself labor @ $0
Parts and what not so far @$287.29 without the shift kit or converter.
New heavy duty low stall torque converter @ $115 furnace brazed fins and roller bearing, or $275 for the one I wish I could have built, DOHH!
Total est for the trans alone is $452
but I built an $850 500HP trans with 6 forward friction plates and 5 direct friction plates, with an E4OD 4 pinion planetary low gear set and a 2.97 inch servo piston.

Now all I need is to upgrade the 460 engine to match, someday.

The floor shifter, and I'm thinking a Lokar adjustable non cable safety lockout type trans mounted street rod shifter that adjusts to comes up through the stock hole in the floor) $175 or so.
Shifter cover from wrecking yard $? should not be much.

Lets just assume the brakes need an overhaul as I doubt he changed the fluid and it is low, and that is usually weeping wheel cylinders as old fluid sucks moisture out of the air and it usually ends up rusting the rear wheel cylinders, shoes pads and machining, (but they might not need replacing I have yet to look) and fluid.

So I get a $3500 1985 Ford F-250 truck with bed liner and lumber rack with side tool box mount for a little work, well a lot of work?

And the S. O. and her veto vote live so far away that I have been out to see her once this year?
How could I say no?
Besides, I needed a truck anyway, didn't I?

 

mint.

 

The interior stinks of gear oil and tobacco and it needs a wash bad!
But what can you expect for that price.