Well, after a couple years of sitting in the driveway my '66 project is back in action. Right after I got it had some medical issues and such and wasn't able to work on it.

Now I'm back to a point where I can spend some time and money on it. It's in probably very decent to good shape now. I just can't decide on where to start what first.

Driveability and safety formost on the list. The appearance issues outside of a couple bad rust spots will have to wait I think. A friend owns a garage and we're going through it next week and making a punch list so we can prioritize everything. What i need done professionaly, what I can do, etc.

I love this forum, and have many questions already, but am going to catch up on threads first and maybe the search function will come back so I can look before asking the same question over and over.

Here's a basic breakdown if anyone is interested.

basically find a 73-79 as a donor truck, lol.

240 I-6 with 3 on tree. Would prefer an auto tranny with a 302. It burns some oil and leaks some. not bad, it doesn't drip on the driveway, but you can see where it has seeped and it does SMOKE. Maybe a rebuild of the 240 and i'd like to slap a C6 on that if possible. I hate changing gears, especially with the manual steering.

Manual steering. This needs to change, but from previous post i remember finding the right pump, and brackets for the right motor and fittings some have had nightmares.

Brakes. manual no power or boost. drums all around. they work well, power disc not a huge priority. If the donor truck had them though would snag everything i could.

Suspension. Could use new shocks and probably new polyurethane bushings all around. Clean it up what I can reach and put some zero rust and chasis black on it.

Body. Worst rust spots are at bottom corners of the windshield, one loos to have rusted under the windshiled and it has that white haze on the inside. needs new glass and weather stripping all around. Some surface rust, nothing to major except the spots montioned. A little elbow grease, zero rust, primer and it'll hold until a new paint job is in order. A couple place in the bed need attention. A slightly custom bent front bumper and fender shouldn't be too had to rectify.

Interior is in good shape, this can all wait unless I stumble across an A/C.

Wheels and tires, gonna stick with whats there for now, 15's on used rubber. No more than it gets driven is most economical. Would like to move up to some 16's with a nice tire after all is done.

Overall nothing too major so far i don't think.

Anyway love the site, good luck to all on their projects.

John

 

Hi John, Looks like a 73-79 donor with 302 auto would take care of most of your concerns. Find a 78/79 Lariat and you could score a tilt wheel column to boot.

Take your time, the donor can be found without a lot of cost, you might be able to sell parts that you can't use like I did for more than you paid for the donor.

I would recommend that you find a complete new aftermarket AC system. The new rotory compressors use much less energy to run them than the older ones did.

Good luck.

John