My truck looks pretty good covered with snow. A closer look reveals that both headlights are gone, the right fender is smashed, the grille is really bent and ready to fall out, the hood does not fit correctly, both doors are sprung, the front springs are broken, and the bed has been replaced with a wooden bed. The good news is that most of the parts are there.
The truck had been sitting in a field since 1986. It had a Buick 350 installed, but the motor was locked. Since I was going to spend the next two weeks there, I had visions of getting it running and driving it 200 miles home. After a couple hours with a cheater pipe on a breaker bar, I got the motor freed up. I squirted oil into each cylinder and cranked the starter until it was turning nice and easy. The carburator was frozen closed so I replaced it with a Quadrajet from my son-in-laws 'maybe' pile. Now I've got spark and gas, it should start. NO WAY. After spending a few more days trying to get it to start, we decided that it would get a trailer ride to its new home. I decided to check out a few more details. Both front springs were broken at the hanger eyes. The Buick 350 was mounted in a homemade frame that was not welded and missing most of the bolts needed to stabilize it. Looks like a good canidate for a clip job. The gas tank reaked of varnish, after I drained it and added new gas, I found that the tank was full of pinholes. One of the rear wheels kept locking up whenever we moved the truck. When I pulled the drum I found the the linings had come unglued from the shoes. Some one had put an early 60's Chevy car rearend in the truck and had not done the spring perches to my liking. The drive shaft angle was not right either. It is a good thing I couldn't get the motor running, I would have driven it home even with all those things wrong.
That Saturday we loaded the truck on a trailer, pulled it 200 miles to my house, unloaded it and then drove back to my daughters house. The thumbs up we got from other drivers while towing the truck down the interstate reaffirmed that this was a good thing.
Once I got back home, I cleaned out enough space in the garage for Blue and rolled her in. I had spent too many cold days on a cold cement floor fixing vehichles in my youth. My garage is heated now. This meant that I could take my time a do this my way. I removed the front fenders, hood, and grille. This gave me great access to the Buick 350. It also showed me how much cancer the truck had. The floor was pretty much gone, inner and outer cowl on both sides were just big holes, and the cab mounts had rusted away. Well, OK, I wanted a project truck anyway. Over the next few weeks I kept trying to get the Buick to start. I pulled the front timing cover and found that the timing chain and gears were OK. Went through lots of either, finally decided that it was time to find another motor.
When I lifted the hood, I was happy to see the V8. I did not realize that getting it running would be an exercise in futility. I wish I could have saved the Quadrajet,but the throttle plates would not move. It was also a 1974 model, which means that it was emmission style and not really a good one. The wiring is a fire looking for a place to happen. The fender to firewall braces are missing. Check out the angle on the steering column u-joint, The steering worked very well even with the offset.
My son-in-law races in a type of demolition race. They strickly use big block Fords in early 70's Ford bodys. When they buy these cars, many have 351 Cleveland or Winsdor motors in them. A 351 is not a 460, so they don't want these motors. When I mentioned this to him, he said that he would not be any part of me putting a FORD motor in a Chevy truck. He did say that he had a very tired 350 car motor and transmission that I was welcome to as long as I new that a rebuild was needed. He also told me that he had located a 1974 Pontiac Firebird that he could have just for getting rid of it. There is my front clip. He told me that he new someone that wanted the car rearend under my truck and would I consider trading it back to him for the Firebird clip and rearend. Sounded like a good deal to me.