jgalley

That being said, I did find a parts truck that happened to have new fenders so I'll probably ****** those if I can.

Steve83

I didn't say "new" anything. I'm not made of money, and very few parts on any of my vehicles are "new". But nearly everything has been replaced at least once, which is what I recommend to anyone with a vehicle in THAT bad of condition. Spending lots of time & money repairing parts THAT bad is not a wise investment, and will keep you from ever accumulating money, or having a reliable vehicle.

Look at this & the NEXT dozen pictures:


(phone app link)

How much time & money does it look like I spent?

jgalley

I'll reword my statement then: you'd get a replacement engine, get a replacement cab, get a replacement bed, get replacement fenders, get replacement doors. Even if there were a clean parts truck nearby with good parts that were free of rust the price for clean sheet here isn't going to be affordable. I have no clue how much you got for those parts seeing as the market varies from state to state... you couldve spent $100 to $500 or more. And seeing as your first suggestion was a complete replacement EFI engine, wiring harness, etc. I already think you've mentally set your budget for my truck higher than it is. You did read my original post that I got it for $300 right? If I wanted to spend a lot more than $300 I would've picked one up with a lot less rust damage (Also not running) for $1500, the next cheapest within a 3 hour drive.

I'm not trying to make the thing mint, this is a chance to learn new skills. Now are you going to be giving any useful advice? Or just advise me to empty my wallet and bend over and accept the shafting that is buying replacement body parts online?

FYI, I've spent $600 in total and she starts and drives. That's because I haven't wasted money on replacing every damn thing on here but rather fix everything I can.

tareed94

You weren't kidding about it being rough. Lol. Seems like a fun project though. If it's just gonna be a woods beater I'm not sure how much I'd mess with trying to fix body panels tbh.

Steve83

All my advice is useful. Just because you don't take it doesn't mean it's not useful. If you don't want it to look nice, then don't waste a dime or a minute on the body - just drive it until it falls off. By then, you may have enough money to replace those parts, or buy a newer truck. But the skill of repairing rusted-out sheet metal that can be purchased new for a fraction of the value of that labor is not a skill worth having or developing.

And I never told you to buy anything online. Being shafted is up to your personal preference.

jgalley

So humble. The advice has been pretty trash so far, anyone who doesn't know a thing about cars can tell you to buy new sh*t or get a better engine. And learning to weld thin metal cleanly isn't a good skill? Or how to shape metal? Who's to say a future project of mine will have the option of buying new sheet? Then that "skill not worth having" would come in handy. And if there were any places with a clean truck within driving distance why would I consider buying online? There's not a clean one in a junkyard or being parted out for hundreds of miles. I just drove 5 hours yesterday because I found clean fenders on CL, not planning on making a habit of that. Welcome to the rust belt. As far as the labor-value you're speaking of, some people actually enjoy working on their cars, there's no 'wasted time wasted money' when I'm wrenching.

I bought this truck because I wanted to work on every aspect of it, not because it was all I could get my hands on. I have a clean truck, and I have a project. If I wanted another clean truck I'd just have saved up to begin with. Besides, your truck isn't even a classic, it isn't a 1983. It's got a 90's body, 90's frame, and 90's engine and a bunch of sissy upgrades like heated seats. Get back to the right section of this forum and leave people who genuinely like the classics to do their thing.

jgalley

It's been a blast working on it, been keeping me busy after work since I moved. And yeah the only real reason I care enough to possibly try the patches is to get better at welding thin metals, because any failed attempts on this thing are no real loss, it's perfect as is for the woods.

tareed94

Makes sense to me! Might as well practice on this thing, because like you said, if it doesn't look 100%, it's not really a big deal. If you wanted to really go crazy, swap the rear to a coil setup, cut the frame behind the rear axle to just behind the rear fender, and shorten the bed up. It'd give you a much better departure angle if you take it wheeling on anything major. If you wanted to go even further, move that axle towards the front, and shorten the bed in front of the fender as well. Get closer to a Jeep wheelbase. I want an old truck to just turn into an off-road machine that can rock crawl or hit the mud hole with approach/departure angles of a Jeep.

jgalley

Yeah that would be an awesome swap, any suggestions on swapping to coils in the rear if I do that? The rear leafs are pretty worn out and would benefit from being replaced anyway, so that's probably a good idea. And cutting the frame down to a short wheelbase, eh? That would be interesting to attempt, I've seen the guys on Hot Rod Garage do that, maybe I ought to give that a try if/when I set her up for crawling

tareed94

Not in the slightest. Haha. It's high level thinking at this point since I don't have a project to do that on. Sorry. Sounds like I sparked interest though. Haha. So I'll go ahead and apologize to your wallet and any family members for seeing less of you. Haha