I received a couple of emails regarding the last post, especially about the comment of the transmission swap from a 3 speed to a TH350 automatic. Just about everybody said, "What happened to the floor shifter that was planned?" Well, as with any project car or truck, as with life, things change.

The truck was a 3rd vehicle, up until about 2 weeks ago. My oldest daughter's vehicle blew it's transmission & she needs a little time to save up the $1600 to repair it. It's a newer electronically controlled overdrive unit that none of us have the expertise to do the job. So, my wife & I agreed to "loan" her my Nissan for a while, especially since it gets great gas mileage & she has to commute 44 miles a day. My job is less than a 1/2 mile away, so I walk to work almost all of the time anyways. So, with the truck now regulated to 2nd vehicle status, it needs to be good to go in case the Buick needs repair, etc. My wife knows how to drive a standard, but can no longer do so - thus the change in plan regarding the transmission. Plus it's been years since she's even had to consider "paddle" shifting, never mind the Saginaw has a 3.50 1st gear ratio that goes to a 1.89 2nd gear ratio. Couple that with a 3.73 axle ratio, a HD clutch... well, you do the math. Downshifting can sometimes be like a cool amusement ride!

Here's the list of repairs that we have done or are going to do for the sake of safety and driveability:
 - New battery
 - Replaced ball joints
 - Adjusted brakes for proper pedal travel & firmness (brake pads were put on backwards by a previous owner!)
 - Fixed horn & replaced busted horn button
 - Fixed wiper switch (just a loose connection)
 - Fixed fan switch & reattached cables behind heater / defrost panel
 - Replaced driveshaft center support bearing
 - Did LOF & tune-up
 - Will replace single plane intake (ugh!) with a dual plane unit
 - Will weld in new floor pans (both sides)
 - Replace LH window regulator
 - Replace door weatherstripping, both sides
 - Will swap out Saginaw 3 speed & column shifter for a TH350 w/ B&M floor shifter (along with all the related parts - from driveshaft to fluid lines to all necessary cables).

Here's a list of short-term future upgrades were planning:
 - Repaint or replace grille
 - Replace RH front fender
 - Fix or replace dash pad
 - Replace dash bezel (original one is hacked up)
 - Replace bench seat (unsure if it will be a bench or bucket seats)
 - Add carpet & headliner
 - Freshen up both interior door panels (plus one needs an armrest)
 - Add the full set of Auto Meter gauges we already have
 - Add a nice set of rims (I would love to put a set of Torq Thrust's on!)

A short list of plans that will happen, but are quite a ways into the future:
 - A full paint job, inside & out (we're leaning towards blue)
 - A more potent small block mill with nitrous
 - A possible 2" / 4" drop kit for the truck; although at this time I'm having a little difficulty swallowing the $600 - 700 in parts alone - and that is without drop spindles. If I do go that route, I'll also probably upgrade the suspension pieces to polyurethane components. Why not? it's only money :)

Man - where does the time go? It's hard to believe our last entry was 11 months ago. I sat back & thought about this for a few minutes thinking, "what the heck have I been doing?". Well, in short, (or not), here's the skinny...
 - Less than a month after acquiring the truck, my wife's van needed some work done to it... and then more work... then even more work! By July, and almost $1000 later, we determined this money pit was no longer worth having around. So, we sold the van. Of course she wanted something nicer, so I had to pony up even more cash to buy her a nice clean Buick.
 - In August, my youngest daughter announces that she's getting married - and they want the ceremony to be in June of 2008 (which is now less than 2 months away as I write this). Well, there's another $5000 at least. Yikes!
 - In order to help finance this latest chapter in her life, we decided to sell our 1970 Chevy Nova that has 52,000 original miles. The car needed some new tires anyways, so we put those on, did an LOF & tuned her up, and out the door she went in October.
 - It was November before we really had any time to work on the truck, but since it was going into storage by Thanksgiving, we decided to hold off on any serious work until spring. Unfortunately, I do not have a big enough garage to work in over the winter, so everything would be on hold until at least April. So, it she went for a long winter's nap. zzzzzzzzz

Finally, it's April. The snow has been gone for about a month, the days are getting warmer and longer & the C10 is out of storage. I had to pop in a new battery (needed one anyway) but the 350 fired right up with no smoke of any kind. The fuel stabilizer we put in worked wonders. We put in a few gallons of fresh premium fuel, took the truck out for a short drive & everything still seemed to be in order.

Time to get serious! The first thing we wanted to tackle was safety. A good friend of mine says there are three things that make up a daily driver - brakes, the horn, & a standard transmission. As long as you have 2 out of the 3, you're all good! Well, my wife doesn't agree with that senario, so we made sure the brakes, steering & suspension were all up to snuff. When we bought the truck, all 4 tires were practically brand new, so that problem was solved, but we also noticed that the truck needed ball joints bad! We were going to get these done back in early November, until we realized the C10 was still wearing the original ball joints from the factory! This really wasn't surprising, because the truck has less than 31,000 original miles. We didn't have the tools to get the job done since the originals have rivits or pins holding them on - not bolts.

We took the truck to a buddy's garage that had a lift (and to borrow some of his vast array of tools) & replaced all 4 in about 3 hours. We also gave the truck an LOF, fixed the horn, adjusted the brakes, changed the plugs and ordered a new switch so the backup lights would finally work. We thought we were almost home free when we took a good look at the bearing in the 2 piece driveshaft. Ouch! This thing was pretty worn out! So, we ordered one of those & will finish the work by weeks end. Then we can drive the truck with cofidence knowing we can stop, turn & stay on the road 100%.

What's next? We will weld in the new floor pans, replace the trashed horn button, deep six those stupid mirrors that block the vent windows from opening with some nice chrome ones, replace the LH window modulator (so the window rolls up & down like it should) and then comes a transmission swap to a TH350 automatic. Stay tuned!

We've already received a few emails from some people asking "what is restification" and "why this truck - you couldn't find an older truck or at least a step-side"?

We'll tackle these questions in two parts. First, what is "restification"? This phrase is a cross between the two terms of "restore" and "modification" and surfaced about 10-12 years ago when enthusiats grew tired of vehicles that were restored to the 100% factory look. Don't get us wrong - there's absolutely nothing wrong with going this route. However, I've talked to many owners of beautifully restored cars over the years and they all seem to long for a cool vehicle that they could just get in and drive. It would be a car or truck that didn't have tens of thousands of dollars invested in it. The vehicle would never have to be trailered and they wouldn't care if they got caught in a sudden summer downpour. In other words, no fuss, no worries, no big bucks.

With that thought in mind, that leads us to "why this truck". We didn't want to (nor could we) spend an arm & a leg on our next "toy", so we set our purchase price at $3000 max. We did look at several "older" trucks as well as a few step-sides. As far as the 1967-72 era of Chevy trucks, their popularity have driven prices through the roof. We found two in our price range, but both needed tremendous amounts of body work. We also checked out a couple of Chevy step-sides and even some short boxes from 1973-80 era, but we ran up against a wall of problems with each prospect. Trucks that were supposed to be "almost rust free" in fact had poorly done body work, or worse, had frame rot. Others needed more work than we wanted to take on - like the truck that had transmission cooler lines that ran very close to the engine & headers! Some sellers just weren't even breathing oxygen in regards to an asking price. We wanted to enjoy our latest project over the summer, not spend the next 5 or 6 months fixing it, only to have to put it away for the winter. Remember, this is not a "magazine" project or a Hollywood TV show where everything is done in a week or within a month. We also looked at some 67-79 Fords, but things didn't get any better. Pre-1981 Dodge pickups became out of the question, because we learned (at least in our neck of the woods) that parts for these trucks are rather hard to come by.

After a month long search, and who knows how many miles or gallons of gas, we came across the '79 Chevy while on the way to look at another truck. The owner just happened to be home, so we gave it a quick once over. The more we saw, the more we liked, especially when it came to price. One refreshing aspect was the seller actually knew what needed work & what was good. No stories or excuses. We came back the next day, gave it a more thorough inspection and test drive. We came to the conclusion we'd be nuts to pass this one up. Considering the condition of the truck, what had been replaced and rebuilt (the seller had documentation to back up his claims) and the asking price, we figured we could live with the 8' box and 3 on the tree. Another positive aspect to this purchase is that tons of parts are readily available and affordable through the after-market, at our local parts store or, dare we say, at the local junkyards.

Starting this weekend, repairs will begin in earnest. We'll add more entries (and hopefully pics) highlighting the progress. Talk to you next time.

Well, here we are again with another project on our hands! This time we'll be working on a 1979 Chevy C-10 Custom Deluxe long bed. Some of you may have remembered that we had been working on a 1967 Ford F-100 pickup for about 3 years, but over the past 9 months things had literally come to a stand-still. We lost our winter storage in March, nothing was being worked on and it seemed all our progress made on the rig was starting to take steps backwards. A guy offered us a resonable price for the Ford, so we bit.

    As mentioned earlier, we purchased the Chevy last week for $1100 and we feel it was a screamin' deal. The guy we bought it from had just relocated from South Carolina, no longer needed or wanted it & had to sell it in a hurry because his landlord was cranking on him to do so. The truck was purchased new in Georgia and spent its entire life down south, so it has never seen a New England winter. As such, the frame, underside, bed and 97% of the body is completely rust free. The only cancer we have to take care of is some very minor rust on one of the rear quarters and some minor floorboard repair due to a leak that has now been fixed. Did we also mention the truck has less than 31,000 original miles?! We even have a South Carolina title that has documented mileage of 28,400 as well as the original Georgia title.

   The interior needs some freshening up, but it's nothing major. In fact, the interior is the worst part of the rig requiring the most work. It needs a headliner (original one is missing), dash pad (current one is cracked but possibly repairable), carpet (all it had was a cheap rubber floormat) instrument bezel (original was hacked up) as well as a few other minor details. We will also convert the manual 3-on-the-tree shifter to a floor mounted Hurst unit. We will repaint the truck eventually but it will be a different color. One of the previous owners went to town priming this truck for paint, but obviously the plans changed suddenly and they shot a quick coat of enamel on its flanks to protect it.

   Other plusses are a rebuilt 350 engine with lots of new parts including a Griffin aluminum radiator and Hedman ceramic coated headers. The tires, brakes, and 90% of the suspension are all good. We have to replace a few minor components however. The biggest plus of all, is the fact that it runs & drives 100%. The seller even delivered the truck for us at a distance of 80 miles with no problems. That means, we can drive the truck while we fix it up!

   All things considered, we feel we got a true bang for the buck vehicle. $1100 buys squat these days in regards to automobiles, especially vehicles that qualify for antique status. Most need tons more work and money than what we have ahead of us.

   We have a plan of attack for this truck, but are always open to other ideas. This truck will be a true dual-purpose driver - in other words, nothing crazy or radically expensive. It's going to be very real world. No poser lift kits or ground scraping lowering action. No 22" wheels or extreme g-machine stuff. We'll save that for the west coast magazines to do.

   First, we're going to tackle the repairs so the truck can take another valid state inspection. Then we'll tackle items in regards to easier driveability and more balanced performance. Last, will come the interior and paint. One thing we haven't come up with yet is a name for this truck. Every project we've ever tackled has always had a nickname. We'll let you know how we make out. Stay tuned!