Alright, here we go. Bought this 1973 to be a good little rig to take my daughter on some adventures in Colorado as she grows up. While I thought I did a decent job going through it beforehand I obviously missed quite a few things.
I was hoping to be able to drive it through the winter before tearing into it this spring with some updates, but last week while letting it warm up it started leaking coolant and upon further inspection I found oil in the coolant. So now its looking like an engine swap/rebuild and while I'm at it frame off and fix all the dumb s*** the PO did to it. At least he already put a 4sp tranny in for me, that's a plus. My daughter is only 3 so if I'm going to do a frame off now is the time to do it.
This is not and was never going to be a restoration. I want to be able to ding and scratch this truck up and not cry about it but just have fun getting to some fishing spots. So the questions for you guys are:
Should I buy a replacement F and rebuild the original as a spare? Reliability is the chief concern.
Buy a 2F and do the conversion?
I was hoping to be able to drive it through the winter before tearing into it this spring with some updates, but last week while letting it warm up it started leaking coolant and upon further inspection I found oil in the coolant. So now its looking like an engine swap/rebuild and while I'm at it frame off and fix all the dumb s*** the PO did to it. At least he already put a 4sp tranny in for me, that's a plus. My daughter is only 3 so if I'm going to do a frame off now is the time to do it.
This is not and was never going to be a restoration. I want to be able to ding and scratch this truck up and not cry about it but just have fun getting to some fishing spots. So the questions for you guys are:
Should I buy a replacement F and rebuild the original as a spare? Reliability is the chief concern.
Buy a 2F and do the conversion?