truthdetector
GOLD Star
First post, folks and I'd like to share the first major milestone of my 97 LC restoration project.
Bought this beauty at an online auction. The auction pics showed the engine running and it was classified as "run and drive", so I took a chance and flew to Indianapolis on a one-way ticket with the hope of driving it home ~200 miles. After calling AAA to get a new battery and topping up oil, water, and air at the nearest gas station, I hit the road. It was exciting.
Made it home with no issues! Found some service records in the glove box, and the most recent one was an estimate for fixing a coolant leak. The estimate was dated FIVE YEARS AGO and listed the same mileage as the odometer read when I picked it up. The truck had not moved on its own in 5 years! I assume the previous owner didn't want to fix it, put it in storage, then it eventually wound up at auction somehow - with a clean title.
Fixed the coolant leak for a few bucks by bypassing the rear heater so I could drive it around, but the plan was to eventually get it into my buddy's new shop and begin a full tear-down.
This weekend was the first major milestone of our work - we got the body lifted off the frame.
All the body bolts except the front two came out with no issues. The fuel tank didn't give us too much trouble, and we were super stoked when we got it lifted.
Next, we're going to trailer the body to another location, where I'll strip the interior in prep for taking it to a body shop for complete inside-and-out paint work. The driver's side rocker has some decent rust in the front and back, and a good amount of rust inside under the driver floor pan, all of which were probably caused by what appears to be a completely shot/missing steering shaft bushing.
While the body is off to the spa, me and the buddy are going to start taking apart the power train and sending things out for stripping, machining, powder coating, etc.
For a while, I was thinking of getting a crate LS power train, but ended up deciding to just rebuild this engine. Working on it and thinking of how the thing was so rock solid that I drove it 200 miles after it was sitting for 5 years made me really guilty about tossing the engine aside. So, no more LS-swap, we're going to do a rebuild and possibly add a supercharger if I can find one.
Although this is my first post, I have spent plenty of time on IH8MUD to get me to this point - so thanks everyone!
Bought this beauty at an online auction. The auction pics showed the engine running and it was classified as "run and drive", so I took a chance and flew to Indianapolis on a one-way ticket with the hope of driving it home ~200 miles. After calling AAA to get a new battery and topping up oil, water, and air at the nearest gas station, I hit the road. It was exciting.
Made it home with no issues! Found some service records in the glove box, and the most recent one was an estimate for fixing a coolant leak. The estimate was dated FIVE YEARS AGO and listed the same mileage as the odometer read when I picked it up. The truck had not moved on its own in 5 years! I assume the previous owner didn't want to fix it, put it in storage, then it eventually wound up at auction somehow - with a clean title.
Fixed the coolant leak for a few bucks by bypassing the rear heater so I could drive it around, but the plan was to eventually get it into my buddy's new shop and begin a full tear-down.
This weekend was the first major milestone of our work - we got the body lifted off the frame.
All the body bolts except the front two came out with no issues. The fuel tank didn't give us too much trouble, and we were super stoked when we got it lifted.
Next, we're going to trailer the body to another location, where I'll strip the interior in prep for taking it to a body shop for complete inside-and-out paint work. The driver's side rocker has some decent rust in the front and back, and a good amount of rust inside under the driver floor pan, all of which were probably caused by what appears to be a completely shot/missing steering shaft bushing.
While the body is off to the spa, me and the buddy are going to start taking apart the power train and sending things out for stripping, machining, powder coating, etc.
For a while, I was thinking of getting a crate LS power train, but ended up deciding to just rebuild this engine. Working on it and thinking of how the thing was so rock solid that I drove it 200 miles after it was sitting for 5 years made me really guilty about tossing the engine aside. So, no more LS-swap, we're going to do a rebuild and possibly add a supercharger if I can find one.
Although this is my first post, I have spent plenty of time on IH8MUD to get me to this point - so thanks everyone!