You can always give it a try and see if it becomes your new all consuming hobby.

im in the middle of restoring a 1981 c10 short box.. the fun is getting it the way you want it.. ive been buying all the parts i need to got thru it..interior.. suspension..body ect ect.. going to keep it as stock as possible but i am going to lower it a bit..

If the follow are true.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You have mechanical and electrical aptitude.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You have some hands on experience with cars, motorcycles and such.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You have a decent place to do the work, to include "Hell's Half Acre" to scatter parts, tools and supplies, cus, damn, this shit will be everywhere.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You are in love with "Lefty Lucy" and you are not afraid of "Righty Tighty", cuz they are gonna be real good friends before this is over.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

Your significant other is all aboard, or gives up real easy.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You like pain, pulled muscles, mooshed fingers, lumpy head, shit in yer eyes, razor slices, bashed knuckles, sore back, grease embeded in your fingers, black under whatever fingernailes you still have that are not darkened by subungual hematoma, and lots of stuff I forgot, and you have a well stocked vocabulary of curses.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You like the attention having a badass ride, and you like having a bad ass ride.

You have lots of "throw away" money.

You don't care if you don't have a lot of any money when your done.


If you answered "yes" to all the above, then go for it.

I have been "bent wrenches" all my life, been fortunate to have touched many great military aircraft, race cars, various motorcycles and all sorts of odds and ends. Almost all my people on both sides of mother/father do/did all that stuff, and have left legacies doing so, and all enjoyed almost every bit of it.


Or, you can do as other's have suggested and buy something someone else already did.

No shame in that, anymore that someone buying a Rembrandt, or listening to Mozart. Some cannot do a project fro some reason, but still appreciate what another has done, and enjoy "owning a piece of the scene".

You certainly will learn a great deal along the way, obtain and hone new skills and acquire pride in self sufficiency.

If you do start down the greasy path, keep us updated as you go.

also there is so much info about how to and info sites..clubs.. that you can learn a great deal about how to go about restoring your veh.. theres.. brothers.. classic industries.. classis parts. lmc.. the list goes on and on.. if you have any questions email me

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:
I'm curious as to the attraction of that model. We had an 83 Chevy 4x4 growing up. It was a genuinely terrible vehicle. I'd say you are putting yourself squarely in the middle of the low point of US car manufacturing.

Nostalgia I guess, when and where I grew up, this was the vehicle to have when I was just turning driving age. The classic line, simple mechanical and functional design. But you bring up a good point about reliability. This is part of the "build it myself" thought process. I don't think I want a "survivor" or something someone else slapped together. I would either want to supervise the process or have an extensive documentation of the process. Just starting to explore really.

What I am finding is that everything I find that fits the bill is around $30k and there is always something that isn't "right" about it that would cost more to get it the way I would want.....

As mentioned this was the lowest point in US automotive manufacture. The car makers were still trying to meet ever tightening emission regulations with out resorting to catalytic convertors and drivability, fuel mileage and power all suffered greatly. Beyond that, fit and finish and reliability were far below what we expect now and current safety and stability equipment didn't exist.

So, do you want this thing as only a fair weather, Sunday drive toy or as a daily driver? If the latter, you would be much better off with something else.

Unless you enjoy wrenching, don't do it.

If you are dreaming of the truck, as has been said, buy one already done. To take on something like this you have to love doing the work, for the sake of the work.

I have restored two (2) pickups(1960 Ford and a 1956 Chev). The last one went more than a bit above stock, and took 6+ years to do it, and that included buying a donor car for parts. I had to quit counting how much money I had in it, but it a thing of love, and I still own it after 30 years. It would be much more expensive to do today with the cost of paint, interiors, etc.


If you are a "car person" with mechanical abilities and a LARGE place to work, then go for it!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GT-40DOC,

I watched a friend of mine do this to a 63 Corvette. Which I thought was odd, since he was not a car guy. It was a total frame up restore done by an expert and took two years. The aggravation and hunt for the proper parts was extensive.
After it was done, he traded it even for a house!
After watching him go through what he did, I told myself I would never undertake such a project.

Are you wanting a truck to drive or are you wanting a project to build and when you get to drive it have a far more pleasurable experience driving it because you know you built it even though you spent thousands more than you would have just buying one already built?

I am restoring/rebuilding/modifying my 92 Mustang and will spend thousands more than if I just bought someone else’s finished project. But this car was my first car I have tons of memories that will not be a part of someone else’s project. And that is so worth the extra money I am putting in it.

Yes, these trucks are easy to work on and really require no special tools outside of hand tools and air tools. Any special or expensive tools your local auto parts store likely loans them out free of charge.

If I were you I would find the best (least amount of rust/corrosion) ROLLER you can find. No engine or transmission. Then buy a 5.3L LS motor, harness, ECU, and transmission.
LS swap write ups are all over the place and fairly simple and inexpensive.

But I also love projects, working on vehicles, and have been tinkering with them for 20 some years.

Don't do the restoration route unless you look at it as a labor of love. I am in the process of completely restoring my FIL's 1967 Mustang. Was going to take a year or two. Now I'm on year 5 next year. It was in pretty decent shape as he owned it since new. I stripped it down to unibody and sandblasted the whole body myself in a tent I made It was tons of fun for the first six months. It got to the point where I wasn't happy seeing any old stuff when I was rebuilding everything else so I replaces most everything. Also wanted a little more power and better steering and braking.

Then I had a widow-maker HA. That set me back a couple years and I lost most of the enthusiasm I had in the beginning.

I now have a painted rolling chassis with a rebuilt engine and trans ready to go in. I had the motor done but rebuilt the C4 tranny myself with a video next to me Then putting everything back together. I am hoping to have it done this coming summer. I'm sure it will be REALLY nice when done. I am hoping at least he and my mother get to drive it for a few years as he is getting up in years.

If you want to learn and enjoy working on mechanical things and want a long project....go for it. I have very much enjoyed much of the time but it is getting a little long in the tooth. You can buy something for less money than you would spend doing it yourself. But then you might get somebody else's problems too as you never know. For me it was cheaper than hiring a therapist for all those hours haha.

Good luck whatever you choose to do!

Maybe you could do something much simpler first to get some experience and see what you're getting into. Like buying a <10 year old vehicle that needs lots of mechanical work. Fix it up then sell it. See how you like that kind of hobby work. Who knows, you may find a Chevy truck from about your chosen era that someone else started to restore and gave up on!

For a frame-up restoration, most people I have talked to say it took two to three times as long as they thought it would and was way more work and money than they ever imagined. The hard-core guys that do this type of restorations pull a lot of all-nighters. They are definitely not in it for the money.

All great feedback, thanks. I do not enjoy such work per se, I have not done much of it. My plan for the vehicle is to gift it to my oldest son who turns 16 in two years. He will drive it back and forth to school, less than 10 miles each way. I would plan to buy him something new, modern, etc...when he leaves for college and keep the truck as a toy or let my youngest son drive it to high school.

The thought of restoring one would be a project to work on together. The more I think through it, with the feedback here, I think finding something that is 80%-90% there and doing the little tweaks it needs as projects may be more realistic.

Been there and done that with my 67 GTO. Never again...to that extent at least.

My advice is to NOT take it all the way apart. Buy something and work on it a little at a time, ALWAYS having it drive-able (only off the road for a few weeks or months at a time). Rebuild the entire front end and drive it. Pull the motor, rebuild it/whatever, put motor back in and drive it. Maybe do the trans at the same time. Pull the rear and rebuild it, etc...

It's way too easy to lose interest in the project if you're never able to drive it. My GTO was apart for 7 years (1988 - 1995). I lost interest several times and it would sit for months and months at a time. If you do it in smaller projects/milestones, it will go much better, IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:

quote:

Originally posted by cheni:
https://www.streetsideclassics...t-silverado-k-10-4x4

Thanks, I have seen that one. Not interested in long wheel base or red interior.

My dad had a 1985 GMC 1/2 ton 4x4 standard cab, full bed with red interior and silver exterior. He sold it around 2003 with somewhere around 30,000 miles when he bought a new Silverado. It was rust free, but the nickle and diming gremlins were starting to emerge. Plus, it had the 305 V8 and something was wrong with the emissions and it was pretty weak accelerating at highway speed. I have alot of great memories of that truck and when he got sick thought about tracking down the owner and trying to buy it. BUT, I am sure it has racked up some miles and wear since then and looks in even worse condition. If money, parking space, and safety were no object, I'd love to have a full bed, short bed, stepside one of these pickups OR a K5 Blazer/Jimmy. Unfortunately dad never took pics of his vehicles. They might show up in the background of some family pics, but he never made a point to take a fresh from the dealership or car wash pic.

You'll spend quite a bit on getting the right tools, all the little stuff you need to put it back together, as a project it would be quite the task.

I'm betting the hard part will be finding a decent truck for $5K, most in that range will have been ridden hard and put up wet. Trucks get used as trucks, left outside, driven through fields,

Best bet would be to go to Mechams on day one/two and try and get a really good example, sometimes you see fully restored go for less than half the cost of the resto..

The better the starting point the less cost you'll have in the restoration.

The benefit of doing it yourself is more than the finished product. There is value in learning to do it right and to knowing your vehicle inside and out. That said, you will spend more time and money than the vehicle will be worth to someone else. Also, there is no guarantee, other than your own determination, that the project will turn out well. There is a reason there are so many 30+ year old primer gray partial projects rolling around. When I did my 68 Firebird back in the day, it took me 5 years because I started where you describe yourself now. I probably wasted 3 years doing it wrong and fixing it. That was back before teh innerwebs and youtube tutorials so you could probably shave a couple of years off of my experience. There is really nothing like walking out to the project one day and realizing there is nothing left to do. Hop in and drive it proudly down the road.

It’s much more cost effective to buy one already done. It takes way longer and costs far more than you can imagine and that’s if you know what you’re doing and have a lot of spare time and ambition. Most people get burned out and overwhelmed when they are a year into it and realize how far they still have to go.

What everyone has said is true. Lucky you, for what you want, GM made that basic truck for many, many years. So, you can find one. Hang out at the monthly cruise ins nearby if there are any, you may find a good one. Or someone knows someone, etc.

I say this having just unloaded less than an hour ago 6 boxes that I picked up at Summit... new control arms, sway bar, springs, power steering upgrade.....

But, I enjoy the process. Grandad started his garage in 1921. Keeps me grounded.

Buy one from a widow or divorcee.

Even counting all your labor for free, you'll have way more money in parts and subcontracted services than it's worth.