It's time for me to stamp out my own truck! Picked up a 53 3600 3/4 ton. It's pretty rough but that's ok, I'm a poor boy. My goal is to make a runner and driver, do really care what it looks like right off the batt.
I did tinker with the original motor for a couple hours and got it running and driving, but the motor was stuck before I started. I poured oil in the cylinders and finally got it to turn all the way over, then I had to beat all the lifters up and down for a while haha. She finally fired up tho! I drove it in my garage.
Anyway, I will keep the original frame, but ditch the rest of the drivetrain. I'm on a budget so I spend a couple days in the junk yard pulling parts for the build. Found a 5.3 motor that was pretty rough and unknown miles for 200$. Tore it down, it looked fine, new gaskets and that's it. Did the harness myself, had the computer flashed by lt1swap.com
Picked up a 4l80e trans, and a 8.8 rearend with 3.73 posi out of an explorer, I did this on thanksgiving holiday because my local upull it yard is 40% off on holidays. Had about $212 out the door for both of them! Can't beat that!
I did splurge on front suspension, got a ebay mustang ii. It was cheap but still a lot of money.
So, that's my plan so far, that should keep me busy for a while. Plus the cab needs lots of rust repairs, a sheet of 18ga or two is in my future.
