I bought this out of Tennessee in early December and for various reasons it has taken until this week to get it up here, but finally I can drive it
My first child is due any minute now (literally - today is technically the day), so a project (ie. anything that needed work immediately) was completely out of the question. There are a few little things I want to get started on, but my goal for the next 12 months is to drive it to work once a week on average - that alone will be a big achievement
Beyond that I really hope that next year I'm comfortable enough both with the truck, and with my family that I can disappear for a couple of weeks to do powertour or similar. That just looks like an amazing experience.
Way into the future, the plan is to take it home (Australia) as a souvenir of the time I've spent living in the US. Been here 2.5 years so far, probably 4-5 years to go, so no time soon. This puts some limits on what modifications I can do in the meantime, but I've got some ideas.
Its a 350/th350, factory shortbed, factory two tone Wheatland yellow/white, factory AC truck (SPID and buildsheet backs it up!). It has had a restoration at some point, but I don't know the full details. Engine has a mild cam, HEI, holley avenger 670, edelbrock intake, and a press bent dual exhaust from the factory headers back. Diff ratio was swapped for a 3.73 (speedo is way off despite the receipt I have for a new speedo drive gear being installed when the diff was done), and 2 inch lowering springs.
Near term modifications (6-18 months)
- The exhaust isn't overwhelmingly loud, but it drones/resonates just a little too much, and I'd like to resolve that.
- The diff gears are great, but it really wants an overdrive transmission for the highway
- I'd like to do something to help the front end body roll a little (I'm hoping an off the shelf front sway bar will help), and
- I want to get some 3 point seat belts installed
I've learned a lot from this forum and I look forward to hopefully meeting a bunch of you over time, and putting as many miles on this truck as practical!
Some pics in the link below - I still haven't cleaned it since it arrived, so I've cherry-picked the photos that don't make it look filthy (and a couple showing just how perfectly it fits in my garage). I'll get some better ones sometime after it gets a good clean.
https://goo.gl/photos/wynWo7jtWqfETEGw9