Father (son) 86

[StarDust]

well now that i have a job time to get to work! i was going to order patch panels today but noticed that there are two types, Slip Ons and OEM style. the only thing that need to be patched for my rocker panels is the weather strip line where it hold on to other than that my whole rocker panel is solid. i feel as the OEM style is a bit to much jus to cut out one tiny section of it.

[StarDust]

Update: After about a year of slacking time to fix things up..I just recieved my patch panels right cab corner and rocker panel. I also took my truck to the alignment shop which was a bit hard since not a lot of them want to align a dropped truck, after i found one i told them to replace all of my bushings and align it after it was all said and done it was a grand total of 500! geeze i don't have that money yet so the deal my pops made was he pays the 500 i pay for new tires since this scares the SH IT out of me on the road..
The shop told me the reason was eaten so bad was because well for starters i had one bushing completely missing from the control arm and the rest half gone and my lower ball joint wouldn't even stay put it kept popping out they showed me on the lif how it pop in and out... which i am also scared of lol

[SkinnyG]

Originally Posted by StarDust

what are these holes for and screws?

Looks like an under-dash CB Radio mount, with the mic mounting where the two screws are.

Can you tell I grew up in the 70's?

Convoy!

[StarDust]

anyone know how much a 350 rebuild would cost? I'm tired of my truck crapping out on me and also getting dusted by stock v6s by a long shot i want something to atleast give stock 5.3s a run for their money ha or just swap a 5.3 since i. can get one for 300 with all wiring?

[77ChevySharkBite]

It can just depend on the shop, it's going to be hard to give them a run for the money unless you go LS, I would say go after the one with all the wiring but yet again think before you buy make sure it's a good block cause last thing you want to do is get a motor and it be jacked up.

[StarDust]

well my friend is the one with it well his godbrother so i think he wouldnt sell a crap motor to him , and at the moment i have around 1200 would that be enough for a basic rebuild and or swap?

[Paul83]

If you do the work yourself, it should be enough, but you are gonna have to be smart about your purchases.

[StarDust]

i was originally saving for paint/bodywork but i need waaay more money for paint/bodywork. i rather have something reliable and semi ugly than pretty and unreliable. and it should be enough for a very basic 350 rebuild or 5.3 swap? or both

[77ChevySharkBite]

I can't speak on the 5.3 but like Paul83 said you have to be very smart with your purchases, I think it would be easier to just have the 350 rebuilt.

[Gordonr1973]

Fix the body first and keep your motor. Motor can always be changed anytime later on.

[StarDust]

Originally Posted by Gordonr1973

Fix the body first and keep your motor. Motor can always be changed anytime later on.

i know thats the first thing im going to do but dont know of any shops

[StarDust]

sory for no updates guys but ive been BUSY this whole time and here are some reasons why.
my first motor swap with my dad, replaced his motor since it was practically dead already lol

but then this problem came up, after about 4 rotor caps and 3 dist cap we decided to pull the distro and it was bent


after my dads motor was all said and done we tackled my surging 350 problem we were about to pull the tank but after seeing that is was clean we decided not to and also trying to remove a longbed with 2 is a hard job to do so we got a little bit creative
not sure how safe this is but it worked. also my surging problem is still here! im pretty frustrated right now since my truck is non operable atm and have to get a ride to work everyday it turns off on me everysingle time i drive it!


here is the tnak

old and new

we also cleaned all the fuel lines really good before installing the new fuel pump

and fixed the rust finally, not sure how good of a job this is but i knew very well this wasn't going to be professional work so i guess lol


this part came out a bit crooked if you bend down and focus on the rocker panel

hwo the panel lined up with the door


pretty sure this isn't supposed to be like this lol

this was the amount of space it was done in since thats all we could move the bed with us 2

[StarDust]

alright a little update. my friend has a swb frame that he can sell to me for 75 how hard would it be switch over my cab fender and core support? i also want to switch my control arms since i recently redid the front suspension which cost me 500 that i do not just want to have to do again. his truck is an 84

[83swb]

Everything is a direct swap. You can drop the whole cross-member fully assembled down off of your frame and roll it under the SWB frame, A arms and the whole 9 yards.

[Paul83]

He is right. You could do it in a long weekend. The drive shaft will need to be cut down, because of the long bed to short.

[StarDust]

alright thanks guys guess ill go with it my main concern was about my suspension since i spent most of it on it but thats seems like no problem either and i also just found my dream truck/car el camino $500 going to go see it tomorrow lol so this project might take a turn