Newbie

[singleshot]

Took the plunge on a 78 stepside. Not new to the truck scene, but new to this model. I bought the story on this truck more than I bought what was being sold. It's basically a locally owned truck, customized for a boating family to tow their Sanger jet boat back in the day.

I'm not going to restore this truck to original, but I am planning on bringing back to the customized condition of its hay-day.

It's an original heavy 10, 454 (now bored over .60), front disc, rear drum.... on and on.. The cool factor: custom bench seat, custom pin stripping, lowered on spindles and a rear flip, 10" wide coke bottle wheels w/knock-offs (not pictured).

I will be getting the original owners name soon, so hopefully I can get some pics of this truck when it was newer, then I'll be bringing it back to that condition over time.

Currently, I'm tracking down a turbo 400 leak (more of a small rain storm of auto-fluid under the truck).

I need a smaller carb; the current carb (750 cfm) is overkill (thinking somewhere in the realm of a 600 to 650). The builder had bigger dreams than what reality is.

Once the transmission leak is resolved and the carb is correct, I'll be replacing the entire exhaust with something that doesn't leak at every weld.

Tomorrow I'll be doing the hinge pin replacements (already did the striker bolts) so the doors will shut without having to throw them shut from wide open (embarrassing).


I look forward to picking everyone's brain over the coming years as I bring this diamond in the rough back to her former glory.

Here are the only pics I have after getting it home last week.




As I have no party affiliation, here is her shop mate; 1976 F250 w/85k original miles.