Ol' Blue's going on a trip!

[habes78023]

Hey all!

TL;DR: Guy is about to start work on parents first truck, driving it cross country this weekend.

Didn't mean to type so much but once I got going I couldn't leave much out.

Intro: New to the Forum, but I've been reading up quite a bit over the last few weeks. Really appreciate a lot of the detailed posts that have been made by the members here showing off their work!

Background: So why am I posting? My parents bought a truck shortly after they got married back in 1977. It is a 1977 2wd Short Bed with a 350 in it. They've owned it ever since then and it's been passed down through the kids as each of us drove it. Since there was a 10 year gap between my brother and I, my dad wanted to work on the truck with me to get it into top shape for me to drive. But timing didn't work out with other projects and priorities. Fast forward to mid 2014 and my dad was thinking he would sell it. I said I'd like to buy it myself and restore it. Well he wouldn't sell it to me but said he would gift it to me instead. AWESOME!

Now, the main problem with all of this is that I've been moving around the last few years. And I'm still going to be moving again in the next 5-8 months. But I'm living in South Carolina now and I've found myself with some spare time and a garage that's calling my name. Just the combination to get me thinking of Ol' Blue and getting it back into shape.

The Truck: It's a head turner, mainly because of the color. Which I'm told is Corvette Blue; the color my Dad repainted it at the request of my older sister back in '96 or so. I got a couple pics just to hold yall over for now.

The Good, I'm pretty confident that it is in good mechanical condition. My dad is the best mechanic I know and he's been taking care of this thing for nearly 40 years, it could not have been in better hands. But I'm sure that the engine has seen better days just from a wear perspective, and I'm considering doing something along the lines of a swap in that department.

The Bad, mainly rust. it's got rust in a lot of different spots. It's also got a few spots that are damaged because, well, teenage drivers. Worst is the front passenger fender, which was partially me, and partially someone hitting me in the high school parking lot.

The Plan: I'm planning on flying home this weekend, to run a half marathon in San Antonio, then driving the truck back Sunday-Monday. For those not wanting to do the google maps. It's going to be around 19 hours of driving and about 1300 miles. Any Advice?

As mentioned before, my dad is a mechanic and he's replaced the fuel filter, fuel pump, and water pump this week. I believe he is also going to be checking the distributor cap and rotor, spark plugs and blower motor. He's really hooking it up good for the trip. And he will also be my go to source while I've got the truck here in South Carolina.

Once I get the truck here I will be tearing into it some to get things cleaned up and start picking and choosing places to make improvements or fixes to get the truck into top shape.

A couple of things on the list:
- It leans to one side, which I want to diagnose. Hopefully it isn't a frame issue, my dad has tried a few times replacing springs and says it comes back, so I'm going to try my hand at it. C10 Lean
- Stop the rust from spreading. It's going to hurt to do, but with all the rust that's on it.. I just have to start replacing panels, patching here and there, and making it look bad before it starts to look good again.

Those are the major goals now. I'm also thinking I can do a few small replacements here and there.

Now that you've read the full prologue, I'll reward with a few pics!