New member - New Truck - some advice wanted. (76' K10)

[minitrail]

Advance apologies for the long first post...

Hi all..New to the forum but not old cars/trucks/bikes. Now I guess I should come right out and admit that I am a classic guy first but am pretty much a Mopar loyalist. Now I am not blindly loyal (have had many others in the past) but its usually where I look first. So for a while I having been looking for a nice old truck, and by a while I mean probably 2 or so years. My requirements were pretty basic - Must be a manual transmission and must be a shortbed (non stepside). The Mopars are essentially non existent in that combo. Add to it the fact that I live in southern CT and the likelihood of trucks surviving in reasonably repairable shape its slim. I was hesitant to buy a truck long distance for fear of getting burned.

So I am out on my bike on a Sunday and I see an old Chevy short box parked in a local service station. I of course pull in to have a look. So I peek in and its a manual. I start to look it over and under and notice very little rust and rot on the truck. I know immediately this is not a Northeast truck. So very long story shortened the truck was brought o CT from the west coast about 2 years ago. Aside from various small problems the latest was a small carb fire which was the straw that broke the camels back for the last owner. I gave it a more thorough inspection and it did not look like anything I could not fix so after a short negotiation I had the truck towed to my place. As expected I was able to get it running relatively easily which brings me to where I am now.

It is a relatively well optioned truck in a very nice color combo.
- 1976 K10 fleetside
- Spring Green Solid (a recent low quality respray by last owner added the white stripe which I like)
- Cheyenne
- Heavy Duty front and read springs
- Sliding rear window
- Green vinyl interior
- 350/4bbl/4sp
- Dual Tank
- Tilt Wheel
- Power Steering
- Chrome Bumper
- Chrome Grill
- Custom Steering Wheel

And a few others

The Good:
- Overall solid rust and dent free body and bed (frame)
- Runs and drives well
- Relatively unmolested (stock radio no door speakers etc)


The Bad:
- Bottom of doors starting to rust through
- There is a cowl leak that has rusted the firewall above the blower motor and surface rusted the passenger floor (looks like failed seam sealer in cowl)
- Small rust through spot on passenger rear wheel tub
- Door panels ( as well as most plastic interior) shot
- Cab Corners look like they will need attention soon


I am kind of undecided what I want to do just yet. I am not the kind of person who can just kind of leave things alone and just drive it as is. If I fix it I want to do it right and put it back all stock. I am already noticing that some of these parts are not easy to come by. I especially see almost anything for the interior in green is almost impossible to find!!

If I start a proper restoration is this thing going to eat me alive?

Thanks all and have enjoyed reading all the posts on the forum for the past few weeks learning about the truck