Im leaving you all :(

[69C10@16]

Hey everybody,

I am sorry to say that the great grey beast that I have enjoyed driving since August has finally died. It is no longer going to be driven, at least not until that beautiful(ly crappy) 307 gets replaced.

Here's the story (which is so long it should be a book).

About a month before it's demise it was running like no other mother. She was doing great. Or so I thought. Drove to a car show about an hour away in it, just because I could. It was me and two friends and I decided that we were going to roll up in a classic truck, be it a primer grey pile of you know what or not, it was happening.

On the way home it started this really odd puffing/rattling sound under load. At idle the oddity was not present. It began to run extremely poorly as it had before the carb and intake replacement, which also included a new set of points and a timing adjustment. I started my investigation.

After ten minutes in the garage I thought I had it found. My points were burned up, AGAIN. In a months time, MAYBE 1000 miles, I had burned up a brand new set of uni-points?? Checked my coil voltage and had 12 volts hot at all times instead of 6 volts at run and 12 volts at start. Installed an ignition resisitor before the coil, slapped in a new set of points and went for a spin. Same problem, different day, $20 for the poorer, and a bit peeved.

Oh well, keep looking. Tried to solve the "puffing" issue with a new set of exhaust gaskets at both the top of the headers and the bottom. No-go. No help. Ok, let's spray some WD-40 around the intake and see if we have an intake leak. No sir, she's all sealed up. It HAS to be a misfire. New plugs and plugwires, even though they were new in August, screw it, sometimes you just get a bad set. $40 later, same problem. This little issue cost me about $100 dollars and a lot of time that ended up replacing absolutely nothing that needed to be replaced.

Frustration had begun to kick in. I called up a mechanic buddy and asked him if I could borrow his shop for about 45 minutes after hours one night. No problem come on over. Let the compression tests begin.

1 - 125 lbs 2 - 105 lbs
3 - 105 lbs 4 - ZERO
5 - 100 lbs 6 - ZERO
7 - 125 lbs 8 - 120 lbs

This is when I started the profanity. I realised that this meant issues WAY beyond what I had the time, effort, and money to fix. While running the tests I noticed that when the compression tester was in cylinders 4 or 6 the "puffing" sound I had loved to hate had magically reappeared and was coming from my carburetor. Oh boy. It's time to check valve springs. All good. What the heck? I got stupid, which I'm very thankful I did, and decided to put a plug in 4 and test on 6. Now I had 35 lbs of pressure and the puffing sound got louder. We figured the only reason this would happen is that the head gasket was blown between the two. I was not losing any water so It shouldn't hurt it to drive ONLY between school and home or absolutely neccesary transportation. It was crippled and had to be treated as such until it got fixed.

We figured it would be best to make sure the engine was perfectly in time so that even as a cripple it would still run as best it could. The timing light was SO erratic on spark wire one it wasnt even funny. Damn, the timing light is busted. Just for the crap of it I put the light on plug wire 3. It worked PERFECTLY. Huh?? Ok, let's try 5. A-ok. 7, good. 2, good. 4, all sorts of messed up. 6, decent but not good. 8, same as 4 and 1.

Wait, just a moment here. Let us recall the firing order of my lovely little small block. 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2. Wow, the first three are jacked up. Hello new distributor cap and rotor, even though you were replaced in August and it's now March. Screw it. Compression AND ignition issues? No wonder I can barely drive this thing. Problem was, that didn't help anything. Great. That probably meant that the distrubutor shaft was for some reason cocking itself at an angle and then straightened back up at around 1000 rpm because when revved, the odd missing issues went away. When driving, the engine would reach a certain rpm and then "take off" as though it had suddenly gained about 150hp. I mean grandma driving to put you in your dang seat difference. Night versus friggen day. It was all we could think of for the ignition issue.

Talked to the parental units (lol I like that name for them, it's just funny) and since they had just gotten their tax rebate, and I had jsut gotten a job at O'Reilly Auto Parts and have this nice little buy-at-store-cost discount, they decided they would loan me three hundred to get myself running again. I went nuts, New HEI Distributor, Wires, Plugs, Head gaskets, Head Bolts, Motor Mounts, Transmission Seals, Wire looms, valve covers, I mean everything I could get for three hundred, which is more than the everyday average Joe because It's all discounted.

Hauled the truck up to my grandpa's house to pull the engine and transmission. I know I didn't HAVE too but I wanted to give it a coat of paint while I could and also put new seals in the transmission. Who knows if they'd ever been replaced and I don't want to fry up a tranny cause the seal gave on the highway. Its ten bucks and a lot more effort but it's worth it. Get all that pulled and get the engine on the engine stand and give up for the day.

Went back up the next week over spring break and took off the intake and heads. Oh yeah, that gasket was BLOWN all to hell between those two cylinders and both heads were leaking at almost every cylinder wall in between the cylinders. My uncle, a mechanic on these engines since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden I think, came up and took a gander at things. He put it simply and bluntly without a sugar coating. "Newton, you....are....FU(K3D. This gasket's been blown a LOT longer than just this small amount of time. It's worn a groove in both the head and the block. You're better off putting a new engine in it. You'd have the same amount of money in it either way. You could mill that head surface and put new heads on it, but I think you're wasting your time and money on such a beater." I got sad, mad, angry, upset, frustrated, and pissed all at the same time. I told him thanks for taking his time to come look at things for me and drove home. The next day I returned every bit of what I bought for the engine and paid mom and dad back. We began the hunt for a new truck.

What ended up happening was my dad bought him a 2006 Chevy Silverado Quad Cab and I bought his 99 GMC Sierra K1500 Ext. Cab from him for 5000. Which is 2500 under its bluebook value so I made out like a bandit. I pay him directly $150 every month. Out of a $500 a month salary and being a teen that likes to go out with friends, that actually makes things tight. But it's good for me. I'm learing VERY well to manage my money and time so that I have what I need to get by. My parents rely on my payment to help with their new payment on the '06 so me messing up could cost them BIGTIME. I'm not going to let that happen and have already lost some friends over the fact that I can't go out as much as I used to but if that's how they want to be then I don't really want them as a friend anyways.

The '69 isn't leaving me any time soon. I've already had one offer to buy it and I simply replied, "I hope the time never comes when I get stupid enough to sell that truck." and walked off. I always hear these stories of people saying "Man, I can't believe I got rid of it" or "If I could only go back it would never have left me." I told myself when I was ten years old I'd never sell my first truck. I won't. I refuse. I'll throw a little girl's hissy fit before I do that. I finally got my dad to agree to let me stow it in the backyard. I told him I'd build him an eight foot privacy fence around it if I had to but I'd never let it go. He tried to argue that his name was on the title too and he'd sell it if he had to but in reality he couldnt ever do that to me and we both knew it. I'm gonna keep the engine too, even though it's primary use at this point would be an overweight boat anchor. I figure since I'm going to college in a year and a half that it will all probably sit there for another 6 or 7 years as I slowly tinker with it more than anything. I hope to do a frame off on it and make it a number's matching 2/4 dropped restored pickup. If the ole 307 and TH350 get rebuilt it will even have the original engine and transmission in it. That will be pretty cool. It wont get driven daily, especially with gasoline at 3.20 a gallon here at the moment but it will be sweet to cruise in every once in a while, especially with the sentimental value it has to me. I mean yeah I only had it and drove it for six months but I spent a TON of time on that thing and learned a LOT. I love working with vehicles and since I don't tinker on the '99 I've kinda been going nuts without anything to paly with. I did put a glasspack on the '99 which made me happy for the three hours it took but afterwards I didn't have the same satisfaction of knowing I'd get to do something else to it the next day.

Anyways, there's my book. I won't be around much on the 67-72 side of things but I will probably frequent the 99+ side. I'm wanting to put a 6" lift on the 99 with my second job this summer and I refuse to pay anyone to do anything so I'll be screwing it up myself and I'm going to have lots 'o questions. Especially when it comes to finding tires and wheels to put on that thing after the lift. Ugh I dont even want to think about that right now. I hope I didn't put you to sleep and if you made it this far then you deserve a candy bar or a pop or something. Lol.

Have a good one, God be with you,
Newton

[BurnoutNova]

just becasue your truck is down doesnt mean you cant come around, heck i think theres a bunch of members here who dont even have a truck at the moment

[rod86]

haha

[soba_03]

Newton,

Bro, you work at the parts store. Save yourself a little cash each check 35 buck maybe. A few weeks buy your self an engine from a yard. Stick it on an engine stand and rip it apart. Your not on a time crunch clean it all up and then start putting it back together. I know you could find a 307 if that is what you want to put back in your truck. Then you drive the 99 and when you want to tinker head out to the garage and Hone out the cylinders or lap in the valves, within a few weeks you'll have your engine for you truck. You have the connection and your pretty much paying cost on all the parts.. You could have your truck before you go off to college. Even a fun cool driver for the w/e's at home from college..

You may go away from this board but we are all family so you will never be gone from here....

Good luck with everything.....

[72BlckButy]

I couldn't agree with soba more... save a little every month, and before you know it you'll be back on the road in the '69. It doesn't take a whole lot of cash to have another engine ready to fire. It might not be the best looking/running, but hey the truck would drive.

Here's wishing you the best!

[space]

Newton,

You have a good head on your shoulders. I wish there were more teenagers out there like you.

[jorgensensc]

First off let me start by congratulating your parents on doing something that not many parents can do today. They raised a fine young man! Now let me congratulate you on keeping things in perspective and having a GREAT head on your shoulders. I wish I had half the forethought you have when I was your age. To some of us it comes later. You have impressed me with your exceptional writing skills and I am amazed at your great judgement and ambition! THere is absolutely no doubt in my mind you will be undeniably successful in life and your career. I agree with a few others here. Grab yourself a junkyard 350. Rebuild it as time and money permit. Then throw it in the tuck. You can always rebuild the 307 as time and money permit after that. I implore you to stay here on this side of the message board and learn as much more as you can. There are always new things to learn everyday (part of the reason I can;t get my truck done, I spend too much time on here learning about things that I really don't need to know about, I just enjoy learning new things). Good luck to you, not that i think you will need much luck. I think the world will open up for you quite easily.
Shawn

[Dano69c10]

DON"T START MODDING UP THE '99!
Just drive and maintain it!
Save your money for a new/used engine for your '69!
Just my 2 cents.
Dano

['68 C-20]

Echo others, you are on the right track don't derail now, drive the 99, but you will never get back any of the money you put in it. Find a 350, they are everywhere or save a bit and buy a short block from your parts store. After you get the 69 running, you can sell the 99 and have enough left over for paint! Now thats an investment!

[brad_man_72]

pull the engine out of the 99
no nevermind thats a bad idea.
option c. you can usually find a good 73-87 chevy running and driving parts truck for $600. then you can start with the engine swap, disc brakes, rearend, and then you can haul it off to the scrapper make some money back and take your "friends" out in your new/old truck. try to save up some cash, or see if the parentals would give you a loan if something came along, then go cruise the small car lots hint* they keep the good stuff in the back, and keep an eye on craigslist.

[special-K]

Just quit the daily driver club.It`s still a`69 with drum brakes and you`re still a young gun.

[chevy72blu]

Hey man, I actually read all of that. Sorry about the rough patch with it, that is certianly a good one.

Its great news that you got yourself a new set of wheels... But I think it makes more sense to sell the 99, use 2500-3500 on a beater for yourself, and give the rest to your parents. I just bought DD a few months ago (98 rodeo, 5spd, A/C, base model -82k miles) with some very minor front end damage and a salvage title. All I had to do was put a horn in it and got the new title for it. I paid the guy 2800 bones.

Heck, you parents may even let you keep some of the cash to put towards a new crate motor (or rebuilding a 350 on your own). Definately keep the truck, and stick around the forum. I like having more guys around here my age to compete with these old farts .

Get as much as you can to your truck DONE before you leave for school. Trust me, I am suffering from experience. The time I spend back home is spent between family and friends, with very little time for the truck. When you add in summer school (pretty likely if you want to grad in 4 years), you have very little time.

Good luck buddy!

[jorgensensc]

Don't borrow money from family!! Even if it is your parents. As My idol Dave Ramsey says" Thanksgiving dinner always taste better when money isn't owed to family." As a matter of fact get in the habit now of not borrowing money period. Do what others can't... stay debt free! Get the book the total money makeover and you will understand!
Shawn

[67ChevyRedneck]

Wow, even with my ADD I was actually able to get through that.

First off, sorry for the luck.

New GM crate motors run about $1,400. Pretty cheap if you ask me.

It's nice you're parents sold you the 99 (for no interest?) for 5K. But in all honesty, if they're "depending" on your $150 per month payment to pay for the 06, then they shouldn't have bought the '06, so they may be just fibbin' to ya a bit to help you become responsible with payments and such. It's great you're learning at a young age to become financially responsible. I learned the "proper" way as well and have no CC debt or huge payments to anyone. I own all my vehicles and am saving up for my first home.

On to my advice.

DO NOT lift the 99. Yeah, it looks cool, but in all honesty for someone your age it's completely pointless and a waste of money. It doesn't add much value to the truck and will cost you in mpg, like 2-3 mpg depending on lift and tires.

Do keep the 99, if you can afford the gas. They're good reliable trucks. If gas/insurance get to be too much, I'd sell it for a 4 cyl gas saver.

Take the money you were going to invest in a lift/tires and put it towards the crate engine.

My best advice of all: Keep the old truck, sell the 99, buy a gas saver, a CHEAP one, pay your parents back what you owe, get THROUGH college, make lots of money, and THEN buy all the crap you want

[ChevLoRay]

Well, there's a page on here for the 99 and up crowd, so you can still visit.

I once helped my oldest son out by selling him my truck after his was stolen, stripped and torched. Let him have it for a song he wrote/sang, and he can't carry a tune in a 58-ft semi-trailer.

Parents do things for their kids, when they can, if they want to. Just remember, when you are a parent....that they "paid it forward".....just like you will want to do for your kids.

[Premium72]

you aint gata go no where pal.. we can still help ya with what ever. good luck . dont get disscuoraged!

[EyeH8the24]

dude dont let those alabama trailing arms go to waste.....take your time save cash....watchthe board.....goood deals come up here all the time...somtimes the yare even free...if u stop on the 69 youll regret it one day ...took me 1989 to 2002 to finally buy back my high school truck..its a rust bucket P.O.S. but i love it

[69C10@16]

I'm definatley not going to completely dissapear. You guys are way to cool to do that to you. I appreciate all of the kind words from everyone. I like to think I am a pretty decent kid (no to be cocky or anything). We just had a bunch of kids get kicked out of school for popping pills and I could NEVER imagine doing retarded stuff like that. What is the point? Idiots. Anyways, end soap box, the '69 is not going anywhere. I just talked with my Uncle, the one who likes to make things nice and clear, and he's got a 86(ish) 305 that might be rebuildable. We are unsure as to the condition currently. He said it would only take a few hours to pull it apart and see if it was in reasonable condition. He doesnt care about the truck so we wouldn't even have to bother unbolting things like eshaust or motor mounts. He said he felt like torching something.

At this moment I am just going to roll with things as they are. I'm not going to make ANY decisions until they are long though out so that every single outcome has gone through my mind, and then when I do it everything turns out completely different anyways.

The parentals did sell me the truck completely interest free. I know they are not just saying that they rely on my payment because we had a family sit down and went over the financials before we did anything. We had three options at the time.
1) I buy dad's truck
2) I buy a used truck
3) I get a loan to get the '69 RELIABLY driving

In the heat of the situation I pretty much eliminated number 3 without any convincing. Like I said, it's last leg was driving it to a car show an hour away. With where we live, the closest teenage entertainment is at minimum 45 minutes away and I wanted to be able to hop in and just go when I felt like it and not have to deal with the possibility of not being able to drive the same truck home. I wanted something I didn't have to take three minutes with in the driveway every morning letting it warm up so I could leave. I wanted a "turn key" vehicle.

I hated the idea of having a loan, from ANYBODY. Debt is not my friend. I feel diferent when I'm in the hole. It's a huge weight. Everytime I get invited somewhere I'm leary because I know that payment is coming and I shouldn't be spending the money. I knew, however, that a loan from my parents would be a LOT better than anywhere else. I am seventeen so just getting the loan was going to be a pain. I decided to go with numero uno and park the '69 for a while.

As far as the '99 goes: The plan is to work to jobs this summer. O'Reilly's being the first and foremost on the priority list because my employment there came first. Greenfield is the home of Pennington Seed. Every year during fescue harvest they hire a lot of workers. They always have trouble finding employees for third shift so they offer higher pay for it. I figure I'll work Midnight to 8 at Penningtons and schedule O'Reilly's around 9 to 1. I am just part-time at O'Reilly's so that should get all of my hours in. Especially since I work every Saturday there. The extra Penningtons Money is going to be my play money. Half will get saved. End of story. The other half will be used as I see fit. It won't be enough for a lift kit or wheels and tires so that's probably just a dream that will never come about. I can't really invision myself unloading that kind of cash for something that petty anyways. What will more than likely happen is I will spend some of it just doing what teens do, hanging out with friends. The rest will be set aside for those months when that truck payment seems a little tight.

Everything I have invested in the '69 will definately not go to waste. It WILL be restored. That is one dream I will never let die. I was offered five hundred for it today as it sits. I only gave eight hundred for it so that is pretty tempting. I know that would be the financially smart thing to do right now, but I am a stubborn SOB and I'll be danged if I ever sell that truck. I hope to hand it down to one of my children some day, but only after I die because If they sell it while I am still kicking they will be what I'm kicking.

Well it seems as though I've written another book so I will end it for the night. Oh, Jorgensensc, I appreciate your compliment on my writing skills. I just wanted to mention that when I wrote the first post, It was three A.M. and I was on a State Competition trip for school and, as we are all teenagers, we did not get much sleep the night before and I was utterly exhausted. Imagine how long that would be if I was actually thinking straight that night. I believe I even left a few things out of the story, but, they are not extremely important and do not really modify the point any.

Take Care,
Newton

[BurnoutNova]

Originally Posted by 69C10@16

I hated the idea of having a loan, from ANYBODY. Debt is not my friend. I feel diferent when I'm in the hole. It's a huge weight. Everytime I get invited somewhere I'm leary because I know that payment is coming and I shouldn't be spending the money.

get used to it, its the american way... buy now pay later

i feel you tho it sucks oweing money to people, but just becasue you have debt doesnt mean you cant enjoy yourself and have a good time. how will you ever buy a house, or pay for college, ect

[tim21391]

hey man..im 17 and for my 72 i sometimes have to get money from my parents when it needs new parts..i know they dont like giving out money but i bet they love it when i get it running again... here in kansas theres a guy tryin to sell me a 350 2 bolt main for 200 bucks...but i have a rebuilt 402 so i dont need none of that...but like the guys say there are really good deals...i love seeing teenagers driving these things verses seeing them in the ricers that sound like a weedeater on dope....my 2 cents is keep the truck...these trucks are worth a pretty penny

[70rs/ss]

I believe you can buy a remanufactured motor from your work for about $6-700. Use the 307 as a core and taks all the tins (valve cover, oil pan, etc, etc and you'll have a complete motor ready to roll in the truck. Honestly a numbers matching 307 isn't really a big deal. A 350 looks exactly the same, with more cubic inches. Good luck.

[69C10@16]

I thought about getting a remanufactured engine from work so I went in on my day off and looked them up. $1200 even at my cost plus a $350 core charge. Like I said before, I am stubborn, and most of the time pretty anal about how things are done. If I get to restore this truck like I want to, I think it would be pretty neat to be able to claim that it has the original engine under the hood. Yeah a 350 is more powerful and has more displacement, but a 307 is more rare and is kind of an oddball. I like the saying "If it comes in a box, It's not custom." and it fits me to a tee. I don't like to be normal. I want to be unusual. A 350 is a LOT more usual than a 307 so I will probably keep the 307. I'm not saying I won't put a cheap scrapyard engine in temporarily, but the 307 will ultimately end up under the hood.

The more I think about it, the more I want a third job this summer so I can start the rebuild of this truck!

[BurnoutNova]

Originally Posted by 69C10@16

but a 307 is more rare and is kind of an oddball.

thats becasue everyone scrapped them like 20 years ago. the 307 is a boat anchor. it doesnt add any value to a truck to have the original 307, and it certainly would run alot better with a 327, 350, 400 or somthing along those lines

[Bishops Trucks]

I have 2 trucks that are 4800 miles away (have been for 2 years and will be for 1 more) and I'm still hanging around. Stick around and BS with us and keep us posted on your progress.

[69C10@16]

I'll stick around and shoot the bull of course, I think I'm going to delete and restart my build thread cause I dont like it. lol. And as far as the engine goes, I just like the idea of being able to say at a car show, "Yeah. That's the ORIGINAL engine." I dont know, I'm just wierd like that but I think it would be cool to be able to claim that.