Need a quick answer

[Sniperinhisname]

Hey all, im looking at a 1985 crew cab that was originally a single rear wheel but was made a dually with arrowcraft adapters. he has done a frame up restoration on put in a 350 crate motor with 10k on it. brand new th400 and np205, rebuild the dana 60 and 14bff. new gm oem fenders inner and outter and new cab corners and rocker panels. i crawled under it for a good 30 minutes and there was no rust what so ever. it also has a huge aftermarket tranny cooler and a nice custom hidden winch bumper setup (minus winch).
Now the bad. Needs rear driveshaft hooked up, needs a throttle cable, needs an o ring for the power booster for the hydroboost brakes (one of the lines leaks when you fire it up.) Needs a radiator, and the dash put back together (he has all new gm parts to do that with). oh and needs exhaust ran. it just has long tube headers. it also needs a bed but i found one for 500 bucks and its it MINT condition. oh and its about four different colors.
but thats fine cause i was going to paint it with interlux brightside.
He wants 2200 for the truck as it sits and about 600 bucks worth of OEM emblems and 2 more big boxes of parts comes with it. it will cost me 200 bucks to get the bed moved to the truck so i can put it on and 275 to get the whole truck back home (i don't have a truck). so all in all i would have about 3500 bucks in a close to new 1985 4x4 crew cab dually. what do you guys think? is it worth it with all the hassle?

[tucsonjwt]

For a quick answer, sight unseen - unless you can do all of the rest of the work to finish it yourself, you might want to look elsewhere. Many guys underestimate the cost of all the finish work and everything else but the drive train. If you have to pay mechanics and body guys to finish this truck, you will spend many thousands of dollars more to get it really nice. I also assume that you are not familiar with the mechanical ability of the current owner - was everything rebuilt correctly or will it need rework? If you have mechanical ability and would like to spend hundreds of hours working on an old square (like the rest of us), then go for it. Otherwise, nice restored squares are available in the $3K -$5K range - ready to drive and show off. I always advocate southwest US for a good rust free starting point. Example (only 2WD, I know, but 4wds are out there):

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/2534559961.html

[DetroitDan]

to put it more simply than that, if you can do the work yourself, then yes. If you have to farm it out, prepare to spend some real money.

I'm familiar with the Interlux Brightside painting. I'm doing Rustoleum now on my crew. It is a great, cheap way to get a nice durable paintjob, but if you've never done it prepare yourself. These trucks are huge. I could have painted 3 little cars by now, only have 2 coats on the truck so far. It really does take a lot of time and patience; I don't have much of either.

Sounds like a great truck, although it's true capability is going to be limited by that little motor. Should do most anything you want, but I wouldn't plan on doing a lot of heavy towing.

[DetroitDan]

What exactly are the arrowcraft adaptors? (Im too lazy to google it). If they go between two stock wheels instead of budd type wheels, I wouldn't bother they look stupid. If you're using actual dually wheels, not sure how the clearance is going to work over the srw hubs. Wheels might not end up in the same place in relation to the fenders. I'd seriously consider going srw. Lets you use a fleetside bed, millions more tire and wheel choices, etc.

[Sniperinhisname]

yeah i could do the work. it really doesn't need much. another question is. if i took the dually flares off the bed would it look like a stock srw bed with a couple holes? thanks everyone for all your help.

[old Rusty C10]

jump on it sounds like a decent deal....

[motornut]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

For a quick answer, sight unseen - unless you can do all of the rest of the work to finish it yourself, you might want to look elsewhere. Many guys underestimate the cost of all the finish work and everything else but the drive train. If you have to pay mechanics and body guys to finish this truck, you will spend many thousands of dollars more to get it really nice. I also assume that you are not familiar with the mechanical ability of the current owner - was everything rebuilt correctly or will it need rework? If you have mechanical ability and would like to spend hundreds of hours working on an old square (like the rest of us), then go for it. Otherwise, nice restored squares are available in the $3K -$5K range - ready to drive and show off. I always advocate southwest US for a good rust free starting point. Example (only 2WD, I know, but 4wds are out there):

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/2534559961.html

sounds like a good deal but i always wonder what changed their mind,
and worry what parts might be missing when buying a "project"
but this is the right place for it