Is it worth it? 71 long bed

[afcamaro]

I just came home from looking at this local 71 long bed.
The truck is pretty nice, no rust.
Only thing it need the the complete interior redone, and a new transmission.
The paints really nice, and the body panels fit alright for being aftermarket.

Is it worth the 5k asking?

http://topeka.craigslist.org/cto/3732369520.html

[buckskins4ever]

ALL DAY LONG!!!!! If it runs good and drives good.

[afcamaro]

Well it runs and drives fine but the transmission slips im told. Which isnt a problem cause I could have a rebuilt one in no problem. What are others paying for this I suppose if it had nice interior and ran perfect.

(just trying to get an idea because I added up how much ill have to put into the truck.)

[cdowns]

buying a truck like that with newer shiny paint is you really dont know how many gallons of bondo r under it

[asolde]

All I can say is it don't take long to add up to $5000 when restoring these trucks. He is most likely loosing money depending on what has been done to the truck.

[MSHax]

Originally Posted by cdowns

buying a truck like that with newer shiny paint is you really dont know how many gallons of bondo r under it

This is true. But I'd still say if it's running and drives well, "HELL YEAH!". It's already got the 700r4 swap, and it looks good. One thing I don't understand is I've been a master mechanic most of my life, I built my first small block when I was 14. I have built a few dozen race engines, most of which are in cars running high 9s, low 10s. Why do people get excited when they see something like "bored .030 over"? Yes, that does mean that it has a SLIGHTLY larger displacement, but what that tells me, and every other mechanic, is that the cylinder walls had issues, and it needed bored. If I open a block and it's not all marred up, I'll hone and re-ring. If the engine is so worn that it's out of spec, or oval, or something like an excessive ring ridge and needs bored, then you rebore. When I hear that from a seller, that's like you saying to me "The truck will jump, I've done it a lot". Ahhh you beat the hell out of it, gotcha! Just saying be careful when people say "bored .0X0 over"

[afcamaro]

Yea I hear ya. Ive done some bodywork on the side and looked for all the rust spots, or for filler issues and it looks really dang good. AS for the engine, yea the .030 doesn't mean anything to me.

I used to work at a machine shop and "rebuilt" could mean many things to different people.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Looks to be a Good Price

[buckskins4ever]

Originally Posted by MSHax

This is true. But I'd still say if it's running and drives well, "HELL YEAH!". It's already got the 700r4 swap, and it looks good. One thing I don't understand is I've been a master mechanic most of my life, I built my first small block when I was 14. I have built a few dozen race engines, most of which are in cars running high 9s, low 10s. Why do people get excited when they see something like "bored .030 over"? Yes, that does mean that it has a SLIGHTLY larger displacement, but what that tells me, and every other mechanic, is that the cylinder walls had issues, and it needed bored. If I open a block and it's not all marred up, I'll hone and re-ring. If the engine is so worn that it's out of spec, or oval, or something like an excessive ring ridge and needs bored, then you rebore. When I hear that from a seller, that's like you saying to me "The truck will jump, I've done it a lot". Ahhh you beat the hell out of it, gotcha! Just saying be careful when people say "bored .0X0 over"

All great points. Why not just advertise the motor as a 355? Is it because they did the cylinder bore and dont know anything about doing engine work? But not all bored 350 are due to bad engines at all. My 355 vortec, is a crate 355 from Chevrolet, then added cam, lifters, rockers. this engine is brand new not rebuilt.

I say if the truck has good oil pressure, nice running temp (which depends on year of engine and modifications), no knocks or ticks, I would jump on it. He say s price is firm......but if the 700r4 is slipping you are going to be into it for a minimum of another $1000 to rebuild it correctly. Next question for him would be how old is transmission. If its slipping there's a reason.

[N2TRUX]

It really depends on how bad you want a truck, and do you want a LWB?

[cdowns]

Originally Posted by MSHax

This is true. But I'd still say if it's running and drives well, "HELL YEAH!". It's already got the 700r4 swap, and it looks good. One thing I don't understand is I've been a master mechanic most of my life, I built my first small block when I was 14. I have built a few dozen race engines, most of which are in cars running high 9s, low 10s. Why do people get excited when they see something like "bored .030 over"? Yes, that does mean that it has a SLIGHTLY larger displacement, but what that tells me, and every other mechanic, is that the cylinder walls had issues, and it needed bored. If I open a block and it's not all marred up, I'll hone and re-ring. If the engine is so worn that it's out of spec, or oval, or something like an excessive ring ridge and needs bored, then you rebore. When I hear that from a seller, that's like you saying to me "The truck will jump, I've done it a lot". Ahhh you beat the hell out of it, gotcha! Just saying be careful when people say "bored .0X0 over"

from what i hae seen if you have a 700r4 and it is slipping


always have cellphone and number for 24hour towing as you will need it a lot sooner rather than later

[SCHRUMGMC]

I would get it if it was SWB

[MSHax]

Originally Posted by cdowns

from what i hae seen if you have a 700r4 and it is slipping


always have cellphone and number for 24hour towing as you will need it a lot sooner rather than later

AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH! That's any newer GM trans, they seem to be a go-no-go system after the TH350/th400 I had a powerglide that slipped for about 6 months. When it started I thought no big deal, I'll just swap for a 350 when it goes out. That little 2 speed slipped all through the summer. Had a 350 start slipping out of second and I still drove it around the rest of the week until I could rebuild it on the weekend. But my 4l65e lasted about 2 minutes after I felt the first slip. Of course the 4l65e REALLY wasn't meant for a supercharged LS2 I really hate trans rebuilding, I'd rather build a dozen engines before 1 trans (which explains why I blow out transmissions. 600+hp on a stock, junk yard trans...NEVER GOOD! )

My question is, why hasn't anyone picked this up? As asolde pointed out, $5k goes VERY quickly when building one of these great machines!

[wgr2112]

It looks nice in the picture. Hopefully it was just as nice in person.

I think its worth the money, especially if it is an A/C cab.

[CC69Rat]

My wife once worked for Duracell. As they make the batteries, there are small slender but HIGHLY powerful magnets that keep the batteries upright as they are made. I have a bunch of them I keep in my pockets when I'm looking at potential buys ..

What I'm saying is, I'd go over all the usual spots where bondo might live, see if a magnet sticks. That's usually a tell tale sign.

The bottom line is, do you like the truck? Do you want a SWB / LWB? I say it's your money, .. if you think it's worth $5k, jump on it. Just seeing the picture it looks like a good ole truck man. It just needs some lovin.