My new "parts" truck

[kevinr1970]

At least that was what I told my girlfriend...
Looking for an engine for my Blazer and found this.

1985 GMC short-wide bed 4x4.
The guy told me the frame was bent. Hit from the side in an accident. It had been sitting for about 2 years.
Turns out the frame is only bent out on the tips (frame horns?).
Put a good battery in it, as much of 2 gallons of gas in the tank as I could get in and about a cup down the carb. Fired right up. Died after a few seconds but fired right up again and stayed running.

He gave reciepts all from 2000-2001 for:
Ring & pinion service (new Eaton posi, 3.73 R&P, axle bearings and seals) - $1300
Rancho 9000 shocks from Summit (4)
Power window motors (2)
Few other things

He told me that (and said he will see if he can find the receipts):
Right after he bought it (1998 or 99?) the oil change place didn't put in the drain plug completely and he lost all the oil on the freeway. They paid for a new short block. Hes not sure if they rebuilt the one he had or if they bought a new one. All he knows is it ran a lot stronger when he got it back. Said the bill on that was over $2000. Has about 50-60k on the short-block, 140k on the heads and such.
Tranny went out about a year after he had it rebuilt. He went back to the place that did it and said that he wanted it to be bullet-proof, money is no object. Said that was close to $3000.
Right after he stopped driving it he replaced the front end - new ball joints, tie rods end and all those bits and pieces. Plus did the front brakes. Then drove it to where its been parked for the past two years. So like 20 miles on all that.
He had the rear brakes done right after they did the rear-end.

The good:
Apple red with Saddle tan interior
Ran good all the way home (about 15 miles). Seemed to drive as good as my decent '86 GMC 4x4 and ran way better.
Shifted good with a nice firm shift.
2" or 4" lift with springs all around
Flowmaster 40's with almost new headers (thick flanges!) and an "H" pipe.
Radiator
Except the front fenders, bumper and grill it is pretty much straight.
Has some stuff wrapped in heavy plastic in the bed that he says is a complete, disassembled 4-bolt main 350.

The bad:
Bent frame
Cracked windshield
Passenger window only works from passenger side
Most the plastic AC/Heat duct pieces are in a box on the front seat
Wires going to the AC/heater control head are butchered. No blower but it seems that it is on defrost as I got heat on top of the dash. And needed it on the drive home!
Dash is hashed
Tires are hashed
Has a fixed 8(?) blade fan instead of a fan clutch

I bought this as a parts truck but (and I have only driven it once) it seems a shame to pull it apart. A lifted swb 4x4 that runs and drives good?
Parts:
For my '86 GMC 4x4 - lift springs and shocks, tranny, exhaust (with a little work), tilt column with GMC wheel
For my '81 K5 2wd - engine, mounts, headers, radiator, shroud, etc
For my '87 swb 2wd (foreest service green) - red cab with AC and power windows/locks, red doors, red bed, red tailgate, red hood, etc

Best pictures I could get before me camera decided to use all 120 minutes of battery life in about 3 minutes?

[kevinr1970]

Some daytime pictures:

[kevinr1970]

Since I had a decent bumper sitting around I threw that on. I took a little "manipulating" but I got it on there. The frame horns are pretty far out of wack.

And since I had a set of 33 MT's mounted on painted black rally's I figured why not? Scrubbed it real good but it was dark before I could get any good pictures.