Contemplating Purchase

[Low84]

Well I was driving out of work in a residential (kinda) road behind two semi's and a retirement home van.......SLOW. Anyway, long story short I had enough time to look around and spotted this yesterday:



Looks solid! Owner wants $2000 I offered $1300

It's an 81 gmc, double tank truck with the 350 in it. It's a recently brought down (driving) California truck and super solid!! 99% rust free.

Now the thing that kinda made me double think things is the owner mentioned the truck was setup to run on butane. I've seen it before but does anybody know what effect it has on the engine?

The truck starts right away but the idle sounds odd, and the owner said the truck hesitates/bogs a bit when you lean on it. He claimed the carb got thrown off tune because of the butane.

Anybody know the effects of running butane? Is that a factory color? And how much would you pay for it?

[lilpoindexter]

It sounds like at worst you need an engine...not a big deal, it's a 350. I don't know about this butane business.
When you buy it, make sure you put a stepside rear bumper on it!

[Low84]

Originally Posted by lilpoindexter

It sounds like at worst you need an engine...not a big deal, it's a 350. I don't know about this butane business.
When you buy it, make sure you put a stepside rear bumper on it!

Yeah still not sure if I'm gonna buy it though, but that bumper looks hideous huh?

[kanuck]

I know with propane and natural gas the engines last longer as the fuel is cleaner burning and creates less carbon. Often 100,000 mile motors can be very clean on tear down.

[carloscanales]

Originally Posted by kanuck

I know with propane and natural gas the engines last longer as the fuel is cleaner burning and creates less carbon. Often 100,000 mile motors can be very clean on tear down.

ok im no expert but im running just propane rigth now and acording to my mechanic (wich i think is a genius) the engine should be much cleaner inside but it gets DRY , the carburetor will need a rebuild if only worked on propane , also the valve seals may be cristalized , so its nothing major just maintenance , plus as our friend said its a 350 easy to do!

[Low84]

Originally Posted by kanuck

I know with propane and natural gas the engines last longer as the fuel is cleaner burning and creates less carbon. Often 100,000 mile motors can be very clean on tear down.

Do you think that could be the cause for the bogging? It's no longer on propane but I'm guessing the carb would be tuned to inject less gas while running on itand might have never been tuned back.

[Low84]

The photoshops are tempting me even more

[thepenguin99]

Looks like the huge rear bumper is weighing it down in the photoshop lol. Other than that looks like a nice start.

[lolife99]

I have a set of 73-87 rear sport bumper brackets for a stepside bumper,... if you end up with that truck.