My New Garage queen! (78 Shorty)

[pdxmac]

Well, the deal fell through. I went to pay him for it and pick it up this morning at 6:50, and there was another guy there with a car hauler at the same time. The right side that he assured me was undamaged was far from it. The fender and door on the right was pushed in, and this other guy was there hounding in on it. The owner say, " oh, jeez something must've fallen against it in the garage to cause that." Yeah, my ass! something like a telephone pole at 35mph more like... Can't really trust anything else the guy told me about it either at that point, so I let the other guy have it. He just wanted it for a parts rig anyway.

So, turns out this was a big mental circle jerk. Thanks for all of the advice and welcome. Off to find a better candidate, with at least an honest seller...

[texan1186]

thats a nice truck and you cant beat $600. Oh, and welcome from texas

[Low84]

Damn! You lucked out. Congrats, and welcome to the boards.

[pdxmac]

Thanks guys! I'm excited! I pick it up Sunday

will have to post some picks after I get it cleaned up a bit.

[bigblock73]

Sweet truck, and a great deal!

Welcome to the board from MN.

[hiway]

Nice score!

[6772fan]

Dang nice short bed truck and you got a deal. You'll have no problem turning your money on that one.

[wedgemon]

Where's the danged 2wd shorty's around here for that price!!

Congrats though!

- Dave

[84 400]

sweet truck and get some pics and paint on that hood asap! reminds me of mine which is sitting in the gargdge
Sweet truck man !! and GREAT price!!

[turbo350]

Sweet rig!

[pdxmac]

Thanks! I can't wait to get my hands on it and get it cleaned up. Been calling tranny shops all day. The best estimate I've gotten for a rebuild with a mild shift kit is $750-850. Had one guy tell me it would be $1000 minimum, with additional for any optional work! Been a while since I've built a car, but that seems rediculous..

Thanks for all of the welcomes, I look forward to participating here!

Aaron

[Crank]

Hey hoss, If i were you, I'd go ahead and try n hunt up a 700r for it and make it an overdrive while you are replacing anyway, you should be either able to pick up a used one with everything it needs for cheap, or buy a kit tranny from a vendor??? Personally, that's what I would do, I wish to gosh I had overdrive or a 5 speed.
Brandon

[bigblock73]

Take it out yourself, and bring it to the shop for a "bench" rebuild...should save you a couple hundred in labor. My bench rebuild (with shift kit) on my th350 was under $500. This was a few years ago, but prices shouldn't have changed all that much.

[slugish]

Agree 100 % with Crank. Go ahead & get a 7004r & have the best of both worlds (RUN LOWER GEAR RATIO IE 373 & STILL CRUISE 65 MPH AT APPROX. 2000RPMS ) Made mistake of putting 373 gears with my turbo 350, great low end but sucked for cruising. ended up sticking 3 08 in . but lost my low end in doing so

[pdxmac]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

Take it out yourself, and bring it to the shop for a "bench" rebuild...should save you a couple hundred in labor. My bench rebuild (with shift kit) on my th350 was under $500. This was a few years ago, but prices shouldn't have changed all that much.

Thats what I was planning on doing, changing a tranny is no big deal, but everyone here has told me it's the same price either way, as they have had a ton of issues with people incorrectly installing their transmissions and then want warranty work done. I'm not quite sure how you mess that install up without a catastrophic failure, but I digress..

[67-72chevyman]

Thats a good solid truck, and for an unbeatable price.

[boatpuller]

600 bucks! your lucky i didn't hear about it first,i'd been over cornielius pass in a heartbeat. th 350 rebuilds aren't like it used to be,the guy that did mine said he used to keep 15 of them on the shelf ready to go,not a big demand anymore...anyway welcome from longview.if you get anymore of those shorty steals over there let me know.

[Eyegore]

Good find, yeah just gotta keep looking in those forgotten garages

[stepside454]

Nice score for sure

[84slopwaggin]

Yeah man thats a smokin deal. Christmas came early to you. Enjoy your new score.

[84 400]

The tranny prices do seem high to me too. what happen to the good old days? at those prices ypour better off finding one in your local want ad or cregislist and having a shift kit fro less then 500 total. Th350's are all over here and still popular with some drag racers.. good luck on the hunt

[crawdad]

Just a suggestion, but before you do anything with the tranny, why don't you change the fluid and filter in it? That has cured a lot of tranny problems. Ya never know, you might get lucky.

[AesC10s]

DO NOT GO TO THE RELIABLE TRANSMISION SHOP ON TV HIGHWAY!! He IS good for scams...

[pdxmac]

Originally Posted by crawdad

Just a suggestion, but before you do anything with the tranny, why don't you change the fluid and filter in it? That has cured a lot of tranny problems. Ya never know, you might get lucky.

Yes sir, thats my plan.. although he said it was slipping, and it had been for a while. So if it was just needing serviced, and he kept driving it like that, he probably toasted it.

I'm still going to try it though..

[pdxmac]

Originally Posted by AesC10s

DO NOT GO TO THE RELIABLE TRANSMISION SHOP ON TV HIGHWAY!! He IS good for scams...

Thanks! I talked to quite a few guys today, and I think I am going to go with Columbia Transmission. Family owned business, and they seem to have a good reputation. The guy I talked to had great customer service, and knew what he was talking about.