somoteitbe
+1y
Thanks for checkin this out, I welcome any advice or constructive criticism or ideas. I was a jet mechanic in the Navy on an aircraft carrier (CVN-72) did two deployments and got out almost a year ago now. Got married, bought a house, and go to school full time so not a lot of time or money on my hands even with a four day weekend every week. Been looking for couple months now for a decent little beater truck to drive in the city with this winter to school and haul parts. No baggin or hot rodding this thing up itll be a true beater to the core, I already have nice truck that I will be putting money into to restore. Very little auto mechanics back ground and my jet engines didn't need pistons for compression so its a learning process. This project will be a good warm up to get me refreshed in doing body work and painting before I start tearing into my already nice truck. Not to mention save on gas!
Just picked up the 1986 B2000 for $600.00 in rough condition. Just got it for a soon to be daily driver too keep my Chevy in the garage and out of the elements. I doubt this thing has been washed since it left the dealers lot. Rust has basically taken the bed, most of the wheel wells are hanging by a thread, but the frame seems solid enough and the engine and 5 speed seem to work good. This will be my ongoing side project for awhile between school, home-ownership projects, and attempting to keep a happy wife lol.
Day One: (21 Feb 2015) Made offer $600, (asking $1100) turned me down. Drove away, kid called me back and said his mom said to apologize and sell it for $600. Turned around made deal. Known issues with it at the time : leaking oil, interior seats worn out, rust, and needs passenger window and regulator. Oh and battery just happened to go bad upon my purchase.
Drove it home (20 mi) no issues just COLD without a passenger window. Also kinda strange being a bit lower to the ground with a 5 spd hydraulic clutch instead of my normal ride (67' Chevy with a 4 spd mechanical linkage and 383 stroker). Just beat the wife home, informed her i was taking her garage spot because it was too cold to work in the driveway (not happy ). So she decided i had to go with her to the store...Day gone. That night walked into the garage to get a good through visual inspection to see just what i had gotten myself into. Noticed via smell and sight that i had a lovely little gas tank leak, and under carriage appeared to have NEVER been cleaned...at least not since 1986.
Night Two: (22 Feb 2015) The Wife's birthday so daytime was spent buying and installing new door knobs on every door in the house and spending quality time. Later that night Decided to familiarize myself with this little 2 liter engine and get it ready for a heavy, much needed degreasing so I can hopefully start to trace the oil leak (s). Took off Air cleaner, neutralized the battery acid build up on the battery and bracket with baking soda/water mix. Then spent the next hour trying to remove the battery bracket...attempting: brute strength (fail), Lubrication (fail), blunt force using hammer and chisel to attempt to loosen corrosion (fail), propane torch to heat the bolts up expanding the metal then allowing it to cool in hopes that the change in size would loosen them enough for brute force to work (fail again), finally using two wrenches to get leverage and calling on my inner "man" I got the bolts to break free (success!). Need to invest in a breaker bar and a step down attachment, but hey I didn't break any of them. Bedtime.
Day Three: (23 Feb 2015) Bright and early start at 6:30 am to get started on it again. Remembered VA doc appointment at 8:00 am thank god for the truck or I would have slept in and missed it! Got back did a little research on the interweb finding which oil/tranny fluid this engine takes, and which degreaser I should use. Went with "Purple Power Industrial degreaser" and thanks to roadkill episode 24 some Gunk Foaming degreaser. Upon return from store I realized I had frustratingly little work space to use on my wife's side of the garage due too all the other projects in the house that need attention as well. I'm used to having an entire jet bay to work in so I decided to reorganize and clean both sides of the 2 car attached garage. 5 hours later I was finally ready to push the truck out of her side and onto my side. For such a small truck it was bit more of a struggle by myself than I initially predicted. Got it in and situated tool box moved to my side and began my degreasing process and it was BAD. Valve cover cleaned up after a couple applications of the purple degreaser, however underneath it took several coats and lots and lots of scrubbing to get it to brake up. Ended up using a little bit of Brake cleaner (sparingly) and putty knife to speed up the process. Some sections of the tranny looked like it belonged to a coral reef. Finished degreasing engine and undercarriage decently enough that ill hopefully be able to trace the leak(s) so I drained old oil expecting a nice super black slightly goopy consistency that hadn't been changed in awhile and i was correct. Realized however that I had not yet purchased an oil filer, or tranny filter so I left it and will acquire both filters so I can drain both and begin re assembly of parts and hopefully everything still runs good. In class till late tonight so Wed Morn or Friday will be when i get to see if I put it all back together correctly.
Side note, proper ventilation is a must. My garage is gonna be a fumy for awhile now lol. Its too damn cold outside to open the door and my little space heater doesn't really do anything to keep the garage warm ill have to invest in a bigger one but they are pretty damn pricey! So ill prolly just tough it out this winter and wait for a summer sale.
My other rides are: 2005 Hyundai Sonata 120k mi (wife's car), I had a little 2011 Mazda 2 I bought while I was still in the service for something fuel efficient to drive across the states while on leave. Cost me $90 in gas one way to drive from Norfolk, VA to Nebraska! I loved that little car even if my balls shrank a little every time i got into it. It was destroyed by a hail storm (soft-ball sized) however and totaled. So that led to the opportunity for me to buy my old Chevy.
The Chevy is a 1967 C10 Fleetside with a 383 stroker engine with about 14k miles on the engine. It has a 4 speed mechanical linkage car floor shifter. Its an absolute BLAST to drive, I love that truck. Spotted it at a car show before my honey moon and the price was too good to say no. $4800 later it was mine got it appraised at $12,500 so i think it was a fair deal. Want to repaint it, customize the interior, and put a wood bed in the back of it, but I wont take on any projects on that truck until i get my feet wet and a little practice under my belt so i can do it right.
Thanks for stopping by to read this biography the rest of my posts wont be this long i promise and ill try and figure out how to add pictures properly here in a sec. Its ugly, prepare yourself.