Pity party - dang this 71 sucks up a lot of resources

[sargentrs]

Welcome to God's country, elge! I moved up here from North Lousyana in 1990 and I'll never leave the N. GA mountains Truck project is stalled due to a screwed up first attempt at spraying single stage urethane and spending 3 days sanding. Local paint shop is going to respray it for me. At $300/gal, I'm not taking any chances. Then "life" got in the way but this spring I'll be back at it. Patience and perseverance is the key. I picked up a '71 parts truck for $300. Got it for the p/s parts and RH fender. It had an Edelbrock intake and Edel 600cfm 4bbl. When I pulled the intake I saw the 351W in the lifter valley Pulled it out and started tearing it down and the crank wasn't scored, bearings not showing copper and not even a carbon ridge in the cylinders. Turns out it had an '85 casting number on the block. Guess what's at the machine shop being bored .030 over Pulled the front suspension and scored some '74 disc brake spindles and dust shields on Craigslist for $150. Had a machine shop bush it, new king pins and reassemble for $200, while I was still driving my truck. They even bead blasted and painted the I-beams and spindles. Got an F600 gauge panel given to me free (thanks, Wayne!) Got '66 Mustang bucket seats for $160 including shipping that just need recovering. Got complete serpentine belt set up with all brackets and pulleys from an '87 F150 for $35 at a local yard. Got a sandblasting pot given to me that just needed a gun and hose ($9.99). Stainless brake line set for and new chrome rear sport bumper with brackets for $200 (thanks, Brandon!). Recovered dash pad for $75. Rekeyed igntion/door lock set for $20. Wiper delay for $15. Traded my clutch/brake pedal assembly for an auto pedal assembly. Traded my heater box for a factory heat/ac unit. Both for cost of shipping. New Moog drag link and tie rods for $50. 220V direct drive 60gal compressor with a bad tank for free. $100 for a 2 year old 60gal Husky tank off of Craigslist. Free 1200cfm, 220V exhaust fan that I used on my paint booth. The list goes on and on. Several of these were sourced and bought before I turned the first bolt on disassembly. Tons of blasting media and gallons of POR-15 and Chassis Black. 2 months spent digging out my basement by hand. A project like this has been a dream of mine for many years and I've finally reached a time in my life when I can actually do it now. For no other reason than the sheer enjoyment of the journey.

[elgemcdlf]

Randy,
My truck is sitting on the south side of Indianapolis. Having the engine built. When I get it down here (hoping by the beginning of May) I will get ahold of you and we will have to cross paths. The guy I bought the truck from lives in Jasper as well. I told him I would run it down one day so he could see what I have done with it.

Steve

Ok I am done hijacking the thread.

[sargentrs]

Be great to finally meet you! Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

[sargentrs]

My wife keeps telling me - it's a project. Just be patient. Look at the big picture.
End of pity party.

hillcountry, consider yourself blessed! My wife doesn't understand my passion for my truck or the evolution of a project. I fight criticism and nay saying every time I work on it or spend money on parts. Her idea of a project is two tone fingernails and color coordinated toenails At least your wife is supportive of your project. Every time I start getting discouraged, I browse the Project Update forum or the Tech forums and plan a little more. Can't wait for cruise in season to start and gain some inspiration and motivation to keep plugging along.

[hillcountryflt]

Yep, the wife is pretty supportive. She also likes to ride on the back of my Harley - she will be 70 this month and has had two hip replacements. We have taken two trips to Big Bend and one to the Davis Mountains in the last 3 years. Each of those trips translated into no less than 2K miles of riding. One was over 3,500.
As to the truck she is just itching to redo the wood bed.
A sign this pity party has ended is the fact I am considering making the 75 mile trip into San Antonio this weekend to the only pick and pull in my area to look for power steering pumps/mounting brackets off of 1973-1986 F-series trucks running 300 CID straight sixes.

[sargentrs]

Buy her something special for Valentine's Day 'cause she's a heck of a gal! Now you're back on track. Only a dedicated project guy would do something silly like drive an hour and a half to roam a junk yard on the off chance they might find a part for an option they might one day install. Glad to have you back in the herd.

[hillcountryflt]

Buy her something special for Valentine's Day 'cause she's a heck of a gal! Now you're back on track. Only a dedicated project guy would do something silly like drive an hour and a half to roam a junk yard on the off chance they might find a part for an option they might one day install. Glad to have you back in the herd.

Well if I was really a true die hard, I would drive the 69 f100 down there, but will probably take the 2015 Explorer. Something about the 3 spd running modern highway speeds is, err, well not much fun. Wife will likely accompany me.

[sargentrs]

At least in the '69 you wouldn't have to be concerned with idle chit chat to pass the time. Y'all couldn't hear each other! Happy hunting!

[hillcountryflt]

I used sound deadener in the roof, floor and doors. And it recently received a new headliner, so the old truck is a little quieter than stock. However, at highway speeds wind noises can be an issue. Wife would probably have her nose buried in her i-phone anyway.