There’s a lot of 4 speed trucks out there. Juice not worth the squeeze there IMO unless you’re gettin a smoking deal on an auto truck.
And IF I was gonna swap I’d put that work to better use and find an OD trans, A833 if you can stumble on one, or a NV swap. It’s a lot of work either way, so may as well maximize the benefits.
Truck overall, of course your budget is a factor but a few tips that I try to find/live by.
- if you’re wanting a new looking interior, a truck with a “decent” interior isn’t worth more than one with a roached interior because you’re replacing it all anyways. Ideally find one that you can refurbish some of the parts like vents and door panels. Most will need a seat, dash pad and carpet regardless.
-if you’re repainting, of course rust free or as close as possible within your budget is preferred. But imo rusty body panels are the easy part, albeit not cheap to replace. it’s the whole chassis that I’d rather see clean. And I’d take some rust and Wore out original paint over 32 dents and 4 previous coats of paint.
-chassis/electrical, imo it’s obviously easier and but also generally overall cheaper and certainly less frustrating to find one that the wiring is unmolested and most/all functions working.
-drivetrain, of course budget again, but I’d take a truck with a blown engine and/or bad trans and clean vs running and rusted/banged up/hacked up, chitty repaints etc.
-short bed? If it’s gonna get re-painted, highly consider a deal on a long bed and converting to short bed imo. SB trucks apples to apples always go for $thousands more. The kit is under $500 and it’s your just hours if you can do the chassis and bodywork. If you can’t do that stuff then it makes buying an original short bed much more attractive.
-Make a list of “everything” you think a particular truck your interested in will take to get to where you want it. Add some contingency unless you have good skills and a good vision of what it will take. Add that to the cost of the truck and compare to something nicer that needs less and see where the balance is. Or use it as a bargaining chip for a lower price if you’re up to the tasks.
Even with your own labor it’s easy to be upside down on it once you dig in. And it’s very possible to find something that has a lot of the work done or doesn’t need near as much.
IMO, a 15 year or 5 year or …. Restoration is not worth it unless you just want to tinker and basically never enjoy the truck.
With some skill and knowledge it’s possible to not be upside down on the truck. But there are plenty of folks who are. That’s who you want to buy a truck from. Take advantage of that.
Like the C10 I just picked up. Dude had a stack of receipts totaling 200% of the purchase price I paid! Could I have had the same truck for less than he spent? Sure, but he took a bath and I got to cross off dozens of things that would need to be done to an old truck. Many of which were expensive and would take a lot of time.
In the end, I gave $1-2k more compared to any number of “similar condition” trucks that would need far more than $2k and a lot of hours to get to where this one is at.
