Advice Needed Please!

[harleychevy86]

I just recently inherited my grandfather's 1986 Chevy C10 2wd. 350 5.7

It has been sitting for 10+ years. I was told that they had tried swapping the motor after the last motor had caught fire. The truck hasn't ran since and I'm not even sure if everything is hooked up. However, my father swears someone had told him the transmission wasn't aligned correctly and it needed a certain part of the wire harness, head gaskets, intake gaskets, carb replaced in order to run. Should I replace this motor too or rebuild it? Should I replace the motor and transmission just in case?

Since this truck has been sitting for so long, I am trying to understand what exactly I should do as I am not able to fix myself. I'm looking for recommendations on the most cost effective ways to get this truck running and driving the way it used to! This is my dream truck and have always loved it. I would love to keep it mainly original but if it's cheaper and more convenient to do other mods then I will be willing to change.

Any recommendations is very much appreciated.

Also, if anyone knows any mechanics or anyone to help in Southwest VA, please let me know!

 

[85K304SPD]

Oh, this is another thread with the same title as the other one about the flywheel.
Show us some pictures of the truck, so we can understand what you are working with. If it looks nice, fix it right, if it is a POS, maybe do something different. Nothing is ever "cheap".

 

[harleychevy86]

I would like to do things the “right” way. As I would like to enjoy driving it quite a bit.

 

[harleychevy86]

Oh, this is another thread with the same title as the other one about the flywheel.
Show us some pictures of the truck, so we can understand what you are working with. If it looks nice, fix it right, if it is a POS, maybe do something different. Nothing is ever "cheap".

Added some photos. Im not worried about the looks, just wanting to know more opinions about the engine and the actual mechanical side of things.

 

[fast 99]

Some under hood photos with air cleaner off and decent lighting would help.

 

[85K304SPD]

The first thing you need to do is take everything out of the truck, (unload it) and clean the truck up so you can see what you have. You will feel alot better about what you have if it is clean. It wont suck as much to work on if everything is clean. This step may take several days, weeks, or months, depending on how much time you have to spend on it. None of it is easy or cheap. You have to enjoy doing the work. Do as much as you can yourself, even if you haven't done it before, try it out. Spending alot of money will make you upside down on the value when you are done. Make it how you like it and make it fun to drive. Get it running with what you have, before you decide to change a bunch of stuff. Keep it real.
Enjoy.

 

[hoagster]

The first thing you need to do is take everything out of the truck, (unload it) and clean the truck up so you can see what you have. You will feel alot better about what you have if it is clean. It wont suck as much to work on if everything is clean. This step may take several days, weeks, or months, depending on how much time you have to spend on it. None of it is easy or cheap. You have to enjoy doing the work. Do as much as you can yourself, even if you haven't done it before, try it out. Spending alot of money will make you upside down on the value when you are done. Make it how you like it and make it fun to drive. Get it running with what you have, before you decide to change a bunch of stuff. Keep it real.
Enjoy.

My thoughts too, thats the first thing I would do is clean out the bed and cab, figure out what parts are there and clean it up. If it been outside for 10 years I put about 4 bug bombs in the garage with the truck first!! I think you'll be stoked to work on it even more once you get 10 years worth of snarf off of it even though it doesn't run

 

[fast 99]

My thoughts too, thats the first thing I would do is clean out the bed and cab, figure out what parts are there and clean it up. If it been outside for 10 years I put about 4 bug bombs in the garage with the truck first!! I think you'll be stoked to work on it even more once you get 10 years worth of snarf off of it even though it doesn't run

Bug bombs good idea. When I rescued one a few years ago it had a lot of spider webs and other creepy crawlers. Only potentially nasty spider here is a black widow. Did exactly that. Never found a living bug.

 

[hoagster]

This is why I suggested the bug bombs. This was on the bed rail after doing just that in my garage. This was the biggest one of six that we found. Along with others that weren't poisonous!

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Ricko1966]

I have no idea if you are still messing with this or your skills. I can tell you this,with very minimal work you can tell if the engine actually runs,a little more and you can see if it knocks or gets hot. Put a battery in it, hook up a positive cable battery to starter. Put 9n a negative cable even just a jumper cable battery to engine block. Make a jumper wire battery positive to distributor cap batt terminal. Dump a couple of tablespoons of fuel down the carb throat and short the starter solenoid with a switch,a quarter,a Screwdriver whatever. That is enough to make the engine run until your 2tbs is burned up. If you supply a can of gas to the fuel pump inlet it will run until your gas can is empty. Your engine may be fine,maybe not. Transmission alignment,nbd,nothing on these trucksbis hard.

 

[RanchWelder]

Found a Black Widow underneath my electric 180 amp welder.
No eggs. It was in the storage container I was living though...

How do you move forward after a Black Widow Attack?

 

[pnwnvrdn]

I agree with @Ricko1966....start with a simple starting/running circuit, and go from there.
The truck will let you know what is next to be dealt with.

 

[GTX63]

I just recently inherited my grandfather's 1986 Chevy C10 2wd. 350 5.7

It has been sitting for 10+ years. I was told that they had tried swapping the motor after the last motor had caught fire. The truck hasn't ran since and I'm not even sure if everything is hooked up. However, my father swears someone had told him the transmission wasn't aligned correctly and it needed a certain part of the wire harness, head gaskets, intake gaskets, carb replaced in order to run. Should I replace this motor too or rebuild it? Should I replace the motor and transmission just in case?

Since this truck has been sitting for so long, I am trying to understand what exactly I should do as I am not able to fix myself. I'm looking for recommendations on the most cost effective ways to get this truck running and driving the way it used to! This is my dream truck and have always loved it. I would love to keep it mainly original but if it's cheaper and more convenient to do other mods then I will be willing to change.

Any recommendations is very much appreciated.

Also, if anyone knows any mechanics or anyone to help in Southwest VA, please let me know!

Ok, so you will be paying someone for diagnosis and an estimate before work is to be done. I would put off anything longterm and just focus on knowing what you have right now. A reputable mechanic that you can trust is going to be very important. Just because the drive train is older and simpler doesn't mean a modern automotive tech can jump right in.
If I had little mechanical skill and was on a budget, I would only want to pay, at this point, to know what it would take to get the truck in a driveable condition. Not finished, just driveable.
Your expectations of the truck driving the way it used to and the mechanic's could be two different things, and you can be dumping money for a long time before you realize you were dumping it in the wrong place.
I think you are doing the right think seeking out referrals for techs in your area.

 

[hoagster]

Found a Black Widow underneath my electric 180 amp welder.
No eggs. It was in the storage container I was living though...

How do you move forward after a Black Widow Attack?

Just kill it! you can tell if by their webs. Black widow webs are really strong and if you damage it they will repair it quickly.

 

[CalSgt]

Just kill it! you can tell if by their webs. Black widow webs are really strong and if you damage it they will repair it quickly.

^^^^This

I can hear a black widow web snap from across the room, dead give away is the crackling snapping sounds when they break.