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New member from Austin, TX

Hey all!

I've been trolling through the forums over the last day or so (I just found this site on Sunday) and gotta say that this is a great site. Everyone here is friendly and supportive and full of valuable info.

Where I'm coming from...
The last time I spent any serious time under the hood was about 10 years ago. Throughout high school I tinkered with my '84 Monte Carlo and my '77 Trans Am, but it was after that when I really got into it by rebuilding my grandfathers' 1963 baby blue 2WD Chevy pickup (LNB/long stepside). He passed away before I was even born and my uncle had used it (say it with me) to drive through the pasture from the time I was a kid until it just finally died (it quit starting up) during my senior year in high school.

After I sold the Monte Carlo and Trans Am in favor of a motorcycle, I realized I still needed four wheels to get around with for those rainy days... and what better way to do it than to restore my grandfathers' old pickup.

It had an inline v6 and a three-on-the-tree. I dropped those out in favor of a '66 350 and a '69 (I think, going from memory here) 4 speed manual. The drive shaft had to be adjusted, and I replaced the wheels with a set from a mid-80's 4x4 suburban (6 lugs I think). I placed a new fan on the motor (and a new plastic radiator shroud). I also had some new shocks put in as well (springs were still good enough to keep). I took out the old bench seat and placed (not bolted - crazy, I know) a bench seat from some mid-80's Chevy pickup. I even fixed the leak in the gas tank (sort of) by coating the inside with a sealant.

I had it running pretty good for a few months until the unspeakable happened: I totaled it. I was on the highway at around 5:00 a.m. and fell asleep at the wheel doing around 60 mph. As you all know, the inside of that truck is nothing but metal (aside from the sterring wheel) and there's no seat belt. The only reason I'm here today is because I was flung out of the driver-side door as it rolled in the air. I walked away (figuratively) with a broken ankle, so I was pretty lucky to say the least.

The truck wasn't. It landed back on all four tires, but it rolled at least once. Because the truck spindled on it's rear bumper, the frame is bent a little under the bed, the bed itself was mangled, and the driver-side door was twisted up pretty badly (the window never broke, miraculously enough). The cab frame has shifted a little (think of going from a rectangle to a trapezoid, but not that extreme-just a little in the corners at the top), one of the wheels chipped away (but the tires never blew out), and the shocks must be shot too. The engine must have bounced real bad because that new radiator shroud broke off a peice where the fan hit it at the top. I got it towed home and never could get the motor to turn over.

So, to make a long story not so long, I walked away from the truck after that. It really sucked to see all that hard work go down the drain. So I parked it right back in it's old spot on the farm, where it's been sitting for the last ten years. I figured with a bent frame and misaligned cab, there wouldn't be much point to trying to continue the restoration process since so much of the original truck would need to be replaced. And I really didn't know the extent of the damage a roll would do to a truck like this one, and I was gun-shy to dismantling the whole thing to find out.

But after checking out this site, my fire has been reignited. After the holidays I will make weekend trips to the farm and dust off that old truck and begin the process anew by tearing it down and replacing what needs to be replaced, bolt-by-bolt if I have to. I'll be looking for a new frame (I know I can straighten it out, but not sure how comfortable I would be with that for the long run) as well as a cab (let's hear it for the wrap-around windshield!) and looking to convert it into a 4x4, and I still need to sell that old inline v6... but I'll be posting those all in the appropriate category.

Sorry there are no pics right now, but I'll take some digital pictures in January before I get started so you guys can see the process.

I'm also proficient in Photoshop, so I'll be poking around in that category from time to time and help out some folks so I'll earn my keep.

It's great to finally be able to interact with you all. I'm really looking forward to getting the old Blue Tank running again.