83 swb thats been sitting awhile (pics)

[paintslinga2010]

My has a truck sitting behind his house that has been sitting for about 10 years. He said there was not anything seriously wrong with it when he parked it but it wouldnt start. The body is very straight with little rust and the interior is decent. It has a 305 and im pretty sure its a 700r4. My little brother turns 16 in a year and he wants me to help it get it going for him to drive. What usually needs to be done to get a truck that has been sitting for this long running? Clean out the tanks? carb? I want to eventually put in a 350 but for now I would like to get the 305 going. I'll make a project thread when I get more into it.

[cableguy0]

Everything needs to be checked. The entire brake system should just be replaced. I would trust wheel cylinders or calipers that sat in the same position for that long. Rust as well as moisture in the system destroy brake components from the inside out. Replacing the parts isnt that expensive especially if its taken as a long term project. All hoses/bolts and rubbers components should be replaced. I would grease everything that has a grease fitting and lube everything else that moves. The wiring needs to be closely inspected. Rats,mice,squirrels etc love to nest in old cars/trucks that sit in a field. All fluids need to be replaced. Change the oil/transmission fluid and gear oil. Drop the gas tank and clean it out. If its fairly rusty inside get a replacement. Sitting untouched is harder on a vehicle than driving the hell out of it daily. Also plan on new tires. Even if they look ok they are dry rotted and probably not the safest.

[babyJay]

Remove the spark plugs, and spray some PB Blaster down in the cylinders. Let it soak for a day and repeat before you try to crank the engine.

[paintslinga2010]

Thanks for the tips. today we pulled the truck out and towed it behind My dads truck about 3 miles home. It was somewhat scary but its good to have it home to work on. My brother and I spent the whole day powerwashing the crap out of it. It looks like a completely different truck now. My plan now is to get the bed off and drop the tanks to check them out and put new gas in. Anymore tips before I try to fire it?

[babyJay]

Glad you got it home. Good luck. Be leary of leaking gas lines and rotted brake lines.

[RandyP]

The 84 school truck I bought, it had been sitting for like 4 years. I put marvel mystery oil down each spark plug hole and let it sit for a day, poured some gas in it (was empty) with some marvel mystery oil and it fired right up for me.

Of course then it was obvious the valve cover gaskets were gone, gas lines were fairly rotten, most vacuum lines were very brittle and the brakes had issues. It was at that point I just sold it.

I will say this, I put some seafoam down the vacuum line from the brake booster to the intake in my 79 K5 today. It had been sitting since 2006 when I bought it a few weeks ago. It amazingly had fired right up for the PO after sitting that long, and I drove it 1 mile to my shop. It ran very rough though. I wanted to change the plugs but was told to do the seafoam thing first, and some B12 carb cleaner after that. You talk about one helluva smoke show, but I'll be damned if it did not make that thing start purring. I can not wait to get the new plugs in it now, I bet it will make that tired old 400 have a breath of fresh air to it.

[paintslinga2010]

I sprayed all the bed bolts with pb blaster and they all came off pretty smoothly so far except one which is spinning. Any solutions for this?

[kcackler]

Cut it.

[N2TRUX]

You can cut it, or weld a nut to it.

[paintslinga2010]

Ok getting it off seems easy enough. Is there a way to fix the square hole so when I got to put the bed back on I can tighten it without it spinning?

[old Rusty C10]

tack the bolt to it

[kelsfine69]

I wanna see some pics?

[paintslinga2010]

After getting it home and washing it. Looks good when its wet. lol. 70% of the clear is peeled off.

Took the bed of today. Next weekend will be dropping the tanks and cleaning them. Any tips for this? What should I look for? Replace?

[RandyP]

You won't know what is needed on the tanks until you get them off and can inspect them. Normally they'll be ok, just need drained of the old gas remains and cleaned out. For sure I'd say you'll need new pickup screens on the end of the sending units, but will be a perfect time to replace the sending unit itself.

If the tank has a large amount of junk in it, and it's dried and attached itself and hard to clean out, you might consider new tank(s). They are actually fairly cheap from like O'Reileys and Advanced.

[my4by2]

Radiator shops will do a great job of cleaning your tanks too for cheap & if there are leaks or damage, they can usually fix that too. Keep the pics coming man!

[chevymotocross]

Looks like a clean/straight truck!

[Eyegore]

Looks good for sitting for so long, nice find.

[paintslinga2010]

Its been a month and a few things have changed. My brother no longer wants the truck. So I've really gotten into this thing so i'm going to slowly keep plugging away at it with my own money and try to at least get it driveable and see how I feel about it then. I pulled the drivers side tank and cleaned it. As soon as I get a paycheck i'm going to go pickup a new sending unit and mount the tank. After that i'm going to cross my fingers and turn the key.
Here is the tank and straps i cleaned up.

Yesterday I pulled the filter assembly and found this mess.



Can you guys tell me what I have here? If I can get the motor to at least run and show some life left in it I plan to pull it and replace all gaskets, maybe add a cam and intake. Definitely headers and delete all the smog equipment. My question is should I bother with this carb or add a new carb to the list?

[Altec]

Don't forget to clean/paint the frame, and under the cab where the tank goes. Only time you can get to it...

The carb is a Quadrajet. Good carbs. Plenty of literature on them, and rebuild kits to freshen it up. I'm a Holley guy, but there is nothing wrong with them. The trick to them is to keep your foot out of it. 1/4-throttle driving, and it'll sip gas.

[lindstromjd]

Originally Posted by Altec

Don't forget to clean/paint the frame, and under the cab where the tank goes. Only time you can get to it...

The carb is a Quadrajet. Good carbs. Plenty of literature on them, and rebuild kits to freshen it up. I'm a Holley guy, but there is nothing wrong with them. The trick to them is to keep your foot out of it. 1/4-throttle driving, and it'll sip gas.

Not to mention that the less you have on the engine (like smog or a/c) the better it will be on mileage. Clean up that engine bay!!! That thing will make your engine purr, but don't expect it to "lope" with the stock equipment. And you do have to keep out of it to get the good mileage. They're around 700cfm if you open up all 4 barrels. Not fuel friendly with the back 2 open.

[paintslinga2010]

IT RUNNSS!! I'm pretty stoked right now. I spent my whole day off and about $120 but it all seems worth it now. I'm mad I didn't take a video but I honestly didn't expect it to start. I painted the frame and the bottom of the cab where the gas tank goes. I went and picked up the new sending unit and mounted the tank up. Then I made another trip to town to get some oil and a filter. I came back and pulled the drain plug on the oil pan...nothing. Needless to say I wasn't too confident dumping the oil in but i checked and there were no considerable leaks. I jumped in the drivers seat and hit the key. It was turning over fine but not firing so i had my mom crank it while I messed with the carb which probably did nothing but i felt the need to. She pumped the hell out of the gas and it fired up ran about 3 seconds and died. We just kept and it and got it to stay running while giving it a little gas. I got in and I revved it pretty high for a bit and a belt squealed so I got off of it and let it be. I'll go mess with it tomorrow but now its time for a shower. I apologize for being long-winded but I'm just excited and had to share. haha

[DetroitDan]

congratulations on getting it running, I know what a great feeling that is to hear an engine for the first time. The carb is definitely going to need a rebuild, they were a great carb, little bit of a bad reputation imo. When they sit for a couple years they get gummed up and don't work properly. I just bought a rebuild kit for mine, it was about $20 at Robbins Auto Parts. I have no idea how to do it, but I guess I'm going to learn!

That is really a pretty little truck you have there. Heck of a lot more to start with than many of us had, I mean as a base for a project. I simply can't believe that it is not all rotted out from sitting in the grass. Plants produce oxygen, which along with moisture is the recipe for rapid oxidation of metal. I've seen more vehicles eaten by lawns and fields, but that one looks amazing. It is definitely a keeper. If it looks that good on the outside it would be well worth doing floors or cab supports if it need it. That interior will come back better than you think with a little elbow grease too. Best part is everything is available, cheap, and easy to replace.
Good luck with the project, and keep us updated how it comes along.

[DetroitDan]

paints not original, at least the silver isnt. very common to see the stripes done wrong, and I think that one is a little off at the top front of the front fender. And the silver on the roof should come all the way down behind the door, not stop at the top. probably started out life all red, and somebody decided to pretty it up as a two tone.

of course, any time I say anything like I know what I'm talking about somebody proves me wrong, so instead I should say that I have never seen the two tone painted like that, which makes me think its not factory.

[paintslinga2010]

Thanks Dan, I was very pleased to see the underside of the cab in such great shape when I prepped it for paint this morning. Just some surface rust in the corner at the back of the cab. I've been wondering about the paint too. I'm not sure that any of it is original since I have seen a few spots of overspray on fuel lines and such. Did they paint the cabs before they went on the truck at the factory?

[DetroitDan]

idk, you'd have to ask Keith Seymore that, he's a member here that worked at a Chevy truck plant, great story about his truck build.

More I look at it I cant say for sure if that stripe is wrong or not. I feel like it should curve down slightly as it gets close to the front, but maybe it does and I cant see it good in the picture. I just looked at a thousand pictures and some of them look like yours and some look curved, but it depends on the angle you look at. I have definitely never seen a roof painted like yours. But I do really like the red/silver two tone, I hope you're keeping it the same. Red and white's nice too...