opinions needed..

[draggin49]

So ive settled on for the time being leaving the factory patina in place on the exterior/interior
Kinda dig the character it has.




Now I dont know what to do under the hood. Its pretty dirty from sitting/use from previous owner. I plan on leaving everything original just add an air ride setup and switch to steel wheels with caps. So it isnt gonna be stock, but I want to keep many of the stock aesthetics in place but dramatically change the ride height/stance.

Should I only degrease/ clean up the engine and NOT paint any items?? Leaving some of the wear/faded paint/surface rust here and there?

Or my other route would be to thoroughly clean the engine compartment and repaint the fendwrwells/firewalls/accessory brackets /stock air cleaner / swap to corvette valve covers etc

Been going back and forth on this one.figured some feedback might help.
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[hopped up]

Id go for the clean engine compartment. Leave the rest of the truck as is, take
care of any leaks and make it reliable. Bags ,steelies and caps ,youre talking my style
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[twich3136]

I'm with hopped up. I love a good clean engine
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[draggin49]

I am the same way , just fresh paint on accessories/stock air cleaner/intake etc.
Makes it look so much more visually appealing when you pop the hood. Im thinking aside from painting items ill just swap valve covers to the old stlye chevrolet script style.always liked those, clean but not too flashy. Just goin for a real clean look under there is what im goin for , no chrome on it just clean/simple
:-)
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[MSHax]

I'm with them, I like a clean engine bay, and with my most recent project, stock looking. The whole purpose of going TBI is so I can look stock under the hood, I even took a LOT of extra steps to make sure thing like HID headlights can't be seen from under the hood.

For me though, I'd say clean up the interior a little. New carpet makes a WORLD of difference (I just did mine last weekend). And if you're like me, and like toys, you can do something like a Retro Sound radio. they have one that your iphone/ipad/mp3 player can plug into. You get retro styling, with modern technology.

[cericd]

I agree with the others. Clean, reliable, & original. It's only that way once and they are getting pretty tough to find in original condition. I looked long and hard to find one that didn't have the dash or doors cut up and wasn't a rust bucket. I wish mine was original paint (like yours appears to be) but at least it mine was repainted the original color. By the way, I don't see too much patina, also known as "rust" on that truck. If you don't like the oxidized look you could always buff the paint. It looks like it would shine right up. Congrats on finding a nice "survivor".

[PanelDeland]

I agree with the above.Just like a woman,if it don't look good in a black sheath dress and pearls,you're just putting lipstick on a pig.

[draggin49]

Thanks for the compliments guys. It was a lucky find.especially with how overpriced most old trucks/cars are in my area. I will install a new maroon carpet kit and maybe a new maroon dash pad, the original is cracked bad and mishapen. A stock replacement one would look better.the rest I will leave alone.
I will do a stereo but will do some extra work to hide it and not alter my doors/dash etc. I like being able to stream music from pandora on my phone to the stereo wireless.
I think since im changing so little under the hood fresh paint on the fenderwells, firewall, and motor/accessories itll still have that stock vibe to go with the exterior .
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[Pro Performance]

I like that truck! The idea of cleaning it up as you planned would be great looking and make for a nice truck. Truck looks to be in great shape.

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by draggin49

Thanks for the compliments guys. It was a lucky find.especially with how overpriced most old trucks/cars are in my area. I will install a new maroon carpet kit and maybe a new maroon dash pad, the original is cracked bad and mishapen. A stock replacement one would look better.the rest I will leave alone.
I will do a stereo but will do some extra work to hide it and not alter my doors/dash etc. I like being able to stream music from pandora on my phone to the stereo wireless.
I think since im changing so little under the hood fresh paint on the fenderwells, firewall, and motor/accessories itll still have that stock vibe to go with the exterior .
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Looks good. If you're going to change the interior anyway, you might consider adding some black accents. Where your paint is maroon, and practically everything in the interior is maroon, your eye sort of gets overwhelmed with maroon. Maybe go with a black dash pad and carpet to break it up a little
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[draggin49]

Anybody know what kinda wheels those may be?? The owner mentioned about purchasing them for it at some point.

They look ok on stock height/lifted applications or with mud/all terrain tires.
I was gonna take them to a friends work and sandblast/repaint them.then sell them to offset the cost for the plain steel wheels/caps I want to run. Figure ill paint the new steelies white to match the front bumper /tailgatw lettering
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[draggin49]

True could do black carpet instead to break it up foe the time being
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[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by draggin49

Anybody know what kinda wheels those may be?? The owner mentioned about purchasing them for it at some point.

They look ok on stock height/lifted applications or with mud/all terrain tires.
I was gonna take them to a friends work and sandblast/repaint them.then sell them to offset the cost for the plain steel wheels/caps I want to run. Figure ill paint the new steelies white to match the front bumper /tailgatw lettering
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They look like typical wagon wheels to me, but I do know that there are some rare ones out there that might be worth something. Not sure which your are. Looks like they were converted to 6 lug, from 8?

You thinking of white steelies and caps similar to what I did? If so, check out the thread "questions about steelies" for help

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[Mister-B]

Oh, here's what I did with my interior recently. It had way too much blue in there. Lots of different shades of blue to boot. So, I went black, and I think it has a nice contrast against the light blue paint



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[draggin49]

Nice, I dig the black against the blue.makes for a good contrast.he mentioned something about the wheels , I forgot if he tried to buy a spare or what the reasoning was about it being pricey. I will have to look into more details about them.
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[cericd]

Those wheels were popular back in the seventies. They sold them everywhere Sears, Firestone, etc. Many people call them wagon wheels (like MisterB said). The ones that came on my 1970 C/10 are chrome and were made by Superior (a popular wheel company back then).

[cericd]

As far as your interior goes, I think we all want what we don't have. MisterB had too much blue so he wanted to break it up with some black. Mine is gold with the black accents and I was thinking of swapping my black accents for more gold. Ha! To each their own.

[steel horse]

well hate to disagree with everyone on here but i think IF your gonna keep patina on the outside & inside then thats kinda ratrod like sooo since "REAL" ratrods back in the day did that so they could spend all their money on engine parts you should do the same BUT not spend alot.

What i mean is just clean it up (degrease etc.) under the hood then just look around ebay for REAL old school hotrod parts from the 50's & 60's, you can get these dirt cheap so not alot of cost and they will prob have patina on them to match the truck so then shes really a cool old school "ratrod". and along the way you can learn alittle too. I find these kinda parts all the time at swapmeets and on ebay super cheap (especially if they dont "look" in new shape since thats the only stuff the collector guys want but for you its even better).

matter of fact i think i even still have the old aircleaner from my 40 chevy ratrod truck i had that you can have if you want it. (its painted with red primer then thats rubbed out a little with brake cleaner to get the old look then pin strips painted on it) cant see it much from this pic but its on there if you look close...



just my .02 cents....

[draggin49]

Had a question.should taking just the motor and leaving the transmission in place be good enough as far as freeing up room to paint the firewall, fenders , engine block/etc??

Trying to do it with the motor in seems like itd end up being a huge pain and hard to do a good job cuz of access issues.doesnt seem like itd be too complicated to remove / drop back in.plus if i do mess up im sure you experienced guys can help this newbie :-P

Smog pump is removed/stored in my parts shed.

Are the stock 2 barrel carbs pretty easy to.rebuild if needed?
Been a long time since ive had a vehicle with stock.intake/2 barrel.my 1969 camaro had a 327 with a 2 barrel.
Just didnt know how the 2 barrel might be after sitting for a long time.


Gonna double check my parts list and grab some of the items I need.
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[Moline_Puller]

Here's my 2 cents...

I think that you should clean up the engine compartment...make sure that you get rid of any leaks, etc. I kinda like the original patina on the engines...but, they do need to be clean. And, if you are going to 'dress it up' at all, try to find some vintage speed parts with some patina of their own (I'm putting a cool set of Cal Custom valve covers on mine this weekend).

Like I said...just my 2 cents.


Chris

[draggin49]

Theres an under hood shot before I brought it home.
Theres surface rust on the fenderwells, right hand side of the firewall and the metal area that is above/around the radiator.

If it it still had more of the paint left in those areas I wouldnt even consider painting it.hmmmm, decisions decisions

the block/Intake/valve covers look to have some factory paint on them still under the extra thick layer of dirt/oil
Im worried itll look funky its mix and matched like if I painted the fenderwells/firewall and other surface rusted areas then just cleaned the engine/accessories leaving the patina on them.maybe it wouldnt look bad, I dont know. Maybe the contrast of paint /patina would bring it out more.I figure ill pull the motor soon so ill have to settle on a route to go.
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[steel horse]

Originally Posted by draggin49

Had a question.should taking just the motor and leaving the transmission in place be good enough as far as freeing up room to paint the firewall, fenders , engine block/etc??

Trying to do it with the motor in seems like itd end up being a huge pain and hard to do a good job cuz of access issues.doesnt seem like itd be too complicated to remove / drop back in.plus if i do mess up im sure you experienced guys can help this newbie :-P

Smog pump is removed/stored in my parts shed.

Are the stock 2 barrel carbs pretty easy to.rebuild if needed?
Been a long time since ive had a vehicle with stock.intake/2 barrel.my 1969 camaro had a 327 with a 2 barrel.
Just didnt know how the 2 barrel might be after sitting for a long time.


Gonna double check my parts list and grab some of the items I need.
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just my opinion but i think thats a great idea to pull the motor, that way you can get some cheap insurance by putting in some new seals when you throw it back in (also rent a pressure washer with a "rotating head" and heated water, it will anililate the dirt/grease).

as far as rebuilding the carb goes, its not bad but take my advice and get a large box turn it on its side and work "inside it" so if parts go flyin they just hit the top and sides of the box and you dont have to go chasing them down (dont ask me how i know)

[draggin49]

I will go ahead and remove it.then degrease/pressure wash it. See what kind of factory paint is left on the block, valve covers, intake etc. As you can see the inner fenderwell paint is gone. The paint on the accessories is gone.so I was debating on painting the areas that have some surface ruste : firewall, fenderwells, metal area behind grille/around radiator.

I was gonna swap a new water pump/gasket, new valve cover gaskets, new oil pan gasket.

Any other particular ones to make sure to take care of?
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[draggin49]

Im gonna swap a new water pump/thermostat once I have the motor out .would it be be best to put in a new radiator also?
Or should I see if the one in place is in working order.It gets hot where I live so ive always tried to make sure my cooling setup is sufficient

not sure what kind of distributor it has.new cap and rotor?
Or better off going with a new hei?

Sorry for so many questions.just want to make sure I replace items that should for sure be swapped out/changed on a motor thats been sitting

Then also figure out if any items are ok to reuse off the complete motor setup currently installed.
my buddy said i can borrow his picker so i can do it this weekend
Thanks guys.
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[draggin49]

And taking out just the motor is fine?or do I need to do motor/trans all at once

Im gonna leave the factory transmission in place anyways and use it when the motor goes back in.so I figired maybe just the motor coming out would be enough.
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