New kid from the Northwest.

[Trailrider95]

Hey guys, I've been readin around here for quite a bit. I'm 15,from Washington, and I just got a truck about month and a half or two months ago.

How I got the truck-
Dad picked me up a Ford Bronco for $500 even. Great deal, it ran strong, needed a little bit of work. Wasn't what I wanted though. So I kept searching on CL, and had no luck with finding any deals. I was looking for early to mid 70's c-10, or a early 80's k10. Of course, I looked at the late 70's half tons, 4wd, 2wd, non running, no motor, no tranny, needs new tranny, has a leak, etc etc etc. Of course, I knew when buying one of these squares, trying to find one in our price range would be hard. $1500 or less was really what we'd looked at. One day,Dad got a call from his buddie/co-worker which is who we stored these with, as we have no place to work on cars, and have no experience unlike him. He's been great help. Anyways, when he called, he informed us that his wifes cousin, had this truck, it'd sat for 4 years or so, he was trying to fix it, but couldn't find the funds. He wanted a 4x4 for going into the mountains, when he goes hiking. I didn't really care about 4x4 as, I wasn't intending to go wheel it. So we talked to him, and ended up trading the bronco which was an 89, for this "77" GMC half ton 2wd. The reason for the quotes around 77, is it's been pieced together from several years/models. It overall looks great, fairly straight body, runs strong, minor leak, needed a carb, which we bought and installed. Needs a tune up, which is soon to come, and a tune up.And at somepoint, lower it back down,since it's got a 2 inch body lift. It looks nice with it, but I don't like lifted 2wd trucks...

My plans for the truck-
-Eventually at somepoint restorod.But that's way down the road.
-I'd like to drop it either 3/4 or 3/5. Can't really decide. I don't want it slammed simply because I'd like it still be functional as a truck and not hit the wheels on the fenders going over speed bumps/potholes
-New set of rims, un decided as to what i'm lookin for. Needs to be cheap
(tight budget)
-Fix the small leak that the engine has
-Pop the dents out, maybe a new front right fender, Its got a small hole in the bottom of it.
-Fix the interior, get a nice clean sounds system
-Disc brakes in the back eventually
-And whatever else that comes along the way

Not sure about the tranny it has, I know it's got a "rebuilt" 350 that was pieced together from different years an models.

Couple questions-
Aside from LMC where's a good place to buy parts for these trucks?
What's a good way to get under the hood clean? It's got a ton of crud on the side of the block, and all over.
What are some things to look for along the way?

That's about all I got, will try'n get some pictures up later!

Edit-
I'm lookin forward to learnin about these trucks, there's great information here, and lots of good people. Can't wait to learn from you guys...