This guy is pretty close to me, selling this beast. Thinking about it, it's super cheap. Could yank the engine and can the rest of it. Would it be worth it for a 454+Bore build?

http://www.craigslist.org/eby/car/33401975.html

I'd jump on it, probably has a TH400 behind it you could use for a core and have rebuilt too. Heck if it does and you get it and dont need the tranny I'd buy it off you if you gave me a deal ;) Probably has Peanut ports on it so you'd need some better heads if you want to make it a heck of a runner.

Yeah I think Id be going with some Aluminum heads, there will be almost nothing stock on this motor. I was thinking about the tranny too, would be a great runner, probably a 400 like you were saying. I'd use the tranny too but I want to put a 4 or 5 speed in, so it would be for sale smile.gif But this beast sitting in front of the house.... Ohhhh landlord aint gonna like this at all :D

LOL get a torch, cut everything out and have it scrapped. No trucky sitting in yard for land lord to get po'ed over once you crush it. Those years arent good for anything but the tranny and engine anyways. Or do what I did, buy your house then you can leave car parts all over the place and shoot the neighbors the bird if they complain :D Oh yeah, you might want to save the rag joint too if you plan on doing a Jeep close ratio box conversion, its the right year donor truck.

Just the rag joint? Arent those the little cheap discs between the steering column? Actually I did want to change the steering box, Im not sure if it was a close or wide ratio, but I want a stiffer turning gear box, it feels too losey goosey! Yeah If I have everything set I can have that thing in front of the house for only a week or so, and get the last of it towed away or donated. I don't have a cherry picker though. If I pulled everything off, heads, manifold, exhaust, everything possible, unbolt the tranny and all hoses, would it be possible to drop the engine through the bottom and get a couple buddies to help me get it in the garage? I can get a 360 degree engine stand for like $40 at harbor freight which will work well I think.

Thats a heck of alot of weight to try and drag into the garage. You can drop the tranny but I think you would have to take the front off the truck to drop the engine out. Yeah the ragjoint fits the input shaft on the newer style steering boxes. I have one out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the rag joint from a 77 or 78 truck. There is a whole tech ref article on the swap, its pretty cool. You might be able to rent a cherry picker from US Rentals or someone.

I might pick this thing up this weekend. Im a little scared to do all this work and find out the block has some hairline cracks in it. I guess it's almost always going to be a gamble though. We'll see what happens, anything I can check other than the obvious?

Grab the crank pulley with both hands and make sure you can turn it. Even a fraction of an inch is all you need to make sure it's not seized with rust.

Here in the road salt capital of the world that truck body would be worth $1500 easy, i can't believe what you guys scrap, brings tears to my eyes.

Not to highjack your thread or anything, but I've never heard of anyone using a Jeep steering box... I have heard of people using the Monte Carlo SS box of the 80's, or the newer F-Body and S-10 Extreme (ZQ8) steering box... What is the ratio on the Jeep box? Better than the ZQ8 box? smile.gif

The jeep steering box is a 12.7:1 ratio box. There is an awesome write up by Jim Shea on it in the tech ref section

http://www.chevelles.com/techref/ftecref29.html

He has another writeup posted on a Corvette site for it that has a little more info

http://www.corvettefaq.com/A-car.asp

Well this guy called me this morning still has it. I found a 454 2 bolt block Casting number 14015445 (not local) for about 350 bucks. Its a bare block and he said it was checked for cracks and cleaned up and checked out. I really want to snag this guys truck, its been sitting do to a tranny failure & possibley more. I think it might be easier to keep shopping for a bare block already checked for cracks, so there is no real gamble here. Anyone know what that casting number comes up with?

This truck also has no tags or slips with it. Might be hard to deal with?

14015445...454.......78-90...2 or 4 bolt

from www.mortec.com (http://www.mortec.com)

If you get a bill of sale for the truck you wont have a problem. Besides youre only going to use it for parts anyways. If I had the means and didnt already have a longblock, I'd snatch that truck up myself. Thing you have to look at comparing a bare block to that truck is all the accessories, pulleys, and brackets that you will get with it, not to mention the crank and rods. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable, but I would hate to see a good deal passed up smile.gif

Thanks Robert! Yeah I still may pick it up, the crank and all that stuff, even the pulleys I probably won't need, maybe some of the brackets, I bet with a build like this I'd end up using more than I think I would plan on, since it's all there. But I can get parts for a pretty good price at work, I just want that block and tranny, sell the rest or give it away! It's all up in the air right now. I'd have to rent a cherry picker from someplace, US Rentals does them for $40 a day, but I dont have a truck to get it home :confused: can probably borrow easily from neighbor, anyways. First things first though, is to check on a price to get this truck home! and see if I can do it.

If U havent bought the truck yet I would jump all over it. The bed on the truck is worth twice the asking price. Up here in michigan the bed would probably bring 750+ cab and doors 750+ front clip 500 and the 454 core 500+. I dont think any junkyard out there would have a problem taking the truck with no paper work as long as the #'s come back clean that is.

Ive got one more concern. This reminds me, I used to have a 75' Lifted Chevy pickup, it had a 454 in it, I was young and didnt ever check anything I think it ran out of oil and the block ended up cracking, the whole thing went to tell basically. How do we know... when buying stuff like this? What if the engine was ran in the same situation? I couldnt really pyscically tell on my old truck, im just scared! I want to buy it though.....

Unfortunately unless its done something like thrown a rod through the block you wont be able to tell just by looking at it.

:confused: Decisions.... Thanks for all the help guys.

Go for it. Strip it down and sell all the pieces. And then get one of those "pick up scrap cars" for free services to take away the hulk for the crusher. I assume you guys have them down there.

As mentioned before the panels seen to be not destroyed with rust and are worth something up here.