Originally Posted by dsraven
all the previous stuff aside.
first, decide what your budget will be.
second, decide what you want to end up with
third, be truthfull with yourself (and your partner if there is one). do a complete and thorough check over of what you have and what it needs. do some legitimate pricing on the parts you will need and any labour you can't do yourself.
fourth, decide if this is something you want to invest in or can afford to invest in. is it gonna cause trouble in the household when time and money are spent on "that old wreck".
start with the underpinnings, get a good base to put everything else on top of. if the body is in good shape then thats great. you can drive it around with a couple of bad cab corners but driving with worn out suspension and brakes could be disaster. start with the base and build off of that.the problem here is that you really should take the body off the truck so you can ensure the frame is really in as good a shape as what you think. do some checks to ensure it is square, straight and doesn't sag. check the crossmembers for loose rivets, cracks, rust between the mounts and frame etc. it's not a bad idea to dissassemble the entire thing and have it blasted so you know exactly what you have before you start. the area around the front shock mounts, for example, can rust badly over time and be almost through the frame thickness if you remove the bracket and blast the area till you see good clean steel. the same goes for the rear suspension mounts. anyway, all I am saying is do a thorough checkover of the most important part of any vehicle-the part that supports the suspension, body, and driveline-the frame.
check the entire truck and make a list as you go. be truthfull and don't skip over anything. price out the parts to fix it the old way and then price out the parts to fix it like you want to end up. sometimes the cost to repair the old will go a long way towards replacing the old with the new design that you want in the end. when you say it will be short trips around town, that, to me, says ifs and p/s, p/b. highway driving isn't so bad with a straight axle, not really any short turns to worry about and not really any quick stops in stop and go traffic.to me, ifs would be more of a "must have" for city driving. for long trips a solid axle would be ok (but I would still WANT ifs,lol).
if you find the front end and suspension are ok to drive as is, then the other option is to drive it that way while you fab a whole complete new frame with the suspension you want. then,when complete, swap your body and driveline over.
if it is simple you want for a driveline choice, and city driving is all you will be doing mostly, then a good running carbed 350 with a turbo 350 behind and a good rear axle ratio will be all you need. if you find things change and road trips are more your style you can always swap in a 700r4 later. if you want to upgrade to fuel injection then install a good running LS engine and get the computer remapped for your design, gear ratio, exhaust etc. the LS, in my opinion, is the new small block chevy. sorta like the old days when everybody was swapping in the small block where the old inline 6 used to live.
thats just me though. if you love the small block then do what you want, it's your hotrod. electronic engines will also need some sort of speedo revamp because there is no speedo cable adapter in the trans. more money to account for
in the end do a check of what you really have and what needs you have, then do a study to back up your plan. then look at it like someone from the outside would and decide, logically and budget wise, what your plan will be.
most importantly---take pics and post them as you go.
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