Project Craigslist Karma into a family vehicle

[bufmatmuslepants]

Long story but good one.

With moving to a new house I knew I needed a truck but didnt want to break the bank on an expensive truck to just sit like my last Z71. Was searching craigslist and found something Im very familiar with, but normally are priced around $4000-6000 around here running. 1995 Chevy Z71 extended cab short bed with a 350 for sale for $1500, and in the description it said "not running, needs distributor cap". I called the guy, and he said he changed the plugs and wires and it wont start now, and that this buddy the mechanic said he must have bumped or screwed up the cap while he was doing the plugs. We hashed out over the phone $1100 for a non running pickup and I headed out to see it.





I got there and it was about 90 degrees and high humidity and I asked to try to start it, the battery was completely dead so we jumped it to my work escape and turned it over and it wouldnt fire at all, just turn over and over but sounded a little retarded. I looked at the distributor and said "something looks off about that, are you sure the plugs are in the right spots?" and he pulled out a picture Advance had printed for him and we went over it and they looked right, with 1 and 8 at the front of the cap. I traced the wires to the plugs and all looked good. My initial suspicion of the issue was the timing advance being bad since that was what happened on my 88, but I never solved that truck and sold it when I bought the last Z71, but I was determined to solve this one. When I reached for the brown/black connector under the dash I saw there was already a knife slit in the tape showing someone had already unplugged it for some reason at one point. He said that his buddy the mechanic had replaced the intake manifold gasket and I knew he must have pulled it to set the timing upon reinstalling the distributor. When I unplugged it, still no change. I checked the grounds on the thermostat and they were so loose I unscrewed them with my hand, grabbed a piece of sandpaper cleaned them up, tightened them down, no change. Then I grabbed my Fluke and checked all reference grounds, 0.2-0.4 block, battery, and frame, all good. I went to pull the cap and 1 of the cap screws was a sheetmetal screw and was not actually holding the cap down, the other was tight though. The cap and rotor had some corrosion but nothing terrible.

I ran to advance and got a new cap and rotor, replaced it, no change. The new cap still would not let me screw in the second screw, but with 1 tight it was secure enough. Finally I was about to call it quits and leave and pull my new cap when I decided to google plug wire locations, and saw that the distributor back was square with the firewall, instead of cocked to the driver side as stock. This caused all of his plug locations to be 1 spot off. I rotated them and she PURRED TO LIFE! I hadnt signed the title yet and knew he could easily tell me to get lost and re list it for $4000, but after some talking we agreed to up the price to $1200 and it was MINE!

Next challenge, Im about 90 miles away from home in a different state, with no trailer and no buddy to drive it. I call AAA and say "my truck broke down, I need a tow". I throw the front plate from my escape on the truck, and AAA arrives with the flatbed and thanks to my free 100 miles towing with AAA, it was on its way. I got home, threw in a new battery, drove it around and I got myself a nice truck for $1200!

Home in the driveway



After getting enough boxes moved to fit the camaro and bike in the garage, and the truck is in its new parking spot.