Hello all,
I have owned my '68 C10 long bed for about a year. I am having the itch to dig into it and make it into what I want. However, there are several paths to get to that point. Right now, the truck is kind of scary to drive. So far, I've lost front brakes completely due to fluid leakage, the throttle got stuck wide open at one point, the engine makes very bad clicking noises under load uphill, and one time the entire truck just quit on a busy road in rush hour due to a completely corroded battery cable. In short, the whole thing needs a major overhaul. Before the "Factory Original Police" cite me, know that this truck no longer has its original motor or transmission and it's been lowered already (by what means I am not exactly sure).
The Goal: A great handling (for a truck), low slung (without airbags), moderately powerful cruiser or maybe even autocross machine. I'd like to keep the paint pretty much as you see it but I want to convert to a short bed.
I really love what the No Limit guys are doing. I think their components fit right in line with my intended goal. I also want to be able to drive it as much as possible. Here are two alternate paths. Which one would you choose and why?
Path 1:
New small block engine swap.
Drive it while saving for a completely new chassis.
Swap everything over to the new chassis. Upgrade parts as needed.
Path 2:
No Limit Rear Raised Rail Kit and Fatbar 4 Link suspension (convert to shortbed).
Drive it until the engine gives up (which could be any day).
New engine, new No Limit Wide Ride or New QA1 Control arms.
Upgrade other parts as needed.
Obviously, path 1 will yield a better machine, but I think the time to complete it is much longer than path 2. Path 2 would allow me to basically restore the back half, drive it, and then do the front. We are talking years here either way for me to save enough to do this correctly. What would you do?
Drew