86 SWB Cream Puff

[izzy_Britton]

Yeah I know the title of this thread is a bit odd, but honestly, that is the best way to describe this truck. This truck is a genuine cream puff. and not the fruity kind of cream puff! The kind of cream puff that falls in your lap and upon second look you realize it is exactly what you were looking for.

I was looking for a square when i ran across a smoking deal, $600 for a straight 82 SWB. after buying the truck and driving it home real life got in the way and the truck sat in my drive way for about a month. flash forward a month... need to transfer ownership and get smogged, DMV tells me 800$ in back reg fees. decide to park it in storage for a while until i can come up with the $$ for registration. go out and try to start truck only to realize the carb float was stuck, flooded and leaking all over the place. i6 th350, and a thoroughly rusted cab. this was number 37, I bought it early in march 2013. parked it later in march 2013. heart broken. my DD was a 97 ford ranger, the freeze plugs are all rusted out, blown head gasket, on its last leg, i smoked the motor and had to tow it home 3 times in 3 days and finally had enough.

Went driving the back streets of a small neighboring town in search of something, anything that would get me back and forth to work. FOUND IT! the old man wanted $1,000 for it.

So about the truck.

This is an 86 Scottsdale, SWB 2WD with only 82K original miles. But there seems to be a few oddities about this truck that i cannot verify and with a little help from some of the members here i can clear some of those oddities up.



I bought this thing 4 weeks ago this weekend, I have so far only taken 2 photos of it. both the day i bought it.


So on to the details and the oddities.

As i mentioned it is a scottsdale. however I have been lead to believe that the scottsdale package was the top of the top package. is this the case? the reason i question this is because it is 100% original and as near as i can tell I am the 2nd owner, the man who i bought it from said he paid $13,000 for it and is 94 years old. The truck sat since at least 2009, but the old man said he lost his license back in 2007 due to going blind (not just legally blind, but rather, AS A BAT).

It has a 305 / 700r4, manual windows, manual door locks, and a base model instrument cluster. It has AC and cruise control both of which work it has carpet on the floor but a vinyl seat, no head liner and no interior trim. the funny thing is, there is a giant one piece floor mat over the carpet and i do not believe it had ever been removed before i removed it to vacuum last weekend. the carpet under the rubber mat is pristine with the exception of where the floor meets the trans tunnel there is a tear, likely from old age. I put the rubber floor mat back in place.

behind the seat is the standard 4x10 speakers and the cardboard wall cover thing. all the speakers seem to work and the stock radio was replaced with an aftermarket removable face tape player (this should give an indication as to how long ago the stereo was installed, forever ago!) the windshield is original, even the tires i believe were originals, nearly bald and separating when i bought it, 2 still remain on the truck. It has power steering, my other 86 did not, what a relief.

The only oddity in the engine compartment is the carburetor. The emission sticker says it is a California compliant vehicle but the carb seems to be a standard quadrajet 4 bbl. It is supposed to have the electronic carb but that seems to not be the case here, it did pass smog last week so nothing funny, just that the carb seems to be a manual rather than electronic. my other 86 had the blasted electronic carb and i cursed it for months while trying to get it passed smog.

To the back outside. The truck came new to me with a camper shell, it has been quickly removed. the inside of the bed didnt even have scratches in the paint as it was obviously never used as a truck. however there are 4 half inch holes in the floor of the bed, one in each corner and 2 holes top center of the inner fender wells, one in each. however there seems to be no 5th wheel mounts or appear to ever have been any 5th wheel mounts. there is however a 5th wheel style 7+1 pin electrical connector on the inside wall of the bed front and left. I can only assume that maybe they intended to install a 5th wheel and never did or maybe they had a cab over camper on it and this electric connection was for camper stuff? the cargo lamp was removed, again i assume for the camper shell that was on it when i bought it or for the cab over that seems to have never been installed. the wires and socket are there but the lamp mount and lens are gone, leaving me with a hole that scares me because i will bet dollars to donuts that there is rust in the lower cab corners because of this.

the spare tire is original and has never been removed from under the bed. all 5 wheels are rally wheels with nice beauty rings and center caps in good condition.

it has dual fuel tanks, both work as does the fuel gauge.

everything seems to work to some degree.


The Plans:::

I want to drop it with a sporty stance. probably a 5/6. 3 inch spindles, 2 inch springs, a flip with a 1 inch block and a frame notch that does not require me to modify my bed. not too low, i am getting old and although i love the looks of the slammed trucks my kidneys are begging me to keep it sporty and keep a comfy ride, plus i have a small pop-up travel trailer that needs to be towed and dependably without suspension mishaps while on holiday. 20 x 8.5 up front and 20 x 10 out back, likely american racing wheels 223's or some tork thrust II's, and good sized rubber to fill the fender openings up. small wheels and tires look silly on a square with big fender holes.

I really like the look of the de-chromed / euro style trucks but the effort it takes to go full de-chrome is too much effort for me, i am getting lazy in my old age. I also really like rolled rear pans, but with this truck I am planning to keep the front AND rear bumpers and keep them chrome. the body moldings however will be removed because i personally hate the look of the style of side moldings that are stock on this year truck.

I am also planning to keep the body MOSTLY stock. there are a few things i want to do, the front grill being the first thing on my list. However this is where things have a chance to snow ball out of control and this is where it will take all of my will power to keep that from happening...

first, I want to convert the cab over to electric windows and locks, in order to do this RIGHT i will need to remove the doors for proper installation of the accordion boots. since adjusting the doors back to the right position is a royal PITA, the fenders are gonna come off. while the fenders are off I might as well change out the 86 radiator support for that of a 88-91 with the small headlamps. this will be a good time to replace the radiator since i do not trust it any more because of how long it has sat. since the front if gonna be off, I might as well cam the motor and while at that replace the intake, carb and distributor with something better.

The tailgate is going to get a Britton Built skin that will be slightly different than the run of the mill skin. you will have to wait to see it. I did this on my other 86, the guy re-skinned it with the same run of the mill skins that i hate so much.

As for paint, I want to do it in silver and candy orange with a touch of candy green, I thought i decided this paint scheme on my 91 would look awesome, however my wife thinks the colors i have in mind are queer and has voice some strong opinions against them. so who knows. I know i like those colors, maybe a change in layout will look better than what is currently envisioned in my head.

I washed it a couple weekends ago and gave it a 15 minute buff, I had no idea when i bought it that it was METALLIC root beer brown... 5-7 years of sitting under a pine tree and an oak tree, up against a rose bush will apparently take the shine off of a truck.

Like my sig says, BIG PLANS. but i need to do it in a fashion that it doesn't snow ball and get away from me. it is my daily driver after all.

I will post more photos as the build progresses at a snails pace.

-Izzy