Picked up a "new" truck today!

2 Sweet

2 Sweet

HMS 4-life
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Messages
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Location
Marysville, OH
I've had several trucks over the years, but lately all I've had are S10's. I really started to miss having a full-size pickup. My last job required me to do a ton of driving, and I really needed a truck, so an S10 made sense. I got 25 mpg on the highway with my 4.3L V6 5-speed 2WD pickup.

Over the winter I got a new job driving a company van, and I have a super comfy Buick I drive to/from work every day. We usually take my wife's Equinox on trips or whatever. So the S10 wasn't being driven much, and since the truck was 99% rust free, I felt really bad driving it in the winter. I decided if I'm going to have a truck that I don't drive all the time, I might as well say screw gas mileage and get something older/bigger, and something I wouldn't mind ruining by driving in the salt (lovely freakin Ohio).

I looked at '73-87 Chevy pickups, but couldn't find anything decent in my price range, so I started looking at 90's trucks. There were three things I had to have: 350 (or bigger) V8, 4wd, and a stick shift. I found this diamond in the rough yesterday on craigslist and bought it today...

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It's an '89 K1500 Cheyenne, 350 TBI, 4-speed manual w/ granny low. Only 78k miles! It was a township truck all it's life at some tiny village about 1.5 hours north of Columbus. It looks like they never bothered to clean the thing, but clearly they kept up on maintenance. It runs and drives perfect! No leaks or weird noises, nothing mechanically wrong with it. Everything seems to work fine. It's rusty and looks a little rough at the moment, but I can live with it for now. I think the interior will clean up pretty well. For $1200, I couldn't be happier.

I think this one's a keeper. The drive back home was over an hour, and I loved every second of it. :D
 
I get on the salty in Ohio and what it does to our cars. However, the alternative is to just not be able to drive when the roads freeze

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A friend of mine moved from NE Ohio to Charleston, SC and he said that they very rarely get snow and ice but that when they do, they use sand.

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Yeah I've come to accept it. Anytime it gets above 40* in the winter I'll go thru a car wash that sprays the underside, but it only helps so much. The only solution would be moving south
 
Not having a payment is a good thing. I drive an older shifter truck myself, had nothing but good luck with it. Bought it new in 98.
 
ToyYoda said:
Nice truck @2 Sweet

I understand why it was hard to find a '73-'87 in decent shape, rust claimed the lives of most of those.
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This one has quite a bit of rust too, but luckily the frame and floors look solid. Brake lines, fuel tank, fuel lines have already been replaced. :D

There are still a ton of the 73-87 trucks out there, but like you said, rust is a big problem. The non-rusty ones go for a lot of money. Most of the trucks in my price range had some rust, plus they needed some kind of work. This one runs and drives perfect. I checked the driveway this evening, and it hasn't leaked a drop of fluid. Engine bay is 100% dry. :punkrocke

I'll throw on a different set of wheels and tires, but I don't plan on doing much else with it. Maybe a chrome rear bumper. It needs tires, so I figure I might as well replace the wheels too, since they look like hell.
 
There is a guy on UTube goes by Musty1. He lives up in the N.E. New Hampshire I think it is. Likes his Toyota P.U.s which have well known rusting out problems and restores old VW's. He sprays chainsaw bar oil underneath his stuff to prevent rust. Looks like it works. He has more Vids about it than this one, but it was the first one handy

 
Here is a better one he did if you are interested, He uses melted wax to preserve the original paint/patina on his VW P.U

 
Nice new beater truck you got there.
 
Nice to have a new family member. Looks good. Congrats.
Recently my son picked up a new used Chevy truck ,1990 I think.
May have to ask for advice someday.
 
A quick update in case anyone is interested...

Replaced the seat...

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Replaced the wheels and tires (and added factory style fender flares).....

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I took it out for a long drive today and stopped for a quick picture.....

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Back home with the Camaro. Notice my dog in the back yard keeping an eye on things.....

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Just curious, is it common in your area (perhaps low rain?) to not have overhang on the gable ends of the houses or just the 3 in the photos?

BTW, you got that K1500 looking OK. Nothing fancy, just a solid and clean looking ride.
 
KyBuownsyourbrain said:
Just curious, is it common in your area (perhaps low rain?) to not have overhang on the gable ends of the houses or just the 3 in the photos?

BTW, you got that K1500 looking OK. Nothing fancy, just a solid and clean looking ride.
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Thanks, solid and clean is what I'm going for :cool:

I've never thought about the overhangs or paid much attention, but I think it just varies depending on the neighborhood, area, builder, etc. My neighborhood was built from 1958 to 1972 for whatever it's worth, and most of the homes in this neighborhood are built on a slab
 
2 Sweet said:
Thanks, solid and clean is what I'm going for :cool:

I've never thought about the overhangs or paid much attention, but I think it just varies depending on the neighborhood, area, builder, etc. My neighborhood was built from 1958 to 1972 for whatever it's worth, and most of the homes in this neighborhood are built on a slab
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No big deal. Just some random thing I notice about houses. lol. The overhang is generally there to somewhat protect the siding from rain. Obviously some areas don't receive a lot of rain so it's not as important.

Edit: A bit of tint on those windows would really set that truck off, without making a big fuss about it :)
 
KyBuownsyourbrain said:
No big deal. Just some random thing I notice about houses. lol. The overhang is generally there to somewhat protect the siding from rain. Obviously some areas don't receive a lot of rain so it's not as important.

Edit: A bit of tint on those windows would really set that truck off, without making a big fuss about it :)
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Tint is next on the list, then headers/exhaust, and that'll probably be it for a while
 
A quick update since it's been a while! I still have the truck, and it's seeing quite a bit of use. I absolutely love this thing.

I replaced the rear brake drum hardware over the summer.....

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I've also added a low profile toolbox, and had the windows tinted.....

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That silver Pontiac G5 in the driveway was bought to be my new daily and spare the truck from racking up the miles, but the G5 needs a new clutch, so I'm still driving the pickup to work every day in the meantime. Before the G5, I was driving this Blazer most days.....

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That's gone now too. I liked it, but I didn't really need it. My wife makes fun of me because I don't keep cars for very long before I get rid of them. :D
 
I figure I'll update this thread again. The truck is still going strong, about to hit 90k miles. I'm still driving it every day, despite the poor fuel mileage. I fixed/replaced the exhaust a few months back so it's quiet now, but has a cheap Flowmaster muffler that gives it a little sound.

I polished my wheels today and gave the truck a quick bath. I also swapped the front end a couple weeks ago, ditched the original Cheyenne grille and sealed beams for a Silverado grille with the quad headlight setup. It was a simple swap, no need to change core supports or anything, and took very little effort to splice in the new wiring.

The body rust is getting worse, but I'm really satisfied with the truck's look at this point. For reference, the first pic is from a couple years ago, second pic is from earlier today.....

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StandOnIt said:
you can buy a hell of a lot of fuel, compared to a five year truck payment, jus sayin
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It's funny, I bought that Pontiac G5 because it gets good fuel mileage, but the car needs stuff fixed and I don't think it's worth putting any money into it, so I keep on driving the truck. The G5 is 20 years newer than the truck, but not as reliable and not worth as much. I'm just gonna sell the G5, I didn't plan on keeping it long anyway. I need to make room for the next car at some point (newer Camaro) hopefully coming this winter.
 
I watched a guy change out a flex plate in a PT cruiser automatic. It was pretty complicated and required some serious tools. Those sideways motors can be a bear to work on.
 
StandOnIt said:
I watched a guy change out a flex plate in a PT cruiser automatic. It was pretty complicated and required some serious tools. Those sideways motors can be a bear to work on.
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Yep. The G5 kind of needs a new clutch (I think the slave is failing) and shops are calling for 7.5 hours labor. Another reason why front wheel drive sucks, lol
 
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