'80's trucks - yes, I'm considering a hillbilly mobile...

Looking for input on these old farm type trucks. Around my way, there are a ton of early-mid '80's GM or Fords. They're easily available for well under $1000. Well under. Most I've seen are 302 Ford or 305 GM. Super easy to work on for a novice? Not talking about performance upgrades here, just using them as a learning tool. I figure since they're higher off the ground than a car, there's more room to crawl under them. Same with in the engine compartment, the 305 or 302 fits in with a lot of room for a novice fumbling around. I know 302 parts can be found lying on the curb. What about the GM 305? Thinking about picking one up just to get more wrenching experience, of which I have almost none. I regret selling my wrenching projects a few months ago and have the itch for another.

TYhey are extremely easy to work on, as long as they aren't covered in rust. HEI distributors, one wire alternators, carbs and tons of room.

Things to watch for on 305 GM's are soft cams. They had a habit of wearing a lobe off the cam creating a misfire. Considering the 305 is a smaller bore 350, parts are available from your local wal-mart.... that may be a slight exageration, but not by much.

The size occasionally creates a reach issue. You may need a stepstool of some sort to reach some things, like the Chevy distributor. And that creates a safety issue.
Still, it is nice to have room under the hood.

Klayfish wrote: I know 302 parts can be found lying on the curb. What about the GM 305?

parts for the 305? On your way to the curb to pick up those 302 parts you'll probably trip over 1000 chevy parts on the way. They're as common as dirt.

The 305 is a bit of a bastard child if you want to add any power. They are a very small bore (and no you can't bore them out to a 350 size). They are heavily limited on breathing and therefore not a wise choice for any kind of performance. Put it this way... you could spend $2000 on heads, cam, and intake to get the 305 to 300 hp... or just buy a used junkyard 350 Vortec for $400 and drop it in and have way more torque to boot.

Look for rust at the cab mounts. Otherwise, buy and drive. I love those trucks.

302's a better motor than the 305. It's funny to me, but my truck-block (i.e. non-HO) 5.0 in the Bronco is rated almost identically power/torque-wise to the TBI 350 in my Roadmaster, and there's not a huge difference rpm-wise (both with automatics behind 'em, the Ford will hold out to 4500 before it shifts, the Chevy'll usually shift around 4250).

Plus, Ford's have the dizzy up front, which I think is easier to work on.

Ford also skipped that TBI nonsense and went straight to multiport injection. TBI is probably easier, as there're less injectors and they're right there in the throttle body, and you can use all then fancy Carbamurated-style air cleaners :)

I think Chevy makes a better automatic transmission.

Yeah, I'm just sort of rambling, lol.

The 305 is very much unloved, but it puts out plenty of power for regular use. My parents have a 3/4 ton Chevy with the 305 and very low gearing, it can (and has) haul a ton or more of gravel or top soil in the bed without complaint and at full highway speed with no loss in power. I towed the Lemon back from Cincy with it since I was between trucks, and didn't have any problem getting up to speed and staying at speed. It's not a drag racer, but that's not why you're buying it, so I don't think the 302 or 305 will be a problem for you, power-wise.

Either truck is simple enough to be a perfect starting point. I leaned a lot about wrenching on an early 80's full size Bronco, which is basically a short F150, as a teenager. They're tough enough that if you mess something up you probably won't ruin it, and if you do ruin something, they're cheap enough to fix that it's not a big deal.

Rust is the big downfall on most of these trucks. But if you're buying it for $1000 and just messing around with it, it shouldn't be a deal killer if there's some rust. The various 80's trucks I owned have had everything from minor rust to holes you could stick your fist through, but they all still functioned fine.

Yeah, I'm not worried about rust. After all, if I get one, it'll sit outside anyway (I'm out of garage space). Don't plan on driving it much, if at all. Just something to screw around with and learn on. So easy to fix is a must, as is dirt cheap parts. Junkyard, Wal-Mart, street corner, whatever. As long as I can get 'em cheap and it's easy to work on, I'm happy. I had a couple of Fiat Spiders for this purpose a few months ago and was having a blast. Sold them in order to buy a drivable antique car to haul the kiddies to a cruise night in. While I like that, I miss having the project car.

Parts are cheap for both, but the GM will win hands down on cheap parts. Don't be surprised to find parts-store alternators for $25, starters for $50, cap and rotor for $15.

I've had Chevy trucks from 78, 84, 88, and on up. I've had Fords from 84, 86, and on up. IMHO the Fords tend to hold up a little better in the chassis/frame department but the Chevys tend to be more universal as far as parts interchange/cheap parts. As has been said, in the 80's vintage GM had the better transmissions. A TH350 or TH400 isn't anything special, but they are just reliable units.

If you want really dead-nuts reliable and still cheap parts, look for a 6.2L diesel. If you're happy with the 120-150hp of the 305, you'll be plenty happy with the 6.2L.

I have both right now. An '86 F150 4x4 that I traded (along with a motorcycle) for a volvo. It starts every time and runs and will go where I want it to and I'm not afraid to load it for the landfill (I took 1.05 tons of shingles recently) or leave it parked with the doors unlocked (I honestly don't know if the door locks even work). My only real concern is when the transmission goes, it would be a pain to fix because there's a transfer case that would have to come out too. They made millions of them. Mines VERY rusty, but I don't care...it's not a hotrod.

I also just got a $500 '82 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4. This is quite possibly the UGLIEST vehicle I've ever owned (though my friends raise an eyebrow and start rattling off arguable examples of my fleet whenever I mention this). I didn't buy it for the road...I bought it for 4 wheeling on private land. However, I may someday decide it's worthy of some work to make it roadworthy...who knows. This one is literally a "put it in gear, point it where you want to go, push the pedal...and it will GO there" type of truck.

As purchased:

One day later:

If you want to learn to wrench...go 2 wheel drive (unless you think you need 4x4 for functionality in your area) and have fun. My first truck was a '65 chevy 2 wheel drive longbed. I changed the clutch in my gravel drive WITHOUT USING A JACK.

The older the truck, the fewer frills to break. With my old '65, when it broke down, I literally knew what the problem was before I coasted to a stop.

Clem

for room in the engine bay... i've known people to literally crawl in and sit on the fender to work on things... my fam had an '82 4x4 6.2 diesel suburban... when we had to work on it (when dad worked on it that meant I got to as well haha) we had a small step ladder we used... while reliable isn't the word I'd use on it over the 10 years we owned it a lot of that may have been to do with most of the time we had it it was overseas (in Panama... dad was military) and parts weren't as easy to get... we had a number of parts shipped from the states... JY if it was something high $$$$

but I imagine had we been in the US it would have been a different story...

for learning to wrench I can see them being pretty good if it's a standard gasser and rwd... and the JY is full of potential "performance" parts... also prob pretty cheap in most areas now... they are old, ugly and get bad MPG so who would want em ;-)... well other then the rednecks that live around here... we've got a HUGE redneck tax on trucks most of the time :-/

Just bias or is there a reason you're ruling out Dodges? The 318 fills the same void as a 302 or 305 and is just as or more reliable and cheap.

Ford and Dodge trucks also came with two of the most reliable and easy to work on 6-cylinders ever built, the 300 and 225. The 6's were more likely to have overdrive too, oddly enough, and with today's highway speed limits that might be a real consideration.

4.9L has more torque to boot

As I have said before, I LOVE the ford 300/I6.

I also have an '82 Ram sitting in the yard that I would love to fix, but I don't have the resources. And I hate to think of how much it needs after sitting for 13-14 years.

donalson wrote: 4.9L has more torque to boot

More torque than what? The Chevy 305 or the Ford 302? The 300 was rated 145/265; the non-HO 302 was rated 185/270, and the 305 was rated 170/255.

ReverendDexter wrote:

donalson wrote: 4.9L has more torque to boot

More torque than what? The Chevy 305 or the Ford 302? The 300 was rated 145/265; the non-HO 302 was rated 185/270, and the 305 was rated 170/255.

I imagine it comes in lower, and therefore more useable.

I had an '86 4x4 K5 blazer 305ci

this truck came with a computerized carb, lol. no i'm not kidding there was an ecu and wires going to a mixture adj thingy on the carb. if you buy a gm with this set-up, tear it out and put on a regular carb. when i replaced that engine with a carbed 350 i doubled the HP and got better mpg. and i did spend a bit of time sitting on the fender working under the hood.

i love me a crappy '80's pickup. personally prefer the tbi GM trucks. Who am i kidding, just get the nicest whatever that you can find.

+eleventy billion for the 4.9 I6 in the Ford. They made about the same numbers as the small V8s but usually did it with fewer gallons of gasoline and they are wonderfully bulletproof tractor engines.

A 300 I-6 with the four speed tranny would be my pick. Talk about reliable. The engine will need an intake gasket at about 200k and the tranny will need shift forks and bushings at about the same time.

I have nothing to add, except that if I get a beater truck, I would prefer that it is a Ford F150 with a longbed and the I6, ideally with a manual. And a sliding rear window.

I prefer the '70s pick-ups. Simpler, better looking IMO, and parts are more interchangeable.

Plus they are making aftermarket bits and pieces for them now.

curtis73 wrote: +eleventy billion for the 4.9 I6 in the Ford. They made about the same numbers as the small V8s but usually did it with fewer gallons of gasoline and they are wonderfully bulletproof tractor engines. A 300 I-6 with the four speed tranny would be my pick. Talk about reliable. The engine will need an intake gasket at about 200k and the tranny will need shift forks and bushings at about the same time.

You can braise up the wear points on the shift forks and reshape them with a die grinder. Simplest engine/trans that I ever worked on.

Easy to work on topside or underneath. +1 for engine compartment room, yes you can sit on the fenderwell to work on the engine, or a milk crate step will let you reach about anything from the outside.

GM 4Xs are prone to frame cracks behind the steering box, there's an aftermarket weld on doubler that'll fix that. My '81 wasn't cracked but I welded it in JIC, 4X sites recommend it for any offroading. Rust, yur gonna have rust up north. Rockers, cab corners, fenderwells, door bottoms, fender lips. Our salvage yards are pretty well used up but a cpl yards import used doors, fenders, beds etc. from the south. Tons of aftermarket sheet metal and parts also. Lotsa parts yet on CL too. Spring and body lifts are cheap and easy to do.

Ford 300 I6 is a great engine and shouldn't be overlooked. Same rust issues w/ the era. On 4Xs watch the inner pass. side axle u-joint, you have to drop the front punkin to change that, outers no problem. Rest of the truck is pretty easy to work on. Tilt wheels were weak. I owned '77, '81, '86 and two '90 F-150s in 2 or 4wd, actually preferred the 300 6 over the 302. Dang, I loved that era.

The best thing you can get for working on a truck is an old solid wood kitchen chair with the back cut off. Its way easier to stand on than a step ladder or 5 gallon bucket and far more stable. I have one that was taken from the attic at a rental I used to live at and I have had it for going on 10 years and moved it from house to house 3 times. Its one of my cherished tools. Also doubles as a great paint stand, work stool for waxing the car, whatever.

ReverendDexter wrote:

donalson wrote: 4.9L has more torque to boot

More torque than what? The Chevy 305 or the Ford 302? The 300 was rated 145/265; the non-HO 302 was rated 185/270, and the 305 was rated 170/255.

sorry was on my phone... then the 302... or so I thought... guess not... but freaking close... always understood that here in the flatlands of FL the I6 would be the way to go... don't pay even more redneck tax because it's a v8...

I had an 86 F150 with the inline six and an 85 Chevy C10 with the 305. Both were wonderful trucks. The Chevy had a real small gas tank and when I would tow the trailer, I could only get 130 miles or so. It would also downshift-upshift-downshift on hills on the highway. Got real annoying. Fixed the problem by installing a cheap rebuilt 350 and a four barrel sourced from a Monte SS. Last two trucks have been Ford 6.0 diesels. Going back to gas for the next truck. I like the idea of the new Ford V6 turbo.