Enough carbon buildup to lose 6 ci displacement maybe? 
Enough carbon buildup to lose 6 ci displacement maybe?
turbojunker wrote:93EXCivic wrote: There is a '90s Sierra in my parent's yard (owned by a mowing company that rents a barn on the property) with 36k miles on it and it runs but it has been in an accident and the front bumper, grill, passenger's fender, and passenger's door need to be replaced. No clue of the engine but it has a carb. How much would that be worth?Sure it's carbed? A 90's GMC should be a TBI truck.
I thought the same...but just chalked it up to a TBI looking a whole heck of a lot like a carburetor.
EFI is nice for something you won't drive every day. Chevy TBI and Ford EFI are both great for trucks. Dicking with a carb when you want to be somewhere is not my idea of fun. The little bump in MPG and power that EFI delivers is nice also.
For cheap, you are gonna be stuck with 2WD unless you get lucky. I would aim for the 94-97 Fords and 89-2000 (old body style) Chevy's. Anything older and parts availability gets a little tricky. Anything newer, and buy-in goes up for very little gain. You couldn't give me a 97+F150 for a beater truck. They are gutless and parts cost mucho bucks.
For light duty use, a Ford 300-6 or 302 or a Chevy 305 or 350 is fine. I would stay away from 351W and 460 Ford trucks and 454 Chevy trucks because they will eat you alive at the pump. I would also stay away from diesels because as awesome as they are, driving a diesel truck is not a poor man's choice. Everything costs more. More oil, more expensive components, and harder to work on. They get better MPG and haul more than the gas counterparts, but for light duty trucking I don't think its worth it. Diesels also don't seem to like to sit as well as a gasser does.
Ideally you would be able to find a Chevy or GMC 2500 (3/4 ton) with a 350. Those will pull down the best combo of power, MPG, and usable capacity.
WIth the Chevys, just keep in mind that there are a couple of years around the mid-90s that like eating their intake gaskets. Might be worth finding one of those and fix it up if it's cheap enough...
Ranger50 wrote:Keith wrote: I once borrowed a mid-80's F250 with a 454That had to be an abortion from hell.................
I thought that was the Ford big block. Whatever, it had a big thirsty gas V8. Whatever came in those. Looking at the Wikipedant page, I'm gonna say it's a 460.
ValuePack wrote:93EXCivic wrote: How are those International diesels? I have seen a few for sale here and there.A tire company I used to work for acquired a '94 F-250 in trade for an unpaid bill from a customer. Standard cab, long bed with nonfunctioning Tommy Gate, 2wd, AOD, dual tanks, and 7.3 International non turbo IDI.
a non-turbo '94? Are you sure such a beast existed? '94 was the cut over year to the Powerstroke. Early '94 had the IDI like you said but it was still turbo. I've never driven one but some folks say (enter the Stig
)... the turbo IDI ran about as good as the 'Stroke
Yeah, I had an '89 F-250 with the 460 and the non-OD 3-speed auto (a C4, I guess?). It got 10 mpg unladen at 60 mph on the freeway and rode like an absolute buckboard. It was more truck than I needed, quite frankly, so I sold it and bought a newer F-150. Maybe not quite as much hauling capacity, but much nicer to drive, much better mileage, quieter, etc.
ClemSparks wrote: I missed this part earlier. Oh...they'll GO the speed limit. You'll have to do a double take at the gasolinometer as it drops. Also...I've been known to actualy wear ear protection at highway speeds (this is not a truck-only thing for me...more of a windows-down-wind-noise-for-two-hours-at-highway-speeds-makes-me-a-very-mean-deaf-guy kind of thing)
Yup. Some 20 years ago, my daily driver was a '78 F150 4x4 with a 351M/4spd. If asked, it would easily bury the 85 mph speedo, but you could practically watch the gas gauge needle move and any speed above 60 mph. At 60 mph, it would get a bit over 10 mpg.
My '90 E150 conversion van was similar: up to 65 mph, I could eek out up to 18 mpg. Pushed much faster than that, 15.
a401cj wrote: I don't know who this belongs to (really no BS) but I think it sounds like a really good deal: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=754773
Log in required?
In reply to Ian F:
sorry...forget that you have to be logged in to ADVRider to see the classifieds.
it's a '97 F-350 4X4 diesel in really good shape for $6000. Indiana.
I'd post the pics up here but it's a PITA on this device
a401cj wrote: a non-turbo '94? Are you sure such a beast existed? '94 was the cut over year to the Powerstroke. Early '94 had the IDI like you said but it was still turbo. I've never driven one but some folks say (enter the Stig
It was registered as such, yes. Very much normally aspirated, as well.
Brett_Murphy wrote: Steal or borrow are the two cheapest methods, each with a cost of Zero. The GM pickup trucks that are going to be cheap but are also considered to be rolling fire hazzards. Google GM side saddle fuel tanks to get an idea if it is worth it to you.
Then google NBC's apology. That saddle tank thing is a complete myth. There are tons of trucks and vans out there with saddle tanks and they don't explode.
NBC ran an unsolicited story about it and then later admitted to using caps to ignite the fuel for dramatic effect.
93EXCivic wrote:BoxheadTim wrote: I've seen a couple of cheapy 2WD Fords with the 6.9 and 7.3 NA diesels. They'll probably tow the LBC with the garage it's housed in and three neighbors' garages as well if you're not in a hurry. Plus they seem to be long lived...How are those International diesels? I have seen a few for sale here and there.
Wonderful, excellent, reliable, but a bit slow. I've had two powerstrokes (the later direct-injection turbo) version of the 7.3L. The 94-03 7.3L strokes command a much higher price which is one of the reasons the 6.9 and 7.3 IDI trucks are so much cheaper.
Another option (equally as slow, but dead-nuts reliable) are the chevy 6.2/6.5L before the computer controlled stuff. The later 6.5T with the computer is also quite nice, but they locate the computer in a high-heat area and it fries often. There are all kinds of relocating kits to move it, and once you do that its a very reliable vehicle.
i'm attempting to CL myself a 1968 3/4 ton chevy with a 292 inline 6 and 4 speed manual right now. they're out there, and i want this one.
turbojunker wrote:93EXCivic wrote: There is a '90s Sierra in my parent's yard (owned by a mowing company that rents a barn on the property) with 36k miles on it and it runs but it has been in an accident and the front bumper, grill, passenger's fender, and passenger's door need to be replaced. No clue of the engine but it has a carb. How much would that be worth?Sure it's carbed? A 90's GMC should be a TBI truck.
88-95 would be the TBI (which looks very similar to a carb). Engine choices would have been the 4.3L V6, 305, 350. No 454 unless its a 454SS or 3/4 ton or larger.
The TBI engines are frighteningly weak. Even the 350 only had 180-210 hp depending on the year. I had an 88 with the 180hp 350. It was reliable, but so ridiculously weak, and it got 13 mpg empty, 6-8 mpg towing. I could deal with the crappy mileage if I had 400 hp
BoxheadTim wrote: WIth the Chevys, just keep in mind that there are a couple of years around the mid-90s that like eating their intake gaskets. Might be worth finding one of those and fix it up if it's cheap enough...
Excellent idea. 96-99 Vortec V8s like to leak coolant at the back of the intake. The fix is simple... just replace it with a better gasket like Fel Pro or ROL.
The other common failure on those is the "spider" injectors. Find one like that and replace the manifold with a good used one and drive it.
ClemSparks wrote:turbojunker wrote:I thought the same...but just chalked it up to a TBI looking a whole heck of a lot like a carburetor.93EXCivic wrote: There is a '90s Sierra in my parent's yard (owned by a mowing company that rents a barn on the property) with 36k miles on it and it runs but it has been in an accident and the front bumper, grill, passenger's fender, and passenger's door need to be replaced. No clue of the engine but it has a carb. How much would that be worth?Sure it's carbed? A 90's GMC should be a TBI truck.
Probably was. I know zero about Chevy engines. I was thinking of offering him $400 for it. Should I even bother?
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Will the 300 tow worth anything?
One with FI will tow up to 5000 lbs with no problem as long as you don't have any steep grades and you can't expect to run at 70 mph doing it.
I towed my race car with a 1989 Ranger PU with 2.9L V6 5 speed for 8 years. It got sold with 170K+ and was still going. No steep hills near Chicago and I kept it under 70.
Tom_Spangler wrote: Yeah, I had an '89 F-250 with the 460 and the non-OD 3-speed auto (a C4, I guess?). It got 10 mpg unladen at 60 mph on the freeway and rode like an absolute buckboard. It was more truck than I needed, quite frankly, so I sold it and bought a newer F-150. Maybe not quite as much hauling capacity, but much nicer to drive, much better mileage, quieter, etc.
I had a similar experience. I traded my Ranger for a 2500 Suburban with a 454 as I needed something bigger when I got a bigger race car. Way overkill for what I really needed. A 5000 lb load and you barely noticed it until you watched the fuel guage move. 9-11 mpg was all she would get.
I sold it for $2400 and bought a 1 year newer Ford E250 extended window van with 5.8L & C6 trans for $3500. The van was nearly rust free having not been driven in the winter by the PO and I have continued to not drive in in the winter so it's 23 years old and only has some surface rust due to chiped paint, etc. This thing is huge inside. I have yet to find something I needed to move that wouldn't fit inside.
Cheapest way to get a truck is obviously to steal it.
turbojunker wrote:curtis73 wrote: 70's or 80's Chevy pickup. They're on CL for $500 all the time.It's tough to get a $500 Chevy truck here in Alabama. For some reason a bowtie seems to triple a truck's value.
what does a GMC badge do to the value?
i was just looking in the craigslist, and i came across a pretty killer truck for some light duty towing.. it's a late 70's Chevy 1/2 ton 4X4 with an inline 6 and manual trans.. the ad said the front and rear axles were just rebuilt and upgraded to 4:10 gears and the body is solid with just under 40,000 miles showing. also had a whole bunch of other things recently fixed- alternator, plugs, wires, etc. it comes with an older 8 foot Western snow plow..
$1300 or best offer.. i'd pay that just to get the plow to put on my truck and sell the truck again.. i'd have a free plow and someone would get a pretty good light duty 1/2 ton 4X4 truck for the money.. seriously- i wish i had some money right now...
93EXCivic wrote:ClemSparks wrote:Probably was. I know zero about Chevy engines. I was thinking of offering him $400 for it. Should I even bother?turbojunker wrote:I thought the same...but just chalked it up to a TBI looking a whole heck of a lot like a carburetor.93EXCivic wrote: There is a '90s Sierra in my parent's yard (owned by a mowing company that rents a barn on the property) with 36k miles on it and it runs but it has been in an accident and the front bumper, grill, passenger's fender, and passenger's door need to be replaced. No clue of the engine but it has a carb. How much would that be worth?Sure it's carbed? A 90's GMC should be a TBI truck.
Here is pictures of said truck.
In reply to 93EXCivic:
I would be on that like white on rice.....
93EXCivic wrote:93EXCivic wrote:ClemSparks wrote:Probably was. I know zero about Chevy engines. I was thinking of offering him $400 for it. Should I even bother?turbojunker wrote:I thought the same...but just chalked it up to a TBI looking a whole heck of a lot like a carburetor.93EXCivic wrote: There is a '90s Sierra in my parent's yard (owned by a mowing company that rents a barn on the property) with 36k miles on it and it runs but it has been in an accident and the front bumper, grill, passenger's fender, and passenger's door need to be replaced. No clue of the engine but it has a carb. How much would that be worth?Sure it's carbed? A 90's GMC should be a TBI truck.
Body parts for those are pretty cheap. For that matter, if it's mechanically good and drives straight, don't bother fixing it.
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