I bought this truck in March of 1993. It had a 360 engine and a C6 automatic transmission, an almost antique Fisher manual-angle 7' plow wiht a homemade lower mount setup, and no bed. It also had a rather pathetically rusted frame from the cab back.
Once the late plowing season was over, I handed the crusty machine over to my buddy the local truck frame repair guy (he hates to do this sort of work!) and by November I had it back, with the frame solidly plated up and a used bed we dragged out of the woods somewhere mounted on it. He also fixed up the cab floor and sprayed it all a fresh coat of blue. In March of '94 I took an ill-fated trip to Binghamton NY, to pick up some huge old cool speakers. The return drive was a lot of fun, kicking along at 50 mph in 4wd in a messy snow and ice storm. Every once in a while, the truck would feel skittish, for no obvious reason, until about the third time I got out to look, I discovered the right rear wheel hanging by the brake drum and line. I guess the differential lube was a little low, causing the bearing to run dry and cut right through the axle! In June of the same year, I lost the ability to coax the truck to move by use of the PRNDL control... so now my C6 has been rebuilt. Guess what? That 360 was also getting a little tired. In September '94 one of the conrods let loose, creating a high quality mooring out of my old engine. Luckily, the rusting hulk I bought for an axle that spring also had a 360 of sorts in it, and that got rebuilt, bored over .030", to keep the old monster running. In the middle of the winter of '95 I invested in a set of power angle pistons (it is nice to have a large Fisher dealer 2 miles up the road!), using the valve body that came with that trusty piece of junk I bought two years before. Since then, I have changed the oil every year or two, whether it needed it or not, and seen my cab lose all its floor except for the clear fiberglas installed years ago, while the cab mounts decided to retire in favor of letting the cab sit on the steering column and air cleaner housing. It still starts and runs great, but I cannot take it ont he street due to the state of the cab. I have another, later year truck kicking around that I picked up cheap a few years ago (anyone want a seized V8?) which will become a cab donor. The plan is to pull the cab, reinforce and repair the mounts and floor so that the bottom six inches of it is all galvanized sheet metal. I will install a pair of tan leather power heated bucket seats from a 1987 Audi 5000, rewire the thing to use an old Audi fusebox, and actually install as many Audi parts as I can just for fun... |
