1978 Pickup, giving her some love...

Started by Jims5543, January 20, 2014, 08:22:02 PM

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Jims5543

If anyone following this thread is interested I am seriously considering selling this.

Asking Price will be $13,000 firm when I list for sale, an RM member can grab it 12K.  It will be a true bring a trailer deal, will include a bed full of spare parts and a spare 1275 engine / transmission that needs rebuilding.

My life has changed so much these last 2 years I do not have time for time consuming hobbies like this anymore.  I never anticipated the economy would take off like this.

My loss is your gain.

PM me here or  email me it is my user name at gmail dot com.

I will advertise it next week, giving the RM guys first dibs.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

MiniDave

#551
What all does it need to be back on the road?

Also, since the photo bucket fiasco all your photos in this thread are gone, would you mind posting up some - I have a friend who may be interested.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Jims5543

During our morning 3 mile walk of the dog, my wife and I spoke about this sale at length.

I explained to her my family time is more important to me right now than playing car, business takes up too much time, so I am putting car projects on back burner for a while.

She suggested combining time with the younger son with working on the Pickup. 

So that is now the plan, I may still sell it, but not until I have it back on the road.  The kid and I are going to spend a couple of nights a week in the garage wrenching on it and getting it finished.

I am just pissed at this truck it is a very neglected Truck that I am having to put way more work into than ever anticipated.  Every time I dig into it I find some more half assed bullshit that has to be redone and made right.

I pity that poor guy that bought Skips supercharged wagon on BAT for top $$ I am pretty sure that seller was unloading a turd too. At least I got mine relatively cheap all things considered.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S. Thompson

MiniDave

Aha, I see the connection now.....

But, FWIW, every Mini I've bought or owned needed more work than I ever anticipated....nature of the breed I think!

I think it's a smart idea putting family time and wrenching time together. Good luck with the trucklette!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Richard1

Quote from: Jims5543 on March 10, 2019, 05:35:20 PM
During our morning 3 mile walk of the dog, my wife and I spoke about this sale at length.

I explained to her my family time is more important to me right now than playing car, business takes up too much time, so I am putting car projects on back burner for a while.

She suggested combining time with the younger son with working on the Pickup. 

So that is now the plan, I may still sell it, but not until I have it back on the road.  The kid and I are going to spend a couple of nights a week in the garage wrenching on it and getting it finished.

I am just pissed at this truck it is a very neglected Truck that I am having to put way more work into than ever anticipated.  Every time I dig into it I find some more half assed bullshit that has to be redone and made right.

I pity that poor guy that bought Skips supercharged wagon on BAT for top $$ I am pretty sure that seller was unloading a turd too. At least I got mine relatively cheap all things considered.

Congratulations to you and your wife. A father son/daughter project he will remember for a lifetime. When my daughter turned 15, she found an MGB she wanted, so together we spent the winter spare time restoring it and finally got it on the road for her 16th birthday and driver's license.

One of my grandsons spent a lot of time with me since he was born. At 2 he began helping me with the Corvair. By 6 he was a real help. Some day the car will be his.

MiniDave

Hey Richard, good to hear from you again!

Have you been driving your Pup?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

jeff10049


94touring


MiniDave

Off to a good home then.....

Jim's idea was a good one, too bad it didn't pan out.

My daughter and I spent the summer before her sophomore year at college rebuilding a VW bug at my house in Sandy Eggo, then drove it over 5K miles to her college in Savannah, Ga, with stops at the Grand Canyon, Denver, Ft. Collins, Dallas, New Orleans and Jacksonville along the way. The only repairs we had to make on the whole trip was when we had to remove the gas tank in the motel parking lot in Jacksonville to replace a 3" long piece of fuel line that had let go.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Willie_B

So did you buy it Dan? I was wondering about the status of it recently.

94touring

Yeah the original plan was once my pickup shell was gone, that money would buy Jim's truck.  Jim was reluctant to sell so it took some time to persuade him.  A quick looking over it the body is very nice.  Few tiny rust bubbles here and there but nothing serious or needs immediate attention.  Floors and bed aren't rotten and body is ding free. Mechanically I found a couple things right off the bat.  Rear brakes are junk, right swing arm is loosey goosey, and front brake systems need some going through.

MiniDave

Not to mention getting it running again?  ::)
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

Radiator, carbs, and headers need to go back on.

Willie_B

Glad you got the deal done. Another project when time allows.

94touring

Yeah it will be a bit. I have 2 customer cars left till I'm "retired" and can just work on my own stuff.

94touring

Unloaded it into the shop today.  Debating if I want to drop the rear subframe this week to determine what all I need to order.   8.gif

cstudep

Not that it really matters or anything, but why the Uhaul trailer? I didn't really notice until this last pic that has your trailer sitting in the background LOL

94touring

Quote from: cstudep on October 22, 2022, 02:19:32 PM
Not that it really matters or anything, but why the Uhaul trailer? I didn't really notice until this last pic that has your trailer sitting in the background LOL

Jim didn't want me driving my trailer there and back. He was also kind enough to buy the trailer rental.  Originally he was going to meet me in Alabama saving me about 2 days of driving (west palm is fucking far from tulsa), but Jen and our friends group were going to make a mini vacation out of it at Universal.  Then a hurricane hit and our friends cancelled. So I drove the whole way which I felt better about anyway since it was mid work week for Jim.  We met up at his office, had lunch and a beer, then got the trailer, went to his shop, loaded up, and away I went.  Basically drove 42 hours straight with 2 overnight naps in my pickup truck.

94touring

Also that trailer has brakes. Which makes me want to add them to my trailer.  It was a noticeable difference in stopping distance.

cstudep

Good story! Didn't realize you had to go that far to get it but it is a pretty nice looking truck.

Electric brakes are pretty easy to add to a trailer axle if you really want to do it and not all that expensive really. You just have to buy the correct size to go with whatever axle you have (guessing you need 10" for 3500lb axle). The good thing about trailers is the parts are pretty well established and mostly "universal". I recently had to rip all the brake parts off my old car trailer as they were non functional and non-repairable. I bought complete new replacements for both axles (originally only had them on one axle) for around 250 bucks at the time. Still need to install them though.

Even brakes on just one axle (that is how they used to do it way back when) is better than none at all.

94touring

Jim and I go back over 20 years.  We were rx7 buddies well before minis.  And we also were/are land surveyors.

cstudep

Nice! I am sure it was good to sit down and have a beer and a meal with an old friend.

94touring

Dug in deep today and found some ugly.  On a positive note all the ugly is limited to the rear area.  All but 1 subframe bolt snapped when trying to drop the subframe.  Both sides of the attach panel are toast.  Whoever did the restore back in the day used oversills, which trapped water and did a good job rotting things in the back corners.  They also used a lot of silicon or caulk but no actual paint, but sprayed on a bed liner type material.  So what I have is a load floor with a bunch of crusty silicon and surface rust when you peel the silicon off. The load floor itself is just fine and will clean up, one rot spot that needs a 4x4 inch patch.  The rear wheel arches are mostly solid but have some rot in spots and because of the silicon/no paint has some not so good looking rusty crusty thing going on where it adjoins to the load bed.  I decided since each have some spots of rot to just replace them.  I can clean up where they adjoin to the load floor and have peace of mind knowing it's solid.  Also on that same note I ordered a new load floor cross member.  Even though this one is "ok" there's a few spots that are on their last legs.  Also with the silicon around all edges there's more surface rust.  My concern is what exposed metal is behind the cross member I can't see that will eventually let the load floor rot.  Plus with the studs busted off in the cross member it would be royal hell getting those out.  I can just pop this one out, clean the load floor, seal, paint, and spot weld on a new cross member.   So...a little rear end restoration required.  The subframe however looks like it was brand new, just dirty.  I'm ditching whatever garbage camber brackets are on there and will used a fixed negative camber bracket.  Same with the front lower arms.  Just something to get it out of positive camber.  Jim has a brand new set of coilovers that are going on.  If I don't like them I can toss cones back in.  He also has a brand new rear disc kit, which is what I run on my blue mini.  He had also bought brand new rear spacers drums, pads, and cylinders, so if anyone would like to buy those they're for sale.  Dave got a brand new 8.4 caliper and disc kit Jim purchased as well out of the deal as I'm going 7.5 to run my 10s. 

94touring

Dug further and I'm glad I ordered the cross member for the load floor, this one pic is the inside of it, busted bolt showing.  I chiseled out an arch and found where they double layered.  I ordered a couple more things including the surround load floor to the arches since it's pretty cobbled up.  The one patch I needed to make will be included with the one surround patch panel too.

cstudep

Well nobody can accuse you of being afraid to cut stuff up  ;D