TNBrett
Full Access Member
Well, I guess since I'm closing in on having this truck up to my standards for road worthiness, I should start a build thread for it. I'm not the best at documenting my work with pics, or posting updates online, but I figured i ought to give a recap of what I've done up till now.
This is my truck right after I bought it. I guess technically it pretty much looks the same now from the outside. I did spend some time straightening the front bumper and it looks pretty acceptable now.
Naming vehicles isn't really my style, but my wife and kids were insistent that this truck be named. I plan on driving this truck for work at least some of the time, so "Working Girl" was the only name they came up with that I was ok with.
Buying the truck was a bit of an impulse buy. It was cheap, and I knew the motor would most likely need to be replaced. The #7 & #8 rods were both sticking through the oil pan. Early on I toyed around with the idea of swapping in a Detroit 6V53T that I had been sitting on for the last 7 years. Two things steered me away from that route. The first thing was a tape measure. The second was I discovered a crack in the block that was apparent freeze damage. The engine was buried in a storage unit over the winter while I was building my shop. I new the oil cooler housing had busted, but the discovery of the cracked block was the final nail in the coffin for that one for me. I threw the Detroit up on ebay and had it sold within a week, and actually ended up making a little bit of money over what I had in it.
In the mean time, I had pulled the original engine out and tore it down far enough to determine that there wasn't much left to work with. I decided to start looking for a complete running motor to work with. I wasn't having any luck locally, but I found a complete running 93 7.3 IDIT on ebay. I worked out a deal with the seller, and for pretty much what I got out of the Detroit I had that engine headed my way.
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This is my truck right after I bought it. I guess technically it pretty much looks the same now from the outside. I did spend some time straightening the front bumper and it looks pretty acceptable now.
Naming vehicles isn't really my style, but my wife and kids were insistent that this truck be named. I plan on driving this truck for work at least some of the time, so "Working Girl" was the only name they came up with that I was ok with.
Buying the truck was a bit of an impulse buy. It was cheap, and I knew the motor would most likely need to be replaced. The #7 & #8 rods were both sticking through the oil pan. Early on I toyed around with the idea of swapping in a Detroit 6V53T that I had been sitting on for the last 7 years. Two things steered me away from that route. The first thing was a tape measure. The second was I discovered a crack in the block that was apparent freeze damage. The engine was buried in a storage unit over the winter while I was building my shop. I new the oil cooler housing had busted, but the discovery of the cracked block was the final nail in the coffin for that one for me. I threw the Detroit up on ebay and had it sold within a week, and actually ended up making a little bit of money over what I had in it.
In the mean time, I had pulled the original engine out and tore it down far enough to determine that there wasn't much left to work with. I decided to start looking for a complete running motor to work with. I wasn't having any luck locally, but I found a complete running 93 7.3 IDIT on ebay. I worked out a deal with the seller, and for pretty much what I got out of the Detroit I had that engine headed my way.
