Found an '87 for sale with an old 20R swapped in place of the 22RE. The old long block is there but I can't understand what the lady is telling me about why it was "blown." They want $500 for it, but they'll also throw in a beat up old S-10 Blazer for free. Should I risk it? Supposing the chain guides are not completely gone, would the old long block be rebuildable? What else could have blown the engine, and what should I look for?
Should I buy and rebuild?
- Thread starter 30footSHO
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fourwd1
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30footSHO said:
That's strange, most of the people here are over-opinionated
More than likely the head gasket blew, and that may have led to a cracked head (a common scenario).
Unless you were ready to do a good bit of work to rebuild the old engine or drop in a used one, you made the right choice.
Well, I do own a SHO, so car work is nothing new to me. But to be honest, the smell coming off this T4R was unbearable when it got warmed up. Smelled like plastic wrapped wet grass burning under my nose.
I've found another one with a rebuilt 22RE out in Iowa. It has about 6k on the rebuild, 20k on the trans, and probably 230k on the body. She wants $2500 for it. Pending pictures, what would you T4R fanatics think a fair price is?
I've found another one with a rebuilt 22RE out in Iowa. It has about 6k on the rebuild, 20k on the trans, and probably 230k on the body. She wants $2500 for it. Pending pictures, what would you T4R fanatics think a fair price is?
30footSHO said:
This depends on a lot of factors. What year? What shape are the body, frame, and interior in? Is it stock, or has it had any modifications? How well has the previous owner(s) kept up on routine maintenance like oil changes and tune ups? Was the rebuild done professionally, or by someone that knows what they're doing, or did they just clean the engine, throw in some new gaskets, and call it rebuilt? Same for the transmission. Did they replace the clutch when they did the transmission?
What is it you plan to do with the truck once you've got it? For example, if you plan on modifying it somehow (body lift, suspension lift, solid axle swap, whatever), it might be you can find one that's already had these mods done to it for cheaper than what you would pay to do them yourself to a stock truck.
The things I would look for are rust, leaking fluids, or things that just don't feel right. To give you a baseline, I recently bought a '87 with a horrible paint job and some surface rust on the frame for $1500. I've replaced the battery and the entire exhaust system from the manifold back. So that's another $400 or so I've put in on top of the original price, not including everything I've done that didn't require new parts (cleaning up creative wiring, "rebuilding" the power window switches, cleaning up leaky seals, etc). I still have easily $1500-$2000 worth of other stuff I plan to do (body lift, replacing rusty body panels, cleaning and re-painting, and a couple of other modifications). I probably paid more than I should have for the state the vehicle was in, but I get a certain level of enjoyment out of working on it, replacing things, and making the vehicle my own. I know a lot of people that wouldn't get that same level of enjoyment out of having to work on their truck every weekend. I've got another vehicle to drive until this one's running well enough to be my daily driver. I still remember when I only had a single truck and it was a little more stressful doing repairs on the weekend, knowing everything had to be put back together so you could get to work on Monday.
Keep all that sort of stuff in mind. At least for me, when I go look at a new truck, sometimes I get side-tracked by all the stuff I plan to do to it. That's ok to have in mind, but keep an eye out for all the stuff like routine maintenance and cleaning up the previous owner's mess that you'll have to take care of before you can start working on whatever modifications you've got planned.
