All the vehicles in my care

[Atilla the Fun]

So, every night there are 7 vehicles beside my residence, and here's what they are, and where they're hanging:
'83 Chevy C-10 2WD reg. cab, long box pickup. No options except auto. Factory non-A/C. 6.2L diesel, 700R-4 with harsh 1-2 upshift, and no 4th because I reassembled the servo wrong. P235/75R15 all-season Chinese tires with less than 150 miles on them, but 3 years outdoors now. It's waiting on decent-enough weather to finish installing the Hooker exhaust system. Then it should fire up. If so, it then needs new valve seals. Oh, it also has a wrong cap on the rear u-joint, borrowed from:
'84 Trans Am. Original paint is hell, other lacquers on top, body is perfect, ground effects are hell. Car is complete less engine, trans, exhaust, wheels, tires, and passenger side brakes. T-tops, WS6, was LG4 and 700R-4. Interior is hell. Needs new right front ball joint. Started 1LE-type brakes conversion. Will be sitting crooked, on blocks, all winter, right where it is. For it, I have started on an 8.625" axle from an '06 GMC Sierra WT 1500. I hope to make and sell swap brackets. The 454 test-fit did damage the heater box, but I have a replacement, from the '91 Camaro I had. I got clutch pedal and stuff from an '86 Camaro, but have not installed it yet. Will need for the TR3650, and NV3500, swap kits I plan to create and sell.
'86 S-10 2WD reg. cab short box pickup. Dad's. No engine or trans or exhaust or front springs or radiator or sway bars. No options. Factory non-A/C. Needs front suspension rebuilt. Have '96 4.3 for it, and '95 4L60E, both need reassembled with new wear items. Will get rear disc brakes from '84 Trans Am, since both use the 7.5" axle.
'85 Ford LTD. Ugly. Dad's. 4-door, 2-tone-brown, light over dark. Same chassis as same-year Mustang. Still running, barely. Loses a gallon of coolant every week, and 2 quarts of ATF.
'89 Mustang. Mine. It'd be shorter to list what it does have. There really is that much missing. But right now, there's most of a bare Chevy 350 block sitting in it, bolted to a gutted 700R-4. The next step is to test-fit a late-'70s Corvette oil pan, and some Hedman 1.625" long-tubes for '67-'81 Camaros. But no funds for the pan or the headers. I have a thread for this car, which is the only one titled to me. A year ago I tried to sell it. I couldn't even get $50 for it, so I've been playing with it when I couldn't progress on anything else. The thread is on MustangForums.com, in the 4-cylinder sub-forum, because that's what mine was built with. It now has the wide 8.8" axle from the '87 Cougar XR-7 I used to have, which is 4-lug, but has no brakes on it now. Has 2.73:1 with worn Traction-Lok. Has '96 GT IFS sitting in the passenger area.
'84 Fiero. The white one. Mom bought it, it's titled to her. I was desperate for $$. The cradle is out. It's waiting on funds.
'85 300ZX. Dad's. He'd be driving it now IF I could make the headlights stay on. I totally redid the front suspension, except the balljoints.
I also did new rear springs and shocks, new tires, new coolant. Needs cap, rotor, wires, and plugs. Really needs to break the 237,000-mile 3.0L V6. Needs a half pint of diff lube, and a pint of trans lube.

[CincinnatiFiero]

So how do you get to work? Nothing sounds like it drives.

[jelly2m81]

Man I wouldn't make mention of that list of junk if it was outside my place.

[Atilla the Fun]

Jelly, you're cruel. The only eyesores are the LTD and the Trans Am. The rest look perfectly presentable at this point. And the Trans Am has such an excellent shape to the body that the bad paint doesn't matter. There are only 5 other car shapes on earth that look better. And 1 equal.
Cincy, how ya doin'?
The '06 Sierra 1500 is running better than ever, what with it now having that 2500HD axle under the bed. Those 4.10:1 gears are a major, welcome improvement over the 3.23:1s the truck was built with. But Nelson ripped me off with their speedo recal. $75, plus shipping, but they removed the automatic upshift at WOT, and the shifting between 1st and 2nd is now harsh all the time, except low-rpm, minimal-throttle shifts.
Makes me afraid to do the Corvette servo, until I find another tuner who can fix that. And I don't want to tow without changing the servo.
But around town, it drives well. It has the 2" drop shackles in back, and the front suspension is back to showroom stock, but with the axle and springs, it's way tail-high. With the camper, it sits level. With the trailer, it's tail-high.
Next is 2" drop hangers. Then when loading the camper, I can just reset the shackles 2", or when towing, the drop shackles have a 1" option.
I'm thinking about 4.56:1 gears and 265/75R16 tires and a Grizzly locker.
I know this truck isn't rated for what I'm about to type, but in event of WW3, I want to be able to load the camper, AND hook up the trailer, both. That would make me feel good.
I still have an LQ4, for the Trans Am, that could go in the Sierra, and I have a pair of ported 5.3 heads to get the compression up for my elevation. I've ported and polished the LQ4 exhaust manifolds, too.
Now I'm searching for GM part numbers for the mounts GM used for 2WD, 5.3L '06 Sierra 1500s.

[The Dark Side of Will]

In the event of WWIII I'd rather have a diesel, but the real gold will be ammo.

Check out DRMO... you might be able to pick up an armored SUV cheap.

[CincinnatiFiero]

I've been alright. Is the 300Z running?

[Atilla the Fun]

Will, you're half right. But where I'm at, the chances of an EMP are slim to none. I'm 100 miles from Salt Lake City, ant there are mountains between there and here, so the EFI should keep working.
I want an old 4WD Suburban, but that's not practical. And I don't expect to need 4WD.
I keep my C-10 batteries in the concrete basement, so EMP can't weaken them while they are there.
Not that I'm expecting WW3 or EMP, but a nice coincidence for discussion.
My mom's cousin Neal has an older C-30 I'm buying, it's the same body style as my C-10, but the rear spring spacing is correct for a Dana 70 HD dually axle. It had a 350 in it, I think, with an SM465?
I have a Vortec-headed TPI 383 project coming together, but if I needed to, I could combine the C-10 with the C-30, have a diesel dually.
Either way, a C-30 dually will be able to handle the camper and the trailer together. I'll just need first gear on the 6% grades if it's powered by the 6.2 diesel. I'd rather fit it with a non-electronic 12-valve Cummins turbo engine or maybe a turbo 4BT for better MPG, plus a Viper T56.
And I always wanted a pre-'88 dually. They look tougher. More purposeful. More serious. I'm just torn about tire sizing. LT225/75R16Es are short, for best braking, but LT235/85R16Es are rated for more weight, in case one of the rear tires goes flat, it's mate would be better able to cope until I can pull over and swap on the spare.
The best thing about the older gas V8s are that they can be converted from eFI to carb and points in the event of EMP. So I have a chevy points distributor in my basement, with a spare set of points, and 2 condensers. Most other modern engines don't have this option. Only the V8s from Ford and Dodge. And those were only used in full-size pickups.
If WW3 seemed possible, or I lived somewhere that could have EMP, then I might consider buying a lead box to keep my points stuff in.
If WW3 happened, some gun-owner might think to take my running vehicle away from me, but I've considered this also. I came up with keeping 1/8"-thick sheets of steel, pre-cut to the sizes of my windows, with balsa sandwiched in between.
No help for the tires, but bolt on steel "mudflaps" on 3 sides of each. Instead of moving the radiator under the bed, simply re-duct the air to it, like bottom-fed 'vettes of the late '80s. Then make another steel and balsa sandwich to keep the bullets away.
Not foolproof, but maybe enough for a deterrent. The CB has a PA feature, so distance negotiations would be easy.
If WW3 seemed likely, then stock up on points distributors, and use them as barter.
They wouldn't know how thin the steel is, and my sandwich will stop anything that isn't armor-piercing. It's the thickness of the balsa that does it. That one, I'm not telling.

[Atilla the Fun]

I've been alright. Is the 300Z running?

Yeah, but the headlights go out when they get to the top of their pivoting up. I can't find why. I think I'm gonna hafta bypass the stock wiring, and rig up my own switches. I can keep the stock switch for pivot, but then add an on/off, and a high/low-beam. Maddening.

[Atilla the Fun]

Good news! I found all the info for mounting the V8 into the Sierra. Mounts from any auto parts store, brackets from GM, since 2WD V8 versions don't exist in these Utah salvage yards. The dealers only stock 4WD, and they make you special order any 2WD pickup. Been that way since the mid '80s. Gotta go way south to find otherwise. Stupid!

[Atilla the Fun]

4 engines, 3 of them apart, for 2 cars, one of which runs, but...
Depressing.