NE ohio longtime lurker first time owner

[deuceofhearts]

Hello everyone,
I did something supremely stupid today against my wife's advisement and bought a rusty old bumpside. I have been a forum member for a number of years and always gazed longingly at some of the beautifully restored trucks members have thinking one day I'd own one. My first love is watercooled Volkswagens and I have always owned a sizable fleet but a baby and some stern words from the better half had me facing a reduction in force. However said better half was kind enough to convince my old man to let me buy part of my inheritance early in the form of a non-running 1984 searay ski-boat (more projects!!!). So I started searching craigslist for a truck as a tow rig that I've always lusted after but never could justify. I wanted a 4 speed on the floor truck, power everything and a/c would have been ideal. I ended up with a rather crusty but solid framed 69 f250 "390" four speed truck that was billed as "rusty but trusty". She's manual everything no a/c and no radio, has rust on every single panel, looks like hell and drives like a tug boat on ice. I drove out to Michigan from Ohio early this morning and drove it most of the way home. I have ignition of fuel after the headers which blew out both mufflers and made for some shotgun blasts as I pushed to get her within tow distance. After a fuel stop within AAA tow range I noticed she was puking coolant and she wouldn't fire back up. So now I have a broken truck in my driveway, no parts fund and a pissed off wife. This is my first carbed vehicle so I am certainly in for some new adventures. If you are local and want to help me not end up sleeping in the truck shoot me a PM and I'll give you all the beer you can drink to help me get this thing running before my wife has finally had enough and kills me. If I never post again assume my wife killed me and start searching for my body. Wish me luck.

edit: so I introduced myself when I first joined back in 2008 but figured I would let the post stand as now I finally own one.

[colnago]

Welcome to the family. We're all quite insane here, lusting after rust-buckets that are older than our marriages. Tell your wife that it keeps you out of bars, and keeps you from chasing girls! That's a win-win for her! I'm in SoCal, so I can't help with the wrenching. On the positive, we've all collectively done just about everything, so help is only a post away. I just rebuilt a 352 and a C6 tranny, so hopefully I'll be hooking everything together and firing it up in the next couple of weeks. If you hear a loud boom, you'll know it didn’t go as planned.

Post pics! And

Joseph

By the way, water-cooled VWs? What engine(s) do you use?

[popeyes71]

Stay safe my friend! Do something to get your wife on your side of the project!

from California! I wish you my best with the new project!

[lennyp]

from Massachusetts. Good luck.

[deuceofhearts]

@colnago, this truck is quite a bit older than I am, my old man was born in '65 so he was still a youngin when it rolled off the line in San Jose. Its funny but I was just in Colorado Springs this past week and will be just north of LA for thanksgiving and thought about finding one out there but the prospect of a cross country drive in a truck that old scared me too much so I stuck to the rust belt and will likely pay for that idiocy in busted knuckles and eyes full of tetanus. Good luck with the reassembly, don't forget to hide all the "spare" bolts somewhere easy to find! The wife is used to my stupidity for the most part, I have been doing this with VWs nearly the whole 14 years I've known her, she just shakes her head and tells me I bought another lemon and it comes out of my parts fund and not the family pool to fix it. As far as VW engines I have had nearly all of them having owned somewhere around 40 of them now. I mostly stick with ABA/8v cars. I have owned a few N/A diesels that were awesome but slow, one TDI, a pair of 5 cylinders, a 16v and a 1.8t both of which nearly got me divorced, and a VR6 which I still miss. The next VW project is going to be longer term and involves turbos, VR6 and all wheel drive if I have enough money ever. Watercooled are all the non-original beetle platform vehicles, so the mk1 rabbit and beyond. I mostly do mk2s and 3s but daily a mk6.

@popeyes71, I am gonna have to get her some flowers or something, she will appreciate it the first time I haul something for one of her garden projects in it, so it'll be another 6 months before I am out of that dog house.

@lennyp, thank you!

as requested the only pic I took of it so far, need to get her a bath and clean up the leaking coolant.

[hdman90]

Looks great for where it came from! I live over in NW Pa, so if you're ever in need of anything, just let me know!
Until then, best of luck! I am all too familiar with the wife head shake after buying one of these trucks... or two... haha!

from neighboring PA!

[sargentrs]

She looks like a good starting base to me! I feel your pain when referring to your wife's opinion. You should have heard her comment on my stupidity when I traded a running 1994 Honda Civic for my truck back in 2004. Drove my truck semi-reliably for 7 years before tearing her down for complete frame off rebuild. Well, my "project" has been hogging half of the garage for the past 6 years with not a lot of hope of finishing for the couple of years. In the meantime "honey do" and home repair projects consistently eat up my project funding. Just about all of us have been/still are in your shoes so hold on to the dream. I find that "Yes Dear....You're right dear....I know dear...I will honey" along with the occasional home project for her tends to buy a view day's relief from the criticism and ridicule. Keep us updated on your progress and ask all and any questions you need to get her running and useful.

[Lone Ranger]

Wow nice looking truck! That thing would polish up nice. Keep us updated good luck!

[Lone Ranger]

Wow nice looking truck! That thing would polish up nice. Keep us updated good luck!

[the elder rocker]

THAT'S a rusty truck??!! Man, I'd say you got a good one there! Here's a bonus for you--(you're a vw guy and I work on Brit stuff)-- most all parts are cheaply had at the local parts store. If it's not on the shelf it will be there the next day! Get it leak free, tidy up the carb, check the vacuum advance pod then just replace it and drive it around. You will soon know the local guys that can hook you up with the used parts. They will strike up the conversation with you when they see your truck. These trucks are dead simple- you'll have no problem.
Best of luck-
Mike Burgess
Albert, KS
PS- Wait and see how many friends you have when it becomes known that you have a truck! Can't move a fridge in a Scirocco!

[Mancar1]

Hello from Gerber, Ca. Truck looks like a great project. It will be a perfect boat puller.