1985 J10 build with my son
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:04 am
So my father in law had this J10 that he got about 6yrs ago. I don't know the story of why it was completely spray painted olive (including trim and seals ), my guess is it was a deer lease truck. We live in Texas. It may have actually helped to preserve the body since it is in really good shape. It has the 360 v8 with auto trans. He used it for a few years just beating around not as daily driver. At some point he couldn't get it to start anymore and he just left it parked in woods by his camp for 3-4yrs. He also left the passenger side window down. Anyway we tried to buy it from him a few yrs ago and he had other plans for it so we gave up. Well a few months ago we were visiting and he pulled the title out and signed it and said "I want this to be my grandsons first vehicle"....so we got it for free. Now, I am not a mechanic but I have some skills. I am a control systems guy so I can troubleshoot things if I know what to look for. We are going to do most of this ourselves.
What we have done so far:
replace starter relay and starter
replace ignition control module
replace distributor, plugs, plug wires
replace ignition coil and a few electrical wires
new thermostat
new fuel pump and sending unit
replace fuel lines and filler and vent hose
repair crack in gas tank
fresh oil and filter
new air intake and filter
After a month, we got it started and i must've got lucky on the timing because it runs pretty good. Has 125000 miles. Transmission shifts good, brakes work. A lot of things are functional so we are doing good. Now we have moved on to replacing floor pans. Then i want to get it painted. I am starting to have a lot of things rattling in my head of what i need to do and what i need to buy. One of the things i was going to do was strip the paint and do what body work i thought i could handle then let a pro finish the paint. I think now that it would be a bad idea to strip paint now but maybe not paint it for 3 or 4 months. So I am going to just strip where i want to do repair work and then prime over it so at least the metal is staying preserved under paint. I am sure i will have many questions and would welcome any good direction someone may have. This is my first post and i will try to post some pics with it. I had some trouble with pics attachment and don't know if it worked but here we go.
What we have done so far:
replace starter relay and starter
replace ignition control module
replace distributor, plugs, plug wires
replace ignition coil and a few electrical wires
new thermostat
new fuel pump and sending unit
replace fuel lines and filler and vent hose
repair crack in gas tank
fresh oil and filter
new air intake and filter
After a month, we got it started and i must've got lucky on the timing because it runs pretty good. Has 125000 miles. Transmission shifts good, brakes work. A lot of things are functional so we are doing good. Now we have moved on to replacing floor pans. Then i want to get it painted. I am starting to have a lot of things rattling in my head of what i need to do and what i need to buy. One of the things i was going to do was strip the paint and do what body work i thought i could handle then let a pro finish the paint. I think now that it would be a bad idea to strip paint now but maybe not paint it for 3 or 4 months. So I am going to just strip where i want to do repair work and then prime over it so at least the metal is staying preserved under paint. I am sure i will have many questions and would welcome any good direction someone may have. This is my first post and i will try to post some pics with it. I had some trouble with pics attachment and don't know if it worked but here we go.