TowRig.com - Diesel Discussion and Tow Tech

So a buddy picked up a 90 Crew Cab, 454 TBI, TH400, NP205, D60, 14 bolt for $1100. I know, what a bastard! He bought it to part it out and make money. He'll sell me the body and frame of the truck for $100, another $500 and he'll also include the engine. So here's my dilemma...

I just got married, we're in the process of buying a house, and I'm back in college for a second bachelor degree. At the moment I have a 96' ford 150 with a straight six, a 1988 K5 on 35's that sits in my parents barn and cries itselft to sleep at night because it used to be so loved, and I also have a 1986 Yamaha radian. The motorcycle is my primary mode of transportation, at 40+ miles to the gallon and the best parking on campus make it a no brainer. I only drive my truck when I need to move something or have to take a trip without my wife. She drives a 97 Cavalier that gets ~ 30 mpg, so we take that everywhere. Enough with the back ground info...

Ok, well a little more... I have always planned on swapping in a 12 valve cummins into a 70's or 80's chevy 4x4 crew cab. At this moment I don't have the funds or time to mess with a cummins swap.

So my original idea was to just buy the body and frame for $100 and drop it off at my parent's property and leave it until I graduate for the second time. Then I got to thinking... my blazer has a 350 TBI Crate motor with 20,000 miles on it, a SM465/NP 208, 8 lug 10 bolt front with a posi, and a 14 bolt with disc brakes and a detroit. It's on pretty much brand new 35" BFG MT's. Basically I was going to rob the blazer of all it's parts and switch it over to the crew cab.

Well I hate the idea of parting out my blazer... So a third idea... Get the body, frame, and motor for 600. Then find an 8 lug 10 bolt front and a 14 bolt. For the tranny find another 465 and whatever t case. Well by the time that said and done it's going to at least cost 500 to get axles and freshen them up and probably 500 for the tranny, tcase, clutch etc... Thats probably on the low side pricewise unless I find pretty good deals. Then i got to thinking why spend money on another 10 bolt and waste time and effort on it.

So a fourth idea: I'm not exactly sure how much he wants for the D60 and 14 bolt as he went to africa yesterday for 2 weeks. I can't imagine more than 1000 for both. Although it may cost a little more initially to keep the 60 and 14 bolt it would save wasted time and effort searching for other axles and then swapping them. So now I'd be giving him $1500 for everything minus the tranny and tcase. When he was driving it home, the tranny evidently blew up. I'm not an automatic guy anyways...

So the plan for the 4th idea: I have a couple of spare 2wd 465's laying around, so I wouldn't have to spend money on a tranny, but I have no clutch or flywheel. I'd also have to get creative with a driveshaft. I really don't need 4wd at the moment so the 2wd doesn't bother me, although it would be sad to drive around with a D60 front and no place for a driveshaft!

Although having a 465 wouldn't bother me since I wouldn't drive it much for a while, I would want a NV4500 in the future. I'm wondering if they use the same clutch? I looked at a clutch site last night and it seemed they were the same part numbers, but can anyone verify? Also, can a 2wd NV4500 be converted to 4wd like a 465 can (new output shaft and adapter)? Would I be wasting my time with a chevy NV4500 since I'm planning on going to a cummins in 4 to 5 years? I know the dodge input shaft is an inch longer and a different bell housing.

At the moment it's either option 1 or 4. I would sell the ford once this proved to be reliable. Problem is one of the unknowns right now is mileage on the 454. He said the odometer said 160K but it could be 260K. He only had the truck for a day before he left. I hesitate on option 4 because I doubt the reliability... My blazer was my DD for 4 years my first time in college and I never hesitated to drive it anywhere and wheel the piss out of it. It never left me stranded, although I did have a couple of situations that took a couple of hours to fix and then back on the road. I think i've turned soft now and I have lost my huevos!

Anyone want to give my aching head advice? Anyone know the questions about the NV4500?

This would put my full tube buggy and CNC plasma cutter on the back burner till I got it fixed up...

P.S. I didn't sleep at all last night! It's probably showing :doah:

Thanks - Doug

You could use a divorsed 205 which would let you any 2wd trans in front of it. The TBI 454 I have gets about 12 mpg hiway.

Thought of that too... It's a viable option as the length of the driveline really isn't an issue in this truck. Might have a problem finding a divorced chevy case though, I haven't run across any in junk yards. Thanks

Too much work, especially in college with a family. Offer him $500 profit and take the whole thing. He makes $500 (50% profit) for basically nothing. Otherwise he has to dissassemble, clean, store, ship/crate, deal with dead beats and people who "claim" it was bad when they got it or return a different piece swearing it's the one you sent them, etc. You get a truck with nice parts already assembled without all the BS at a nice price. IMO, you would be way ahead even if you offered him $2000 (maybe more depending?) if you figure in your time scouting and installing parts.

I think I'm going to take the whole thing minus the tranny and tcase. The TH400 thats in there blew up on his way home. I don't want to have to pay to rebuild it and I'd much rather have a manual anyways. I've converted my blazer from an auto to a manual and could do it in a weekend easy. I already have a spare hydro clutch pedal setup, slave, and master cylinder.

Anyone know the question regarding the compatability between a 465 clutch and a 4500 clutch?

I don't know anything about the clutch, but about the NV4500, I've heard that the GM 4500's are hard to find so people are using Dodge 4500's instead. With the right adaptor you could have your 4500 and be ready for the Cummins swap. What about an NV5600 six speed!?!