Auto Parts Guy
Full Member
234k
That would be a good option. Unfortunately there isn't anywhere around here to go offroading and I don't own a big piece of land.
I ordered and received some parts for the Avy recently; Intake gaskets and an oil pressure sensor from rockauto. Hopefully I can get an alternator and a couple other small things from a junkyard this week and then I should have everything needed to get the engine back together. I still haven't decided if I'll keep it or not but I want to at least get the engine running so that I can move it around my shop. I also figure that if it turns out the engine has a major issue or the tranny is junk then that might be the determining factor here.
I did manage to boost the battery the other day and was able to get the odometer reading. Anyone care to take a guess as to how many miles are on it?
Having been in a similar situation with my Moms Buick LeSabre T-type, though with less rust, I can feel your indecision. I ended up selling the car to a person who was at the time a family friend who was able to restore it back to its glory. I had the skills, and actually did quite a bit of the work on it to get it going, I just didn’t have the space. We spent way more than the car would ever be worth, but neither of us cared, it was sentimental.
That being said, you need to consider a few things here. First and foremost is your attachment to the truck, which seems to not be in question as you pulled it out of a junk yard. So commitment to the truck… CHECK. Now the biggest questions are space and skills. You seems to have a nice large garage, which definitely makes life easy in this situation. Do you have the skills to fix it correctly? That much rust on the frame means death to the frame, but good news, the Suburban and Avalanche share a common frame, and there are tons of suburbans out there for cheap… hopefully not rusty. The next bit is the body work. I NEVER approve the foam and bondo approach, but then again I’m a former auto body tech and know how to do it right. The body will need to be cut up to get the rust out and to also restore the corrosion prevention you would be best to have no corrosion remaining. Yes this can be done successfully, I have done it many times, but it’s time consuming and tedious to get it right.
in the end this will cost you many many times more than a clean truck would cost, so the decision is up to you on how you proceed.