Look what followed me home

[Petroguyak]

Hi I'm kinda new here, I've been lurking on the forums forever but this is the first time I have posted. I have a couple of W200's in the yard but I never had the proper motivation to make a go of them. I have recently found myself in need of a new full size truck and started making plans to get one of the yard ornaments going to fill that duty when I saw this crewcab buried under a crappy old camper and about 10,000 lbs of garbage. I went down and talked to the guy walked away with the truck for 800$. Getting the truck out of the guys yard was a mess there is still a lot of ice and snow on the ground here in Alaska and the Duramax I was using couldn't get any traction and the W200 was frozen into about 4" of ice. I ended up pulling 2 tires off the bead on their rims getting it out which is why the truck is loaded so cattywhompas on the trailer. I got the truck home and a couple of gallons of gas, a new battery and the wheels off of one my other w200's and the truck left the trailer under its own power ( gotta love those old indestructible 318's). My first goal with this beast is to get it to dailey driver status. To do that I need to fix the steering column, something is loose inside it, it steers fine and is tight turning but the column itself has a lot of radial play in it, the drivers door has some latching issues and the exhaust ends abruptly after the mufflers under the cab so I need to get that fixed to avoid killing myself with CO poisoning. Eventually I would like to do a full resto/customization to this truck but for now I just want to get it onto the road, I will keep you guys posted when I get a little farther into this thing.

[POWWAG]

Welcome to the site! Nice looking rig, how is it for rust?

Don

[backwoods]

Welcome long time lurker first time poster. Great score on the crewcab.

[Petroguyak]

The truck is pretty beat up but I have found almost zero rust on it. Interior Alaska's humidity is so low its classified as high desert, good on cars as long as they aren't left to rot in the tundra .After much cursing, some bleeding and maybe a little weeping, I changed the steering column out and managed to cob an air cleaner together for the teency tiny 2 barrell carb, fixed and re-installed the 33" tires, and re-wired the rear turn signals. Next steps fix the drivers door latch and the clearance issues between the cab and the bed, bleed the brake system, time the motor, replace points with an electronic spark maker, replace plexiglass rear window with a glass slider, take care of slight tire rub on the passenger side front tire etc.... haha the list just keeps going on and on with this beast but I can't leave the thing alone its like the more messed up it is the more I want to fix it and the more I fix the more I find wrong, urgh vicious circle. I know the relationship is unhealthy but like a chick with low self esteem dating an A-hole I keep coming back for more.

[Hobcobble]

The truck is pretty beat up but I have found almost zero rust on it. Interior Alaska's humidity is so low its classified as high desert, good on cars as long as they aren't left to rot in the tundra .After much cursing, some bleeding and maybe a little weeping, I changed the steering column out and managed to cob an air cleaner together for the teency tiny 2 barrell carb, fixed and re-installed the 33" tires, and re-wired the rear turn signals. Next steps fix the drivers door latch and the clearance issues between the cab and the bed, bleed the brake system, time the motor, replace points with an electronic spark maker, replace plexiglass rear window with a glass slider, take care of slight tire rub on the passenger side front tire etc.... haha the list just keeps going on and on with this beast but I can't leave the thing alone its like the more messed up it is the more I want to fix it and the more I fix the more I find wrong, urgh vicious circle. I know the relationship is unhealthy but like a chick with low self esteem dating an A-hole I keep coming back for more.

Consider yourself very fortunate if you get by with
just bleeding your brake system. In many
cases, a lot of items need replacing. Its
good to hear that body rust is next to nothing.
John

[lbman]

very Cool Rig.
but as was mentioned before. "Good Luck" with the brake system. I will have to replace master, Slave, and all the brake lines. as well as get the Brake booster rebuilt. the brakes were not much in the 1st place so don't scrimp on this one either. I have found that the "WHOA" is more important than the "Git i Up and Go"
It is fun fixing up these rigs. and $$$$$
LB