Hi Folks,
I've been looking for an older, still useful pickup to play with and do light truck duties. I'm a Ford guy, but have come across a 1980 C10 with a 305/350 combo. Any advice to share? I won't be towing things other than small utility trailers . . .
Is the 305 the dog of an engine that I remember from my youth?
Otherwise it's a cool truck -- imported to Canada from Georgia so its "rust free" (as much as anything that old can be), and does have the right patina -- good enough to not be embarrassed, but not so good I can't use it.
Adequate. Also, the hole can be filled with any 350 you choose.
In that era, a Comp 260H or the modern equivalent is a lovely upgrade.
Should be a good general-use package. The nice thing is how many change you could make using factory or aftermarket parts with little engineering on your part. Drive it for a bit and find out where it's lacking.
My C-10 with a 305 died. I understand the cam lobes were not properly hardened or just case hardened. Once you wear past the shallow hard area, lifters stop lifting. I put in an aftermarket RV cam, I understand also this problem is not uncommon.
While I had the manifold off, I went for a 4 barrel and Moroso'd the exhaust. Probably not all the gettyup of a 350, but hard to tell from where I sat.
If you can find a southern square body that doesn't break the bank, buy it now before somebody else does. Prices on those are stupid. There is nothing inherently wrong with the 305 and, being a small block, you can make it pretty decent pretty easily
Peabody said:
If you can find a southern square body that doesn't break the bank, buy it now before somebody else does. Prices on those are stupid. There is nothing inherently wrong with the 305 and, being a small block, you can make it something pretty decent pretty easily
This. Purchased my 78 from Arizona for $4k, put 5k into it and sold it last year for $10k and it was one of the cheapest rust free trucks out there.
Easy to work on - my buddies bought them in high school and fixed them up.
