If you can find a partially restored truck with the improvements that you want you will probably save money but you need to be very knowledgable about the truck. It will likely be unassembled so you'll need to know how to put it back together without the education you get from taking it apart yourself. Also, you'll have to trust the work of the p.o. on some critical aspects like suspension and steering. If you decide to start from scratch, I think you're better off to find the best truck you can and pay a fair price for it. When you start fixing up junkers the costs add up very quickly.
