The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Pricing on some work need your input

Now before i start i know that some of the things im planning to do dont fit right with everybody but i need some opinions.(1951 GMC 5 window long bed 235 3 speed tranny)
1. Cutting bed, chassis, brake lines, driveshaft $800
2. Installing an 01 Trans am differential and all brake lines, master cylinder. $800
3. Re-wiring the entire truck $350
4. New fuel lines $200

to begin with .... what do you think

I'm assuming these are the prices somebody quoted you to do the work? If so.. those prices look about right.. except for the new fuel line thing looks pretty high.

#1 and #2 look like pretty fair prices.

I've seen aftermarket wiring kits sell for around $100 that the average guy can get put in an afternoon or two.. so #3 is a hair on the high side, unless that price also includes new tail light assembly, turn signals, etc.

$200 to run a new fuel line tho.. that sounds pretty high for $20 worth of line.

I should also mention that new rear end won't do you a whole lot of good without replacing that 3 speed tranny.

If your goal is to get better highway speeds, you might wanna look into replacing the tranny something a little newer.

I installed complete wiring on My 52..I went
with the woven fabric like the original...That
electrical harness which included the turn signal
wiring cost Me $455.00 plus shipping...The plastic
coated wiring was cheaper by $300.00.. BB

You wan,t opinions well here is mine. I think you are going to wind up with a nightmare & a big money pit. This is a great hobby but if you can,t do most of the work yourself you are better off leaving it alone & repairing what is nessesary for safety & dependability & using it like it is.

So you're converting a long box to a short box?
You may be better off locating a 1/2 ton short box frame and swapping them out. Sell the long bedsides to someone who can use them and buy new or used short sides. Or better yet what's wrong with it like it is? Long boxes are cool. You can fit more stuff in a long box! Or just sell it and buy a short box truck. Just my opinion, but it's your truck to do what you want with.

If you don't do the work your self, you have no braging rights. 12 year restoration of a 53 3100 all orgional, good drive, not perfect, but darn proud of it ,no trailer queen here.

Fumblin46: Yes these prices were quoted to me. I agree with you about the fuel line job being steep. The guy told me he was also going to check the gas tank for leaks, but still. Im also going to wait on the rear end, ive heard from a lot of people that it wont do me any good till i change transmission.(Like you said) You see the original plan was to put an LS1 engine with a 6 speed manual in it because the donor car is a 01 Pontiac Trans AM WS6. Didnt go through. So for now im going with the original rear end, 235 and 3 speed. Just going to rebuild the master cylinder and the wheel cylinders. Thank you for your input.

Bill_B: I purchased the American wiring 8 circuit harness(EZ wiring) for the truck to convert it to 12 volt. Im not planning on doing power windows or anything so i hope the 8 circuit is fine. Is yours for a 6 volt or a 12 volt i think the woven fabric would look good.
Oh yeah by the way your truck looks great!

Wrenchbender Ret.: I agree with you this little project can be a nightmare but im really exited. you see i started working on this truck back when i was in high school (13 years ago) its just been sitting there all this time and now that i finally started it again i dont want to stop like i did before.

Ghostrider: You dont know how many people have told me to "just buy another truck" but you see this is my grandfathers old truck so there is no way in hell im going to get rid of it. If it werent for that i would absolutely try that route and as far as the cutting the box is to fit it in my 3rd garage. I saw your gallery awesome pictures of your truck i wish i had a shop like that to work on my truck.

Beaver 53: Im not after bragging rights at all, what i am looking for is to have a great classic truck maybe not a trailer queen but pretty close to it. Hopefully i will have it to my liking by the end of the year. As far as your 12 year restoration good for you but i dont see myself restoring a truck for that long. After im done with mine all i would be doing to it is maintenance. If my restoration took me 12 years i would expect a lot from the truck.

Thank all of you guys for your input.
and sorry for the long thread i just wanted to make sure to get to everybody.

Don't worry Anchondo, don't feel the need to defend yourself (though you did a fine job), its you truck and your money.
Is it just a 1/2 ton longbed? Or is it a 3/4 ton. If it is a 3/4 ton (actually even if its a longbed 1/2 ton), you could save youself alot of time and money by finding just a halfton chassis. Not a new truck, just a frame.

The fuel line and checking the tank (even repairing it), you can do yourself, it's real simple.

I haven't used any of those ez wiring harnesses, but I hear they are pretty simple to install. If you run into a road block you can always lon on here and someone will help you.

Anyways, good luck!

Colin: Runs on Maple Syrup huh! thats a good one
My truck is a half ton long bed and i have tried to buy a short chassis i even went to the Phoenix AZ area in hopes to find one but no luck.
and your right this site is great with a lot of helpful people ive been on it just about every day just reading and learning. ive got to look into posting my truck pictures in here.

I replace my fuel lines with fuel grade rubber hose.. works absolutely fantastic, and easy to install in less than 30 minutes.. just make sure to secure the line away from any moving parts and heat sources.

As far as checking your tank for leaks, isn't the tank in the '51 Jimmy behind the seat like it is in the Chevrolet trucks? If so, you'll know you got a leak if it stinks like gas in the cab.

If it's been sitting for awhile, I recommend pulling the tank out and flushing it out with a handful of rocks in there to knock loose any rust.. then you can seal the tank with an off the shelf gas tank sealer kit from your local auto parts store.

Any leaks you might have will be pretty obvious during the tank flushing.

I don't recommend cutting drive shafts and that kind of stuff yourself, tho.. unless you really know what your doing.. just because those things have to also be balanced after they're cut.. and they're not very forgiving if you screw up and cut a little too short!

On the frame.. lots of guys like to take their 1/2 ton trucks and sit 'em on later model or custom frames.. so it's not real hard to land an original 1/2 ton frame in good shape pretty cheap.. and that might be a easier way to go about things, if you feel like doing the legwork trying to find a 1/2 ton frame, anyway.

Heck, I have a couple 1/2 ton Chevy truck frames i'd just GIVE you if you was to come out and help me yank the body parts off of.. too bad you live all the way down in Texas.