InvisiBill
Active member
Hey everyone! It's been a while, but I'm still around...
For some background, I bought Syclone 1456 in early '01 with 77k on it. I daily drove it for a number of years, getting it up over 200k (not sure exactly, the odometer broke and won't seem to stay fixed). I had the standard small stuff fail and I generally used "stock plus" replacement parts - I wasn't looking to make a racer, but I went with better stuff when it was available. Hotwired Jabsco, Racetronix harness on a Walbro, Ostrich with a mostly-stock program, etc. The transmission failed on me at 120k, and I had a local guy rebuild it. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, but I found out shortly afterwards that he didn't. Had it redone by Blake after that. I hit a deer and did some minor damage to the right side, which AAA got fixed up.
I hit another deer which took out pretty much the entire left side. A coworker's brother has a body shop, and I got a deal on doing the rest of the truck along with fixing the left side. Unfortunately, I got what I paid for, and years later I'm still waiting on him. At one point I took it to another (AAA-approved) shop, and they quoted me about $8,000 to do it right, compared to the original quote of about $4,500 that he got (which was a bit low, due to incorrect parts listed on it). In the meantime, the engine blew too. I assume I broke a rod, which spun around and put a hole in each side of the oilpan where it meets the block.
I didn't have a ton of extra cash, and thinking about the body situation just pissed me off, so I've sort of just ignored the whole thing for a while. I'm now getting to a point where I'm getting other stuff paid off and would be able to put some money into getting the truck fixed up right. I don't have $10,000 cash to drop on it or anything, but I'm basing my plans on something like the RPM stock-level engine. Once again, I'm not looking for an all-out racer, but I wouldn't mind something a little better than stock.
Should I bother with restoring 1456? I have a sentimental attachment to her, but I'm also a very logical person. If I can sell her to someone else who can do a proper restoration and use the money toward just buying a new SyTy, I may be better off that way. On the other hand, I feel like I'd be doing a lot of the same basic mods over again to get right back to where I used to be. I'm not even completely against a part-out that would help save other trucks. The transmission's housing got cracked so that was swapped, and I'm guessing the engine block is damaged, so I'm not worried about matching numbers and being all stock at this point. Would it make more sense to go with a more standard platform like the LSx? I do still feel like I'd have to keep a turbo on a SyTy even with a V8 swap. I don't really have the knowledge to do engine work myself, so I'm not sure how realistic something like this is without getting insanely expensive.
I miss my truck, but I'm not sure how to get back to where I was 10 years ago. What do you guys think?
For some background, I bought Syclone 1456 in early '01 with 77k on it. I daily drove it for a number of years, getting it up over 200k (not sure exactly, the odometer broke and won't seem to stay fixed). I had the standard small stuff fail and I generally used "stock plus" replacement parts - I wasn't looking to make a racer, but I went with better stuff when it was available. Hotwired Jabsco, Racetronix harness on a Walbro, Ostrich with a mostly-stock program, etc. The transmission failed on me at 120k, and I had a local guy rebuild it. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, but I found out shortly afterwards that he didn't. Had it redone by Blake after that. I hit a deer and did some minor damage to the right side, which AAA got fixed up.
I hit another deer which took out pretty much the entire left side. A coworker's brother has a body shop, and I got a deal on doing the rest of the truck along with fixing the left side. Unfortunately, I got what I paid for, and years later I'm still waiting on him. At one point I took it to another (AAA-approved) shop, and they quoted me about $8,000 to do it right, compared to the original quote of about $4,500 that he got (which was a bit low, due to incorrect parts listed on it). In the meantime, the engine blew too. I assume I broke a rod, which spun around and put a hole in each side of the oilpan where it meets the block.
I didn't have a ton of extra cash, and thinking about the body situation just pissed me off, so I've sort of just ignored the whole thing for a while. I'm now getting to a point where I'm getting other stuff paid off and would be able to put some money into getting the truck fixed up right. I don't have $10,000 cash to drop on it or anything, but I'm basing my plans on something like the RPM stock-level engine. Once again, I'm not looking for an all-out racer, but I wouldn't mind something a little better than stock.
Should I bother with restoring 1456? I have a sentimental attachment to her, but I'm also a very logical person. If I can sell her to someone else who can do a proper restoration and use the money toward just buying a new SyTy, I may be better off that way. On the other hand, I feel like I'd be doing a lot of the same basic mods over again to get right back to where I used to be. I'm not even completely against a part-out that would help save other trucks. The transmission's housing got cracked so that was swapped, and I'm guessing the engine block is damaged, so I'm not worried about matching numbers and being all stock at this point. Would it make more sense to go with a more standard platform like the LSx? I do still feel like I'd have to keep a turbo on a SyTy even with a V8 swap. I don't really have the knowledge to do engine work myself, so I'm not sure how realistic something like this is without getting insanely expensive.
I miss my truck, but I'm not sure how to get back to where I was 10 years ago. What do you guys think?
