My first truck

I am 15, and I have been set on getting an 80's model Silverado for a long time. It's time that I can drive now, and I found the perfect truck with a low price tag on it down the street from me.

I drove it with my Dad first to make sure it drove just fine, but we're not mechanics so we had our friend who is a mechanic come look at it today. He drove it like a sports car, which I guess was a good thing.

He said it runs excellent, it's very quiet (like a new car) even though it has no muffler. Shifts smooth, all stuff me and my Dad noticed.

Our mechanic friend said that the oil pressure gauge read nothing, and I asked if that was a bad problem. He said if it's not the gauge then YES it is a problem. Me and him took it on the highway, drove fast and hard and it had no problems at all so he said it's just the gauge or it could need an oil change... I plan to change the oil when I get it anyways.

The only running problems at this moment are the fuel filter. It badly needs replacement. If you mash on the gas it just flatlines and doesn't accelerate... you have to be easy on it for it to accelerate properly. Ten bucks, no big problem. Do y'all think I could manage to do that myself? I don't want to have to pay someone to do it... if I can't I guess someone I know could help.

Also, the valve cover gaskets need replacing. When we stopped at the owner's home, it was smoking but not horribly... from the oil coming out. It didn't smoke after we stopped yesterday after easy driving around the neighborhood. Is it possible that they might only leak if I continue going 90 miles an hour on the highway and flooring the accelerator? I won't be able to afford the replacement of those immediately... I helped my cousin replace the one on his Ford Probe which was extremely easy but the location of the ones on this truck are very different, so I need a mechanic to do it.

From this description, does it sound like the truck will get me to work every couple days right now, and to school when I turn 16 next August? School is 20 miles away on the highway.

Thanks a lot!

Oh, and it has 91,000 original miles.

get yourself a haynes or chiltons manual for your new truck! You'll thank yourself for it later.

Fuel filter:
all you need to do is buy the replacement, find where it is located on the truck and swap'em out. It is in one of two places. Either under the hood somewhere near the fenderwell, or along the chasis under the truck. It is going to have an input nozzle and output nozzle. there will be an arrow indicating direction of flow on the new filter. the arrow should point towards the engine.
example:
gas tank ---> fuel rail/carbureator

valve cover gaskets:
They are cheap and easy to replace, do it! Just take your time. keep track of anything that you have to move or remove. Once the valve cover is off, clean the mating surfaces throughly. Don't leave any pieces of the old gasket on there. Make sure that any plug wires you may remove go back where they came from, otherwise your truck will run like crap or wont start.

Both of those issues are very easy to remedy and you should have no trouble as long as you take your time, be paitent and put everything back the way it was.

I'm pretty sure I know where the fuel filter is already. Here's a quick MS Paint job I did to illustrate where I believe it is. In the red zone (see pic) there is a plastic case thing that is mounted directly under the hood (it's at the top of the engine compartment) and it is the shape of a fuel filter. (Is that where the fuel pump is?)

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4120/engine4fz.png (http://imageshack.us)

I am very confident that I could replace the valve covers again on my cousin's probe, or even on my Dad's 4-cylinder Mazda, but the location of the valve covers on this truck are very different. They are way, down below the air filter and working around them would be a slut. My mechanic told me that it would be OK to drive it with the valve covers like that, but just to keep an eye on the oil level (refilling when necessary) and he said it'll just smoke when I park. That's not a problem for me, I'll save up to get it fixed. Also, while I might be inclined to try repairing the gaskets myself, my parents probably will not let me. My Dad is a teacher and they sometimes refer to me as the mechanical mind of the household --- I am very good with 2-stroke single-cylinder engines --- but I don't know if they'd let me tamper with something that could have this bad of an outcome.

Is there any such thing as a way to stop rust from spreading? It's behind the back wheels and I don't want it to get bigger.

BTW, I had definitely already planned on the chilton manual! Thanks for reminding me. I'm going check on eBay. Thanks for replying.

The fuel pump on the 80's models is mechanical, and is mounted directly to the engine block on the passenger's side:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a5/BlenderWizard/engine4fz.png
The fuel pump looks like this:
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/31853441216.jpg

Post some pics when you get the chance, so we can check it out, and then a few months or a year from now we can do the "Before and After" thing!

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal! Hows the body situation?? any rust?

p.s. welcome to the forum!

Post some pics when you get the chance, so we can check it out, and then a few months or a year from now we can do the "Before and After" thing!
I'm with him :naughty:

I still wouldnt think the valve cover gaskets would be hard at all. They were easy as pie on my buddys 84 5.0L

The fuel pump on the 80's models is mechanical, and is mounted directly to the engine block on the passenger's side:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a5/BlenderWizard/engine4fz.png
The fuel pump looks like this:
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/31853441216.jpg

OK, I'll have a look when I get the truck home. It's at the owner's house right now... any idea what the thing is in the upper left-hand corner of my picture, then?

Sounds like a pretty sweet deal! Hows the body situation?? any rust?

p.s. welcome to the forum!

Body is super excellent for its age. Paint is really nice, too.. there's some rust behind the wheels that's a little deeper than surface, and that's about it for rust. The inside is the worst part. It severely needs a seat cover, new carpet, and a new headliner, but I'll probably just staple-gun that up.

I will try to post pics for y'all. I'll even try to do a before and after on my detailing... the owner hasn't washed it in 2 years! How hard is it to clean the outside of the engine... like with engine degreaser or whatever? It's pretty dirty.

My friend had an El Camino that came with a (283?) engine that he took out. He replaced it with a Camaro 305 that he and his Dad rebuilt completely. It sounded really nice, I want to have mine sounding like that... but I started it once and it was hard to get going. You had to lay on the gas for a minute before it sounded like it was coming to life. With my truck, you don't need to give it any gas at all... it starts up the instant you turn the key. I was surprised...