It’s a mostly rust-free diesel pickup truck with a manual transmission for just $5900 or best offer. How am I supposed to resist this, especially given where I stand with my Jeep J10? (I cannot get it through California emissions). Then again, maybe I should hold onto the J10 and see if I can limp it through somehow, as I do love that machine with all my heart. I’m honestly not sure what to do.
One could make the argument that, given that I’m getting married in 13 days (and given that our wedding car isn’t ready for primetime), I shouldn’t be looking at cars.
I already have two BMW i3s, so why did I drive all the way to Irvine to see this 2015 BMW i3 last week?
The answer, of course, is that it was a smokin’ hot deal. $7000!
But I resisted, as the i3’s battery appeared to be at about 75ish% state-of-health. This means it’s just above the 70 percent threshold needed to get a free replacement from BMW, but it’s lower than a battery percentage that anyone would actually, you know, want to own. 75% of 75 miles of range is 56 miles of range. In fact, the white car above showed 54, so it may have been at 72% health, though the car’s “kapa max” battery reading of 14.5 indicates it’s at 77%. In any case, anywhere in there is a bad region you don’t want to be in.
During my test drive, the car’s battery state of charge did drop from 60 to 57 percent in just a mile, telling me that maybe the battery state of health was actually worse than 70%. But my trip was only a mile, so I didn’t have enough data, and I didn’t want to risk it.
If I’d bought it for $7000 and then paid taxes, I wouldn’t have been able to easily sell the car for a significant profit unless the battery was replaced under warranty, and that wasn’t a certainty, so I decided not to bother.
Then we have this 1983 Ford F-150 for sale for $5900 or best offer. I took a look at it earlier today; the truck has a little rust in the cab corners and around the drip rails rails, but otherwise it’s solid:
The interior needs some upholstery work and steering wheel repair, and the dash needs a cover, but it’s not too bad.
Even the engine sounded quite nice at idle, and no smoke came from the exhaust.
Unfortunately, smoke did billow from the 6.9-liter IDI diesel’s oil fill tube. Check it out:
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I’ve been told by some that this is fairly normal, but I asked a gentleman named Cody, who is selling his 1986 Bull Nose F-250 Diesel, if his smoked, and he sent me this video:
So I decided to pass on the very first Ford diesel pickup truck offered in the U.S.
The Ford would have been an easy way to get a soulful work truck that doesn’t have to pass smog, as I currently own a 1985 Jeep J10 that simply will not get through. Should I keep looking for a pre-1975 truck, should I buy a diesel like that F-250 I looked at, or should I try to swap a fuel injected 4.0 out of a ZJ into my truck? (I have a spare one sitting around).
Honestly, my J10 is a bit gutless, so those extra 78 horsepower and 15 lb-ft would be nice. Maybe I could actually tow things without it feeling so terrifying. So a 4.0 swap could be interesting, though the California government bureaucracy I’d have to to deal with would be rough, especially if I did what I really want to do: Swap a fuel-injected 4.0 head onto my truck’s 258 engine block.
So that may be the route I go, though that smoky old diesel F-250 is tempting.
2wd and the 6.9, not the 7.3, and no headrests, I would not.
This is how the pre-wedding jitters affect you, interesting. Your main objective in the next 2 weeks is to stick “to the list” that “Elise” has written up for you.
And, I’m sure we’d love to hear the story about how and why the J10 won’t pass emissions (perhaps obvious, but it’s worth 1000 words, at least).
Keep looking. Wrong engine, not mechanically sound.
As a diesel tech, be sure you want to get into fired by compression in earnest if you’re looking at an IDI with that much blow-by.
The better option, as others have said, is to swap your J10 with an engine that you can get emissions compliant. You have enough Jeeps laying around that a swap should be economical enough to come in under the price of a replacement truck.
I, uhh… hmmm….
Wonder if I put all my piston rings in upside down or something because my swapped-in IDI has more or less that same amount of blow-by.
Part of the hazards of rebuilding your own engine when you’ve not rebuilt engines before.
swaps in CA can only be with an engine that was offered when the car was new, unless the law has changed. it is difficult to do.
That seems like some BS.
Here in Ontario, Canada you can put a newer engine in an old car, so long as when tested it meets the emissions standards of the newer vehicle that donated the engine.
You can, in fact, install a newer engine. There’s just rules about it.
Smog Check Reference Guide Version 3.0
Keep the Jeep. It’s so you.
This is the way.
and that white bread F150 is boring compared to the J10, or something older.
Swap the new engine. It would make the J10 a better truck. IIRC doesn’t the new engine have to meet smog for it’s year? Compared to a vacuum tubed mess, anything remotely modern should be comparatively easy. Well, the wiring may not be so simple.
“Do I want this smoke?” sounds like someone oddly formally deliberating over options at a dispensary.
Absolutely do the head swap and absolutely do not tell the state about it. All the state ultimately cares about is what comes out of the tailpipe and with fuel injection and a cat that should not be any problem. Why otherwise tell them when there is no actual need?
It depends on what number they use — head or block casting — to prove the “swapped engine” came from my donor car.
Do they look that close?
Do the engine swap, pas smog, then upgrade the head?
I must be missing something. They are checking block and head VINs at emissions? I get that they do a visual inspection, but that’s going way above and beyond. I guess they would spot fuel injection in lieu of a carb.
when you do a swap yep. sadly ironic the land that was a big part of hot rodding from the beginning won’t allow it anymore. can’t just put any motor you want into any vehicle. Mallet had to get a brand new chevy emissions compliant V8 approved by CARB before they could put it into the Solstice. Stuff like that is hard to understand. How is it bad to put an engine that complies in one vehicle not conform in another? How can it be abused?
When rules overrule sanity.
Crack pipe. Do not buy.
Additionally, I’ve been told that this buyer simply does not need another vehicle.
Title and register your J10 in South Dakota. It is legal for a non-resident to do so under South Dakota law. You can do the whole transaction through the mail without setting foot in South Dakota. California would hate this, though, so don’t get caught. https://www.pennco.org/out-of-state-title-transfer#:~:text=Can%20I%20title%20and%20register,from%20titling%20and%20registering%20here.
huh. I thought you had to stay one night and had to attest that you do not own any physical property?
As long as you’re asking, yes, this option.
I doubt it is allowed because California but a 12v (6bt) Cummins swap into the j10 would be awesome
As a friend, no – just no. You don’t need a diesel F150.
Do the swap…
The J10 is a much cooler truck than a diesel Ford, and swapping in a new engine / getting it BAR’d would make for VERY interesting series of articles. As the Kei posts prove, there’s demand here for spotlighting how state DMVs/Auto Bureaus work (and providing transparency/commentary on the the ways their rules/processes do [and don’t] work)
I implore you to read your own article and recognize the delirious ramblings of a madman. Please come this way, sit down, and I’ll make you a nice cup of coffee.
things are UNDER CONTROL
Uh huh. Two weeks till W-day, the presentation Jeep needs work—yet you are looking at BMWs and work trucks.
This is not a Moab thrash: you are prepping for the rest of your life. Take a breath, settle down, and focus on what matters: Not Her Real name.
there will always be chances to make poor automotive choices, but good life partners are tougher to locate.
Double this.
Triple
Buy a dirt bike, a sand rail, janky Willow springs track vehicle, Ford feckin’ Ranger, something actually fun you can take on adventures and actually make content with.
You’ve beaten the i3 thing to death, there’s only so much you can do with a gutless hybrid commuter car. It’s designed for snobby HR managers to listen to NPR in, not for fun.
I have you know that Autopian HR drives one, two…er, six Smart Fortwos!
The heart wants what the heart wants…I can’t imagine paying registration and insurance on 6 extremely similar cars though.
Gutless? I have no idea which car you’re referring to.
Aren’t you going to lose the shop if the Wrangler isn’t done in a week?
He just needs to request a press vehicle, like a Miata, and call it good.
FTFY. 😉
No. Even just the price, no. I can get one of these for like $1,500 where I live with less rust. $5,900 is buy-here-pay-here lot prices. If a California truck has rust bubbles then there’s probably more going on in the front end underneath that needs fixing. That’s a late ’80s California plate so it’s at least been in the state for that long. As a result it should not have rust on the corners, because the corners of the cab is where salt and sand usually gets stuck. That means this was either a beach truck or a mountain truck, and neither seems like a good history to get a trouble free example.
Hold up, if you’re not joking I’d love to see these $1,500 clean body diesels. Where I live a $1,500 diesel either doesn’t run or hasn’t had rockers for maybe a decade.
For $1,500 for a clean diesel truck I’d fly in and drive home with a big smile on my face. 🙂
Western and northern West Virginia somehow has a lot of old F-250s and F-350s from the 1980s and 1990s that haven’t been destroyed by rust. I mean like, they’re probably missing the title or the paint looks like a car somehow got eczema, but they’re more plentiful here than I’ve seen anywhere else save for the Carolinas. You’re unlikely to find them for sale on some place like Craigslist, but they do show up every once in a while.
My guess is that since there used to be a lot of horse ranches here until the early 2010s that they were all bought around the same time and all got sold off when the ranch owners retired or the ranches went bust around 2009-2010, and then again around 2021. Near St. Mary’s there’s an immobile ’93 or ’94 green Ford F-350 Crew Cab dually with the visor and big rig lights that I eye every time I cross the state going north, and near Grantsville there’s a white one of the same vintage with a bed topper that occasionally moves.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3361246,-81.38312,3a,15y,165.08h,84.83t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sEXUILGWWCEspGOGlaBDXNQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D5.174641149846451%26panoid%3DEXUILGWWCEspGOGlaBDXNQ%26yaw%3D165.08254937780177!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
This is the Google Maps location of the green one if you want to save it. It hurts me that I’ve been seeing it sit there for five years now.
Not a $1500 diesel but might I interest you in a $2500 Suzuki Carry?
https://modesto.craigslist.org/cto/d/crows-landing-1996-suzuki-carry-with-c/7805884239.html
Convert the J10 to a PHEV. It’s a win win win, and https://www.theautopian.com/the-future-of-the-auto-industry-is-electric-with-a-gasoline-backup/. As a PHEV, it should pass CA emissions so you can actually drive it. You get all the benefits of a PHEV that some obscure car blog has documented, it and you get lots of content for articles. You can probably even get it done before your Scout is ready.
An indirect injection and naturally aspirated diesel is not something you want.
Username checks out
Haha, we almost met each other at Cummins. I think our ventures either just missed or we didn’t cross paths.
????I had one ,gutless and you wondered if it would move once a trailer was attached.
It should read 100 percent not ????
I drove a 90’s Chevy 6.5 (turbo) diesel in a work/plow truck for several years. It was not something you want either. It turned diesel into noise and repairs with shockingly little torque as a byproduct.
Not a problem with my ‘93 D250 Cummins 6BT. I can’t imagine any diesel w/o turbo, DI, and Intercooler.
No. Do not buy any more vehicles! Especially these less than perfect examples.
Just say no!
How far off is the J10? Maybe try converting to Fuel Injection – that may solve a lot of problems and let you get rid of a bunch of vacuum hoses. And, for my and everyone else’s lungs get it working at or better than original specification.
I’m thinking I pop a 4.0 head on there and call it good. But the process of the swapping is going to be LONG and arduous, but could make for some content-gold.
Haven’t you done a 4.0 head at least a half dozen times? Are you afraid of breaking the bolts?
That should make good content even if it goes smoothly.
Shut up. You love long and arduous.
As a California resident who has to follow these emissions regulations, I would love to see you complete the swap, pass smog, and write all about it. If i were a good friend I might advise against it though. Can’t be worse than project cactus, right?
Careful there. In California, it also has to pass a visual inspection, does it not? Deleting a bunch of stuff is a sure fire way to fail.
If it’s a motor swap, that’s not an issue.
When my friend did a B16 swap in his CRX in CA, then got flagged for it, the smog referee told him he basically needed to make it look like a VTEC del Sol under the hood. So visually they’ll want whatever came on that 4.0.
Rust? SoCal cars do not have rust. If the car has rust it means it did start it’s life in SoCal. Do you really want to go back to dealing with rusty cars? There are so many others to choose from.
Secondly, you do not want deal with engine swap issues in CA unless you have lots of free time and enough cash to make the project underwater.
edit – you don’t want to deal with the engine swap issues until you have a guy. The guy will pass anything for a fee
Second this, No SoCal car should have rust.
I do hear that getting a swap to be smog legal is a pita, but as a Ca resident I would love to see you succeed.
SoCal has both beach and mountain communities, both of which mean rusty cars.
Very few examples will look as bad as this vehicle.
Don’t count on it. I saw many a crap can that would have done Detroit proud. That dropped off quickly with distance from the ocean but cars by the seawall got it bad.
I see some guy in a rusty early 70s Olds Cutlass driving in my small city every time I leave my house. Every time I see it, I’m like how is that thing still on the road.
Don’t they have TDI swap kits for wranglers? VW TDI swap for your J10
No, you should start a crusade to fix the arcane CARB rules for classic cars.
Seriously every other state I have lived in realizes that a classic car barely gets driven and is insignificant in the total emissions.
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Since cars don’t rust away in California (mostly) and you have a longer classic car driving season you can maybe argue for the laws to apply to these old cars, maybe. Just playing devil’s advocate, I agree, regulating vehicles that old seems like more trouble than it is worth.
Even if you were to daily the cat-less classic car, its total emissions for an entire year would amount for less than any diesel school bus spews out its tailpipe in a single day.