Well, time to give up the search for my stolen truck and start over. I went out Tuesday and looked for a decent priced 88-98 C1500 X-cab. The used car lots wanted $5999 to $7999 for the OBS trucks in fair condition. These trucks are getting harder to find every day that one is wrecked or finds its way to Mexico like mine probably did. I found my next project truck in Dublin, Texas, 114 miles from my home and had it carried home on a flat bed wrecker courtesy of AAA. The truck is a 93 C1500 Silverado X-cab V8/auto. The body color is an awful bergundy and needs repainted. The good news is there are only three minor dents in the entire sheet metal. Both bumpers are perfect. Still has the stock rims, beauty ring and center caps and has almost new Goodyear tires. The interior is almost flawless and is bergundy, also. The stock radio is still installed!! The truck has lowering spindles on the front and hangers on the back to level out the ride. The engine is the K-code 5.7L L05. The original owner rebuilt the engine about 30k ago and installed flat top pistons, a Comp cam, roller tip rockers, hardened pushrods, Hypercrap chip, Accel coil and K&N air cleaner. All this for an amazing $2100.00.

Now for the bad news. The engine made noise so I didn't offer much for the truck. I tore into it tonight and found the cam was flat on the fourth lobe from the front and the heater hose from the rear of the intake manifold was not connected but the clamp for the hose was nice and tight around the hose fitting that screwed into the manifold. There is no telling how long this truck ran without coolant. The seller thought maybe a head gasket had blown since he saw coolant around the rear of the head. I am hoping that there is nothing else wrong with it and that the coolant was just dripping from the hose that didn't have a clamp on it.

Okay, now it's decision time. Do I throw more money into the engine or go for the LS1? I would prefer to hold out for an LS2 since it is 400 hp fresh out of the box. The LS2s are hard to find right now though.