What's it worth?

[Beagle]

This has been sitting for 5 years now, I finally drug it out of it's hole this weekend.



The engine is blackened too, but it turns over and almost started. I'm tempted to put fresh gas in it and give it a try again. Monica (Admonish-ica) yelled at me for trying to fire it up and I said "What's it gonna do, catch on fire? Been there, done that."



I'm not sure what to do with it. I just saw where the panels are all bolt on with this series truck and after looking at it in the sunlight, it may be worth trying to recover. It's a 2000 Lightning, has about 67,000 on it but that'd be hard to prove...



seems like I have enough junk taken apart right now, but man I'm tempted to see if I can make it make noise.



interior is a little Rufff, bedliner needs a little touch up



it's buddy the black 95 Lightning needs a new front end. Can you put a 95 body on a 2000 Frame? Hood was up when the fire happened, I'm not sure how it stayed relatively clean...

[Barry Donovan]

held air in the tread, no sprung sheets into steel looking leather.

the carbon will be electrically annoying, clean it up to start?

obvious sport model, could be nice truck.

chemicals are worse than fire...I'd try it.

[68scott385]

Okay, for those of use, namely ME, that are unfamiliar with this truck, what part of it burned because it looks like the whole thing was engulfed in a pool of fire. I've seen engine fires that didn't do much more damage than a wiring harness, plug wires, and some melted plastic pieces. I've seen cigarette butts flicked out the window fly into the bed, catch things on fire, and leave a blacked bed side on a truck that had been lettered to say "Quality Director". I've seen interior fires that gutted the entire inside.

What is the original color of the truck? Did it burn from the top down? Are you Moses?

[Dan Barlow]

I not only think you should get it running , I think you should take pics doing it for our entertainment. I've done 3 frame swaps. ( to get a four by four and others for good bodies except for a bumper and fender ) It's alot more work than you'd think. Also things are more salable if they run. They are also alot easier to get out of the way instead of pushing it.

[cantvalve16]

Hope I am not the only one that almost instantly thought that the engine/trans(?) should be swapped into something that you already have in stock. Just rebuild the '95's suspension and leave that one a driver. You need a parts hauler that is not also a project.
But, that Lightning combo would be great in one of your fox bodies. Like the Mark VI. Ah, man. Leather interior, a/c, supercharged goodness.. on slicks.

Beags, you gotta do something that helps you narrow down your choices. You have so much great stuff in stock to work on and tons of great ideas of what to do with it. You gotta pick and stick, buddy.

[68scott385]

Hope I am not the only one that almost instantly thought that the engine/trans(?) should be swapped into something that you already have in stock. Just rebuild the '95's suspension and leave that one a driver. You need a parts hauler that is not also a project.
But, that Lightning combo would be great in one of your fox bodies. Like the Mark VI. Ah, man. Leather interior, a/c, supercharged goodness.. on slicks.

Beags, you gotta do something that helps you narrow down your choices. You have so much great stuff in stock to work on and tons of great ideas of what to do with it. You gotta pick and stick, buddy.

An engine/trans transplant was one of the first things to come to mind, amidst all the questions. I agree that a swap would be in order if the body is not salvageable.

[Beagle]

the backstory is I had a 12x56 trailer at the lake, built a 20x30 garage behind it, and put both this and my boat in it. I wanted to keep the miles off of this truck and thought "Hey, I can use it for a boat loader and that will keep the miles off of it." This is the only running vehicle I've ever kept in a garage. Irony.

So the trailer gets hit by - wait for it - Lightning. POOF. It's 8 minutes from the local VFD and by the time they get notified and get there, the trailer has burned 90% to the ground and the garage has turned into a toaster oven. They estimated 1800 degrees in the garage. It was hot enough to warp the steel in the attached room. All of the corner lenses and hard vinyl above the rockers is melted. The body stuff is polyurethane I guess, it doesn't seem to be affected. The dash is wasted, and the overhead console melted on the seats. I can still get the seat covers from Ford I think - I'll have to check on that.

It broke my heart when it happened, I wouldn't even look at it for a couple of years. It's not so bad once I got it out where I can see it but still... yikes. I'd rather not start any kind of disassembly until I get a clean work area and a firmed up plan.

Brian, if you see the red F250 with the trailer, that's the daily driver. The black one needs a front end rebuild, but I still drive it. I was thinking about a Panther front end and when the question of what to do about motor mounts came up I thought "hell, I have a Lightning mill, it has mounts for a Modular already"... but frankly, I'm getting a case of burnout (haha) from having to move all this stuff and thinking about selling everything. The boat was on the far side and looks like a Plasti-dip experiment gone wrong, but it could be salvaged too I think.

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

that truck is to far gone to put back on the street unless you like the pain of rewiring the whole thing.
I'd build it into a race truck , new glass, the engine mostlikely needs all new sensors, and wiring same with the wiring to the trans,abs, ect.. I'd guess the shocks and bushings are junk.. the non serviceable front end parts are most likely void of any grease.
yes you could rebuild it.. for 2x what another would cost. I had a 1998 short flare side 2wd 5.4ltr bucket seat ,loaded,truck it's a lightning without the wheels,s/c engine and lower stance and front bumper cover..
I'd find one of these 98-00 as you are in texas rocker rot should not be an issue.. it'll be 1/2 the buy in of the lightning replacement..
and drop your engine in it ,if it's not overly damaged from the fire/heat(can't imagine the heat did the timing chain tensioners any favors, the springs, and wheels.. and make a lightning.. and either make a track truck out of this trucks corps. or use it as a parts truck. if you where not so far away you could have the pass side rear outer bed skin, when my truck got rearended with 350 miles on it.. the insurance co. payed for a replacement, it just needs some resin at the front corner where it smacked the cab{1.5"area}(all fiber glass still there) and the lower corner that's behind the bumper(3" area) that is all there just needs the same as the front .(bennies of dad and bodyshop, got to keep the old parts)
yes the outer bed skins are fiberglass, at least the '98 was.. I also have the new tail light it didn't need that they payed for, but the '98 had the reverse light in the center, yours should be at the top iirc, and rubber bed floor mat..

[Monk]

Nice flame job

[milner351]

Beags - you certainly have too many things going on - have you given up on getting a car to drag week? If not - why are you even looking at this thing right now - inside the 30 day window?

I'm pretty certain your best bet is to part that thing out - since the wiring is gone - the engine / trans / axle / wheels are worth more to someone that has the truck to put them in - unless you know of a way to get a nearly "plug and play" harness for that engine - so you could stuff it in something else.

Bummer about insurance - I just heard of another person with a barn fire - building and truck not insured. My stuff is insured!

[SuperBuickGuy]

dang.... ouch, man

It's rough when God hates Fords....

[Bamfster]

It's rough when God hates Fords....

That's funny!

[BBR]

Remove drivetrain, junk the rest.

Sucks.

[oletrux4evr]

Remove drivetrain, junk the rest.

Sucks.

I agree.

[dulcich]

I agree.

I agree. Best to just let this one go away. If it were mine, I'd find it tough to have to look at that.
-dulcich