Restoration of a 74' R700L

[Bigdogtrucker]

Are the steel rails the truck sits on now in good shape?

[Marcel67]

That's a nice looking truck there.

[Superdog]

well,there is where you are getting your wires crossed,only thing putting a 12V detroit in your truck will do is make it a RL with the wrong engine,which basically is what you already have,nothing rare about it at all.The only rare ones were the factory installed RL and RS771LST's

[lsubler]

Yes BigDog. The rails are probably an 7 out of 10 for the age. A little sandblasting, weld a few holes shut and some POR and they're a 10! And Superdog, I guess i am one of those people who has had his wires crossed most his life, hence why I'm still in trucking! Still on the fence about the whole thing. I think its easier to buy a donor truck/tranny/rears(air ride...) and put it all together. I mistook until I actually looked at the pictures again. It isnt an RS771LST, as you stated, but it is an RS700L. As I said before, either motor is a worthy candidate of the period and both (once detailed) make great looking motors (after the oil is cleaned off from the Dirty Dozen) to really set the truck apart from the rest. I am on the fence yet, I'm leaning to an E9 with a Mack Transmission. I really do want it to be ALL Mack, just not sure I'm going to pass that off on the one footing the bill! So if I'm playing devils advocate I apologize, but I'm trying to do it right (and the way I want it) to agree with the man who wants to do it over again! lol