Old ride...new ride

The new truck is nice! Congratulations! Extended cab........... that's a "family" vehicle... Good luck with it!

Yep, If I swapped the 318 for a 360 and added the stacks and wood it would make a good clone.

That's the good thing about the new one. I can drag my kids places.

Cribbs74 wrote:

That's the good thing about the new one. I can drag my kids places.

Have the kids shown any interest in the hobby?

My son is 7 and he can fly circles and do the odd loop. He likes the planes, but still shies away from the noise. He has not seen the large ones fly. I think he will be blown away with those.

Ron

That o'l Dodge looks pretty clean, if it was from here it would be full of rust!
If you don't push 'em they'll come around. Now my kid has basically set up his own work shop! I've slowly learned to keep my mouth shut and only give advice if asked....jeez that tuff to do!

Yeah, no rust on the old girl. Plenty of little dings though. I has to replace hood due to hail damage. That's the good thing about the South the cars/trucks last a good long time.

Yeah, he likes to build things out of my scrap wood. I want to tell him his stuff won't fly to save him some heartache. I don't let him play video games save for a brief period on Saturday. So he is usually busy with his hands building or destroying something  

I have some cool plans for planes that would be "just-right" for him. Much better than anything you could by at the store. From "Bill Dean's Book of Balsa Models". I have the 12" "Hawk" (catapult glider), The 18" "Swallow" (towline/catapult launched glider), The 22" "Buzzard" (rubber powered stick model) and The 23" "Condor" (profile fuse-towline glider) The 2 latter have detachable wings (rubber-band mount). All four plans look to be full-size, and include full instruction pages w/photo insets. Let me know if your interested, and I'll scan them.

Cribbs74 wrote:
1997 Chevrolet

Ron, look at that glued on wind screen, those black moulded plastic parts, expensive headlights, lovely electronic "this and that's" and last but not least, for a Mopar-man, defect to Chevrolet, that's high treason!

Be happy and keep the Dodge, I only got the magazine



Lieven

That reminds me I have a large cardboard box jammed full of '60s vintage "Hotrod" magazines. We're going to have a garage sale in early November and they'll be out there.

So will my Edelbrock Scorpion II intake, my Weiand Hi Riser, an 850 Holley carbueretor, Mallory dual point distributor(nobody uses them these days), a pair of 4-bolt 350 blocks, Crager Centerline rims, .202"/.198" double camel hump heads, cool can... the list goes on. If I can't sell it that day, I'm giving it away. I used to dream of building another one, but those days are over for me. I hope someone can get 'em warm and smoky again.

You can always hot rod airplane engines...

Lieven,

It was free and it wasn't by choice. This is short term. As soon as I receive my promotion I foresee a new 6 Speed Challenger R/T. I am keeping the truck...

Mopar or No car!!!!!! 

That Dodge used to be a long bed Sweptside with an auto 727 tranny. I cut it in half and installed the Utiline bed after cutting 15" out of the frame. At the same time I installed an A-833 Overdrive manual transmission.

I have too much sweat in it to let it go!

When I was 16 and learning to drive, Dad had a 1971 4x4 powerwagon. It had the step sides and was orange. He bought it from a government auction in '72'. I had a lot of fun in that truck.

Cribbs74 wrote:You can always hot rod airplane engines...

or build a miniature one of these perhaps...
https://www.coxengineforum.com/t5775-bourke-engine

...somebody here's gonna' research the possibilities... maybe Ian

Cribbs74 wrote:That Dodge used to be a long bed Sweptside with an auto 727 tranny. I cut it in half and installed the Utiline bed after cutting 15" out of the frame. At the same time I installed an A-833 Overdrive manual transmission.

I have too much sweat in it to let it go!

Dropping this under the hood would be sweet!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-DODGE-RAM-5-9-CUMMINS-TURBO-DIESEL-LONG-BLOCK-ENGINE-/131013921307?hash=item1e8109ca1b&item=131013921307&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

That's twice what I paid for the truck!!! Bet the torque would be nice.

I just sold my Dodge 93 Power Ram. I regret it too. Built like a battleship, that truck never let me down. It had 326K on the odometer and still is going strong. The transmission went last year and after a new one, it was game on once again. My neighbor bought it and I'm still enjoying watching it. Ken

I hold the same opinion of Ford truck as Ken does or Dodges which when I was "truck guy" were tinny and sounded like kicking a garbake can when closing the doors. Then there was that starter that sounded so awful to my ears.

I'll confess that was some time ago but it left a lasting impression. In the final alaysis one stays with trucks with which they've had good experiences. How dull it would if every one the same preference.

In my "truck days" I owned three Ford F-250 4X4's and was well-pleased with the service and dependability that they gave me.

SD

The '72-93 Dodge trucks were built very well. Top that off with a slant 6 or a 318 and they ran forever. Your example is proof of that. My truck has 185,000 original miles on it. When I first bought the truck the radiator had a hole in it and it let go one morning on the way to work. Unbeknownst to me at the time the voltage regulator for the dash gauges was faulty and my temp gauge was only reading half of the actual reading. I drove the truck another 4 miles with no radiator.

My power was way low and it was knocking upon acceleration. When I stopped I had oil pouring out of the valve covers. I replaced the radiator and drove it. Seemed fine. Later on I decided to replace the oil pan gasket and when I had had it off I noticed I had what was left of a piston oil control ring jammed up in the oil pump pickup. That was 50,000 miles ago. No apparent problems. I lose about a quart of oil a month. Dodge trucks are tough!!!

Ron

Ron:

I bought all of my Fords new and did ALL of my own maintenace. They went for lack of nothing whereas your Dodge seems to have suffered some neglect somewhere along the line. The comparison isn't really valid unless both makes of trucks went through the same maintence history.

I've relived lots dead high-mile Ford trucks that suffered for lack of maintence and they revived too, Things like replacing timing gear sets can accomplish great results in improved performance.

SD

Dave,

I performed the following maint actions since it's purchase in 2006

New Radiator/thermostat
New belts and hoses
New distributor
New battery
Rewired ignition for high volt HEI
New coil
Amp gauge rewire
New brakes front and rear
New bearings front and rear
New starter/solenoid
New alternator
Water Pump
Oil pressure sending unit
Fuel pump
New power steering pump
Rebuilt the steering box
New shocks/springs/bushings (all four corners)
New tie rods/idler arm/intermediate link and driver a-arm
New clutch assy
New flywheel
New oil pump
New top end gaskets
Rear main seal
Rebuilt the carb
New u joints
New upper/lower ball joints
New hood/passenger fender
Replaced the rear glass to a slider
Installed OEM tach and vacuum gauge
New dual exhaust
Removed gas tank from frame to in-cab

All this is in addition to adding the stepside bed and cutting the frame and manual trans conversion. I think I caught up on the neglected maintenance...

I am not a great painter although I have done motorcycle fuel tanks with good results. I plan on painting it soon.

The truck is dead reliable and I can proudly say I have never taken any vehicle I have ever owned to a mechanic. I guess that is tooting my horn a little, but this truck and I have bonded.

Ron

Ron:

Good for you and you must have enjoyed doing it too as I did.

In an era where self-sufficiency is fading especially among the young they're setting themselves up for spending money they don't have not unlike the US government.  (I shant go on as it would become political)

It's AMAZING what one can learn by RTFM (reading the fine manual)    Then having the tools, ability and WILLINGNESS to use them.

SD

True Dave,

In addition a lot of folks will not take on a project in fear of breaking something. When I was younger I broke things all the darn time. Over time I learned and read how to do things properly using the proper tools.

Over time one can visualize the operation,assembly/ dissassembly of certain things just by looking at it. I may have mentioned before that I took 4yrs of auto mechanics in high school which provided me with a basic knowledge of auto mechanics. My teacher Mr. Allen who we called "Ace" behind closed doors was a great teacher even though he was as mean as a rattlesnake, wreaked of cigars never smiled and rarely gave praise. He taught me to not cut corners and always use the proper tools for the job.

Ron