Just joined this forum, figured I would share; I am a member of a few other diesel forums; I recognize a few names here.

Here is my 93 D250, "Old Red", that has been undergoing a frame off restoration, started last summer. She is about midway as far as restoration and body work, once all this is done, I have a few performance mods planned.

A little history, the 1993 has been in our family since 1996, I remember when she was clean as a whistle, with just 40k miles.....my dad bought it for me as a graduation gift...I drove it daily until around 2003, when my dad needed it more than me for hauling, work at the farm, etc...so I went to a Toyota Tacoma, and gave him back my old Dodge...regrettably....I eventually sold the Toyota, got into the car hauling business, borrowed the old 93 for a couple years, then in 2007, purchased a 99 Ram 3500 to handle the towing...dad got the 93 back at that time.

Fast forward, I sold the 99 Ram 3500 in 2012, with over 300K miles, it was needing some major work...and I was done with hauling, so it was best that it was sold...... June 2015, dad decided to buy a new car, no longer needs the 93, and gives it back to me....

Ohio winters have not been good to it, I live in NC now....had it shipped down...bed is shot, fenders are shot...cab is shot...holy rust....but she still runs like a top...tight as ever....drivetrain and frame is good...so...being the most reliable truck we have ever owned, and sentimental value and all...I am going to restore it, with the help of this 89 D150....its clean as a whistle, not a speck of rust....so here, the project begins...

Hard to tell in the pics, but the only good panels left on the 93 are the hood, front rad support, and the drivers door...LOL....

Here she is next to the 1989 D150 truck I bought for a rust-free parts donor.

 

Tear down:

 

Rusty floorboard..eeww...




Under the bedliner....

 

 

Starting reassembly, frame freshly powder coated:



New Front Suspension, Brakes, axles installed:


Donor body mock-up:

 

Well, I figured it was time for an update...I dug into the body work pretty hard the last couple weekends getting ready for paint. Removed all the old trim and sealed up the holes from it, and removed the ******* holding the plastic trim retainers on. Removed all the old seam sealer on the cab, and sand blasted the drip edge. No rot found, just surface rust luckily, its gone now. Also, I removed the low hump (automatic tunnel) and replaced it with the proper high hump manual trans tunnel:

One of the trim holes disappearing:




Trim all removed, started sanding the body:


Automatic Transmission Tunnel coming out:



Trans Tunnel from the original cab [NO RUST...thanks to oil from leaky Cummins valve covers]...


Installed, ready to weld in on Monday...this was a big job, not the easiest panel to replace.


Took all the glass out and sanblasted the drip rail and windshield frame, all clean; ready for new seam sealer.


Manual Trans Tunnel welded in and done:


Soon, it will be time to sand the whole truck down to bare metal and get it ready for paint. It will be going off to a body shop for that part of the job.
So far, this has been a ton of work....I've questioned my reasoning in diving in this far to an old truck; but ****, it will be worth it when its done.

 

Time to freshen up the engine; Tore it completely down to a long block more or less, to replace all the gaskets; and front/rear main, and take care of the KDP issue. I'll also be cleaning up and painting it, and having some of the brackets and tubing powdercoated. It looks great inside for 247K, I thought for sure I'd find something wrong, but everything is fine....just leaky gaskets...Ive got all new gaskets except the head, and new oil lines for the turbo/vacuum pump, new thermostat, fuel heater, KDP insurance kit, fuel pump, and a few cans of flat black paint ready to go..





Engine complete, all freshened up, plus 3 coats of Cummins Titanium Black:

 

First, we tore it all back down after making sure everything fit from the donor truck(s)...After many hours of sanding, prep, and getting rid of a few dents over the weekend, we got the cab paint work completed:

Going to the body shop:





We sprayed bedliner on the floor and underneath the cab for extra protection:



Next step is install the drivetrain, and some of the interior components so she will run. Then back to the body shop to finish the paint work on the bed and front end!

 

Here is how she sits as of now. Over the past weekend I installed the engine and transmission. Time to work on the wiring and guts; install the dash, and most of the interior, and restore/replace whatever needs it....after that, she'll go back to paint for the bed and front end.

 

DUDE, that looks awesome!
Nice work on it so far.

 

Thanks! I'm sure I'll have a few more orders for you when I get done going thru the rest of my stuff!

 

Well you had one thing in your favor, a drivers side door that was clean from the 93. I think 95 percent of the time the drivers door is either rusted out or smashed into the front fender from worn out hinges and owners who didn't care about it. Looks like your going to have a nice truck again!

 

Right. My drivers door skin somehow survived, but the bottom of the inner shell is rusted out. It has been a PITA to find a good drivers door. I found 10 good passenger doors for every 1 questionable drivers door even here in the south. They have all been wrecked or beat all to heck... LOL. The one on the parts truck was even trashed, had a bunch of body work done to it from a previous wreck. Went to sand it out to bare metal and found a ton of bondo and repairs. Only bad spot on the parts truck. Looking at 15 hours of body work to get it straight again;..hoping to grab a good door this weekend down in SC. Worst come to worst, I can weld in a lower shell on the original door and come out in better shape than the parts truck door. If I cant find a good drivers door by the first of the year, the plan is to repair the original with a lower shell.

As for the rest of the truck, she was almost toast. If the frame hadnt been in good useable shape she would have been done. I contemplated doing a Ram Charger Cummins swap, or buying a 1979 or older Dodge and throwing the Cummins in it. Once I realized the frame was still good, and the history, I had to rebuild the original truck.

 

great build thread! yeah our Ohio winters aren't kind to sheet metal.

 

Looks great so far, gotta love the Wheel Horses too.