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1st Gen. Ram - All TopicsDiscussion for all Dodge Rams prior to 1994. This includes engine, drivetrain and non-drivetrain discussions. Anything prior to 1994 should go in here.
And you sir, are the last of a dying breed. It may be a PITA but it's worth it in this new day of just buy it and bolt it ons (or better yet, have a shop do it...). It builds character and admiration.
I was thinking about this the other day while pondering all these new jeeps with constipated grills and other buy & bolt stuff. Hot rodding used to be a shade tree art of gleaning junk yards and borrowing parts to go fast. Same for the good ol' days of four wheeling in the late 1900s. Now days you just sit on your couch with the AC running, look through a catalog, fill your cart, charge it to your card, click send and wait a whole agonizing 24 hours for it to arrive. Then snap it on or pay a shop to do the same.
Mostly gone are the days when guys like you would have an idea, find the part to make it happen, figure out a way to make it work and then fine tune it until you prove your hypothesis or chalk it up to trial and error with new knowledge gained.
A lot, if not most, of the folks on this forum are of the same cloth. That's why I like hanging out here.
I have ported slant heads. It's like whittling in iron. Did a set of SB 302 closed chamber heads once. I would like to EFI, turbo my Duster IF I retire.
It's my pot and I'll stir it if I want to. If you're not careful, I'll stir your's as well!
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,259
Likes: 207
From: Central Mexico.
Some of the folks on this site are in or approaching the dinosaur category. They are the ones that made things happen with $2 and lots of ingenuity. Most of the younger generation has no clue of the fun that us dinosaurs had in being inventive with little money and the lack of modern plug and play junk. I don't own a gen 1 or gen 2 truck, but still read about their problems and sometimes ingenious solutions because I learn from their accumulated knowledge and can often use that knowledge in similar situations. Perhaps there is a bit of MacGyver in all of us older generation.
Replaced brake vacuum booster and master cylinder- OMG the brakes are now in awesome land! Stop on a dime give you nine cents change brah!
Also, had a noisy ujoint, should have replaced it sooner it was TOAST. went throught the AC, need about 800 bucks of parts to change it over to R134. Collecting those now.
I removed at least 1LB of sunflower seeds and mouse nest from the drivers side kick panel air vent, pretty cool...
If they moved in there, best to check the passenger side HVAC too. That early pop top should have a clean out / vent door, but on the later trucks without one. I like to add a screw in marine deck plate.
I would also take the blower motor out and check back there. Found a big nest in there on a '75 D-200 Camper Special I was working on with my daughter last summer.
If they moved in there, best to check the passenger side HVAC too. That early pop top should have a clean out / vent door, but on the later trucks without one. I like to add a screw in marine deck plate.
I would also take the blower motor out and check back there. Found a big nest in there on a '75 D-200 Camper Special I was working on with my daughter last summer.
Solid advice sir, I found a huge nest in the cowl area and Heater box like you mentioned. I never thought about yanking out the blower motor, great idea.
I really need to start adding to my build thread. I have gotten loads done to mine but haven't posted anything, I have however read through your Cummins RC thread about 10 times since.
Took Project Covid to town to pressure wash some of the road grit off the frame, at the local coin op.
While I was inserting quarters wondering why I was got building credit towards a wash, I realized.The local coin op in now a credit card wash only.
You need a credit card to wash dirt off your truck??
Looks like a business I have supported for 25+ years, will not be getting anymore business from me.
Cleaned the tar goop of my spare timing case cover to install on Saturday. Samned Mahle gasket set doesn't fit. Said it was for a '93 on Amazon. Nope. I didn't think I needed to read the reviews. Multiple people said it didn't fir. Ordered back in May. Can't return it.
Excellent weather to do it. Rain is expected for the end of the week and weekend. Felpro gasket set ordered.
Took Project Covid to town to pressure wash some of the road grit off the frame, at the local coin op.
While I was inserting quarters wondering why I was got building credit towards a wash, I realized.The local coin op in now a credit card wash only.
You need a credit card to wash dirt off your truck??
Looks like a business I have supported for 25+ years, will not be getting anymore business from me.
Getting harder to exist with modern society. A lot of things are accessed with those QR code things now too but you have to have a phone that reads them...
Down here different organizations will have car washes as fund raisers in a parking lot somewhere. Groups of kids will wash your vehicle for you and it goes to a good cause. And they take cash.
Decided to try and paint the faded needles on the gauges, happy with how it turned out. I used some model paint from a hobby store Testors brand enamel orange fluorescent (#1173) & enamel thinner (#1148)
I'm sure it's been discussed, but the spectra radiators are all aluminum even if they are called CU1198 and described as brass and copper. After ordering 2 from different websites and returning. I ended up just brazing up where I discovered a little leak after a trip to YouTube university to get the right solder and flux from the local feed/farm The leak is found Fixed
Fresh coat of semigloss black and it's good as old.
