Hi all,
Long time member, first time poster here. I've never had anything worth including here, but happy to be changing that.
I found this truck for sale at a junkyard that moderately "repairs" vehicles and sells them at pretty good prices. I hadn't actually known about 1st gen rams at all before laying my eyes on this one. The front grille just really caught my eye. I went to look at it more out of curiosity than anything - never had a truck before, but had been looking for one for work.
It said "rust free" on the windshield. I rolled my eyes, as up here in the northeast that's usually a lie. But as I poked around, I actually saw chalk markings and stickers on the frame... this was legitimately rust free. A week later, I took it for a test drive, hoping it was in good mechanical shape, like the body, and wooo boy this thing was a mess. Felt like engine had no power at all, barely got in gear, and after a 1/2 mile drive, it was smoking out of the engine bay. Valve cover gaskets were like paper, rear main seal leaks, etc. The power steering lines had ruptured at some point and sprayed the entire bay in oil, filthy, etc. But the interior was pretty perfect, and with such a good frame/body it felt like a good project. Made the seller an offer wayy below asking price and waited.
After about a week we had a deal.
Got to work repairing the little things I knew were wrong - valve cover gaskets, plugs, wires, cap rotor (the plugs were crazy irregular in soot), new belts, fixed the alternator bracket so it actually held tension and could charge. That got it running well enough that I could drive it around the neighborhood a bit. Also replaced all the window and door seals so it kept water out, and generally cleaned it up as best I could. Didn't take long to realize that the radiator was toast.
It was cheaper to install an aluminum rad with more rows than install a replacement. I also replaced one rotten freeze plug on the back of the head passenger side. It had holes in it. Had to cut a hole in the firewall to access that, which seemed easier than pulling the head. But needless to say, it worked a lot better after that!
I picked up free motorcycle with it, which felt like it made the project worthwhile up to this point, hahah.
Don't know the story on the Indianapolis 500 stickers on the cab. Maybe it grew up around there? Did it go on the track at some point? Who knows. I did find some footage from the 1987 Indy 500, and they were using Dodges for emergency trucks, so i guess it's plausible that it could have been used in the pits or to run tires or something? Dunno.
The truck had been lowered by some previous owner using Dodge van control arms in the front and probably a leaf spring flip in the back. It is LOW - lower than my stock Jetta. I do like the stance, I gotta say. I'm thinking that I want to upgrade the Foose wheels to something a little bit larger at some point - they're 17" at the moment.
I have some plans beyond that - the entire engine is apart at the moment to replace head gaskets, cams, lifters, pushrods, timing chain, etc. Updates to follow.
IMG_7213.jpg
Long time member, first time poster here. I've never had anything worth including here, but happy to be changing that.
I found this truck for sale at a junkyard that moderately "repairs" vehicles and sells them at pretty good prices. I hadn't actually known about 1st gen rams at all before laying my eyes on this one. The front grille just really caught my eye. I went to look at it more out of curiosity than anything - never had a truck before, but had been looking for one for work.
It said "rust free" on the windshield. I rolled my eyes, as up here in the northeast that's usually a lie. But as I poked around, I actually saw chalk markings and stickers on the frame... this was legitimately rust free. A week later, I took it for a test drive, hoping it was in good mechanical shape, like the body, and wooo boy this thing was a mess. Felt like engine had no power at all, barely got in gear, and after a 1/2 mile drive, it was smoking out of the engine bay. Valve cover gaskets were like paper, rear main seal leaks, etc. The power steering lines had ruptured at some point and sprayed the entire bay in oil, filthy, etc. But the interior was pretty perfect, and with such a good frame/body it felt like a good project. Made the seller an offer wayy below asking price and waited.
After about a week we had a deal.
Got to work repairing the little things I knew were wrong - valve cover gaskets, plugs, wires, cap rotor (the plugs were crazy irregular in soot), new belts, fixed the alternator bracket so it actually held tension and could charge. That got it running well enough that I could drive it around the neighborhood a bit. Also replaced all the window and door seals so it kept water out, and generally cleaned it up as best I could. Didn't take long to realize that the radiator was toast.
It was cheaper to install an aluminum rad with more rows than install a replacement. I also replaced one rotten freeze plug on the back of the head passenger side. It had holes in it. Had to cut a hole in the firewall to access that, which seemed easier than pulling the head. But needless to say, it worked a lot better after that!
I picked up free motorcycle with it, which felt like it made the project worthwhile up to this point, hahah.
Don't know the story on the Indianapolis 500 stickers on the cab. Maybe it grew up around there? Did it go on the track at some point? Who knows. I did find some footage from the 1987 Indy 500, and they were using Dodges for emergency trucks, so i guess it's plausible that it could have been used in the pits or to run tires or something? Dunno.
The truck had been lowered by some previous owner using Dodge van control arms in the front and probably a leaf spring flip in the back. It is LOW - lower than my stock Jetta. I do like the stance, I gotta say. I'm thinking that I want to upgrade the Foose wheels to something a little bit larger at some point - they're 17" at the moment.
I have some plans beyond that - the entire engine is apart at the moment to replace head gaskets, cams, lifters, pushrods, timing chain, etc. Updates to follow.
IMG_7213.jpg
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