Well I'm back again! Had to get rid of the old 1993 v8 . Had fun while I had it tho, but the body was just not worth it. Ended up picking up a 1999 olds alero 3.4L for 1000, and drove that around for a bit. Decided I needed my truck back, so I gave the alero to the gf, and took back the old 1993 v6 . Only downfall is I also inherited all the problems of her not keeping up with the repairs. It now needs ball joints (uppers AND lowers), back brakes, a new driver side coil spring (as this ones snapped...), possibly a new tranny (this one won't go into overdrive, may be cheaper to get one from the wrecker in the end?), a "new" passenger side door, and maybe new front fenders, but at the very least the passenger side fender. Just this weekend, I put 300 worth of stuff into it. New tie-rod ends, new rear u-joint, new hanger bearing and a tranny filter kit with all new fluid. Just today, I switched my good tires off of the bad rims, onto the good rims on the front, now I just need new tires in the rear. It's in bad need of a paint job too, so instead of new paint done professionally, I'm just going to rock gaurd the whole truck, from top to bottom, only leaving the chrome accessories alone (mirrors, grille, and bumpers). But before I rock gaurd it, I'm gunna power sand the whole truck down to the bare metal in hopes to get a couple more years out of the body. There isn't a spec of rust on the rocker panels, or the floor, its just the frame, passenger side door, both front fenders and the box. But that's where I stand. Slowly but surely I will turn this truck around and make it a decent truck again, only problem I'm having is they aren't worth squat out here. If I crash it, I will never get what I put into it back...

 

its thought that counts. i paid $500 for mine and have already stuck a new trans/cab/fenders/doors/seats/brakes/other misc items and now i found the passenger frame rail rotted out as dd the bed. im about $1k into mine and will never see that money again but its something i like to do so it doesnt bother me. good luck with your truck.

 

Cool at least your back in the Dakota seen. Where are the pics man.

 

 

wow I pd $500 for my 93 and $1k for my 94;
94 3.9 A/T reg cab SB/
93 318 club cab dead AT/now switched to a NV 3500 5 speed. both 2wd
I am into each for about $17-1800; and my 94s trans just died the 2nd time (1st time was 3 days after I got it 2nd 14K miles later) I put another trans in this time and the repl has no reverse just like the orig I took out; the orig ate up the OD twice; 2nd time I put a used OD unit on the original and regained my 4th (OD) but not my reverse. so I then put the used one in it and again no reverse so it sits (I transferred the plates to the 93 anyhow so it would be sittin at the moment anyway)

onthe 93 (CC 318) it came with a supposed dead motor and tranny motor's fine after a thorough tuneup and new driver side header gasket (yes teh PO put short tube headers on it) and I took the injectors in for a rebuild/flush/test and new O rings and screens (easy to pull them myself and I have a BOSCH injection place 5 miles from here) Turns out it had 2 bad unrebuildable injectors. I had a spare set that matched those here; so I had more to send to the rebuilder... now I have a good clean set of 8 in the truck.
On this one I solved the tranny issue once and for all by converting this truck to a 5 speed manual and matching man trans computer, as I had those laying around;
I actually went shopping for a worthy chassis after those fell into my lap literally in a trade with one of his buddies, for some parts my son had for an older Dodge truck
largest costs were new clutch kit and lengthening the driveshaft/rebalance and new U joints/hanger bearing. I found a guy on CL parting a stick, shortbed 93 6 cyl truck from which I got my M/T steering column and the pedals.

 

Excellent! I bought this one 4 years ago for $150 CDN. It had 253,xxx km on it at the time, and that was all highway. I'm just under 3 grand into mine over the course of the 4 years. Mines gotten new shock absorbers, new muffler, new hanger bearing, 2 sets of brake pads, all new brake line to the rear, new calipers, new rotors, all 3 u-joints at one point in time, the hughes intake fix, used alternator, and a new starter. but again, this was all over the course of 4 years. I used to beat the **** out of this truck, and this is the very first time I've had an issue with the tranny, and it only started after I gave it to my GF and she started driving it like a granny.... lol. Its now got 296,xxx km on it. its a 93 LE 3.9L club cab short box. I had bought a 93 with the 318 for $750 CDN a little while ago, but had to make peace with the fact that I wasted my money because the body was gone! Rockers were rotten, floor was quickly on its way out, and the box was rotten too. It was sitting for a while, but I needed the money, so I sold it to the shredder... Now I regret it because I need the tranny and motor But thats usually the way she goes.

I'm gunna be buying another dakota this fall. I believe it's a 1991 LE with a 318. This one was never winter driven, garage kept, and polished DAILY. It's been burning a little bit of oil on the guy, so he's since decided he was gunna haul it off to the shredder. I told him NO WAY!! So he said he would sell me it in the fall when he's done with it. I took a look at the frame the other day, and theres only little specs of surface rust. The rest is all the original metal. Not a spec of rust on the body at all! And this is a vehicle from Winnipeg!! Just look at what this city did to the one I'm driving now...

There will be more pics tomorrow, I will slide underneath and take a few of the nice shiny parts that are out of place

 

These are the most noticeable new parts. They just look so out of place

This is the shiny new hanger bearing attached to the old "rusty" driveshaft:


This is the brand new muffler that was put in last night attached to the old pipes (not as rusty as I thought they'd be):


And then this is the tranny pan all cleaned up after the tranny filter kit installed last weekend (had to scrape off almost an inch of mud and crap that was caked onto the pan..):


All that is left to do on this thing is to replace the rear brakes and then to rockerguard the whole thing

 

So for a while, the passenger side door had begun to rust on the outer skin, and when you would open the door, it would "fall" down as it opened. After looking closer, I noticed the bottom hinge had rusted out and was about to snap. That weekend I made a junkyard trip. Found a rust free door and pulled it off. Took it home for $40. I sanded the entire door down to the bare metal and rocker guarded it. I don't have any pics of what the door looked like before I sanded it tho, forgot to take them..

The old door:

The new door:


I also scored a free set of rain guards for on the doors too!!




I'm hoping to get the roof rocker guarded this weekend, gunna have to sand the hell outta that rust above the windshield tho, but piece by piece, the whole truck will end up rocker guarded!!

 

Looks pretty good man
Since I plan on keeping my dak now I actually plan on redoing my paint job since its already flaking. I'm just gonna go the rock guard root also. Way easier to do and fix if it ever gets buggered.

I'm looking forward to seeing yours done!

btw make sure you scratch the living hell out of your grill if you plan on rockguarding it. I did mine and it hates to stick but I didn't use to abrasive of a sandpaper on mine.

 

I dont think I'm gunna do the grill. I think in the end, everything BUT the grill, front and rear bumpers, and the mirrors will stay chrome to accent the truck. Plus I'm not using any sand paper softer than 80 grit. Rocker guard is rough enough as it is, the metal doesn't have to be as smooth as it would have to be if it were paint