Gross lol I want a targa-top if anything, it will go with my Shelby fastback.

 

lol fair enough, actually the kit for the dakota. is identical to the stock Chrysler one i tried to see if they would make one for the club cab but anyway just a thought

anyway keep them pics coming...

 

Falling back on my exhaust I never finished it and I needed a quick cheap tailpipe setup (the local shops are crazy) so for the time being I welded some flex pipe to exhaust angle pieces...it honestly sounds amazing for a V6!



I got sick of my stiff rear end and had to try something so I removed the overload leafs and installed 2" blocks while I was at it...made a great difference in the way the rear moves it, it moves side to side a tiny bit more where needed (should get a rear sway bar) and it moves up and down smoothly with the bumps now instead of sending vibrations through the truck, in fact it was so stiff those $10 rear shocks never got a chance to move and were fine to ride on.




Those cheap $10 shocks I installed have long seen their life already within just a few thousand miles so I snagged these KYBs on clearance for around $30ea WOW what a difference seriously will never be making that mistake again! Between the front KYBs the rear leaf removal and my new tires it rides much better now.



Oil was leaking onto my newly painted valve cover so I bought a new cap:



The rubber plugs seem to dry out and fall off way too frequently and I have no need for the vac tree so I replaced it with a brass plug:



I thought I was having an engine overheating issue so I replaced my temp switch and CTS:




Still chasing a running temp issue I changed my O2 sensor...aimlessly throwing money at an experimental TBI V6 that I have no plans on keeping...



My problem ended up being my ignition coil overheating and boiling oil out...it has been doing this apparently slowly over the last 3 years can you tell from the firewall? haha



It turns out my grandfather had replaced the OE coil with this one before I bought the truck because it was having ignition problems which turned out to be the pickup coil inside the distributor. He bought the cheapest one he could fine which says right across it USE WITH EXTERNAL RESISTOR well I think he thought the AM radio EMF capacitor was a resistor...it is still unclear but the OE coil is believed to be internally resisted or its resisted inside the computer box. So I replaced the oil bath coil with an MSD E-Core style which ran amazing un-resisted wired backwards (wiring diagram is a LIE) for about 10min and it blew my computer or at least the circuit in my computer (which I replaced and will tell you all about in the next post I had to mod it)



I ended up swapping the MSD for a fresh one and replaced my computer after tracing it down with a multi-meter to a missing run circuit; the auto shutdown relay was being triggered. This time I installed a resistor and it has been working great no problems...however I am unsure if I even really need a resistor if I get my hands on another spare computer I am going to run it un-resisted for a better spark because granted it was ran backwards when the computer blew it has great throttle response with no resistor!



I always suspected a faulty IAC the thing just idles so damn high so I did that and no help, but the old one does have quite the rattle if you shake it. I put the engine in D disconnected the CTS and crank the plunger in and it brings it down a bit and cranked all the way in it does help a little until the battery gets disconnected but I would like to see better idle control its just horrible...only thing I can think of is MAP sensor and TPS and I'm done.

 

exhaust i a neat rigging, could have just got some small pieces and 2 90's and came out infront of tire? ... heat up them tires before you lay them tires

looks like your gonna have a nice parts engine for someone when you swap it ... or good drivetrain for someone that has severe issues lol

Coil is nice, picked up one, might even be the same one, its in the mail for my jeep along with new distributor and so fourth.

i keep staring @ my 91 dakota i want to sas (have both front and rear axles ) then i look at some of the 2wd mods here and ponder i may just keep it rwd and a summer toy

 

Hell no @ $250 per tire and the droning that is a bad idea lol.

I may put this engine and transmission in my GFs truck we are building so she can at least drive it when the time comes.

Yeah the coil is nice I also did rotor head and cap, its always nice to have a lifted 4x4 Dakota AND a RWD dropped Dakota

 

This is an awesome looking truck, I really like the grille you did a few pages back...question for you though: did you ever get the fenders fixed up? Those look like the aftermarket replacements that I was looking to buy (which go for $90 apiece on eBay) and I was wondering what the quality of them is. I'm not expecting OEM quality, but I'm just trying to make a decision on whether to fix the rust on mine (no rust visible from exterior, but lots of rust on the back/underside of the fender) or to buy new ones.

 

$90!? Wow, no I have not done anything with them yet I was going to have them shaved first and put them on once I do a rebuild on the body (this body is coming off and I am rebuilding a new chassis & drive train then I will get back to the body when it is put back on)

 

So as I explained I blew the computer, this was my original and I was running it with no cooling tube and a screen over the vent hole. It was extremely hard finding a local replacement I could not find any 88-89's and 90-91 used only one plug (large one at top). Most 87's were carb but then I found an 87' with TBI and it had my computer, possibly it was only used in 88' since I can not confirm 89.



Checkout the inside full of crap sucked in through fender, its stuck to the plastic:



I thought I had instantly found the problem when I saw this but they all look this bad which is probably why they stopped using the dual board design with the power board on top with that separate white plug:




If you compare to the corners exposing the rear board you can see how much of a difference there is:




Sadly this was the only one I could find it was out of an 87' plow truck with 230,000 miles so I only used the front power board but it got it up and running:



Without the cooling tube (was planning on a classic chrome topper filter) I thought it would be a good idea to install a cooling fan exp with almost a quarter of a million miles on the computer:



Its just another small touch almost looks factory installed, the ground wire exits to the left and grounds to the fender under one of the computer box mount screws:




The hot line exits on the top right and travels with the factory harness almost unseen exiting by the firewall under the blower motor resistor harness. This was my attempt to tap into the resistor power feed line supplying 12v to the cooling fan only when the ignition was in run but not in ACC and it works....but only when the blower fan is off; I am unsure why this is, possibly due to the fact I am running a newer 5 wire resistor on a 4 wire harness which required two wires to be combined to work I forget what that situation was:




Sadly, this was the last mod/upgrade I will be making to this truck....fun is over my friends. I bought a 96' SLT 4x4 (ext cab) which will be my truck for at least the next few years while I build a new street truck. I will be doing a font end swap; I am keeping my hood, grille, bumper, core support etc and selling my 88' with the 96' clip on it. All I am keeping is my battery, stereo, wheels and surprisingly the dome light which is a bit hard to come across and my 96' does not have the flip down light with vanity/map light...my BMW seats will stay with the truck I never found them comfortable to begin with. All the money from this truck will go directly into a reg cab/short bed chassis build with 2" lowering spindles and lowering springs, 4-link rear coil over conversion with air support (all function not for "slamming") entire frame painted and cleared with stainless brake lines and 8.75" LSD rear end with Jeep disc brake conversion. That should put me over budget for the chassis from what I make off this 88' then I will work on a 46RH with a 408ci stroker before I put the same style body on it and continue where I left off here....we are talking at least a few years but the rust is catching up with my 88' the frame was in a collision, the engine sucks and so does the entire drivetrain but its a running driving truck with low millage so its best to just get out of it while I can

 

Too bad, but that '96 looks nice from here! Typical paint failure, but that's no big deal.

Just a suggestion...consider using Ni-Copp lines (specifically SUR&R) instead of stainless. Neither will ever rust, but the nickle-copper is SO much easier to bend and flare.


Good luck with the '96.