Check out F1Dents on youtube, that guys is a magician when it comes to dent removal.

 

i've watched quite a few dent pullin videos, probably a few of his... lot's of stuff to learn.

i don't think i'll be removing too many dent's though. i can count at least 30 dings n dimples down each side of the blue truck. red one is about the same, but a few big ones mixed in. i'm just doing the huge dent's and callin it good. if i want flawless bodywork, i'll keep nagging myself till i justify new vehicle pricing lol.

 

waiting for parts to arrive, debating just tires or new tires AND wheels... ordered the DOR shackle flip, don't have the resources at the moment to diy and they looked like the best kit available. also ordered sport lights w/conversion harness, vinyl floor kit from lmc, and a few random interior pcs.

i've given up at the moment on fixing the red truck. my brother is slammed for the next several months, so the tranny sits on his bench waiting. fall pretty much decided to jump out of nowhere and **** on everything, so even if he did fix it i ain't installing it till we get a dry streak.

 

I'm hopefully selling my old firebird sitting around soon which will give me some funds to repair my truck, it definitely needs the rock solid ram steering fix, and I'll put the rest back for a large chunk of eventually repairing the trans, at 224k with unknown maintenance, in a way you could consider this thing a ticking time bomb with the bad rep these trans get, lol. Trans fluid is still reddish though which is a plus, my old 01 3.9 v6 trans fluid was dark when I got it.

 

well, parts came in. decided on new wheels and tires. got the mickey thompson classic III in 17x9. still debating 33's or 35's... got the truck in the garage to gut it... found LOTS of needles... some attached to the syringe, some hard to see all by themselves. thankfully it's dark carpet so light bounces off them well. just realized right now that i scrubbed most of that carpet by hand the first go around... cringing. pieces of syringes everywhere under the carpet... more of the white stuff that makes my hands numb... also found a tiny stash of heroin.

so far i think i have managed to avoid being stabbed, but it really made me think about working on cars in general. i was looking for problems cause i knew the guy just got out of rehab and my nephew actually knew the guy... but how many times do we just shove our hands into blind spots working on our rig or a customers rig. be careful if you turn wrenches man. and if you like to partake, be kind to the next owner, tell them your diabetic and there may be some stray needles in there. this dude didn't give me any real warning. it was my pessimism about humanity that kept me safe. if i hadn't been a judgemental ***** i would have gotten pricked.

this truck will be the last used vehicle i fix up. this is all the justification i need to spend 35k on a new rig.

 

daaang :s

I've slowly come to that realization too as time has gone on and I've gotten older, buying used from another person is just getting their headache most of the time... I've learned alot along the way, and I wouldn't mind a nicely used vehicle but as for buying from another actual person off the street I think I'm done too, at least from a dealer I know the vehicle will run and drive ok, I had a horrible string of bad luck with used cars from people

 

yeah... this is the third and final turd for me in recent years. the 2 before it was a gm 3.1 intake gasket failure that requires tearing down the entire top end of the motor, it's still going after a week long ordeal fixing it. the other was an awd safari that looked fine at first, but had tons of hidden rust, no obvious maintenence done, and after dumping 2k into it, the tranny took a dump, gave it away last week...

but this is the worst and scariest... perhaps the most costly... i've felt like crap for the last several months, looking back on this thread it's been since around the first time i cleaned this pin cushion. so now i get to go get tested, along with my wife. it's all clicking in my head and things are starting to add up... silly oblivious me... never honestly thought about the possibility of teeny tiny little needles laying on the floor you can't really see unless you're looking for them. after what i saw today and looking back through this thread, it's all adding up. i cant honestly say i haven't been pricked... multiple times actually. i had all kinds of scrapes, scratches, cuts and what i thought were slivers, like i would get working on any car honestly, cleaning it that first time. cant say i remember pulling any needles out of my hands, but all it takes is a poke.

 

I hope everything is ok. I spent more money than the car was even worth trying to fix an 01 nissan sentra up(~189k), getting any kind of support in forums for that crap car is a dead end, maybe nobody has them anymore or nobody talks about them but I had absolutely zero help trying to fix it, ended up being the engine was fried I'm guessing since literally nothing could fix its misfire, car got maybe....5mpg and it was a 4 cylinder,lmao.....and had 4 o2 sensors, even a mechanic said that was dumb as hell. Second was an 01 mustang(244k,yikes) which I actually liked, v6 true dual exhaust, but it kept dying on me and almost caused me to die, luckily it didnt die all the way in the highway, just a little into the bike lane, but it almost got me hit by an 18 wheeler one time leaving my friend's, so I got rid of it after spending alot trying to fix it up, got my 01 3.9 ram(154k) which was very reliable, I stupidly traded it for a 5.0 v8 92 firebird(128k) that ended up needing alot of work...still needs a valve cover gasket on the passenger side which will be hell due to all the hoses and smog crap in the way, 4 new tires, and probably a new starter as it takes a bit for it to actually start....besides that I think I've replaced about every sensor and major tuneup part besides a whole new engine and trans on it....but it has a stupid parasitic drain which will kill the battery if it sits for awhile, maybe some fuse is bad idk....saved up a bit and got my 95 ram(224k) cheap back in may and it's been pretty good, had a spark plug break off when doing a tuneup which took 3 days and made me feel like I was dying doing it sore out in this intense tx heat and humidity lol...

think I need a totally new k&n or spectre filter, or hell I may go with an AFE or AEM dryflow filter that doesn't even need to be oiled, cuz, I cleaned my K&N good yesterday and reoiled and it must be old, specs of rust on the chrome tip, and it didn't return to its red color the ads claim it will, think it's just super old and worn out, the metal mesh covering the outside is dented and paint chipped in several spots, it's for sure clean though, water clear after cleaning it.....online some people said they would just oil em with wd40 or trans fluid, one guy said he used some kinda fluid cut up 50/50 w/ wd40 lolol....not sure I'd do that

 

I own 3 new vehicles and I only buy Mopar. I like fixing them up. I have an 01 Ram 2500 Diesel (kit made it a 96 1500 with a diesel I swapped it for a gasser). Overall reliable. Haven't had an issue where it left me stranded. I tow my 68 charger with it. I usually wear leather gloves and my thick wedding jacket and completely gut the interior. Carpert (good time to clean it while it's out), door panels, seats, insulation under the carpet, and glove box out (good time to add insulation/sound dendening/or heat shield or all of the above lol.then if needed I'll replace the carpet. I ordered new leather seat covers that replace the oem ones from katzkin. Just don't get to drawn away from it. Not the poor girls fault she was abused. I posted a pic of my rig in case you were curious lol pics is when I was replacing all the ball joints. HeyYou helped me a lot even buying axles from him to make it a 2500 again

 

I'll add in general I've had very good luck buying older 90s trucks, usually if they're still running all these years later it'll generally get you from A to B reliably. Still kick myself for trading my 01 ram, it didn't have very many miles considering its age, yea it was "only" a v6 but it was reliable. Just absolutely horrible luck with used cars from people. I don't think I'd ever get another nissan no matter what people say about them being reliable, I heard they've gone really downhill from several experienced people in the auto industry.

Honestly I'll probably keep my 95 5.2 ram forever unless I find a good deal on a somewhat cheap extended cab short bed 2nd gen ram, these engines are known to last a real long time, trans is a weak point but can be rebuilt pretty beefed up without costing a fortune, then you're essentially set.

All I've done to the 95 ram is new oil and oil filter, cleaned K&N air filter, 4 used decent tires, inspection sticker, and tuneup....it probably will need a new waterpump though if a new thermostat doesn't fix my weird intermittent coolant loss issue.

I was shocked when I saw how bad the old plugs, wires, and el cheapo aluminum cap and rotor looked when I pulled em, you'd never have figured with how well the truck got me from A to B reliably. I'll always appreciate and have a fond spot in my heart for these 2nd gen rams, usually if they're still running and driving ok all these years later, people have taken somewhat good care of them :P

edit: One good thing over the ~2 years of problems I had is I learned a hell of a lot, I came from literally knowing nothing about vehicles to knowing more than probably 90% of the population, that's something to be proud of at least out of the junkie car problems lol.