1991 Dodge W150, Green Machine

Love to see this get better and better

Thanks! Means a lot. 

It'll never be a show truck, but as long as it can look good and do truck things when needed (seems to be more and more often) I'll be happy!

Also a shocker, plugged in the unplugged connector to the AC compressor, and the air works! Lol. That was a nice surprise. Check the simplest things first!

So took the truck for a hundred mile drive yesterday, and got some other stuff sorted out.

Had no interior lights or dash illumination, but idiot lights worked and the speedo did. Also had no turn signals and the brake lights didn't work when the headlights were on. Uhhhh great.

Found an incorrect fuse in the illumination circuit, and a bad connection at the fuse box. 2 bad grounds from the old trailer wiring harness and boom, we have lights and turn signals! Found some funky wire at the pigtail on the passenger side rear and re did that, and lo and behold, we have brake lights. This was exciting!

Please excuse my pants falling off. I was using my belt to hold the brake pedal down lol.

It'll do 85 on the highway just fine, above that gets a little weird. Fine by me, 80 is pushing it anyway.  Cruises nice, great power, and it moves pretty darn good for a 25 year old 318.

Today's project is getting my sliding rear window in. 

Well window took about 30 minutes to get the old one out and the new one in, I wish everything was that easy. Still have to clean it up real good, I'll do that today.

This thing is coming along nicely. Great work so far! Totally jealous that yours can hit modern highway speeds. My Power Wagon is absolutely screaming at 65mph thanks to the 3-speed and 4:10's.

Thanks Tony! Yeah I can imagine with that gearing it winds out pretty quick!

Took some quick pictures of the truck tonight. First ones since I have it drivable. Just a little dead end road at the Indiana state line 

George 

Got some more "must do" stuff done yesterday.

When I bought the truck there were no wipers. No arms, nothing. Figured there had to be an issue. Yes there was lol.

So the wiper linkage bushings were all shot, one was still kind of hanging on but that was about it. New bushings, some grease and a small C clamp, and we were in business.

Also decided equally important was mounting my Sun Tach. Just a temporary mount for now, but I do like the location, and I can see from 0-4500 RPM, doubt I'd ever need (or want) to see more than that. Looks cool, works, its the little things sometimes.

George

Drilled and tapped some new threads for the caliper hold down bracket bolt. Wasn't quite right, seemed like it had been stripped or over tightened at some point. Nice and solid now, so that's good.

Changed the oil today, wanted to make sure I didn't have any left overs from the timing chain job.

Quality Motorcraft parts of course!

Then went for a good drive to make sure my repair felt good, and well you know, an excuse to put some miles on the truck! Seems like it drives better every time I take it out. Stops good, and cruises at 75 MPH with no problem. 

George

Always liked these era of dodges. I check local listings but they usual are to pricey, to rusty, or come up when I'm broke. 
 

Heard a big screeching, then saw some smoke, as I pulled into the garage. Uh oh.

Pulled the rear drums, and well, take a look at this!

Shoes were shot, adjuster was banging around, and it was a mess.

Cut the drums, new shoes, adjusters, wheel cylinders, and springs, then painted them copper, because, well, that's the only paint I had lol.

Also whoever did the brakes last time, had the drum to drum springs in the totally wrong holes. Whoops.

Holy cow, it stops nice! They were dead silent until yesterday too, crazy. Glad that's done!

I need to adjust/service the rear drums in my truck. I can tell it's only the fronts doing all the work.

Nice to see this thing just keep getting better and better!

This is a really cool truck. 

Colour reminds me of Nitro Yellow Green

Lots of good typical MoPar stuff going on here.. I wish I would have stumbled onto the thread eariler before you put the Timing chain in..  Those chains always slacken off quite a bit in the SB Mopar LA engine.

I just Put one in my 77 D200  and I used the LA / v6 Chain tensioner - It works great so far

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=1259253&cc=1073438&jsn=628

Those wiper bushings always fail during a rainstorm.. Ask me how I know, I carry a few extras in my tool kit as I tend to Drive my old cars alot.

Here are my 1st Gen Trucks:

'Ol Blue - 1977 D200

Ramcharger -1977 AW100

Keep up the good work!

Those trucks are super easy to work on, parts are plentiful and cheap.

Greg

Slantsix: First of all, I absolutely am in love with both of your trucks. Just gorgeous.

I had seen some info on the TC tensioner, but it was of course, on the day I started the work on it lol. I figure ill probably be dead by the time it needs a new chain, and if not, its a great excuse for a Magnum 360. Great to know for future reference though, because it seems like you can't just own one of these trucks. I've been fighting the urge, but I've given in to the fact I'll need a Ramcharger eventually.

Yes I do love how easy they are to work on, and although this isn't the most exciting thread, I'm making concrete progress towards what I want "my truck" to do/be. My Oldsmobile will stay 100 percent "as built" but I love the leeway i have with this. 

Now that it's mechanically sound (for now) I can focus on getting the interior to be a place that's nice to spend time in. I just can't stop driving it, and gas is cheap, so why not.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

George 

So I actually got to do "truck stuff" with the truck today. Lol

Picked up some stuff at Menards and filled my daughters new sandbox. While not at all exciting, it was to me, because for the first time since I purchased it, I was able to actually do a truck required project, without overloading my Golf to it's breaking point.

As an FYI, you CAN fit 29 bags of mulch and 6 bags of pea gravel in a Volkswagen Golf. I wouldn't recommend it, but you can do it. This is much easier

Please don't judge my grass. This is the only bad spot, hence the placement of the sand crab.

George

If people are judging your grass they're on the wrong forum.

:-)

Greg

Lol it was a bit tongue in cheek, but when I moved here, it was one big weed. I successfully fixed everything but this 3x3 spot.

Enter: Sandbox!

very cool truck. Good work fixing all the little stuff!

Well wasn't tired last night so I decided to head out to the garage.

Pulled out the seat, belts, and what little trim was installed and started cleaning. 

Then wire wheeled the floor

After a good bath of acetone, I was ready for paint. I was happy to find not one bit of rust anywhere, what a nice surprise!

Used brush on Rust-O-leum gloss black, turned out well, not that it'll ever been seen again lol. Let that dry overnight, then onto insulation!

I used Frost King duct insulation (R value of 4) because, well, I'm cheap, and I had a Menards gift certificate. It worked really well! Sealed the seams with foam/foil tape. I decided to do the back wall and roof too.

Turned out pretty good for my first attempt I think! Just waiting on my carpet and stereo stuff to come in and we'll get that together. Threw the seat and stuff back in so I can drive in the meantime.

What a difference it makes in sound! Well, I mean the shot weatherstripping is still annoying but we're getting there.

George

Well my carpet has made it to the Midwest. UPS thinks it'll be there "sometime" soon, lol so that's progress.

Decided to get the weatherstripping project going yesterday. All of the weatherstripping was completely ruined, and missing in some places. I ordered this kit off of Amazon, and am pretty pleased with the quality.

Removed the door glass and set it at the bottom of the door, because I can't imagine doing this with the glass in place, I'd have a mental breakdown.

Nice and supple new stuff.

Here you can get an idea of what everything looked like.

New vs. Old

And today's project is getting my new speakers and head unit wired in. I only had door speakers to start, so I'll be adding the behind the door grilles with 4x10s as well.

Here's what the old ones looked like.

George

I've done sections of my cab floor with whatever I had left when I did another vehicle, but I need to finish it up.

Even with refreshed speakers, the sound quality in my truck is... awful. Could be a fault of the headunit, but I've not cared enough to dive into it.

The Kenwood Excelon speakers I put into the Durango, on the other hand, are fantastic. Not sure if it's the factory amp that gives them a boost, but there's a full, rich sound, and they provide a decent amount of bass eliminating the need for a subwoofer.

Well I still have to actually drive it, and still have to put the door panels back on, but

It works! Sounds absolutely fantastic! It can get quite loud and has a great full sound. I'll have a better update post tomorrow, but I'm very pleased.

Spent 40 minutes listening to Judas Priest in the garage lol. 

Nothing like some British Steel to break in the speakers!

I want to upgrade to a double DIN unit at some point, but I need to either grab an existing solution for the dash, or fabricate my own. I'm leaning toward the former because I just don't have the time/energy to be crafting more things at the moment. The headunit I put in was an older single DIN unit I grabbed from one of my Mercedes that got the double DIN treatment as well.

I do think the speakers I purchased weren't the best choice, so I'll need to figure something out for that. Maybe throw them into the Jeep if they fit.

Breakin' the law!  Breakin' the law!

Gotta have some priest! Lol.

Azryael, I definitely think speakers can make or break it. Even a decent HU can only do so much for a mediocre speaker. As much as I like the Double DIN stuff and have used it before, it sure is nice just popping in a single and not spending hours fabricating brackets and mounts and dash pieces. Been there. The sure do look good though.

Well the radio project is officially done. Got everything in and it sounds fantastic. Kenwood HU and Pioneer 6x9s for the doors and Kenwood 4x10s for the rear speakers.

Also swapped in my new (to me) door panels. My old ones had sheet metal screws all over, not sure why, but I'm guessing because some of the clips were missing, as they weren't warped or cracked. Odd way to fix something. Anyway, the new ones are pretty darn good, might swap my arm rest pad over on the driver's side but other than that, a big improvement in my opinion.

And the new stereo filling that gaping hole in the dash. Oh and the hands-free works great too, pretty neat.

George