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1988 Build (70k)

48662 Views 220 Replies 17 Participants Last post by  floridamtbiker99, 
pinkfloydeffect
20

My grandfather sold me his Dakota for $300 with 70k on it! It was in a 12-year storage from 1996-2008, carbureted 3.9L V6, automatic transmission with 2WD. He bought it in 2008 from the original owner, in 2009 the brakes failed and it hit a telephone pole to save a child's life instead. All he did was replace the grill, one headlight and headlight/turn signal door/shell along with the bumper and that was it.







Two years later I just bought it, and this is how it looks. The dented hood remains along with a crooked left light, actually the entire door/shell does not fit in the fender properly. Also the bumper is closer then normal to the left headlight door/shell.



With the front end apart it might be hard to see in the photo but the left frame rail that was welded on is slightly facing upward which I think is why the bumper is closer up on that side.



This is why the left headlight door/shell does not fit correctly, and why the headlight does not shine straight:




I have started working on a custom grill of some sort experimenting with the old grill from the accident, there is a small crack and missing one mounting hole tab. I used a Dremel tool to cut it all out and then smoothed it down, primed the whole thing. I will eventually on the good grill use a fiberglass boat repair kit to fill in the "D" or "C" shaped cutouts where the grill attached.



I'm looking into the possibility of a cowl induction scoop, 38" long, 23" wide and 2-1/2" tall. At 38" it would cover the entire hoods length, and I would have to blend it into the hood somehow, especially along the front [SUM-471500]



I have been slowly swapping out all my interior panels from blue to grey. The 88' column panel had this wedge/wing that tucked behind the rear column panel, but the newer grey panel does not... I should have taken a photo.




My 88' does not have AC, so I will be working on an AC transplant. Starting with my HVAC control panel, slide selector style with no AC, four single vacuum lines.




This is my new control panel out of a 95' with push button selectors and AC, just needs to be cleaned up. The only differences are the larger 3 wires to the left being different colored and the vacuum lines. The red, yellow and black vacuum lines are split into two and there is an addition of two different shade green lines.




Despite the differences it plugs right in and works fine (so far). The disconnect plug on the vacuum line cluster is compatible with my 88' so it also plugged right in and works fine so far. My AC button lights up when I push it in and I haven't blown any fuses haha.



There is a spot for the AC pump on the serpentine belt along with what appears to be a plug for the pump clutch? I'm going to try to get some sort of signal reading out of the plug when I push the AC button to see if there is a connection.




At night it looks a bit dim all the way to the right but I believe it's only one bulb so maybe this is normal?



Also I have this new feature on this 95' HVAC panel, all the way to the left (coldest) there is a groove it clicks into above "HI" that looks like an in-car circulation only? Do you put the temperature setting on this when using the AC or something?
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D
Thats cool, please tell me what that plug is for.. I've always wondered but never bothered to look in the book to see what it means.. AHHHAA

The blend door is actually the part that controls the temperature by moderating a door position that mixes cool air from the evaporator and warm air from the heater core. For recirculate vs fresh there is a different door that goes one way or the other to either direct incoming air from outside (fresh) or from inside (recirc). This door can be either mechanically operated by cable, or vacuum operated. It will be somewhere near the blower motor on the intake side, upstream generally in the area behind the glovebox.
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pinkfloydeffect
DwnDak said:
Thats cool, please tell me what that plug is for.. I've always wondered but never bothered to look in the book to see what it means.. AHHHAA

The blend door is actually the part that controls the temperature by moderating a door position that mixes cool air from the evaporator and warm air from the heater core. For recirculate vs fresh there is a different door that goes one way or the other to either direct incoming air from outside (fresh) or from inside (recirc). This door can be either mechanically operated by cable, or vacuum operated. It will be somewhere near the blower motor on the intake side, upstream generally in the area behind the glovebox.
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So you don't have AC either then I'm assuming?

No wonder the cable does not really do anything between "coldest" and "recirculate" when you move it and look at the top, there for it must be vacuum operated. Thanks! Someone told me the resistors for the blower motor were behind the glove box as well but I only see a large green and black wire going into the blower from the main wire bundle, only 'high' fan works (straight voltage bypassing the resistors).
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D
Ya I don't have A/C.. my truck is an 88 SE (special edition) which apperently back then meant, no ac, no pwr windows or locks, no extras special stripped...

Now SE means something EXTRA the other models don't have.. hahahaha

BUt for the 80-100kms a year my Dak see's on the road I don't care much about A/C... if its real hot I just take my car with ac... lol
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pinkfloydeffect
lol I wonder what mine is, I think a base model.

With winter on its way I'm in no rush for AC, I live in Massachusetts. However I'm going to pick at it this winter and piece something together in time for summer.
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DRAGN94
yes that is the a/c connector. and when i had hvac controls in mine back in the day mine was dim on the right side also. im pretty sure thats normal for the hvac controller on the gen2
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pinkfloydeffect
11
I replaced the front core support today (between fenders and around radiator). Ran out of daylight so I left the hood latch for tomorrow.... well I just went out for a coffee and doughnut going about 35mph and the hood flew up, over my wipers smashed onto my windshield, friggan blocked 110% of my vision almost got in an accident. Bent both my hood hinge arms sideways and back, now the hood sits a few inches up on all 4 sides!




Also if you notice in the circle it dented this panel in... I will be replacing that too I guess:



This is with the new core-support installed out of a dark blue 1990 (the same year I was born we'll see if it brings me any good luck). It had AC so the radiator supports are still on it for when I upgrade, also do you notice that the air fin/guide for the main radiator is missing? Now there is a long opening to the right of the radiator, and if you look on the bottom there is a black plastic fin aiming downward to scoop air is this an AC only thing or a factory upgrade during a year change?



This is one of the tabs for the air fin/guide to the right of the main radiator, appears as if it was removed from the factory before it was painted??



I am looking at what I want to do for hood pins, and these hood stoppers are basically right where I wanted them. Are these here for when you slam the hood or do they provide stability for hood flexing? I could always find a way to put the pins through them since they look hollow, it would make it easy to find where to drill through the hood as well:





I ordered these headlight lenses, they are the only black 4x6's I can find made out of glass. Looks like they have an opening for some sort of accessory lighting, maybe I will put some strobes in them so I can safely pass old fucks in a non-passing zone haha I will need some H4 bulbs and ballasts I want good ones but don't even know where to start. I hope these lenses are not cheaply made, I'm going to go with 6000k bulbs because I want a crisp bright white without ANY of that blue nonsense.



I also ordered a set of clear turn signal lenses that I plan to use LED bulbs in:




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pinkfloydeffect
13
I replaced my incandescent dome light bulb with a new LED bulb. It's more of a panel, with 12 LEDs (much more even coverage). It's bright as fuk too!





There is a dramatic color difference as well, you can see here between the LED and stock vanity/dash light. The LEDs have more of a natural white sunlight color.



As you can see the before and after:





I took a comparison in two different camera ISO levels (light exposure time).

ISO-200 (BEFORE & AFTER)


ISO-400 (BEFORE & AFTER)




This is the ONE bulb out of my 88' HVAC controls:




I took the front off my spare 95' HVAC control panel, turns out these have 3 smaller bulbs vs one larger centered one:

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pinkfloydeffect
7
I used two floor jacks (one under front engine support, and another under rear bumper) to add 3" to the suspension. The front went from 5" of clearance to 8" and the rear went from 7" to 10" which is where they both reached maximum "hang" before the wheels left the ground. SO I think I will try to sneak a 3" front coil spring spacer in there (two 1-1/2" spacers top/bottom). Then two add-a-leaf kits on each rear leaf stack might give me 3" in the rear??



These are 14" wheels so 15s will be no problem. Not sure if I will want the additional 2" of body lift or not...


New hood...swapped out my side mirrors for the sporty style, and hood pins:




I painted the front end, including OEM paint over where the side marker/running lights used to be:




My girlfriend says it scares her lol my job here is done:
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ole-busted
What are your plans for the corner lights
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pinkfloydeffect
ole-busted said:
What are your plans for the corner lights
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I'm going to hack them off and make custom fenders without the spot for them :rauch08:
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pinkfloydeffect
4
In the process of gutting the interior, I will be replacing the carpet/sound dampening soon:




Before; when I first got it.



After, dashboard swap, side mirror swap, new HVAC control panel + stereo, lower dash has been swapped to grey along with the A-pillars, B-pillars and everything else (only thing blue is the upper dash now) and the seats are out of a 2000 BMW 740i (fully powered including headrests).
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98R/T
its cool that you're bringing your grandpa's truck back to life.
im sorry but those headlights are aweful though..
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pinkfloydeffect
98R/T said:
im sorry but those headlights are aweful though..
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I lovem, makes them look of newer technology.
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98R/T
pinkfloydeffect said:
I lovem, makes them look of newer technology.
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thats all that really matters anyways
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pinkfloydeffect
98R/T said:
its cool that you're bringing your grandpa's truck back to life.
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My grandfather hates what I'm doing to his truck though, every time he comes outside when I'm working on it he just shakes his head and walks away. You know how they are "there was nothing wrong with it, when I was a kid we had rocks for seats in our vehicles"
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meezyy jay
lol i know what you mean, before my grandpa died he would always tell me nothing was wrong with it lol have you done the sound damping yet? if so what did you use? how much did it cost?
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pinkfloydeffect
The worst part is I bought it from him so no matter what goes wrong I can't go to him for advice because he just says "there was nothing wrong with it when I had it" “well this is NOW grandpa, I’m not bitching I’m asking for your advice” lol

No I have not done any sound dampening yet, not sure what I want to do. I'm thinking about using astroturf as carpet (yes fake grass hahaha).
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meezyy jay
lol wow, well my grandpa gave it to my dad then my dad gave to me on my sixteenth bday. lol and really astroturf? i thought about that rustoleum rubberized dampening spray.
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pinkfloydeffect
Yeah man green astroturf nobody's got fake grass for carpet in their truck man, easy to clean too!

When I sound dampen it, it's going to be something I can lay down of HQ for audio purposes. I have almost $3k into my stereo which far outweighs the trucks value.
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