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making good progress on the Dakota.... its fighting me a bit, but I seem to be ahead! Here is the drivers sill panel in final primer....nice and smooth!  the sill under the rear door in nearly final body work  and I decided to tackle the front fender body work while I was at it.....I did the welding on this quite a while ago, so there is a lot more warping here. It seems like I have learned how better to take my time and be patient!  fender detail  and I noticed that the retaining bands around either end of the leaf springs were all rusted pretty badly, 3 were broken and about to fall off.....the only thing I could find on short notice was WAY OVERKILL...but what the heck..... The U-bolts are a bit long, but Ill trim them down when I get a chance.... I bought some paint to give the silver area a respray and will get that done before I hang the door..... thanks for looking JP |
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Got a lot done this week....had a few set backs, but more steps forward and in the end am now ready for an inspection and front end alignment. First up...Painted sills!....I found a color that is really close to the original silver, gave it 3 coats of that, then 3-4 coats of clear...should hold up well.....   two tone detail:  First time the drivers door has been back on in months!...finally looks like a truck again....  Interior foamed, vacuumed and much cleaner! and the engine bay....  I guess it would not be my project without some trials and tribulations. The original alternator began squealing terribly so for peace of mind I went and plunked down 170.00US on a new one.....then, after starting it up a few times, realized I was not getting voltage out of the brand new external regulator I had attached to the fender wall...Of course I second guessed everything I had done..wiring, grounds, fuses, which all checked out!..... I tested for voltage coming out of the alternator...yep...plenty of voltage! then check the feed for the regulator...keyed and powered when it was supposed to be. hmmmmm then, I checked the ohms values on the regulator itself. at 20K ohms I got a reading of .06 and the adjuster was not working....according to the paperwork, I should have been getting 1.76 at 20k ohms and the adjuster should have been active. I checked around locally and found a non adjustable replacement for 30.00. plugged it in and viola, properly charging vehicle and no check engine lights!.... we may make it after all! JP |
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Nice job! Time consuming but now you have a solid and good looking car again and driving it feels better when you have gone threw a lot blood sweat and tears and you know its done the rights way
Peter
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Jun 18, 2017 12:26:04 GMT
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thanks, Peter
today Ill get the inner fender back in place, get the bed area all cleaned out and ready for our trip....still have to give it a test drive around the neighborhood today, then to the alignment shop tomorrow and inspected on Tues.
I think it is as far as Ill get it before the trip....
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Jun 18, 2017 17:07:02 GMT
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Looking good fella - you've done a nice job on that.
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Photobucket now charging 400.00 US to allow 3rd party hosting of images across the internet....NO WAY I'm paying that.....so until then, Ill have to find another outlet to host my images....
any ideas?
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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I don't blame you - $400 is a decent night out!  Haven't tried them myself as I don't post many pictures, but I know a few folks are looking at Flickr and Thumbsnap |
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Thanks, Morris
I think I'm going to go with Flickr....it seems to be working so far, but is very labor intensive to reestablish all the content on another platform that is a competitor of Photobuck.....
slowly, slowly....
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Aug 19, 2017 18:48:31 GMT
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Flickr is good, i decided to use them too. But you can just drag and drop your pictures into your thread straight from your computer or whatever. It makes life a lot easier! Do you have new photos to show us yet?
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Aug 19, 2017 19:50:49 GMT
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Hey, Piston
I'm back at it after we got back from summer vacation last week. I was not able to take the truck to NH after all due to it running okay at idle with no strain on the electrical system, but the minute you turn on a light or fan, the alternator would max out and over charge the system. I could not figure it out in time to take the truck.....
today I replaced the battery cables, both ground and power. but I doubt that is really the issue......I think the alternator is reading low voltage from a sense wire or power supply. I still have a replacement connector for the alternator itself and will put that in tomorrow or later today. (Its a new alternator...but that does not necessarily guarantee anything.....)
I am probably calling in some help if I cant get it figured out this time around.....
frustrating. I'm still learning a lot...but there is only so much the old sponge can soak up.......
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Aug 24, 2017 18:18:37 GMT
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Well, gang, I think I may have solved the overcharging issue at LONG LAST! I replaced every ground I could find, sense wire connectors, 12v source wire to the regulator, and completely disconnected any immediate link to the computer....so now the charging system stands on its own and the gauge works great....regulator doing its job and holding at 14.5v.....just like in the text books!
I'm taking it for another test drive this afternoon to confirm......
quite happy with the results, now I can get on with other important issues!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Aug 30, 2017 10:26:30 GMT
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Superb! I have been toying with the idea of looking at a 2.4 litre Dakota recently as there is one for sale not too far from where I live... 2.4 litre though, sounds a bit small to me, plus I think the thing has been dipped in the sea on more than one occasion, and I think the seller is asking too much. But it's close by, so what do I have to lose? Any advice you can give me, what should I look out for?
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Aug 30, 2017 15:04:19 GMT
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Superb! I have been toying with the idea of looking at a 2.4 litre Dakota recently as there is one for sale not too far from where I live... 2.4 litre though, sounds a bit small to me, plus I think the thing has been dipped in the sea on more than one occasion, and I think the seller is asking too much. But it's close by, so what do I have to lose? Any advice you can give me, what should I look out for? I have heard of dakotas with these motors in them....I had an S-10 with a 4 banger in it.....but that was a much smaller truck. and it was slow. 5 speed got around 30mpg, though.....I hear these 4 cyl dakotas get maybe 22-25 mpg....My V6 gets around 18-20 if I'm really easy on the gas pedal. If the body is mint, it might be worth it, but you may end up hating the motor. All the trials and tribulations I went through in this post you will need to check out, I would think....Rot areas not mentioned are behind the inner mud guards on the lower part of the cab...right at the seam welds..... The beds all rot.......if it has flares, then there is rot underneath them!...... I have heard of adding a turbo kit to the 2.4........ I'm getting ready to start on the sills on the passenger side....clean up and patch first...then Ill start fitting the outer sills..... thanks for looking, and good luck with Dak, Piston, if you decide to take a look at it..... JP |
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Aug 31, 2017 20:55:41 GMT
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Hey, all I decided to get started on the restoration of the rear bed...and will be fixing the red one, as it will be easier to just swap the old one out for the new one....(as its a working truck).... here is a quick pic of the transport rig.....I decided to convert my old and tired leaf wagon made from spare parts to a flatbed...the tilting feature worked perfectly to just lift the bed by the front, support it with a 2x4, run from the bees, chase the bees away, and lower the bed down onto the trailer. I'm planning on tracing the outline of the fender patches and using that as my cut line for welding them in.....Ill have to be sure the inner fender is in good shape, rust proof inside the cavity, then weld em up!   Sorry, I could not get the wheels of the trailer centered in the fender opening.... thanks for looking JP |
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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I got quite a bit done tonight and cut out one side of the quarter panel after removing the patch panel, which is still in perfect condition inside and out as well as cutting several inner fender patch areas out.
its funny, I did not hesitate at all cutting these panels....guess when its not on the truck, its not such a big deal!
pics tomorrow, it got dark quickly.....
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Sept 1, 2017 12:34:09 GMT
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pics:  and my lil flatbed trailer  thanks for looking JP |
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Sept 3, 2017 21:10:47 GMT
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I decided to cut all the rot out of the bed first and then start tackling the patches. Then the weather started turning bad so I had to tarp everything and still consider myself lucky as I do not live in Texas....the Hurricane was huge and not only was there loss of life, but the water has still not receded in many places...so I wont complain about the weather....keeping those folks affected in my thoughts.
In cutting out the rot, I can see why these truck rust the way they do. my bed is worse in most places, but the rot appears in exactly the SAME places. all we needed, DODGE, was to put a bead of seam sealer in between the two inner fender panels and something more than just a coat of paint on top of them. ALL the rot is because of cost cutting and planned obsolescence.
dismal, just dismal. (did I mention that the factory metal is quite thin throughout?)
Ill be using metal from my own truck bed to patch things in, but will still have to shape everything as inner panels are not available.......
ah well, soldiering on!
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Got some patching started on the inner fender well. There are 2 layers of metal here that make up the inner fenders.... I discovered that using a pushing technique on the welds worked really well if I turned down the heat just a little and upped the wire speed...worked like a charm on the thinner metal as it allowed me to push the metal from the previous weld into the new weld... here is the inner patch already in and ground back. This piece goes into the bed and can be further worked from in there....  and the next piece for the second layer to close things off again...I ran out of weld through primer and rust converter, so thats high on the list....  I'm using the good metal from the outer fender I cut from under the big patch panels....recycle, of course! its nice to be able to stand the bed up or lie it down....so much better and faster than being under the truck when I did the first sill.....  thanks for looking JP |
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Sept 8, 2017 14:27:51 GMT
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lil unexpected maintenance!....The AC compressor clutch bearing decided to head south....should have known...you can see the rust colored dust on the outside edges in the previous pics of the engine bay.
started chirping then squealing, then it sounded fine, then the same symptoms every morning at start up.
I took the serpentine belt off, grabbed my trusty stethoscope (piece of 1x1 dowel) and spun everything by hand until I found the culprit. Thankfully the alternator sounds fine as do the other pulleys....the AC clutch bearing sounded "grindy and gritty"
luckily, I was able to source a bearing for 40.00 as opposed to a new clutch assy for 150.00....no signs of a leaky compressor behind the bearing...so we should be good to go.
more progress on the welding as soon as things dry out around here.
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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Sept 17, 2017 1:18:10 GMT
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Not too much going on with the Dak....Ive been chasing a chirping from the accessories on the front of the motor and replacing pulleys...but the chirp remains....Its better after replacing the AC clutch bearing, the idler bearing, greasing the tensioner assy, ect...
Ive tested the pulleys off the motor and spun them as fast as I could with a drill, but could not find the culprit....(except the AC bearing which was clearly on its way out.)
Ill replace the tensioner assy and pulley next....leaving only the alternator...or some other mystery bearing....
could it be the water pump?....who knows?
JP
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I know its spelled Norman Luxury Yacht, but its pronounced Throat Wobbler Mangrove!
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