The Victim Build Thread -- Featuring frame replacement

T

TIMMAY!!!

RRAMA NEED $$
Hello everyone.

The main reason for this build thread is to chronicle the entire process for the frame replacement on my 1993 Dakota V6 5-speed. The rear half of the frame is completely rotted. I picked up a very nice and clean frame to replace it. It did need welding work because the guy I bought it from cut two crossmembers.

In addition, I have a 318 V8 sitting on an engine stand right now. I haven't touched it and I have no idea what it needs. Supposedly it was running when it was pulled out. :suspicious: If the stars align, the V8 will be replacing the V6. However, the truck itself will take priority over the V8 with respect to time and money, so there is a fair chance that the V6 will be put back in.

As far as audio goes, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. At least, I hope to put down some sound deadening and run wires while I have the cab stripped, but the rest of the system may have to wait.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have. I will be taking a lot of pictures and taking notes, all of which I'm very willing to share. I will not be posting all of the pictures, but you may view all of the pictures I take here:


Dodge Dakota Pictures


Oh, by the way; I named my truck "The Victim" for two reasons. First, it has been through a lot and is ready to break in half. Second, anything I touch should be considered a victim. :)

I hope you enjoy the log.

Initial Exterior



Does something look a little wrong here?



Today, 1/26/14, I got the bed off and stripped out part of the cab interior.

It was a little chilly out.





The worst rot is behind the front leaf spring hanger. I am convinced that if the hanger rivets weren't there, the frame would break in half.





More unrelated fun. Today I got into my first accident. Guy made a right on red and smashed my Subaru's door in. Bah, I don't give a ****. He was super apologetic, probably about 70 years old, driving a POS Hyundai and I believe he was a veteran. He didn't need any extra stress so I let it go. :pepper:



Stay tuned...I will post pictures of the new frame soon.
 
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shamethellama said:
More unrelated fun. Today I got into my first accident. Guy made a right on red and smashed my Subaru's door in. Bah, I don't give a ****. He was super apologetic, probably about 70 years old, driving a POS Hyundai and I believe he was a veteran. He didn't need any extra stress so I let it go.[/B] :pepper:
Click to expand...

:shakehands:

Thanks, for not being just another dumb mongoloid from our generation. Very kind of you, man.

re: road salt and rust - ha! All too familiar. Heartbreaking, when you get to peeling the rusty cornflakes off of what used to be your frame. I don't suppose you're gonna have a new frame dipped, are you?

Interested to see how this one goes :)
 
The guy immediately got his insurance out too. He was totally compliant. I figure that I'd rather pay for a new used door than make his day any worse. Actually I wish I had stayed longer to talk with him...if he was actually a veteran, I would have liked to thank him. Meh, maybe I'll see him around.

The frame isn't going to be dipped. I'm going to strip all the surface rust off of it and paint it using SPI Epoxy Primer. It looks like this approximately.

View attachment 1870
 
Slammer said:
Holy crap! This is why I don't buy used vehicles from up north. Salt is a bish!
Click to expand...

That also show how bad Chrysler was a rust proofing back in the 90's.

Sucks that the soobie got a bit smashed though a solid door from the pick and pull should be pretty cheap.
 
shamethellama said:
I figure that I'd rather pay for a new used door than make his day any worse.
Click to expand...

That, right there, is remarkable. It shouldn't be, but realistically, it is. Still, this makes me happy. :)


And honey, I'm afraid that's a wee bit more than surface rust, what you got going on there...
 
Hi-FiDelity said:
That also show how bad Chrysler was a rust proofing back in the 90's.

Sucks that the soobie got a bit smashed though a solid door from the pick and pull should be pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

But it says this on on the seat trim! Chrysler wouldn't lie!



Yeah, I'll find a cheap door. Hopefully the same color haha.
 
millerlyte said:
And honey, I'm afraid that's a wee bit more than surface rust, what you got going on there...
Click to expand...

Oh no, that frame is TRASHED. Done, FUBAR, fucked. At least from the cab back. If you dipped it, it would just about disappear.

I have a new frame to put on it. :) That's the one I was talking about that will be painted.

That reminds me, my friend had a good nickname for my Subaru, which I can't believe I've never thought of. Subaru, FUBARU. :)
 
Holeeeeey shit........you weren't driving that Dodge like that, were you? And props on letting the old dude slide.....
 
Admittedly, I did drive it. Not like daily drive it, but I drove it on occasion. After I saw how bad the rust was, I pretty much stopped driving it. But I took it out on the backroads a few times. Still not a good idea.
 
Props to you rrama for how you handled the accident with the veteran.

The world could use a few more thousands of people like you.
 
Don't worry everyone, I'm not bailing on this project yet! I still plan to have the cab off this weekend. I decided it would be best to remove the front clip before removing the cab because I don't want to lift the cab any higher than necessary.

I have extremely limited time to work on it with school and work, and this doesn't help much:

View attachment 1986

We've got a few inches on the ground already. No moar snow tanks.
 
I know this needs updates. But the weather is absolutely atrocious. Too bad, because I have a 5 day weekend (Thursday-Monday) and I want to use it. Tomorrow, if the roads are good enough, I plan on heading to Jo-Ann's and getting some headliner vinyl and some fleece and whatever else I can think of that I might need. I have to work on something.
 
You can do it! Remember, feeling cold is only temporary (partly because after a time you stop feeling anything, but), your progress isn't! Brave the weather, I can do it, you can do it ;) It's always worth it in the end.

I expect updates during your break Tim. Do not disappoint!
 
It's not the cold, I don't mind the cold (until my hands are so froze I can't hold anything). But it's been snowing today, then it started raining. :( There's only so much I can do. I need to be able to move the truck one more time (under a tree to pull the cab), so I can't disconnect anything mechanical/electrical yet and there's no way I could lift the cab in these conditions. FTS! But thanks for the encouragement Ally!
 
Okay, so the town roads were NOT good, but I went out anyways. On the highway I passed two accidents, which I thought was odd because the highway seemed fine. But I ended up doing what I said I was going to do today. I went to Jo-Ann's picked up some headliner material and upholstery glue, and went to town on the headliner. Total of about $50 (including a couple yards of fleece I bought...for the road ahead) This was my first time doing a headliner, and I couldn't have asked for an easier one to learn on.

This is the old one:


After pulling the fabric off, I broke out a stiff plastic bristle brush (which worked AWESOME) and removed as much of the foam residue as possible.


Then I used a razor blade at a right angle to scrape even more crap off.

Before.


Good to go.


There were a few repairs I had to make. The rear of the headliner right behind the dome light was ripped, so I glued that. I made repairs using cardboard and duct tape to 3 corners of the liner. Also, the spot for the sun visor mount is supposed to have an inset piece which is what allows the visor mount to hold the liner up. Those pieces fell out, so I made new ones...out of cardboard and wood glue.






All repairs completed, ready for fabric.


Lay the fabric out nice and centered, then fold half of it back so that it completely covers the other half (this will prevent glue from getting on the front of the fabric)
 
Continued.

This seemed to work well. I sprayed it liberally on both the fabric and the liner and let them dry for a few minutes.


Careful, once the liner is folded down, you pretty much can't move it. It's pretty easy to work wrinkles out, but you will not be able to reposition the liner. I did a lot of rubbing to make sure the foam was well adhered.


Now fold the free half over the adhered half and repeat the procedure. This is what the glue looks like.


Both halves done.


Let it dry for a bit, then flip the liner over and cut holes where there needs to be holes. A tip for small holes (e.g. ones for the clothes hanger) is to not try to cut the whole hole out because it's a pain in the butt...just cut a cross into it so that the screw will go through. There is much less chance for a fuck up if you do it this way.



Oh yeah, take note of where the old headliner fabric was folded over the liner. I forgot to, but it was pretty obvious that mine was folded along the front and the back from the leftover adhesive, and the sides were cut flush. So, that's exactly what I did for the new one.



After the sides were cut flush, I cut the front and back so that the remaining fabric would fold over. I broke out the glue again and folded the fabric over the liner.


Done. Color is lighter than the OEM, but I couldn't give a fuck less.




And that's that. Didn't get much else done today. This took me a while.

Stay tuned...or don't, I don't care. :)
 
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