Quick Stats:
Powerplant: Stock 2.8L V-6
Wheels: Weld Racing Draglites
Lighting:
APC Clear Parking/Corner Lights
APC Carbon Fiber Euro Tailights
Sound System:
Pioneer DEH-14 CD Player
10 Dollar 4x6 Speakers
Pioneer 220w 3-way 6x9 Speakers
Pioneer 400w 10" sub
Kenwood 4-channel 800w Amp 

September 10th, 2009
Well, Cardomain just sent me my monthly newsletter telling me to update this, so here I am.  We did get the new crankshaft, but noticed when we were putting in the new bearings that the cap-side thrust bearing was missing a notch.  We used it anyway.  Turns out that was fine, in case you ever have to replace your bearings.  Turns out there's a slip of paper in the box saying that too.  You won't notice it until you order a new set, so don't bother looking till then.  Anyway, it's all back together and running, though the transmission is still a bit goofy.  May be leaking some fluid from what appears to be the speedometer cable.  Wiped it off and waiting to see if it comes back.  Also put some lucas oil transmission fix in after replacing the filter and topping the fluid back off as it seemed to be shifting wrong.  Hoping its just "sticky valves" and the lucas oil stuff will lubercate them.  After getting it back in, the engine was noticably missing.  Timing was really off (somewhere in the 25 degrees TDC mark instead of the proper 12 degrees).  That was adjusted, but not after having to buy a piston stop to find TDC.  Fun times.  I'd post pictures of it back together... but it looks just like it did before so I don't see the point.  Got my friend to agree to paint my fender and hood for me (Goes by 19camaro85 on here), so as soon as he has the time I can finally say goodbye to that eyesore.  Here's hoping for that day.

August 10th, 2009

Yep, thats a broke crankshaft alright.  Turns out the engine in the truck was not an 1983 2.8L V-6 but was a remanufactored 2.8L V-6 from 1986.  What difference does this make?  None... unless you're replacing the crankshaft and then ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.  Guess which side of that coin we landed on?  We ended up getting a refund on all the parts needed to repair it (since we got it off autozone's website), but we had to go elsewhere for 86 crankshafts since Autozone doesn't sell those.  Currently waiting on the crankshaft to get here from Summit Racing and we're expecting it to be here about Wednesday (been waiting for over 2 weeks).  Ontop of that, dad found a few things he didn't like and decided we should replace them, such as the timing gears and chain.  However, except for oil and coolant, I think we have everything we need in our pocession when the crankshaft comes to put it back together and get it working again.

June 29th, 2009
We were able to pull the engine this past weekend.  We decided to just remove a fender and the radiator core support and pull the engine and transmission together.  We still haven't dropped the pan to confirm a failed crankshaft, but we are still pretty sure of it.  Also found that the flywheel was broke when we pulled it. As for the Dodge RAM, we were able to get much of the air out of the lines and got it working again.  Good ole mopar engineers didn't think people would want a bleed valve on it... Pictures of where we are at now follow:

June 16th, 2009
Dang.  Coming home Saturday from town my truck started acting up.  It suddenly was a lot louder and had significant horsepower loss (more than usual for a 2.8L).  First stop sign I hit, it dies on me.  Cranking it back over makes the most disturbing sound.  I figured a day like this would come, just hoping it wasn't today.  We got it home (drove it and threw it in N every time we had to stop, reving the engine as we did). Here's a video of the engine .  You can hear the knocking and see the balancer moving. We're thinking it's connecting rod and/or crankshaft break.  We're currently in the process of pulling the engine.  So far we've drained the coolant and remove most of the accessories off the front.  I plan to take pictures once it's out and of the (hopefully minor) problem inside the engine once we get the oilpan off.  Worse still is that after this happened, the truck my dad uses to get to work every day ('97 Dodge RAM 2500 CTD 5-speed) screwed up and won't disengage the clutch.  We tried to replace the slave cylinder on the hydraulic system, but it appears we're going to have to drop the tranny to find the problem... the most likely expensive problem...

March 10th, 2009
Hello again.  I just got an email update from CarDomain telling me that the last time I've updated this was "a long time ago" (literally what it said).  I kinda felt bad so I decided I'd let you guys in on what's going on.  On the outside, the truck looks the same as before.  I still have to paint it, but I want to buy the grille insert and have all the modifications done to the grille shell before I paint.  If I do it after, the grille will have to be painted again at another time to look right.  Currently, I'm trying to tackle some transmission issues.  It has started to shift weird and the transmission fluid on the stick looks almost clear.  Upon investigating I've found one of the cables (believe passing gear) is missing its retaining clip.  This could be causing some of the problems.  Since the fluid looks a little clearer than it should, I plan on dropping the pan and flushing it myself sometime.  For about 20 bucks, I can get a "pump" to get most of the fluid out of the pan area through the dipstick tube.  Of course that won't get rid of any crappy fluid still left in the converter or coolant area (radiator, lines), but I've read online that If you take off one of the transmission cooling lines, attach a rubber hose to it and start the truck up (with some fluid already back in the pan), you can pump that out til it runs red again.  So that's what I'm planning on doing.  Also think I may look into replacing the TCC solenoid while I'm in there.  I'm not sure if it's bad or not, but for the longest time (Before I knew of the TCC), my truck would constantly "shift" at 55mph between what sounded overdrive and not.  I'm wondering now if its the solenoid the entire time that was going bad and now as finally gone bad.  I've done some research and determined that if it went bad while closed, the truck would die at stops and such, so maybe mine just went bad while it was open instead.  Either way, when it's all said and done, I should have a transmission that's better off.  If not, I at least know it's something a specialist should look at.

November 29th, 2008
Found a radiator and after some cursing and pulling was able to get it in place (bottom transmission line was bent a little and wouldn't go in at first).  Truck is now all back together and road ready.  Just needs to be painted and it'll be like it never happened.  Oh, and I just noticed my 2nd page is pretty out of date so as soon as I clean it up from all the front end work, I'll redo those photos.

November 23rd, 2008
Well, we got lucky at the junkyard and found a decent fender and an AWESOME hood for the truck.  I had to order some new core support mounts from LMC as mine were... weird as well as worn out.  As of right now, all I need to buy is a fan shroud for my year truck (newer shrouds are larger and do not fit the same radiators in them) and I should be ready to put the radiator in.  Once that is done, it would be road ready again.  Below is the current progress of my truck.  Won't be able to paint it till probably spring since its now too cold, but you can see how nice that new grille looks on it.

November 17th, 2008
Well, it finally happened.  Me and a deer crossed paths one night driving home and tore up my front end.  I'm told it ended up killing the deer, but the truck took a heavy hit.  The only things reusable from the front is the bumper and a headlight.  Hood, driver-side fender, grille, 1 headlight, 1 corner marker, both headlight bezels, filler panel, radiator, A/C condensor, core support, upper and lower fan shroud, fuel vapor canister, and battery tray are scraped.  The motor fan itself is bent on one blade but we just bent it back.  Hopefully, it will not break off later from metal fatigue...  The good news is though that most of the parts have been ordered and salvaged from the junkyard.  Since I'm having to replace the core support already, I figured now is a great time to get a 91-93 sonoma grille put on and already have it ordered and ready.  I'm just waiting on the new core support body mounts to come in from LMC and I'll be ready to start putting things back together.  Wish me luck...  Below are pictures of the truck after the incident and in its current state with all the broken peices taken off (bumper had to be taken off to remove the filler panel).

August 15th, 2008
Just minor updates.  Found a lot of vacuum lines in my truck were rotting and breaking, so I've been replacing them.  Apparently rubber doesn't last 25 years.  Who knew?  Also been doing little things here and there to try and make it run better, like cleaning the carb, changing pcv valve, breather filter, etc.  Overall its running a bit better, but still a ways to go before I'd call it mechanically sound.  Also had a problem with everytime I washed my truck or it rained, my interior would get wet.  Well, I found some silicone windshield... stuff to put behind the windshield's rubber and now the problem is completely gone.  Good stuff.  Can find it at Autozone around the gasket maker.  Oh, and I got a new steering wheel.  Pics follow...

October 22nd, 2007
Added two new pictures. They're seen here:

August 19th, 2006
Well, it has been done. The tailgate that I've salvaged from a junkyard has been painted, as well as my hood. The result is amazing. The truck looks instantly 10 times better. Look for yourself. BTW, outside is really humid and muggy, and its shown in these pictures. If I can get better ones, I will post them. Also, hope to take some pictures of the old tailgate, as its HORRIBLY rusted beyond belief... unless you have a picture of it anyway. Despite being painted years after the rest of the paint, the match is perfect as far as I can see. Some wet sanding does need to be done, but the picture can't pick that up and its really nice as is. Next spring I may wetsand the clear coat to get rid of the little bubbles in the paint.

August 16th, 2006
With my departure for UK coming up this Sunday (20th), I decided NOW was a good time to go ahead and repaint the hood. I got another tailgate from a junkyard earlier this summer and that will be painted on as well. If all goes as according to plan, it will be done on the 19th, so I'll have enough time to take pictures of it all before I'm "shipped out". Because of rust issues, molding prolly wont be going anywhere. I am no body repairman, and I haven't the spare funds that I would be willing to dedicate to fix the issue. I'll also see to it that new pictures of the interior are made with my new digital camera so that it doesn't look so blurry. Lastly, I managed to pick up another v-6 emblem at the junkyard and will reapply it hopefully this weekend.

April 14th, 2006
Nothing really going on here, but I thought I'd tell you all that. I plan to gather up funds this summer so that I can repaint the hood and replace/repaint the tailgate. After that, who knows. May take off the ugly molding (its not black under it and there is something rust, so it won't be a simple task). Thats all I got for now. Oh, and one of my friends from school is donating a steering column, so the jiggin' where it shouldn't can stop. And I may get one of those autozone steering wheels, the ones that look like classic muscle car ones. I just like how they look, and mine is bent from a... disagreement... me and my truck had once.

February 15th, 2005
Lets slap some new photos on, hmm?

Showing off the new rubber window gaskets I put in.

January 23rd, 2005
I guess its time for the yearly update? Hmm, well, here we go. I got a new camera and thus, can get new pictures up sometime. Its a 3.2megapixel PDR-300 so someday I'll get newer pictures. I have newer ones, but even those are outdated now as they were done when my side mirror was broke and before i got new rubber on the rims. I also replaced the PCV Valve, breather, air filter, tranny fluid, oil, and now the truck runs a bit better. Of course, I had to leave for college and everything is at a standstill. Oh well.

January 20th, 2004
Happy New Year and what not. I got a new amp, a Kenwood 4-channel 800w. The reason is because, well, the other went up smoke. Btw, if you ever start smelling pretzels, pull over!

At least to me, burning amps smell like pretzels. I dunno, it's weird. Also, I did some editing and came up with some ideas of what I want to do with the truck. One of them is the 600-dollar (total) front end I want. Cutting some corners, I think I could bring that down though. Enjoy.

October 8th, 2003
I added a 2nd page that includes pictures of my interior. Aside from the custom stereo that I, more or less, put in (the amp came with the truck), the truck's interior is stock... but if you ever wanted to know what the inside of an s-15 looks like, here ya are! MADONNA BRA DIALS!

August 25th, 2003
The sub is in. It's a Pioneer 400W 10" sub. It goes into my alpine as a bridged connection and uses the amps integrated low-pass filter. Needless to say, it sounds awsome. But now the amp needs to be moved, I'm thinking under the seat. That way I can have the custom sub box all the way to the back of the cab so I can push the seat back as far as I want. Its a huge box, but it's only 1 cube of air in it. Oh well.

August 2nd, 2003
Tomorrow, I am going to do some more work to the sound system. I recently rewired the rear 6x9s from the amp to the rear speaker connections on the CD Player so the amp would be free for the sub. I also, after 6 months without it, was able to find a hot wire to splice my CD Player's battery in (IT'S THE ORANGE ONE!). As for the work tomorrow, I got a new CD Player mount that I'm going to swap out with the one I have now. Reason? The old one make a horrible snapping noise and now doesn't keep the CD Player in. Yeah, that's bad. So this new one will let the old one retire. Put me back an amazing 10 bucks.

*/archive/* Well guys, some sad news. I've realized that I don't really want a street truck and that I won't be able to have one when we move to our farm. I also realized that if I sell my truck with a lot of after-market add-ons that I'll be loosing money and won't be making it worth enough more to do it. So aside from a few things to hold me over til I can sale it and get a 95-style Siveraldo/Sierra, it's done.

Well, we got the wheel bearings replaced (boy what that fun or what!), but the clicking noise we thought we were fixing is still present. It only occurs when the wheels roll (seems only when the engine is on, 30-45mph). We bought a new carrier bearing and believe that that's the source of the clicking (whoa, deja vu!). I'm also putting in a 10" Pioneer sub. I was set to go but I bought a prefabricated enclosure that doesn't fit unless I'm sucking the steering wheel, so I'm going to try to build my own. Does anyone have a jigsaw I can borrow? :P.*/archive/*