Slick 60's

looking good. Mummert is a gift to the y-block fans.

John has been very helpful and allowed me to get over 60 mph on the highway without blowing up my motor. The T5 was an upgrade that made driving my truck more fun. The items that I have bought from him have fit well and worked as intended; modified 3 spd bell, throw out bearing, ram horns, alternator bracket, the rest of the T5 conversion parts, and the valve covers so far. His advice and knowledge is great he isn't just trying to get you to buy his stuff.

I ordered my Dakota IFS kit today. Now the front is going to have to be stripped down. I also ordered rear mono leafs and rear shocks.

Mono Leafs installed. It doesn't leave much room for rear suspension travel but it gets the rear pretty close to the front in drop.

Finally finished got some more work done on the rear frame. I painted it black and am getting ready to put the fuel tank in and install the bed for good for awhile.

I also had a chance to change out the gauge bezel and add a GPS speedometer. I think my old Speedometer was broken internally. I also like the way the new gauge bezel fits vs. the old one.
New


Old

Update on the GPS speedo from Autometer. It works well and matches what the street signs give you back on speed. It does take a minute to link up when you initially start up which is the only downside. Now I don't have to worry about speeding. I really like the T5 swap as well. It has made my truck that much more enjoyable to drive.

It all looks great, hope you are able to make slickstock with it

I hope I can make it too. I need to get the Dakota IFS installed, exhaust, power steering, steering column, and rear fuel tank done before that though.

I went to Speedhut to get my GPS speedometer. ran the cable under the window rubber and the sending unit is behind the tach. Fantastic unit, wish I had done this years ago.....well they havent been out that long. Would highly recommend.

I went to the Devil's Tower car show 2 weekends ago and left my truck down in WY. I also visited a restoration shop nearby to see about getting my Dakota IFS installed, finish my fuel tank install, check my brake lines, install a new column, upgrade to power steering, finish my exhaust, and fill a couple of holes in various places on my truck. This would be some major progress on my truck to complete some of the things that I cannot do.

Found a donor suspension for my Dakota IFS. The truck is going to be dropped off in about 2 weeks. Also going to upgrade the rear suspension to a Fatbar from No Limit. I am not a fan of the rear mono leafs and will be pulling them out.

I have been away for awhile. I dropped off my truck in Sept. and the restoration shop started working on it in Dec. The Front suspension was dropped out of the way and work began.


Industrial Chassis crossmember welded in. The guys had some trouble with installation and thought the crossmember was out of whack. They figured out that the frame was slightly bent due to a small fender bender from the previous owner. The owner of the shop was impressed with the both the fit and the quality of the crossmember. He told me that I could put a 1,000 HP motor in there and it would be fine. Well, there are no plans for a 1,000 HP motor in the future. I am sticking with the y-block that was in it. The only fitment issues were the mechanical fuel pump and a small line that was bent a little out of the way.



The firewall and front stub was then sandblasted and primed and it was discovered that the toe boards didn't look quite right. They were riveted in and not welded in like they were supposed to be.

The toe board fix turned into removing the floor pans. They were not installed even close to correct. Some sealant and undercoating was all that held them in place. There was nothing wrong with them but it added some time to weld them in properly like they were supposed to be.



The sections under the floor pans were cleaned out and coated in Por 15 to prevent any rust in the future.




This gem quickly turned into a little bit of a pig with some lipstick on it. The comforting thing is that the shop does excellent work and when it is done it won't have to be touched again.

Here are a couple of more status updates on the IC install. The suspension is looking pretty. I can't wait to drive it again.



The front wheel hub.

Front clip and motor back in.


Another part of this project was to remove the filler neck and put the tank in the bed.

Starting on the rear 4 link from No-Limit.



Rear axle removed and all of the brackets removed as well.



4-link parts all laid out.



4 link installed.

Awesome work, looks like you got a good shop working on it

New tilt column and steering wheel. It's going to take some time getting used to power steering and a smaller steering wheel.



If you look close you can see the old radio hole has been filled.

jercasche wrote:I hope I can make it too. I need to get the Dakota IFS installed, exhaust, power steering, steering column, and rear fuel tank done before that though.

About 6 months ago I had a to do list of items to knock out before possibly going to Slick Stock shown above. There are a couple of little items yet to fix and the decision whether or not to go has to be made yet too.
Dakota IFS - check
Ramhorn exhaust - check
Power Steering- check
Steering Column - check
Rear fuel tank - check