Found a new project. Ram D250

[threewood]

I lucked into this truck, my wife was the middleman. My wife put out feelers for a project truck that I was interested in finding. Our neighbors son runs a tow truck and mentioned to her a Dodge truck that was abandoned by the owner. Literally. This thing was dead on the road, tow company got called by sheriff to tow it, owner wouldn't pay the impound fee and signed over title and keys to them.

Bought it for $300, no rust. 1992 Dodge Ram D250 with a 318 Magnum, o.d. automatic and Dana 70 rear with 4.10:1 gears. Turns over doesn't run. Has multi port fuel injection (would have loved a carburetor). I'll figure out the issues after I get my GTX engine back together.

 

[junior340]

Looks fun to me. Keep us updated!!

 

[Budnicks]

Be a good project, get more learning in too...

good luck

 

[Richard Cranium]

Yup, that’s a project alright!

 

[69 Sleeper Bee]

That's cool !!!

 

[threewood]

I need to hose out the engine compartment and the passenger compartment. It's a bit dirty.

 

[Detective D]

I like it.
On that era of cab, the drip rails plug up, and water likes to come down inside the door seal and sit right by the front of the door frame on the floor. Hard to see, but might be the dark area in the pictures there is wet.
What happens then is the floor rots away. The rocker might even survive, but the floor will start at that corner and move in towards the center hump. Carpet or mats will prevent the moisture from drying up in time to prevent rust.

As for not running, hard to say. I would make sure you have fuel going first, Chrysler made pretty mediocre fuel pumps in the 1990's for their trucks. Don't let the tank go under half and they last longer. They tend to cavitate air and burn up if you let the tank get too low.

Have fun! It looks like a useful truck once you get the bugs out.

 

[Ron_M]

For no start, could be the SMEC or whatever it was called back then. My Dakota has a tendency to not fire even so often. I swapped in the spare SMEC that I carry and she fires right up. Swap back and all is good until the next episode. (Yes I know about the Dakota harness issue.)

 

[threewood]

When I get to it, I'll check for fuel and spark. Nothing stands out as bad, except the muffler looked all bloated. I'll cut it off. I'm also going to run a compression check. I haven't even checked the oil.

 

[Jerry Hall]

I think we would all rather have mechanical problems than rust.

 

[moparker]

Yes. The computer. Sounds like the issue. You can get them at Autozone.

 

[threewood]

Treasures!!!

 

[threewood]

I ordered some tune up parts. Truck has 215k on the odometer so at minimum it will get oil change, plugs, distributor cap, rotor, pickup, I'll see if the fuel tank needs dumped or cleaned, I'll slap a fuel pressure gauge on the injector rails to see what pressure it has, check for spark and go from there.

If it needs a rebuild, I'll break it down and see what it looks like. Rings, bearings, seals, etc. Same with transmission.

I'm considering changing the intake over to carburetor and removing all the underhood emissions crap.

 

[chargervert]

Can't go wrong for the $300.00 buy in price!