I've owned my 2000 Flame Red Club Cab Dakota R/T since new and I will keep it forever.
I bought it on April 14, 2000 in Las Vegas with 20 miles on the clock. Gas cost $0.98 a gallon. I almost bought an F-150, but lurking on this forum when AOL was still cool convinced me that was a terrible idea. Yes, really. I'm glad I came out on the right side of things. Every time I see a tenth generation Ford, I throw up in my mouth a little bit.
Grainy copy of the photo the dealer took in the lot in April of 2000 (notice the paper license plates). I did my first burnout about two minutes later:
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My truck took me off to college and grad school. It was a key part in some of my best and worst memories. Beers in the bed with high school friends before we all went off to start our lives. I'm just now realizing how many trips that truck made to the ER after someone said, "watch this" and then came up short. Other than a lot of tires and several dead batteries, it never let me down. Ever.
In the spring of 2009, the oil pressure gauge started dropping to zero and then it would pop right back. Temperature was normal, there was oil on the dipstick, no burning smell, and it was driving great. I couldn't afford time or money on repairs, so I convinced myself it was a faulty sensor. Soon enough I heard what sounded like a spun bearing. Crap. At the exact same time, I got a job making a lot more money and decided to park my truck in mom's garage in Vegas where it wouldn't rust and bought something sporty. The plan was to rebuild the motor soon. Eight years, several motorcycles, a couple of sedans, and two Porsche's later, I'm ready to get back into my truck.
I have meticulous records for every oil change, tire plug, and wiper blade. It has 115,000 miles and is completely stock, other than billet grill, clear corners, magna flow exhaust, and a cold-air intake. It still has the factory tape deck and the aftermarket 10-disc CD changer rocking through an FM modulator I installed years before the first iPod came out. I never planned on it sitting for this long, so it was parked wet. Battery out and stabilizer in the tank. Every now and then something would come up at the house that required moving the truck, so I ended up driving it about ten miles every two or three years. The registration tags expired in 2009.
The plan is to keep the truck numbers-matching and go for "stock plus." No supercharger. Do the things I wanted to do when it was new, but could never afford. I'll put a motorcycle in the bed occasionally and do burnouts on Sunday mornings to piss of the neighbors. That's about it. It'll never go to a drag strip. I want to keep it a 360 NA motor, but upgrade the head, intake, and pistons, etc. Increase compression and wake up the cam. Air conditioning, heater, cruise control must all work. I live in Los Angeles now, so it HAS to be able to run well in stop and go traffic without stalling or overheating. I have no idea what to do about the transmission, which was serviced regularly but is also bone stock. The budget is a little flexible, but certainly not unlimited.
I need your help! I have to decide exactly what I want to do to bring my truck back to life. I also need help finding a reputable shop to do the work in either Las Vegas or Southern California. I took a motorcycle engine apart and put it back together on my coffee table once to see if I could, but I wouldn't consider myself a mechanic. I'm also pressed for garage space, so I'll be letting the experts do the work. When the time comes, I'll start a build thread so everyone can follow along.
Last year when I had to move to a different garage:
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