'92 RC restoration/trail rig build (New pics & VIDEOS 7/12/14)

[The War Wagon]

Well... it's GETTING there... 

It is slowly, but surely, coming BACK to life. After sitting in a shed for the better part of 7 years, I've finally gotten the help and resources needed to at least try and get it to pass state inspection!

Here's what I inherited back in the fall of '06 - and it had mostly been sitting for a year & a half at THAT point, after being a daily driver for most of its life.

A nice, but tired, 1992 Dodge Ramcharger LE150 - 318 V-8, MPFI (first year for the 318 Magnum!  ), A518, NP241 Transfer case, 9 1/4 rear end - Dana 44 fron taxle, and 135,000 miles - not a few of which were Pittsburgh-to-west-Texas road trips, where the original owner was from.





I inherited this beast in the fall of '06, with the INTENTION of making it a trail rig, as the factory 11mpg city/13mpg highway was a bit much for a daily driver... so last year, I promptly bought a Jeep Commander for a daily driver, that gets 10.5 mpg city...



THAT said, my local mechanic offered to work on it as a side project at his house, as he knew my children were Autistic, and he wanted to help. I bought the parts, and he did the labor for free. That worked well... for a while... until he took a job in the Marcellus shale fields a few years ago. So my truck just sat in his shed for a few more years.

I'd already bought a complete 4 1/2" Rough Country lift kit for it from TopGunz Customz down in TN, as well as five (5) Courser M/T 36" tires for it, and five (5) 15x10 Pacer custom wheels (wanted the matching full-size spare, obviously), and those were still sitting in the garage of my local Goodyear dealer.

I'd also bought from Kennesaw Mountain Products in GA (now Tactical Armor Group) a custom rear bumper, with an INTEGRAL swing-out tire gate, built to spec to haul a 36x15x10 spare around on (also has a Jerry can holder, hi-lift jackstorage, cb antenna mount, license plate frame, and D shackles. That was a cool $750, and it was still shrink-wrapped to the pallet it was shipped on - sitting in an empty classroom of my church for the past 5 years! 

Nonetheless, I didn't see a lotta future for the old gal, and was thinking of either scrapping or selling it as recently as this May, but a new member at my church offered to help, after we got to talling about cars one day. He owns a custom shop in Carnegie, and does all manner of metal fabrication there. I told him I had all the parts - just need the lift kit installed primarily, and I'd take care of the rest, but he decided he wanted to do more - including bodywork, sanding, primering, painting, and even building a custom front bumper for it! 


In early August, he took his rollback over to my former mechanic's house, and picked up all the pieces. Here's a small photo retrospective of his work to date!

Passenger side UP!





Interior needs work now (some of the "handiwork" by moi - with a stereo HALF(ass)-installed... )




Of course, a LOT of its own parts and pieces are being stored inside itself at this point, too.

Here it was lifted, by mid-October!





Some closeups of this custom front bumper (spot welds and temporarily clamped to evaluate fitment)




Made of box steel, it drops low enough to pass state inspection - the center part will be cut out, and a shelf installed, suitable for mounting a winch recessed into the bumper!

Bumper is now finished, save for setting up the recessed winch mount





Here's some pics after it got bondo'd (meh... it's a trail rig  ), and is almost ready to be painted!






You get a good look at the custom rear bumper this way!

To sand, primer, and paint this monster would be $4k+ at any reputable shop. I'm getting it for free, but STILL didn't know what color Jimmy was going to use at this point!    I knew "silver" will be a large part of it, but beyond that...    Beggars of course, don't get to be choosers!It's off to Monro Muffler for new brake and fuel lines (the originals rotted away), and whatever other work we need to get it to pass inspection after the first of the year.

Assuming Obama doesn't confiscate ALL our tax refunds this year  , my INTENTION is to do a ring & pinion swap (to 4.10's - it's currently factory 3.50 geared) and add a Transpak to the tranny. I might splurge for the winch at that time, too. Long range plans include tearing down the engine (which still runs strong, holds compression, etc.), adding new heads perhaps, new pistons, torque-ier crank, etc. I've got some Warn lock-out hubs ready for it too. ANY extra mpg's in THIS beast will be appreciated, and I figure the lock-out hubs will make GETTING to the outdoors a little less costly!

I'd like to do re-do the interior completely (droopy headliner has GOT to go - welcome to the late 80's/early '90's and the droopy headliner flashback!  ) - doing the seats in some sort of faux leather, that cleans up easily. I'd LOVE to tear out ALL the carpet and just rhinoline the entire floor - make it so you could run a hose and WASH the truck out... but that may not be ENTIRELY feasible, given how many wires run along the floor in even a '92 truck. I think I WILL rhinoline the cargo area though, as this will still be our Boy Scout War Wagon - suitable for throwing backpacks, gear, chuckboxes, and the like into. Getting that factory spare OUT of the cargo area REALLY opens 'er up back there!

It'll be a zombiecrusher for certain - a good BoV, if it comes to that. But she's DEFINITELY a zombie herself, having come close to the scrapyard THREE times now (it got hit in the passenger side when the original owner had it, but he refused to have it totaled, and got it repaired instead - when he passed away, his wife was about to scrap it, when she offered it to me instead. I ALMOST scapped it this spring, but found some much-needed help in the nick of time). It might FINALLY see the out-of-doors yet!

Any & all feedback is welcome and appreciated. And if you're handy with a wrench, engines & drivetrains, and live in Pittsburgh - gimme a shout!!! 

[crazzywolfie]

that thing looks pretty good and definitely come a long way. to make the thing a good and reliable daily driver/trail rig you may want to check to see if the plenum gasket on the bottom of the intake has been fixed properly. from the factory dodge used a steel plenum pan and it expands and contracts at a different rate than the aluminum intake which eventually causes the gasket to blow. then your engine starts burning oil and clogging the cat. hughes engines has a complete kit to fix it for $120 plus shipping or you could get just the aluminum plenum pan off ebay and buy your whatever gasket brand you would like. some people don't like the gaskets shipped with the hughes kit which is why this is an option. they both work out to be about the same in price. also putting the headlights on relays is a good idea. it allows the lights to be brighter and the headlight switch and dimmer switch seem to be a fairly common weak spot on dodge truck. a bit of money spent on the electrical could save you lots of money down the road plus it could possibly help you see better if you ever drive at night.

[rjtx667]

Looking good, its always a lot of work to restore the rigs, but I find it to be a lot of fun too. My kids love trying to help even though they are young and get in the way more than not... its a great time to spend with them.

[SixGun]

   What ever you do, don't scrap it.  Looks like a good project and seems to be moving along now.  Wish you the best and keep the updates coming.  Nice pics.

[The War Wagon]

OK - here's some MORE pics and updates!

It's BEEN painted!!!

In fact, he added the red factory pin stripe BACK to it, which set it off better than I thought it would.  And it's two-tone again, although not QUITE like the factory had it.  Here we go!





The top color, is a flat metalflake dark grey (the bright sunshine today played havoc with my auto-exposure - I only have one pic that really does it justice) - the bottom, a flat black.  For flat colors (easy to touch up again after a good BRUSH run...), they really pop a LOT more than I expected them too (I was expecting more like the flat military colors of HUMVEES and Ma Dueces, than this!).  Here's some more!









I'm wearing my red BSA windbreaker, hence the reddish reflection on the fender here.


Check out this front bumper now!






Looking down here between the bodywork and the bumper, you can see the shelf for the winch to mount to.  The fairleads come out the front, and you're good to go!   


That's Jimmy, on the far left, FYI.




A decent shot of the rear hatch and bumper here - they popped the red plastic off the bottom of the "Dodge" plate, as it had collected a fair amount of crud over the years, and we don't need any MORE rust promotion on this hotrod!  Wayne, Jimmy's right hand man, suggested red reflector tape... and that ain't a half-bad idea!




Been looking for SOMETHING to demonstrate scale, as to the height on this monster.  I saw this 5 gallon plastic gas can nearby, and it's DIRECTLY UNDER the corner of the bumper here.  It's about 2' high, for reference.




Jimmy's doin' it up right!  Here's the inside of the doors - sanded and ready to likewise be painted!





This was probably the best picture of the bunch, to really see the paint and how well it works together.




I have dreamed - for 6 years - of this truck LOOKING this good... and now it actually does!  They still have some frame/lift work to do - needs the second set of rear shocks installed as well.  Once the brake & gas lines are done, then we can knock off some of the scale and start undercoating it.  But another B-I-G hurdle is now cleared - the bodywork and paint is just about DONE!!! 

[The War Wagon]

It's over here by my house now, as Jimmy's done as much as he can on his end for the time being.  It needs fuel lines and brake lines immediately - hopefully we start on that later this week.  Other things we've "discovered" of late;

- Liftgate pistons: they're now shot. 
- New exhaust: Magnaflow glasspacks from JEGS are sitting in my office. 
- Flip seat anchor weld.  Yeah... it's half broken (but the piston there WORKS!!!). 

Once the brake/fuel lines are done, we can get it undercoated as well.  I got the registration renewed at AAA the other week (it expired 2/08!    ).  I've kept it insured the W-H-O-L-E time (in case it exploded and burned down my mechanic's house!) - NOW where's that &%^*%%&$%# insurance card?!?!


Well, enough of my headaches - here's some pics from outside the shop, before we rolled it over here to the house - makes a HELLUVA paperweight currently!!!   

Nonetheless, it's REALLY quite photogenic at this point.





















Well, PART of the insides of the doors got painted.  :P

  This'll inhibit rust and seal the edges most exposed to the elements!



The interior is greatly cleaned up now.





It's a work in progress still - we've got to get it to pass inspection & start rolling again - that's the next step.


I got some pics of my son the Wednesday night it rolled in (I woke him up, just to go out and look at it!  ) in the driver's seat, and in front of it - he loved being lifted up INTO it! 

[SixGun]

It's amazing what a nice coat of paint can do.  Looks really nice War Wagon.   

[The War Wagon]

Looked like a shiny new penny after all the bodywork, but it was a big PAPERWEIGHT at that point - ALL the fuel and brake lines had rotted away, and it needed a MAJOR overhaul to pass inspection, much less, BE roadworthy (did I mention that I had a custom multicarrier rear bumper made for it in '07?  That sat in an empty Sunday school room - still shrink-wrapped to the pallet is shipped on - at my church for 5 years, awaiting installation!).

So off it went to my buddy Chris, at Monro Muffler in Castle Shannon, where it spent January to early April, being RE-done!  Here's sort of a photo-retrospective highlight reel. 


















It's passed inspection and is streetable, but I still have a few more goodies piled in my office, awaiting installation.  It just went over to Gibbs TODAY, finally, after waiting another 6 weeks since it was done at Monro, to have all THIS installed!






Incluidng my Warn/Magnum 9,000lb rated winch. 



I did do a couple things to it for the 6 weeks it's been home.  Installed the dual stabilizer, for one!




Washed and waxed for the first time in YEARS.  Might be a DECADE or more, since the last wax! 





Yeah, I KNOW - it should be getting DIRTIER, NOT cleaner.    I gotta snap the CLEAN pics while I can, though.

Finally, here it is (before the wash 'n' wax) beside my itty, bitty, DD - my '07 Jeep Commander... 

[crazzywolfie]

that thing has come a long way. looks mean compared to the jeep.

[The War Wagon]

that thing has come a long way. looks mean compared to the jeep.

Sounds pretty mean too - click on this. 

http://s212.photobucket.com/user/The_War_Wagon/media/Ramcharger/100_8648_zpsfe1e2fa3.mp4.html

[Toyradio]

Very cool build. It looks great.

[SixGun]

Just gotta love a big pile of new parts in boxes waiting to be installed.   

[MT_84Ram]

Just gotta love a big pile of new parts in boxes waiting to be installed.   

Agree, nothing else like it.

Great looking RC, War Wagon.  You keep washing it and you'll have rust again.

[The War Wagon]

You keep washing it and you'll have rust again.

Oh noooo... you GOTTA towel dry 'em... wonder if the wife is missing the king-size bed comforter yet... 

Pittsburgh WINTERS make vehicles RUST.  I'll drive the Commander in the snow.  This one can just SIT winter out...

[The War Wagon]

So here's the LATEST batch of pics, for the latest foray to the shop!

It's at Gibbs Automotive here in Pittsburgh now - these guys are probably the closest 4WD shop to the city proper - about 4 miles from downtown - and they're GOOD!  They don't even advertize, or have a listing in the phone book, but it took me 6 weeks to get a spot in their garage, from the time I told 'em I was ready to go!  They're ALWAYS busy.

Here was the passenger seat, LOADED with goodies for the trip over!




Leavin' 'er out back!




Took me over a week to get back - DMG was working on the front axle when I came in today.





That's DMG!

The new carrier & ring & pinion are now in up front, as well as my SOLID diff cover.





#3 son is in the background - he had the day off, since his school is a polling place.

Turns out, DMG has a better plan for shocks - looks like Bilstein 5125's at all four corners, since shock technology has come quite a ways, since I bought this lift kit 6 years ago!  We can ditch the dual shock setup, and make sure they're not bottomed out - as they are with the current setup!!!   




Don't know if I EVER showed THESE off or not - JEGS Hi-Po cats!




And here's ANOTHER real PITA - the spare tire mount. 



Dodge 15" 5 lug 5.5 x 5 wheel - should be a simple enough pattern to make a mount for, right?  Wrong. 

Kennesaw Mountain Products mounted the studs at a 6 x 5 inch pattern in reality, so EZaccessories is gonna custom build me a billett aluminum adaptor.  I thought about heating it up with a torch and re-positioning it... or just hammering the shiite out of it... but both will leave an extraordinarily HEAVY wheel and tire, dangling precariously back there - most likely working loose eventually, and creating havoc on the road, sooooo... custom adaptor it is.

More pictures to come - DMG is doing it RIGHT, so I'll try to limit myself to picture snapping, and staying OUT of the way of the working people!