Hi everyone! My name is Joe, I'm 16, live in the Detroit Metro Area, and my first car/truck/vehicle is this 1996 Dakota. It's got a 3.9 V6, a 5 speed manual, and (get this) 267k miles. Fires right up, shifts fine, even rides pretty good. I haven't driven it (No license yet) but I love it. Since the tailgate says DO G, my best friend gave it a name he felt suits a dog.
Meet Kipper.
Obviously, he needs some work. I'd like to fix the rust, do all the prep work, and maybe run it to Maaco and have them spray it. Then, a nice 5.9 swap (Ha, like that'll ever happen when I have no money), some wheels and tires, you know, just make it a nice daily driver that happens to melt tires on command.
you sound JUST like me 12-13 years ago... except my first was a 1990 and a auto, I always wished it was a manual trans... Thatll be a fun little truck with potential, if your going to build one 96 is the year to go with imo... I think the first thing you should do is get a huge stereo and chop off the muffler, flip the air cleaner lid upside down.. I'd totally do that if I was 16 again LOL
If the extent of the rust is what we can see, you got off easy for it being a 20 year old rust belt truck with a quarter-mill on the clock. You might even get away with just grinding it down and using POR-15 to convert and seal it.. You can just chuck that tailgate and find a new one.
5.9 wasn't available in 96 so you'll have to use a Ram PCM and splice the harnesses together. I think a 5.2 Dakota PCM might be able to be flashed for 5.9, but don't hold me to that. There's also other minor differences like the 5.9 is externally balanced so will require a proper flywheel, I think the mounts are different, and I think the oil pan causes fitment issues. It won't be a bolt-in swap. If it was a 97 it would be a different story. 5.2 would be a much easier swap. As for blowing up an AX-15, yeah that's known to happen with 5.2's, but it should be ok if you don't romp it. If you're swapping engines you should swap to a NV3500/4500 too.
I'm going to assume the AISI next to the transmission part of the sticker (cut off in the pic, this is underhood btw) means AX-15? If so, I certainly do need to just find a '96 Ram with a 5.9 and NV3500 in a junkyard.
And a bed. Went poking around with a scraper, and once all the loose rust scales were gone, I was left with a hole I can almost put my fist through.
Not much has happened. My grandfather and I started to tear the lower valence/air dam off. Got to more or less cut the bracket off. (Stupid bolt is rusted to it.) Found out it's actually an 8ft bed (Why yes, I am stupid enough to not be able to tell the difference!) I think I'm going to grind the bumpers down to bare metal and spray bomb them silver. At least until I find a nice chrome front and have a rust free bed for a roll pan. (I'm assuming the pan would just have to come back off anyway)
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