What have you done to your rig today?

It's a Dodge thing. :D

I'm keeping my eye out for another Warn classic bumper. If I can just find the shell, I can make the bunper brackets to fit the frame.
 
Got home from work a little after midnight and got the wild hair to bump up the timing on the ol' Cummins. It's advanced around ¼" now, which should be around 6 degrees, I think. It definitely idles better and hazes less. It's got some hefty injectors in it PLUS a higher pop pressure, both of which effectively retard the injection timing. I drove it a little bit and it feels great. I'll see how it does tomorrow and may back it off just a touch, but still keep it more than it was. It IS a little harder to start, but it is 27 degrees and the batteries are weaker than watered down piss...

I'm eyeing an M&H dynamic timing spacer so I can run lower static timing, but add 10 degrees of advance up top.The VE pumps have a timing advance in them similar to a distributor. It's pretty cool.

I've got a small grocery list of other little things I need to do.

-Pull the tank, clean/seal (or replace with a plastic one to avoid any possibility of more rust/crud issues), replace sending unit. It works, but is also 35 years old. I'm not chancing it!
-Rear wheel cylinders
-aftermarket exhaust manifold
-Move the boost, pyro, oil pressure, and water temp gauges to the dash
-New batteries
-New blower motor
-New radiator cap
-Maybe get the radio going again
-Fix/lube the window regulators
-Paint/install the west coast mirrors I have for it...need new mirrors though so they match

One of these days it'll all get done...

I was really considering (S369sxe over the current S362) compound turbos to deal with the low boost smoke, but the timing may have taken care of that issue. I have the AFC as tight as it can be with other mods to the housing to limit smoke also. Twins would also push me harder towards head studs too and that requires milling the rocker stands. I don't wanna!
 
If cheaper than milling rocker stands, unless of course you're a first rate machinist with access to a mill... So what exactly is keeping you from twins???
 
I could and I think someone makes those also. I'm just not particularly jumping up and down to put head studs in it. To really do it right, I should pull the head, but have no desire to do so....so I'd be looking for a long 12mmx1.75 bottom tap and I'd just do them one at a time. The head itself weighs like 130 lbs. If I really dogged it a lot, towed with it, or did sled/dyno pulls regularly, I'd probably already have done them. I will still do them eventually, but it works really well as it is, so I'll just do it when I get around to it. It'll definitely be after I get my HD fixed and going again. I need to pull the fuel tank and the coating I want to use says to let it cure for 4 days before putting fuel in it. Sounds like a good time to do other stuff while I'm waiting on that, I just need something else to drive while it's sitting.

It'll all come together at some point. I also want to redo a lot of the cooling system...like the heater hoses and some of the fittings where the coolant lines used to go to the transmission heat exchanger tank that was mounted under the turbo. They've just had bolts stuck in them with hose clamps over them for years, so it's probably time to change the threaded fittings or loop them to avoid various places that could possibly cause leaks. Lots of little stuff.
 
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I got a new spotter.
 
Paid the man to clean it up

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Got caught up in some traffic on my way to SC this evening and rear ended somebody with the ol' K30. Tweaked my Warn classic bumper a little, but it and the M12000 seem to be fine.

He was in a 95 Dodge reg cab, short bed, 2wd...with 600,000 miles on it! I hit it in the middle of the tailgate in the body moulding. Didn't touch the rear bumper or either tail light. Crunched up the RH bed side above the tire. Hopefully he can grab a bed, tail gate, and rear bumper while he's at it (his was rusted to hell, but the rest of the truck was in surprisinly good shape)...but I feel like they're going to just write it off.

Obviously, it's not worth much...but my man has kept this truck up since 1996 and has amassed 600,000 miles. As a fellow truck guy, I know he loves the truck and I hope they'll just cut him a little check and let him fix it. I did make sure to tell him that he has the right to refuse letting them total it since they certainly don't own it, he does, but they'll probably value it pretty low, honestly.

BTW, everyone is fine. We both drove to our destinations afterward. The guy in front of me cut in front of me, we went through an intersection, then he darted out of the lane and left me with a lane of stopped traffic that I couldn't see. I locked up the 40s, but it wasn't quite enough in the amount of time I had. I was probably going 40.

On a lighter note, knocked out a solid 19mpg on the ride down. I will absolutely NOT be taking Hwy 17 on my way home. I'll run 70-75 on I95 and let everybody go around me. To hell with all the speed limit changes, two lane roads that are terribly paved/lack thereof, stop lights, 200 turns, going through twenty towns, and slow ass big rigs holding up traffic for miles.
 
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Front springs are swapped in on the tacoma, and did a front brake job yesterday. All I need to do is patch the frame where I bent it and weld in my new air bump pads and that fixes all the carnage from my last Harlan trip.
 
Flogged her up a sandy hillclimb from the creek. Then the clutch hit the floor as I was pulling up to the house. After a little investigation, the rod to the clutch master cylinder had popped off the pedal. Apparently Chrysler thinks this is better than a bushing and E-ring or C-clip.


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But I did last 20 years, so I just ordered another, because theres no room to get in there and work, and if I get another 20 years out of it...

Also, here's a bottle for all yall's haterade.
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Flogged her up a sandy hillclimb from the creek. Then the clutch hit the floor as I was pulling up to the house. After a little investigation, the rod to the clutch master cylinder had popped off the pedal. Apparently Chrysler thinks this is better than a bushing and E-ring or C-clip.


View attachment 362807
But I did last 20 years, so I just ordered another, because theres no room to get in there and work, and if I get another 20 years out of it...

Also, here's a bottle for all yall's haterade.
View attachment 362808
Ford uses a plastic piece like that where the clutch pedal attaches to the pushrod under the dash. Changed a few of them on dad’s 7.3. He keeps one in the glovebox. You can mess them up pretty easy trying to install them too. Crap design.
 
Drove the Willys for the first time over the weekend. Still chasing a charging issue but I have some solid ideas from everyone on here. Installed a tongue-mounted trailer box to hold all my tow straps etc. Time to start adding some goodies to the Willys to get it ready for the trail.
 
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