Reviving an 87 D150

[Gustav]

Well, not sure if this will be a "restoration" technically, but I did want a place to document progress on this refresh.

I found this truck for sale at a junkyard that moderately "repairs" vehicles and sells them at pretty good prices. I hadn't actually known about 1st gen rams at all before laying my eyes on this one. The front grille just really caught my eye. I went to look at it more out of curiosity than anything - never had a truck before, but had been looking for one for work.

It said "rust free" on the windshield. I rolled my eyes, as up here in the northeast that's usually code for "rusted only underneath". But as I poked around, I actually saw chalk markings and stickers on the frame... this was legitimately rust free. A week later, I took it for a test drive, hoping it was in good mechanical shape, like the body, and wooo boy this thing was a mess. Felt like engine had no power at all, barely got in gear, and after a 1/2 mile drive, it was smoking out of the engine bay. Valve cover gaskets were like paper. The power steering lines had ruptured at some point and sprayed the entire bay in oil, filthy, etc. But the interior was pretty perfect, and with such a good frame/body it felt like a good project. Made the seller an offer wayy below asking price and waited.

After about a week we had a deal.

Got to work repairing the little things I knew were wrong - valve cover gaskets, plugs, wires, cap rotor (the plugs were crazy irregular in soot), new belts, fixed the alternator bracket so it actually held tension and could charge. That got it running well enough that I could drive it around the neighborhood a bit.
Also replaced all the window and door seals so it kept water out, and generally cleaned it up as best I could. Didn't take long to realize that the radiator was toast.

It was cheaper to install an aluminum rad with more rows than install a replacement. Hopefully having two different metals in the cooling system won't be an issue. I also replaced one rotten freeze plug on the back of the head passenger side. It had holes in it. Needless to say, it worked a lot better after that!

I picked up free motorcycle with it, which felt like it made the project worthwhile up to this point, hahah.

Don't know the story on the Indianapolis 500 stickers on the cab. Maybe it grew up around there? Did it go on the track at some point? Who knows.

Transmission issues got solved by my local mechanic, who's a mopar genius, and races a 'cuda in historic classes up and down the northeast. I forget what it's called, but it has to appear stock (ditto the engine), bias ply tires, etc. but anything internal can be changed and modified like bore stroke, etc. He runs 10s with that thing. Pretty impressive.

Anyway, he solved the shifting issues - a couple of the valves were stuck and a few other things. I have no clue with transmissions so leaving it to him felt good. He also replaced the center link in the suspension. The truck had been lowered by some previous owner using van control arms. It is LOW. So I think the geometry was all messed up. New center link solved those issues.

At this point it was mostly usable, running pretty well, and not a basket case to drive around.

 

[Gustav]

After about a week of driving it around, using it for work a little bit, it blew a gasket. Not sure if it was a head gasket or intake, but coolant was definitely blowing out of the exhaust, literally pouring out of the manifold with white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Given how bad the other gaskets on this truck were, I'm not surprised, but definitely a disappointing moment.

That happened in November, and winter hit pretty quickly after that. I don't have a garage big enough to fit this thing in, so it's sitting for a while as I work up the courage to dive into it. Gonna start with the intake first (as I plan to replace the 2 barrel with a larger 4 barrel), and hope that it's that gasket around the coolant crossover that blew.

How hard is it to pull these engines? It looks about as straightforward as it can be. I would imagine disconnecting it from the transmission would be the main challenge (it's an automatic).

 

[mopar56]

Pretty cool truck Gustav, and story, the engines are not at all difficult to pull and yes thr trans is always the fun part with out a hoist, BUT, why even bother? There is tons of room to work in the engine bay, why not just pull the heads in the truck, if the cyl walls look good, clean things up, new gaskets and good to go it's a SB Dodge engine there incredibly hardy, my only concern is you leaving coolant in the cly since November, if it IS coolant, not water you might be ok? But the time to remove the intake and heads is easy and fast in the truck I'd start with that. It would be cool to find out why the decals are on the door maybe this old girl has some interesting history? Good luck with your project!

 

[Gustav]

True enough. I can practically sit in the engine bay. And if I do need to pull it to access other things it'll be that much lighter, heh. Yeah, I also worry a bit about leaving it sitting for a couple months. But I figure it's been through worse. And yes, it was brand new coolant 50/50 mix, so my fingers are crossed. Hopefully even if that corrodes a teeny bit it'll be ok.

 

[kiwigtx]

That will be a great project @Gustav ....looking forward to seeing your progress.

Hopefully the engine can be repaired for a decent price. The free Indian looks interesting also....maybe share a bit more about that here too.

 

[7mopar]

I have not lifted an engine or transmission over the body on one of these in years. Just to easy to pull the front clip.

 

[mopar56]

I'd pull the intake and heads, see what you got and yes.....you CAN sit on the fender, feet on the frame rails to work on these, did it MANY times, these old girls are easy to work on, you'll have that stripped down to the block in a couple hours, no need to pull the distributor either to remove the intake this ain't no sh--y bowtie!

 

[LocuMob]

Probably a head gasket if it was blowing smoke like crazy. Easy enough as stated above. Rust free in upstate NY, that's a rarity.

 

[ProspectingVT]

i left a post in your Welcome thread, but will also post here.... easy enough to pop the engine out. If you're not interested in removing the front clip as 7mopar does, it's just as easy to use a hoist. 4 hood bolts, hood off. Take the bellhousing plate off under the trans bellhousing, 4 bolts holding the flywheel to the torque converter, then it's just linkages and hoses mostly, electrical plugs etc. and the bolts between the trans and the engine, basically.

As rust-free as that is, and given the door decals, i almost wonder if someone moved to your area from Indiana lol. Like LM says. i'm from nearby in Vermont, and 'rust-free' is not something that happens here.....

 

[Gustav]

Thanks everybody! Yeah, it must have lived somewhere else for most of its life. I'm thinking even dryer than indiana. There's sun damage on the top of the cab, so maybe the southwest? That or it sat around unused for a while? Dunno. Would love to find out. Will see if Carfax can bring up anything about the history

And I'd be happy to share about the little motorcycle. It's a 70s Indian, which at the time was owned by a British company, and built in China, Japan and other places. So it's a funny little thing. Small dirt bike, real nice size. Managed to find a brochure scan online:

I'll post photos of that too. It had been sitting outside for 4 years, but the engine turns over so I have faith that I can get it to run again. Just finished restoring/modifying a 1985 Honda Nighthawk that had been sitting for 6 years. Quick before/after here:

I know, this ain't a truck! Hopefully you all don't mind.

 

[LocuMob]

Thanks everybody! Yeah, it must have lived somewhere else for most of its life. I'm thinking even dryer than indiana. There's sun damage on the top of the cab, so maybe the southwest? That or it sat around unused for a while? Dunno. Would love to find out. Will see if Carfax can bring up anything about the history

And I'd be happy to share about the little motorcycle. It's a 70s Indian, which at the time was owned by a British company, and built in China, Japan and other places. So it's a funny little thing. Small dirt bike, real nice size. Managed to find a brochure scan online:

View attachment 20772

I'll post photos of that too. It had been sitting outside for 4 years, but the engine turns over so I have faith that I can get it to run again. Just finished restoring/modifying a 1985 Honda Nighthawk that had been sitting for 6 years. Quick before/after here:

View attachment 20773View attachment 20774


I know, this ain't a truck! Hopefully you all don't mind.

I like what you did with the Nighthawk, gives it a more aggressive look.

 

[Gustav]

Got into the engine a bit today, as it was warm for a change!

Pulled the intake and the head on the driver's side, as that was where it was belching coolant when it broke down. And yep. Found the culprit. BIG break in the head gasket, and the last cylinder was full of coolant. Thankfully, it doesn't seem like it caused any sort of corrosion (up here in the cylinders anyway), which is nice. But there's coolant in the oil all throughout the head and the valley.

Also noticed that this engine is super sludgy - big chunks of grime and stuff all over the place. Speaks to how rough a life it's had, I guess. People haven't been taking care of it.

Anyway, some photos:

The other thing that caught my eye was that one of the lifters was broken - there are these little cups that hold the end of the pushrods, and the last lifter, closest to the firewall had it's cup break free of the rest of it. The pushrod had clearly been rattling around because of it, as there's damage to the end of it. Has anyone seen that before? I wonder if I can just push that cup back into place, clean up the end of the pushrod and re-use it all. or would that be silly? Can I replace just one lifter, or should I do all of them? The rest of them look perfect as far as I can see.

So that's one side disassembled. Took about 3 hours, and I only swore twice. I think I'll try to clean up the head as much as possible, since it's filthy. Any suggestions other than degreaser, brushes and elbow grease? Can I take an assembled head like this to a machine shop and have them clean it for me? I don't really want to remove all the valves, springs, keepers, etc. Just want to get rid of the sludge.

 

[mopar56]

Well suspicions were correct, blown head gasket! As for the head clean it up your self with decreaser the machine shop will take it apart, ...then a valve grind, as for the lifter it was probably damaged when the cly hydraulicd ( you can't compress water) you should probably replace them all, WHICH would be a good time to change the camshaft to something mild for a little more umph! And of course as mentioned earlier the timing chain and gear set, of course ONLY use a double roller style, really all those parts are reasonably cheap and a great upgrade for your new daily driver!!

 

[Gustav]

Yeah, thinking about replacing the lifters and pushrods, for sure. Do you know if it's possible to replace the cam without pulling the engine? Radiator out, maybe grill off? Or would I need to remove the front rad support too? Might make sense to pull the engine at this point to do all the darn gaskets.

Also, dug into the door sticker a bit more, and found a replay of the indy 500 from 1987. Pace car was a Chrysler, and the emergency trucks were all D series trucks. But none of them were white, and seems like they were a higher trim level, and had specialized graphics all down the sides (see below). But maybe this was used in the pits or something? Or someone got their hands on the stickers somehow? They're in the right place...

Anyone have the ability to look up dealer code numbers? It might help figure out where this truck was from, originally. I have a sheet in the door panel that says "Customer # 02452" which I would imagine would be a dealer? Delivered Feb 21, '87

 

[mopar56]

Should be able to do with rad and grill out, not sure if the trucks Indy lineage?

 

[65 sporty]

A machine shop should be able to put it the jet wash with it assembled, anytime I have one milled flat they wash it. Yes you can change just one lifter. Yes you can change the cam with the engine in the truck

 

[Gustav]

Just a quick update - both heads are off, cleaned, freeze plugs replaced, threads chased, rocker arms and shaft cleaned up. So good to get the sludge off of this thing.

Figure while I'm in there....I'm replacing the lifters and pushrods after all, and the cam. I got a very mild grind, Summit racing brand. Hopefully it ain't too bad. it looks pretty good, as far as I can see anyway.

The timing chain on this motor was so sloppy. Wow. Could turn the carm on it's own at least 5 degrees, and at least an inch of chain "slap". Definitely original, as the cam gear was aluminum with nylon coating, most of which was broken off. I'm replacing with a billet double roller.
Does this mean I have to drop the pan and search of nylon bits? Not really a job I want to do... But maybe I should.

Ready to get that chain off, put in the new cam, and then start re-assembling this thing! Very excited.

 

[volaredon]

that pan comes off easy in chassis. I had to do so on my 83 when I dropped a pushrod when I did the cam swap in it (in the chassis too)
I once had an 87 van also with the 318, and it came to me with a helluva clatter and a misfire. It too had a lifter that did as yours did. I didn't have to pull it any farther apart than to pull the valve cover and rocker arms off that side. Same cylinder as yours was bad on mine. I replaced the 2 lifters on that cylinder, put it back together and drove the snot out of it.
As far as you saying "sludged up"? that motor doesnt look bad at all. The 2 worst I have ever seen was a 350 Rocket in an Olds wagon my parents had..... we had to pull the engine just to de sludge it as no oil could return to the pan from the tops of the heads. and the junkyard 318 that was in my 67 Cuda when I got it..... I pulled the intake and it was chock full all the way to the bottom of the intake. You couldnt even see the pushrods once the intake was pulled. That was the only 318 I have ever managed to blow up.

 

[volaredon]

oh and does the distributor in taht truck have a vacuum advance on it? Being an 87 it is probably lean burn, the computer is behind teh battery. Id definitely convert it to regular Mopar electronic ignition, real easy to do and chuck that computer in the garbage. Especially being as how youre putting a different cam into it!

 

[7mopar]

All that plastic gets sucked into the oil pickup screen. It may never bother.