I have "Inherited " this 94 Dakota from the late Drunk Phil who was a professor ( I believe at Mercer) and a full time alcoholic. Short story is another friend was drinking buddies with hum and bought an 02 Trailblazer from his widow. She threw the Dakota in for obvious reasons.
Anyway, we got a 94 model with the 2.5 4 banger and 5 speed. Same AMC engine that used to be in all the 4 cylinder Wranglers. As can be seen the driver side door sags pretty bad. And the oil filter/ housing is stripped. When I opened the hood the filter had duct tape wrapped around it for whatever reason. I grabbed it and felt a dent in the filter. I'm guessing someone as in Drunk Phil drove a screw driver through it to try to get the filter off and it didn't work. So I know I need a new oil pump not to mention battery and tires.
Gonna pick this thing up in Macon later this week and get it back to the shop. Then we will make the call on if it lives or dies. This is the best looking body style for the Dakota in my opinion. I'd rather have the V8 engine but if I did it would probably have a bad transmission by now. There's just not that much to go bad on this base model truck. So I'm making it a project ( pending inspection) for my 13 year old daughter. I think 3 years is plenty of time to get it halfway right. And aside from mechanical stuff that needs to be done at the shop we can do everything else here in the back yard. Grille, headlights, door and hinges etc. It's a good opportunity for a youngun to learn basic mechanics and bodywork. Cause hey you never know what they're gonna like.
Anyway, we got a 94 model with the 2.5 4 banger and 5 speed. Same AMC engine that used to be in all the 4 cylinder Wranglers. As can be seen the driver side door sags pretty bad. And the oil filter/ housing is stripped. When I opened the hood the filter had duct tape wrapped around it for whatever reason. I grabbed it and felt a dent in the filter. I'm guessing someone as in Drunk Phil drove a screw driver through it to try to get the filter off and it didn't work. So I know I need a new oil pump not to mention battery and tires.
Gonna pick this thing up in Macon later this week and get it back to the shop. Then we will make the call on if it lives or dies. This is the best looking body style for the Dakota in my opinion. I'd rather have the V8 engine but if I did it would probably have a bad transmission by now. There's just not that much to go bad on this base model truck. So I'm making it a project ( pending inspection) for my 13 year old daughter. I think 3 years is plenty of time to get it halfway right. And aside from mechanical stuff that needs to be done at the shop we can do everything else here in the back yard. Grille, headlights, door and hinges etc. It's a good opportunity for a youngun to learn basic mechanics and bodywork. Cause hey you never know what they're gonna like.
