Restoration: Dodge — Part 16

By: Lyndsay Whittle, Photography by: Lyndsay Whittle

Date: 30.08.2023

Following the summer that never arrived in Auckland, the poor old Dodge didn’t get the attention it might have received during the warmer months

The first time up the driveway in 15 months

The fact that the truck has been sitting outside for such a long time has prompted a major rethink on the way forward with the restoration.

Because the truck is much taller than any of my previous restorations, there wasn’t anywhere big enough to store it inside.

Initially, I didn’t consider this to be much of a problem because, in the early stages of the restoration, the vehicle was going to be in a state where it was stripped down to bare bones, so I reckoned I’d be able to place covers over the unit when it was raining.

I figured that by getting myself underway during what had been a particularly dry summer, I’d be able to get the early work done over autumn, winter, and spring, and then be ready for painting over the long hot days of summer.

It’s taken a long time to get to this point

Now, we all know yours truly is not the sharpest of individuals, and even I know that the sun doesn’t always shine (especially in Auckland), so I was prepared to have some downtime due to weather-related issues, but I wasn’t counting on having the worst summer in living memory.

Don’t be hyper-dramatic

The smoke from the stack proves that it’s moving under its own steam

This naivety on my part has left us having to deal with a situation whereby much of the work carried out so far will have to be redone, hence the project has been put back by at least two months.

It would be hyper-dramatic to say that the entire job will have to be reworked but previous work such as removing the front axle and reinstating the original suspension set-up fortunately won’t have to be revisited.

Looking back, that was a huge task — one which wasn’t contemplated when initially evaluating the task ahead. This took up a couple of months of storyline alone, so I’m glad to have that behind us.

Also, the cleaning and painting of the underside of the cab has mostly been unaffected by the elements, so once again, we don’t have that to worry about. With those two examples of good news been told, we now turn our attention to the not-so-good items on the agenda.

The clutch is sorted

Having recently had no end of problems in getting the hydraulic side of the air-assisted clutch working, my inherent clumsiness and ongoing mechanical ineptitude have created an unholy mess inside the cab. We all know what brake fluid does to paintwork, don’t we?

The result of this is it will have to be rectified next. Fortunately, the clutch is now working perfectly so that’s another job kicked into touch.

Starting up the truck

Backing up three to four weeks, I felt I was almost ready to get the truck ready to be shifted to a covered area, and there were only a few things that were preventing this from happening.

I’ll list them for brevity: The battery was probably stuffed because some idiot hadn’t kept it charged. The engine had sat idle for 15 months. Would it start, and just as importantly, would it have oil pressure?

I couldn’t even get it past the first base by gaining the hydraulic side of things. The rear brakes were locked solid — and I mean SOLID. As the dash wasn’t currently fitted to the truck, we hooked up an oil pressure gauge in preparation for starting up the old truck.

Thinking that the battery didn’t have a hope in hades of starting the engine, I hooked up a jump pack to the existing battery. To everyone’s surprise, it started on the first compression.

It probably wouldn’t have done that if it was a petrol engine; the bonus was that we had good oil pressure. First base had been well and truly cleared and we were on our way to what looked like it was going to be a winning streak. Fantastic!

To add icing to the cake, the battery that had been on charge overnight was perfectly capable of starting the truck all on its own — a great benefit I might add, as there wouldn’t have been much change out of $600 for a new one, I expect.

Sorting those brakes

As we all know, when things are going well, your luck is about to run out real soon — it did, and quite spectacularly I might add. There were only two items to clear before the truck could finally go under cover: the clutch that we already know about and, of course, the brakes.

Having sorted the clutch and all that nasty brake fluid, which gets on everything, especially when you’re as clumsy as I am, we could turn our attention to the brakes.

Being a full air system (something I’ve never encountered in a restoration sense), I was completely out of my depth once again with the only obvious advantage being that this time, I wouldn’t be at any risk of spilling brake fluid and ruining any of my previous work.

I’m going to pause the story here to say that by that stage, I was feeling disenchanted with myself and was truly considering not only giving up on this current restoration but also giving up restorations altogether, so I phoned the Ed to tell him so.

I expected him to agree with me, citing that his readers were getting sick and tired of my inaction and adding insult to injury by showing photos of the truck sitting in the same position for months on end.

Well for a start, I wasn’t afforded any sympathy, Instead, I was called a "crybaby". Moreover, I could sense the level of glee at the receiving end of the phone.

It was like being given an electric shock. It took our editor’s complete lack of empathy to point out that what I’m doing here is not simply restoring old trucks; it was showing others that you don’t need to create showroom pieces when doing a restoration.

In fact, it all goes to prove that if anyone as inept as this goober is can get there in the end, smarter people can do it, too, only with a whole lot less effort.

While it could be said that the Ed’s tact in this instance was inversely proportional to his wisdom, I’d been given the kick up the rear end I needed to stop whining, get up and carry on, hence the ‘inspiration from an unusual source’ I mentioned in last month’s issue.

Back on the job at hand and all we needed to get the truck rolling was to sort out those brakes. It’s obvious from the photos accompanying this story that it’s something that was eventually achieved — a good story for Part 17 next month I reckon.