@bwp240 progress on the vitals. all good.

@old-busted-hotness For a long time my only car was my chevelle with manual drums at all four corners. Any time I drove someone else's car I'd about go through the windshield the first couple stops.

@bwp240
Rear ABS only uses a tone ring in the rear diff with a speed sensor on top of the diff. There's a module in the passenger kick panel IIRC. 4 wheel ABS has tone rings on the front hubs too. The only sign under the hood is if you have 4 wheel ABS is there is a hydraulic manifold/module next to the master cylinder IIRC. But you shouldn't as that was an option on 94(???) up - pretty sure it coincided with the CHMSL tailgate light. For rear ABS, there should be a valve on the inner driver frame rail (with pigtail harness) near the frame axle kickup. There is a bleeder on it that looks like this

a2c79954-dba6-47a3-bad6-91032d98397f-image.png

Notice the bleeder on it as well for bleeding upstream of the wheel cylinder (I think, it's been wayyy too long) as opposed to at the wheel cylinders which is for wheel cylinder replacements, but it's good to bleed both as you have no brakes... I don't think it's the MC that's the problem btw. Early Dakota rear ABS is pretty not great. If you pull the tone ring (or just unplug the top sensor) you'll get an ABS and brake light, but it will default to "standard" brakes sans ABS.

@rallydarkstrike Rust is why I spent $175 for a PPI. A big part of not fucking things up is knowing what you don't know, finding someone who does, and asking them what's up. Shop said the car was rust free and I will work diligently to keep it that way.

@bwp240
This is a great lesson on being able to see the big picture before making the call. Thanks for sharing before we all dive into our projects for the weekend.

@zipfuel if it were $500. buy it, otherwise CP

@bwp240 said in How It Started...:

Here is a brief summary of where we left off.

It doesn’t work.

Ha man you had me there.

@otto The ideal build would be leave as much patina as possible and swap to a 6.2 or 6.5 diesel purely for nostalgia (since it would definitely not help value). In the near term I may level the ride a bit, but overall just planning to get it safe and drivable in the Houston summer (i.e. fix the AC).

@bwp240 said in This is Single-Handedly the Dumbest Thing I Have Ever Done…:

There were 12 2.5L 4 cylinder Dakotas made in 1990. All 2wd with a 5-speed.

That would earn unicorn status.

@mm54 Yep.

As much guff as people give the Mirage, it really is an Oppo car. It's lightweight, has variable valve timing, and is good at what it was intended to do.

@chariotoflove said in "Those Lexus commercials are so unrealistic, nobody buys a car for Christmas":

@g_body_man
So you bought yourself some garage “me” time for Christmas. How thoughtful of you!

This should be a December to remember.

Honestly, the garage "me" time will be dedicated to swapping the diff bushings in my mate's Mk2 Supra before his child arrives into this world. That being said, expect some interesting garage-related developments soon.

@urambo-tauro said in Improvements & Fixes - Saturday Shenanigans:

@powershiftmatt I have a bad habit of looking at pics before reading text... the red wire going to ground had me worried for a second there!

Haha yeah red is a unique color for a ground but I chose it for the old school vibe and theme I have in mind