Labor Day morning was pretty much the same as the two previous, as I was the first up, was showered, and outside before anyone else was moving. I decided to remove the 750 DP from The Belvedere and give it a once over. Much like the 950 on the Valiant, I wanted to record all the particulars, and have a good baseline tune-up in the books.
The activity in the back yard actually ramped up quicker than I expected though, as Boone showed up fairly early, then Mom and Dad arrived. Dale also got around at a pretty good hour for him, and it looked like a productive day might be on tap.
"Did you get an order in?" I asked Dale, as he ambled over to help Boone with the Barnyard. Apparently breaking in the new cam was the first order of business.
"Yeah, finally", he shook his head.
"Did you get wheels?"
"Yep, rear wheels for the Dakota, and a new steering wheel on the way."
"What did he settle for?" I couldn't help myself, I had to know.
"15 X 14 Billet Specialties Double Bead Locks...to go with the 33 X 18.50 MT Et Streets we ordered last week." he laughed.
"Oh dear Lord!" I gasped, "He's going to have more in rolling stock than he paid for the whole dang truck!"
"Yeah, pretty much..." He cut off more comments as Dad walked over, and poking fun at his golden child would not put him in good mood.
"I guess Darren wants me to start on the interior", Dad gestured toward the Dakota, "He said something about some dynamat and carpet?"
"Dad, all Darren bought was some sound deadener, I think he's planning on using the dynamat and carpet you bought for your car!" Dale laughed.
"Sounds about right", Dad shook his head, "He's already got my billet torque converter, and my ignition box." He headed off towards his trailer to retrieve his parts to put in Darren's truck.
"Why is Darren using Dad's converter? I thought he pulled the 727 out of the Charger."
"Yeah", Dale looked at me sheepishly, "He didn't think the converter in the Charger would have worked behind that 499, so he begged Dad to let him use the billet 9 inch".

I went over and helped Dad, as the Barnyard's 508 fired to life for the first time. I didn't really want to work on the Dakota, but I figured if I wanted to visit with the old man, that was the price to pay. I sprayed the raw steel floor section with etching primer, as Dad tried to tape off the holes with some aluminum tape that looked thinner than foil.
"I've got some of the thick stuff in my truck Pops, let me bring that to you." I offered.
"Yeah, I guess, this junk has 3M written on it, but it's useless!"
As I walked by the Barnyard, Dale yelled at Boone to shut it down. "We've got one header turning red, before the rest".
"Did you ever dial in those twin 750s the way the Mopar Bible tells you to?" I poked Dale in the ribs.
"Someday, I'll get to that!" he smiled, then laughed.
Pops was happy with the tape I had and soon the floorboard started to come together, and he was ready to put down some dynamat. Boone and Dale had wrapped up the Barnyard break-in procedure, and took the truck for a test drive.
"There went my dynamat helper!" Dad exclaimed, "I'll wait until Boone gets back, he's real good at getting it to lay down smooth".
"Well then, what next?"
"Need to pull the pedals out, the chassis guy moved the throttle pedal over too far to clear that new tunnel, and now it's practically under the brake pedal."
"Geez, Dad", I shook my head, "That's going backwards, we're supposed to be putting the thing together not taking more stuff off!"
"Well", his face started turning red, "You can't drive the darn thing with both feet on top of each other!"
"Fine, fine, we'll pull the pedals out..." I resigned myself to the inevitable.