2015-1989 = 26

oh [censored] but how can I say it's historic?

My grandfather bought it new in 89. He was a Korean war veteran. He left the truck to me and I fixed it up.

From http://law.justia.com/codes/california/2009/veh/5050-5052.html

"Special interest vehicle" is a vehicle of an age that is
unaltered from the manufacturer's original specifications and,
because of its significance, including, but not limited to, an
out-of-production vehicle or a model of less than 2,000 sold in
California in a model-year, is collected, preserved, restored, or
maintained by a hobbyist as a leisure pursuit.

Dodge does not make trucks anymore.

Nice! I'll have to apply for one!

So I've been ignoring the oil leak and just keeping an eye on the oil level. But I did check the oil sender and its not leaking. I think it has to be the rear main or the oil filter plate. I checked it out before install and it checked out straight and I added the extra holes. Maybe I bent it when I drilled the holes or something I forget what order I did things. And I've just got the EGR capped off so I can drive the truck.

I drove up to LA and while going up a steady incline on the freeway I ended up having to floor it and it would just barely keep up to 65mph. I've also been noticing for a while now that when I turn on the AC there it makes the lack of power worse, which makes sense. The added strain of the compressor. So I threw an ignition coil at it and that didn't help. It has a new cat, new muffler, ATF level is good. Not sure what else to try. Compression is normal and uniform. Fuel pressure was perfect when I checked it after replacing the injectors. And I think I remember checking it again for some reason and it's always been good. I could check it again. I should just put in a permanent gauge.

The other issue I'm having is while warming up the coolant will push past the radiator cap until the thermostat opens up, then it's all good. Not every time but it was every now and then. I replaced the fan clutch and I thought it had fixed it. New radiator, thermostat, cap, hoses, water pump, fan clutch.

This truck has had nothing but distilled water and coolant in the cooling system. My grandfather bought this truck and he was a mechanic so he kept great care of the engine with religious oil changes and nothing but distilled water and coolant in the cooling system. So I was very surprised when seemingly one day the coolant turned rust color. I have been keeping an eye on the fluid levels and it couldn't have been more than a week between the time I last checked the coolant when it was green. So I flushed the coolant and ran straight distilled water for a few days and the water did get a little bit cloudy but it seemed to not be getting worse. The same day I noticed the rust color I was having some coolant leaking on the floor of the cab. I knew I needed to replace the heater core years ago because I was getting fog out of the vents. So I got the part and never changed it because it wasn't leaking and it looks like a [censored]. So now that it is leaking I deleted it from the cooling system and will reconnect it when I get a chance to swap the heater core. So I assume the rust color came from the bad heater core right? Reason I'm not sure is because the coolant that was leaking into the cab was green.