As the progress is moving forward, the big things were captured on film, but pretty much daily, little things were also going on. As we progress through this build, some of the pictures are not accurate for the events going on, but may better illustrate things that I feel need to be explained.

The progress of the build had a specific plan, and the time frames were pretty tight. This build was very unusual in that there the biggest loss of progress was waiting for parts. During those days that meant the parts would be here the week after they were ordered. Very little time was lost waiting for parts, because there was so much that had to be done, the work would just shift to a different part of the project. The things that normally get in the way of a build progress were just non-existent. The biggest usual problem, the money, was taken care of when the 39 pickup sold. The next biggest problem, the time to work, was taken care of, I had just retired. The next biggest problem was equipment and work space, again, I'd just retired, my welding shop and everything in it was available. There were a few distractions because of commitments, or helping a few friends, but those were pretty limited to a week or two of lost time, and some of that was because sometimes I just needed a break from this truck to refresh.

The nature of my shop is that there was more work space and better lighting if whatever I was working on was near the garage door. If need be, I could put stuff outside to have more work space. That would mean if i wanted to work on the front of the truck, the front end needed to be towards the garage door, but if I needed to work on the rear of the truck, the rear end needed to be towards the garage door. Once you get about 10' out of my garage, the driveway goes up hill slightly. If the truck doesn't move under its own power, you either push it up the hill, or you hook a chain on it and pull it up the hill. The driveway is 88' long, and 19' wide. The highest point in the drive is at the mid point of its length, then it goes down hill to the street (or down hill towards the garage), about a 4' total drop in either direction. That high point in the driveway is about even with the front of my house, which sits about 4' from the the east edge of the driveway. On the west side of the driveway is 75' of fairly level yard, but there is a transition between the cement drive and the grass. You do not easily push a vehicle over that transition. A 19' wide wide driveway is not quite wide enough to turn a vehicle around without jockeying it around a few times. What all this translates to is, getting the truck to move under its own power was a pretty high priority.

I used the 96 EFI system, so there are a bunch of wires that runs forward of the firewall for all the lighting and engine electronics, a computer to support, and an under hood fuse box. The Dakota also mounted the battery under the hood, something there is little room for where you could get access to. There was also new brake lines to run, brake hoses to replace, and brakes to rebuild. I needed new fuel lines, exhaust, and I had to shorten the drive shaft. Then inside of the cab there is a steering column to mount, an instrument cluster to mount, the heat/ac to refresh the heater core and the evaporator (If I might want AC in the future). There is a very large bundle of wiring that goes across the dash, a fuse box to mount and that other computer to mount. I needed to connect the steering, the trans shift linkage, and figure out how to get a functioning brake pedal in the cab. Then I needed a seat, and a way to open the truck door from inside. All that before the truck would be able move under its own power. Much of the wiring was able hang from zip ties until I could have something more permanent to mount it to, if I have something to zip tie to. Much of this stuff was temporally attached so the truck could move on its own and was addressed at a later date as a larger, more sweeping updated modification took place.
Then, there was no glass at all in the truck (glass and just the rubber around it is $1000, but fortunately all of it was available new!) Nothing inside of the doors functioned except one outside door handle (the other outside handle sort of worked). With all the exposed computers and wiring, this meant that the truck couldn't really sit outside very long, threatening weather would have been a disaster.

If anyone is interested, I took pictures of how I shortened the drive shaft. I've done a bunch of this in my shop over the years, and have never had a problem, but I know there would be those that would whine it wasn't done correctly. That is OK, most of them already don't approve of this project. I'll drive mine, they can seek perfection for their ride. Gene