So if I promise to wash my underwear and brush my teeth will someone post in this forum ? Feels like Area 51 and The Twilight Zone here. .

Doesn't this post belong on the H.A.M.B.?

So, old Ray, how did you come out with that 92 Dakota fuel pump and locking ring?
The last I read, you were on prototype #3 but you was still working on it?

Maybe you need to post an update?

Has been real quiet here of late. I better get busy upon retiring this coming Friday, complete my kitchen remodel, so I can dive into my 56 C3 on my 2001 Dakota chassis project.

That would bring new life to this section.

kitchen remodels suck. We had our kitchen done a few years ago. The ordered cabinets came in and the guy (not me) had them in in about 2 days. Then we had to wait for 8 weeks for the custom length counter top. The guy got the counter top installed and the new flooring shortly after the counter top came in. My wife is still happy with the kitchen, life is good.

Thanks Gene. Yes, I will do that.
Some of it I kind of slipped into my last post but not the whole story.
I lost my best friend of 12 years last month (my Boarder Collie) and I having trouble getting motivated but each day gets a little better.
I was in the shop this morning for four hours but it is Winter here and that means I have to go down in the dark to turn the heat on a hour before I go.
I have a hobby (meaning nonprofit) used book store that I open in the afternoon.

This is the reason I stopped posting here. Went over to the HAMB

I'm on both the HAMB and here.

I really like the "Off Topic" section of the HAMB, but it isn't nearly as active as the main section is. The stuff I build seems to fit in on that off topic section then it does any place else.

Agree, however seems the good ole boys that are stuck on traditional can’t tolerate some topics that make our cars safer to drive such as disk brake conversions, power steering etc. There seems to be more pilot houses posted on the HAMB.

They will delete anything newer than 1966 as I recall. This picture really ticks them off. Car is too gnu.

Very sorry to hear about you losing your buddy. Lost my boy Blue half Australian Shepard and half Poodle last March. Still not over it. It is tough losing such a good friend.

They will delete modern stuff on the Traditional part of the board in a heartbeat for sure.

A few months ago, Ryan added an "Off Topic" section, and it is pretty much open to most things automotive. There are even threads like: "Mopar or No Car" or "A body Mopar, or "Funny Cars" or "You don't hate the GM LS motor enough yet" or "Street Freaks of the 70s", or "What off topic project are you working on" that have been going on for months! Go to the HAMB, opening post, scroll down to the Off Topic or Antiquated sections, and have a look at the Off Topic section! It will make you wonder if you are really on the HAMB board!

Facebook absorbed so many people it's crazy.
I'm finishing up my 40 and I have a guy who wants to swap a 39 Dodge Coupe for a 1967 Charger I own..
Oh. MY kitchen is apart too!!!!!!!

I like to come here for the 'Mopar only' content. Too damn many shiverlay threads on the Hamb and yes, I have been there for 20 years or more.
The off-topic section is nice but too much bs and not enough build action.

Yea, like there is no BS here and everything is all build action?

I"m really at the point of wondering really how many guys are actually building things these days. With the cost of everything going crazy, money getting tight, and all the craziness going on, how many builds have not stalled out, or at least slowed way down?

Then lets add that Mopar has not been making it easy to keep things Mopar for a long time. I've been building Mopar only stuff for a long time, but I had a lot of good stuff saved back. That stash of stuff is pretty much gone, another build would require buying almost everything needed, if I could find what I wanted. The guys that have saved the good stuff want to keep it for themselves, or expect to get rich because they have it. Mopar quit building the last decent motors nearly 20 years ago, and that was only a 318/360. The latest motors that could have been considered has had reliability issues. The future looks to be worse.

I would run a Gen2 Hemi no problem, good aftermarket heads and MDS delete lifters.Lots of power and reliable.
I'm building more lately, not less. lol I'm up to 16 cars, getting packed in here!

The point was, back when Chrysler was building real motors, you didn't have to buy aftermarket heads to have reliable motors. You may have bought aftermarket heads to make more power, but not to have a reliable motor. You also didn't have to buy wiring harnesses, reprogrammed computers, or intakes, carbs and ignitions that cost more then the motor cost, to get something reliable.

I know of at least 4 guys that have stalled projects, waiting for parts, or money for the next parts, or just lost the desire to move forward.

I'm happy to hear your still building, but I suspect more are not then there are that are still building.

Sadly, you make good points. I too know of several stalled works-in-progress. Money is often the issue, especially with those of us retired since whatever our retirement accounts or investment accounts pay each month is not usually subject to change. I'll take some of that back...the investments have been hurt the last 4 years in that the inflation has cut the value of the money we get. Yup, a pay cut.
Like you, I have held back some of the good stuff but now find the inflated value tells me to sell some just to stay in the game a little longer. Besides, If I die tomorrow then I get nothing and my wife sells to the next guy at whatever offer is made. So, what's a guy to do?

I used to be on the H A M B and GJ but i gave up.

and yes the prices of stuff even used or even crappy Hong Kong Phooey sourced parts has gotten beyond stupid.

he11, I'm working on a pair of 80s Dodge trucks, a D150 and a D250 not even really "old" and I'm having problems.
I can't even find gas tank straps for the D250. but for a phucking Shivvy or Furd of the same age? they're literally growing on trees. I'm gonna have to make my own. I see them listed for the later square bodies, AKA when the Cummins option started. but nobody can give me a yes/no as to whether those will fit the earlier 80s trucks of the same series.
I still gotta get up Gene's way for those parts he, his son, and I were talking about. But the temps have to get to at least double what they've been, (double what they've been, would only be ~40-45* for those keeping track but definitely above freezing. at least)
in the meantime I'm making UPS and the USPS rich if nothing else..... I bought a bell housing and flywheel on MP out of Ohio that gotta wait til I make my yearly run out there "anyway" luckily I had a buddy that happens to live in that town pick them up and hang on to them for me til then... still had to pay 4x the price for the same parts listed 40 miles away that fit a Shivvy and the same tranny.....
I can't believe what people are demanding for interior parts for a 40 yo pickup even.... and every single one of those parts, used. I went on an all day wild goose chase to the middle of Iowa a month ago for left overs of 2 other guys' dives into the world of Dodge trucks... I came home with a 8' truck bed load loaded tight to the tonneau, but doesn't seem like I really "got" much..... but it cost me plenty for what I did get/// and that was before the camera generated speeding ticket from somewhere around Cedar rapids..... I ain't familiar enough with the area to even know where I was.....

The last 2 years I went looking for parts down at the ICH show, when I only had 1, 80s truck project going... 2 years ago there was a bunch, last year very little. but just to drive down and what they want just to enter the building PLUS they double charge (parking too) makes it almost not worth going anymore. (ive been going for longer than these last 2 years)
First swap of year is Feb 9, its smaller but closer, all Mopar, and free to get in.... I've done pretty well there the last few years. Be nice if I can find the mate to the NOS Magnum bare head I got last year even for double what I got the first one for a year ago. I dont want to put 1 new and 1 used/refurbished head on this engine..... paid $25 for the one I found last year. I paid more for the used but proven not cracked one, that I got later in the year to possibly mate up to it...

when this is all said and done Im gonna probably have to set up at one or the other as a seller, and get my "refund" on my leftovers.... and hope they haven't fallen to pennies on the dollar vs what I had to pay when I was (am currently) looking and buying.....

But daily at work I deal with NLA parts for 10-15 yo Shivvys and Furds already. Which is partly why Im redoing a pair of 40-ish year trucks... there's so much they never even had, got by fine without, that newer vehicles wont function without..... its not even funny.
and being out on the roads it doesnt seem like were even IN the USA anymore with what brands of vehicles our current roads are infested with.... Motor trend TV had a run of a show I hadn't seen before, several episodes in a row of (forgot the show name) a show that shows what people in Cuba go thru just to keep a car going... I hadnt really thought about it prior, but I feel like any one of us here in this thread, that show could just as well been about us..... it fit what we now have to go thru.

Sometimes it's nice when you can buy new underwear with the brown and yellow color spectrum ALREADY in them. Saves one the trouble of adding them plus out of the package you know that yellow is front and brown is the back.