Happy 20th Birthday - to my truck

[Joe Mc]

Here's the ol` Ruster back in late 70's. Still have it, but it's torn down to the point where only the rear glass remains in the shell. Doing metal work occasionally...

Those little primer spots along the lower quarter section turned into installation of a new lower quarter section and trunk extension. Need to do same thing on the right side then full AMD floor pan. From there it'll be connecting the sub frames, tubs, etc. etc....

 

[BillBaker]

[QUOTE="bill baker, Where did you get the rear cab window vents?... and can you open the window?

Bill, the window vents/shades are "RainGuards, Stick-On Sportgard" PN 48128 4 piece set they were $70 in 2015 and they allow the side back windows to fully pop open. They're the second set I've had since 01. Replaced with new when I had the truck painted a few years back.[/QUOTE]
I've been looking for a set to see what's available. WeatherTech has a nice in channel set but the side rear vents apply directly to the window and are just for looks/non-functional. Nice truck!...hope to get mine looking as pristine sooner or later.

 

[Joe Mc]

Thanks Bill, it took a great deal of work and $$$$$ to get it back to looking decent. The stick on ones aren't perfect in respect to fit at where the door A-pillar meets the side mirror, there's a slight part that doesn't quite sit down, maybe ¼" long where the mirror and door are I filled with black permatex so water didn't work in as you're going down the road. I thought about getting the "in channel" ones but when I found out the side windows weren't functional I went back to the old stick-ons.

 

[JKellis]

Pictures or it cannot be true

Finally got a sunny day to take some pics. Excuse the dirt!

 

[JKellis]

Pictures or it cannot be true

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

My '98.5 turned 20 last February 11th (it's almost 21). I have had it for almost 7 years. Love it a lot. It's a bit rare, being a Club Cab 24V, which is what I specifically wanted. At 244,000 miles the cab and chassis are still rock solid, nice and tight. My truck has been a bit of a bear the last year, though. It has always been reliable but suddenly it was one thing after another. Power seat died, alternator died, door locks became intermittent, my fairly expensive lift pump died, and then a bizarre starting problem surfaced a couple months ago. Also the original automatic transmission, which has always shifted perfectly, the TC suddenly started locking/unlocking like crazy. Really badly. Then it suddenly went away. Who knows.

I run Weld Evo 20 inch rims that took an ETERNITY to locate. They are 20x9.5" with +22 offset, which I wanted to keep them tucked inside the wheelwells. They were only produced for 2-3 years back around 2005, finding good ones now is almost impossible, but I like running 295/45/20s.

The other thing about my '98.5 it is the equal length tubular exhaust header. Contrary to popular belief it did not hurt low end performance one bit, but definitely helped higher end breathing. Also, it has been on for 90k miles and zero issues (I bought it used).

Lastly, I managed to install a CR Air Boss intake plenum on my truck. Since it's raised up and designed for the CR it took a little effort to install it, which meant bending some of the injector lines a bit and removing the fuel filter canister, which I was planning to do anyway. Did it make a noticeable difference in breathing? Not really, probably wasn't worth the cost and effort! That's the joy of BOMBing, I guess.