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Welding is on my bucket list. My dad's a good welder and he's offered to teach me. I just need to make the time to do it.

That's insane. Can you imagine the force it takes to remove an engine from a car, not to mention a cylinder head? Holy shit.

Rock Auto has a Dorman master/slave setup for pretty cheap. They carry a Luk version, but it's never in stock. I plan to install one of the new setups in the spring, when the weather warms up a bit. Even if it doesn't solve the issue, it won't hurt anything. The stud is fairly easy to get to, since ...

Instead of messing with the transmission some more, I decided to remove the orange and silver pinstripes that were on the driver's side of the truck. The passenger stripes had already been removed. I used my trusty Harbor Freight heat gun and went to town pulling the old stickers off. Before: https:...

Well, after a few more miles, the trans is still acting up quite a bit. I'm going to drive it some more before I bring it back to the shop again. I'm trying to pinpoint anything I'm doing that might be causing it to act up. It always seems to happen at red lights, for some reason. I can't get it to ...

I'm sorry to hear that, man. I've been through some rough shit lately as well and it definitely takes a mental toll. Hang in there.

I got the truck back last night. No drama on the way home and it seems to be shifting alright. I did notice a small bump in power without that third cat, which I wasn't expecting to be able to feel. That's fun. Overall, I'm hopeful that the issue has been resolved, despite the fact that no one could...

Yeah, those 14" R/T rims are pretty light. It should feel pretty good. Unsprung weight reduction is one of my favorite mods.

Looks good.

We rarely get much snow here. There have been a couple of years where we got a lot of snow, but they're incredibly rare. I'm hoping the OEM tires on my AWD Journey are up to the task if it does snow this year.

The hydraulics, fork, and pivot ball were all checked out and and okayed for reuse. There is no linkage on the transmission; it's all internal because the shifter mounts directly on top of the transmission. All of these things have been supposedly double-checked and they can't find anything wrong. I...

A couple of updates. The first is that the shop decided to pay to patch the pipe where the cat was cut out. That felt like a relief and it was the right thing to do. Second, no one at the shop can get the transmission to get stuck in neutral like I can; they can't find anything wrong with it. I find...

So get this. After I dropped the truck off last night, someone cut out and stole the catalytic converter from under the truck! This is officially the Cursed Dakota. Fortunately, it was a third, redundant cat that goes downstream from the O2 sensors, so it doesn't really matter. I still need to have ...

Whelp, back to the shop it goes. I hope it's just the hydraulics and not an issue with the transmission. We'll see.

It shifts like butter with the engine off and there's no pedal adjustment. It's a sealed hydraulic system like the Neon, so there's no way to bleed it. I'm hoping the new clutch is just a little thick and it'll wear down over time and loosen up some.

I don't know about pedal adjustment. I'll check the power off shifting today.

I finally got my truck back yesterday. No more rattling noises, which is nice. However, now it's really stiff. It's hard to put in gear and the clutch grabs right off the floor. It feels really different. I can get used to the clutch, but the shifting kind of sucks. It doesn't want to downshift very...

The fog surrounds are one piece. There are no separate fasteners to use. They hang on with molded-on clips. Sorry, I don't know the part numbers for anything.

I don't like quiet exhaust with a manual transmission. I prefer to hear the engine rev while shifting. I really need to open up the exhaust on my truck.

I like Luk clutches. I put a Luk PT clutch in my R/T. It felt like a stock clutch but held up to my abuse like a pro. I bought a Luk flywheel for my truck, too.

Fog light surrounds just clip in place from the front. The mesh uses push-in fasteners from the rear. You probably have to remove the front cover to get all of them.

My parents' Patriot has the four cylinder with CVT. It's frustrating to drive. It seems to constantly be "shifting gears" at inopportune times. It makes accelerating difficult. I'd be curious to try out the Subaru CVT, since it's supposed to be one of the best units out there.

They made those CF covers in both SOHC and DOHC versions. Crazy rare pieces. They were something like $350 new, but almost no one bought them at the time.

Nice find. Good price, too. These things are very uncommon. I believe the shop that's fixing the truck already sourced a replacement here, on the west coast. It actually costs far less to just replace the thing than it does to rebuild it, apparently. Kind of crazy.

Or the old school cars I would see growing up, with house speakers sitting in the back seat (or back window) wired to the stereo, but not mounted to the car. Talk about projectiles. So sketchy.

Good thing it's an auto. With any sort of performance, a good launch would shoot that HU onto the floor.

Soooooo I guess the transmission needs a rebuild. I'm not surprised, since the sound it was making didn't sound like a throwout bearing at all. Bad internal bearings. I can't wait until they quote me a price for the rebuild. Fun times.

Well, I dropped the truck off at the shop last night. It's going to get a new clutch kit, flywheel, and rear main seal replaced. Let's hope I can afford to pick it up when they're done! It's a good shop that's really close to home. They quoted me half what another shop quoted me and they're much fri...

New tail lights! No more ricer garbage!

Can anyone read this without getting a huge headache? Learn how to use some fucking punctuation.