Jim McBride

Name:

Jim McBride

Location:

Las Vegas, Nevada

Email Address:

jtmcnet@gmail.com

Home Page:

http://www.visitinc.net

Other Home Pages:

http://www.visitinc.net

Description of the other pages:

Company I want to devote time to...someday

Age:

42

Other Vehicles:

'71 SAAB Sonett
'97 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-9R
'97 Schwinn Moab 2 (a bicycle; as much money as an old SAAB)
'01 Ford Escape 4x4 (wife's car)

Previous Vehicles:

First car - '76 Mazda RX4 - too fast for it's own good.
Learned to drive using my parents 1957 __DODGE__ D100 PU.
College car - '80 Plymouth Champ, with the 4x2 'TwinStick'
transmission. Two speeds reverse comes in handy in Montana
snow drifts!

Other hobbies:

Skiing, Mountain Biking, Shooting - Guns and Cameras

Occupation:

Working for IT department on the Yucca Mountain Project.

Comments:

I _USE_ my truck. Put about 20K a year on it, take it off-road, but try to keep it looking nice enough to take my wife to the movies. It's been a good truck. I now have over 275k real miles on it.

Finally opened the engine for a new timing chain at 135k. I had the automatic transmission overhauled at about 90k, and again at around 240k miles. I welded some cracks in the frame at about 200k (result of off-road abuse - the long wheelbase is not meant for that).

I figure on overhauling the whole drivetrain. I hear Mother MOPAR has capacity to make two or three times as many new HEMI engines as expected vehicles to put them in, so I expect to volunteer to drop a crate motor in my old Dak. I can do a whole lot of work to it for less than the cost of a new vehicle, and car taxes are a lot cheaper for old vehicles.

I'm about to have the entire front suspension (ball joints, A-arm bushings, etc) rebuilt (275k miles).

Year:

1993

Drivetrain:

4x4

Engine:

V8 - 318ci

Transmission:

Automatic

Designation:

SLT+

Body:

Club Cab

Options:

Super LE package, Tow Package, Anti-Lock Brakes (4-channel),
Infinity sound. (Now a Pioneer CD/MP3 deck.)

Additional info:

I've hauled an honest 2000 lbs in it (have the recycling scale receipts to prove it), have gone some incredible places with it, and driven home in pretty remarkable comfort.

Happy customer, I guess.

Mileage:

275000

Completed modifications:

K&N Filtercharger (stock replacement)
TCI hi-stall torque converter.
Cat-back exhaust, with 1-into-2 Flowmaster.
31x10.5-15 tires on stock (6-inch) rims. Yes, it works. Accel coil
Hella Fog Lights
Off-road utility box with bicycle mounts.

Modifications in progress:

Transfer case overhaul to include 4:1 ratio, slip-yoke replaced with fixed-yoke output shaft.

Planned modifications:

Electric Fan conversion.
Additional skid plates.
Custom Receiver-Hitch bumpers F/R.
Port/Polish Heads, rebuild 318 to 340 Magnum!! or new HEMI.

If money were no object:

Complete Engine Blueprint, with '96 roller rockers,
oversize forged pistons, for 340 cid [might have to start
with a 360 block, I understand].

Distributorless ignition.
Custom engine management computer (68332-based).
Twin-turbo (only 5-7 lbs boost) for high-altitude performance.

Additional modification comments:

I've thought about a custom paint scheme similar to a Dodge
show vehicle I saw - color "splashes" from the wheel wells.
For this truck - light green splashes on the Emerald Green
metallic body color.

Truck needs new paint...
..clear coat and/or color coat started to peel in 1999, so I recoated hood and roof using body shop-mixed rattle cans. Temporary fix has lasted until now (2005).

Horsepower:

230 (published info)

0 to 60:

10 (estimate)

Top speed:

125 (estimate)

Performance comments:

My Ninja can out-accelerate, out-brake, out-turn, and go
faster than any Dakota I've heard of - and gets 40 mpg.
On the other hand, the Dakota can carry the Ninja, the
Ninja can pretty much just carry me.
Ninja no like DIRT!