New guy here

[DeMoN-HeMi]

well i just bought me a 1989 Mighty Max from a friend of mine, it runs and drives, i literally bought it yesterday, it runs and drives (does need work) the body is straight, virtually no dents and its currently in primer, it needs a bumper and grill to have the body complete and i cant wait to roll it into my shop and start working on it and making it into something nice

[geezer101]

Hi and welcome to mightyram. It is refreshing to have a new member whose first post doesn't contain "I just got a mighty max and it's not running...etc" but even if it wasn't running, that's what this site is for. You got big plans to customise it or are you ready to hit it with a few coats of paint and go? Check the build threads for inspiration, there has been some pretty sweet work put into some of the projects here and there are no limits other than what you can put into it. Post pics and get a build thread going once you gain some traction. :thumbup:

[DeMoN-HeMi]

thanks, no this thing runs, it needs work of course, clutch needs to be replaces and im gona tear the motor down and go through it, but it will start up and run till you tell it to stop, its not my big project at the moment but it will eventually be built into a full show truck, im currently finishing up one build and about a 1/4 of the way in another, im very big in building custom trucks and ive always wanted to build a mini truck and this one will be it, and ill post pix soon

[Law Dog]

Welcome!~

[BradMph]

Welcome to the forum :)

[jamesw]

Welcome to the forum post pics if you have them

[DeMoN-HeMi]

here she is, i have her in the back of my shop, im currently working on one of my other trucks and cant have 2 of my toys taking up customer real-estate lol.


she aint pretty, but she runs and drives and the body is straight and the interior is in good shape

20065

[geezer101]

A grille and a straight front bar, it'll be road ready. Even the tires look like they've got plenty of meat on them. Wonder what plans the PO had lined up...

[DeMoN-HeMi]

A grille and a straight front bar, it'll be road ready. Even the tires look like they've got plenty of meat on them. Wonder what plans the PO had lined up...

I partner with a shop, there are 3 of us that run it, and the PO is a friend of one of my partners, he was just going to paint it and drive it as is, he was pretty much just using it to get to work and back and save some MPG, and brought it to the shop for a tune up because its running a little rough, i saw it, made him a cheap offer and he took it

[geezer101]

...and you get crazy with it and he'll be kicking himself :grin:

[DeMoN-HeMi]

brought the ole max up to the front of the shop and messed with it for a little bit, only damage is the rear pass side quarter on the bed but thats an easy fix, drove a few laps around the block at the shop and then pulled it up and started doing a tune up on her and after a plug swap she started running pretty good and then ran out of gas, lol, so thats where i stopped...

and the stuff running down the tailgate is penetrating oil to make the tailgate open and shut better

[jamesw]

thanks for posting the pics

[royster]

Indeed, thanks for posting the photos. We're always asking for photos, but I wonder if we thank people enough when they DO post.

You might do well to access the tailgate hardware by removing the panel in the tailgate...if the screws aren't too rusty.

[DeMoN-HeMi]

Indeed, thanks for posting the photos. We're always asking for photos, but I wonder if we thank people enough when they DO post.

You might do well to access the tailgate hardware by removing the panel in the tailgate...if the screws aren't too rusty.

absolutely, this was just a quick once over on the truck and a kind of getting to know my new project, i had taken a break from my other project to toy with this one for a bit, good sign is that the plugs when removed were all very clean, they were old and very used but showed me that the cylinders were all burning evenly and there was nothing other than the usual build up of carbon on the plugs, soon ill be able to crack into it more and then ill have plenty of pictures...

i did order one of my favorite mods for mini trucks and that is the 100% clear tail lights, ever since i was a kid i loved that look so i had to get me some for this thing

[DeMoN-HeMi]

my clear lenses came in!

20081

[royster]

Always a great day when your parts arrive :)

[pennyman1]

put a good coat of clear on them to prevent them from hazing out

[DeMoN-HeMi]

Well for anyone curious, i got my clutch unstuck and got to drive the truck around for a little bit finally, next i did a compression check on the motor and had 120 psi on cyl 1, 30 psi on cyl 2/3 and 150 psi on cyl 4...

so i said screw it and did added some "restore" to the engine along with some new oil and after about a hour of driving around the motor got about 75% smoother, it was pretty amazing to see this stuff actually work, not to mention driving that truck for an hour just put the biggest smile on my face lol

[geezer101]

Do you know what the deal was with the clutch being frozen and what did you do to get it operational again? (helpful tip for members who might run into the same or similar issues) With your clear tail lights - are you using coloured bulbs or something like LED inserts? (you KNOW we're going to ask for pics lol) Nice work on getting it on the road, bet it was a blast :thumbup:

[85Ram50]

Save all parts you remove. The secondary market is tight for OE stuff.
Thanks for the pics.

[tortron]

@ Geezer
Frozen clutch will just be from sitting. Some cars are real bad for it (hillman hunters seem to do it if you leave them for more than a week)

Easy to free them. Assuming your truck does run and stop.
1- gear in neutral, start the truck and let it warm up for 10 mins
2- Turn off engine, pump the brakes a few times and hold them down
3. press down the clutch and turn the starter (this often frees it up just from the warm engine and jolt of the starter)
4- if still stuck, hold down the clutch and jab the throttle a few times


if its real stuck you can take it to an empty road and in low gear get it rolling then stab the throttle a few times with the clutch pressed

[trashnomancer]

Tortron, full of great information as usual.

Troupe shows up in the order expected. You guys kick tail.

Not much to add.

The Restore stuff seems to get good results according to "project farm" on youtube. He just did his one year review of restore in his tractor. Seems to do real good. Would love to hear some negatives. Seems to make sense on the cylinder, but I worry about the crank bearings and others getting overstuffed. Wish he treated it, drained it, and ran it with unmodified oil for the rest of the year... But oh well... Got to work with what you got. Expect your project will move faster then mine. Good luck and best luck!

[pennyman1]

I have been running Geronimo with Restore for years - it really does work. Its not a permanent fix, but a good solution to run with until you are ready to overhaul the motor. Rislone is what I also add to keep things clean - old solutions for older motors...

[DeMoN-HeMi]

@ Geezer
Frozen clutch will just be from sitting. Some cars are real bad for it (hillman hunters seem to do it if you leave them for more than a week)

Easy to free them. Assuming your truck does run and stop.
1- gear in neutral, start the truck and let it warm up for 10 mins
2- Turn off engine, pump the brakes a few times and hold them down
3. press down the clutch and turn the starter (this often frees it up just from the warm engine and jolt of the starter)
4- if still stuck, hold down the clutch and jab the throttle a few times


if its real stuck you can take it to an empty road and in low gear get it rolling then stab the throttle a few times with the clutch pressed


I worked on the clutch before the motor so the truck didn't have enough ass to really do any of the on road tricks, so what we did was jack the rear of the truck up on jack stands, started the truck in gear, and then floated it all the way into 5th and got it up to speed, pressed the clutch and pulled the E-brake... after a slight bang, i had a clutch again, and all was well, scary at first but once everything was fine after that my mind was at ease lol

and the reason the clutch was stuck is because of where the truck was parked during hurricane Harvey water got up to the bottom of the cab, not enough to go into the cab but enough that made the clutch rust and stick

[DeMoN-HeMi]

With your clear tail lights - are you using coloured bulbs or something like LED inserts? (you KNOW we're going to ask for pics lol) Nice work on getting it on the road, bet it was a blast :thumbup:

I have all LEDs for them, i havent put them on the truck yet because i was waiting to see what happened with the clutch and motor, now that it runs im gona start working on getting more things done to it, i want to rip out the interior and deep clean it, also im going to be working on the exterior and making it look a little bit presentable, i have some chevy wheels to throw on it but as you already know the center hole for the hub will need to be bored out, so its either work with those or get some different wheels, not sure what ill do there but anything will be better than whats on it...


Save all parts you remove. The secondary market is tight for OE stuff.
Thanks for the pics.

Im not sure that anything removed from this truck will be worth anything to anyone else, the tailgate will more than likely come off and get a cali-combo on the back, but thats further down the road...

ill be ordering a new grill and front bumper soon to make the front end look normal again, as well as all clear lights for the front





The Restore stuff seems to get good results according to "project farm" on youtube.

Where exactly do you think i got the idea ;)

[DeMoN-HeMi]

I have been running Geronimo with Restore for years - it really does work. Its not a permanent fix, but a good solution to run with until you are ready to overhaul the motor. Rislone is what I also add to keep things clean - old solutions for older motors...

This was moreso a test, and just like you said it seems like it will work till i tear the motor down, im going to be ordering a fully assembled new head for the motor, and get a complete rebuild kit, i just need to get the motor torn down and the block off to the machine shop so i can get the pistons to match

[DeMoN-HeMi]

and for those that want to see more pictures of the truck now that its alive and on its own now..

20862

here was testing the chevy wheels

20863

[Giovanni89]

during hurricane Harvey water got up to the bottom of the cab, not enough to go into the cab but enough that made the clutch rust and stick
Don't forget to change your axle and trans oil!

[DeMoN-HeMi]

Don't forget to change your axle and trans oil!



we checked them, water didn't get deep enough to get into the vents, it got just enough to touch the clutch and the motor having 2 dead cylinders didnt have enough ass to even attempt to get it moving, its running a lot better now, and as soon as i get some time off work, im going to start working on making the body better looking