2000 Dodge Dakota

When the Peck family moved here from the west coast, we drove in an RV from the 1970’s. No joke, the thing had brown and yellow shag carpet. When we got here, we parked it in the back yard and left it there. It was basically forgetten until a friend of a friend told us that he wanted to buy the motor out of it.

I’m sure we weren’t aware of the adventure that this would become. It started when us kids came home to find a stranger in the back waist deep in the front end of the RV, saving us from ever agian having to take a trip in the rolling turd. It soon became joking around with Jacob every weekend when he came to work on it. He would bring us a case of coke everytime he came, even though he worked for Pepsi. He helped me with business classes when I started college. If only the project was as easy as the friendship.

It was difficult because he wanted to put this gigantic engine out of an RV into a 2000 Dodge Dakota.

When the engine came back from the machinist we had to figure out how to put it in. It was too large for the engine compartment, so we had to rip out the interior and everything on the firewall and move the whole thing back six inches. James had to piece together custom headers to maintain power and sound while making it fit. When it was done, it was an absolute masterpiece, and definitely one of a kind.

See a video here of the beast