Are you thinking of buying a D1?

terryjm1

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2011
1,486
375
A while back I found a nice looking 96 D1 SD on Facebook for sale in Northern, CA. It was appealing due to the price ($1500) and an almost complete lack of rust. (Under the alpine window seals there was a bit, nothing horrible)

The person selling it had stripped the interior as it was in really bad shape. It was the photos of the inside that made me decide to buy it as all the areas where rust hides under interior trim were exposed. I had been picking up nice interior parts when and where I could find them for a couple years, with plans to use them on just such a D1.

Here is what it has needed so far. I haven’t gotten into the suspension or brakes yet.

1. Injectors
2. Catalytic converters
3. Upstream O2 sensors
4. Water pump
5. Fan clutch
6. Radiator
7. Valve cover gaskets replaced (very dirty valve covers cleaned… crankcase vent on passenger side cover was completely clogged)
8. Coolant temp sensor
9. Trans pan gasket
10. Rear driveshaft sourced from Will Tillery (used but I installed new u-joints, it replaced a driveshaft with a rotten flex joint)
11. 10AS programmed to replacement key fobs (didn’t come with fobs)
12. 3 out of 4 window regulator rollers
13. All door lock / latch springs
14. Just about the whole interior from the dash back to the rear door (dash itself was/is nice)
15. Speakers and head unit
16. All power steering hoses
17. All radiator and heater hoses.
18. Battery
19. Headliner recovered
20. T-case output flange and seal
21. Parking brake cable
22. Parking brake shoes (oil soaked due to leaky output flange seal)
23. All fluids replaced (t-case, trans, diffs, coolant, power steering)
24. All engine hoses that don’t carry fluid
25. Exhaust gaskets
26. Will Tillery sourced D2 door seals to replace the original shredded door seals
27. D2 rear view mirror, also Will Tillery sourced
28. Headlight mounts


Things I know it still needs addressed…

1. Alarm randomly sounds if I lock the doors. (I will get to that after more pressing concerns.)
2. Cargo area and rear door window seals (I will put that off while I decide if I am going to get it repainted.)
3. Most likely panhard bushings (next on the list)
4. Brake pads all around (hopefully not more than pads as it stops well, no pulsing, just a bit more pedal travel than I would like)
5. Swivel housing grease
6. Rain gutter trim
7. Maybe a repaint if not now, someday for sure.
8. I need to drop the fuel tank to replace a rotten hose(s).
8. Other things that I haven’t found yet.

I paid $1500 and it cost me about $1000 to get it home. I haven’t kept track of the cost of all the parts I have replaced. Some things are just better unknown. I do all my own labor.

The previous owner only had it for short time. He gave up when he couldn’t figure out why it was getting hot on long uphill drives. Aside from that, it was running seemingly well when I picked it up. Nice guy and could not have been more honest about it. However, it was obvious very little repair and maintenance had been done over its lifetime. I had a pretty good idea it was going to need a lot to be made reliable and run right.

So, the point of my story is that unless you know you are buying a project and want that, be sure to get a service history. I wanted a project and got pretty much exactly what I wanted.

Also, if I paid someone to do the work, what I have done and will do would be thousands of dollars not counting a possible repaint.

A well cared for rust free D1 is well worth the prices they are commanding nowadays.
 
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robertf

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2006
4,780
354
-
I bought a mythical $800 D1 during the summer of love 2020.

I stopped updating the spreadsheet $3000 later when it was deemed roadworthy by the state. Probably dumped another $1500 in bumper, winch, sliders, comms. Paint still looks like caca and the engine consumes lots of oil.

waterpump
upper radiator hose
HEATER HOSES
HEATER SMALL LINE
UPPER OIL LINE
LOWER OIL LINE
THERMOSTAT GASKET
thermostat
helicoilkit timing cover
valve cover gasket
exhaust gasket
exhaust gasket
exhaust stud
exhaust nut
timing cover gasket
timing chain
front cover seal
engine mounts
breather hose
breather hose
coolant hose
oil seperator
driver front coil spring
pass front coil spring
front shocks
steering damper
shipping
front wipers
rear wiper
spark plugs
plug wires
belt
fan clutch
lower radiator hose
rot 15w40, 50/50 coolant
castrol ATF (power steering)
MAF,PS Reservoir, bolts
RADIATOR
fuel rail
injectors
cylinder heads
fuel pump
radio
fan shroud, heater lines
oil pump
headbolts
headgasket set
tires
rear spring spacers
master cylinder
front rotors,pads,hub seals
rear rotors, pads
 

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discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
I aagree totally that a rust free example for a project is worth a lot more now than it was 5 yrs ago. We're at a really good place in the price curve of these trucks and could do really well flipping a few of them. It's supply and demand and eventually even trucks with potential and not much else are going to bring stupid money.
 

rover rob

Well-known member
Mar 29, 2016
273
56
upstate NY
i lucked out getting a totally rust free 98 lse from a guy who advertised it here. it spent its life in cali with a 2 year stay in pa.
 

LRDONE

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2020
336
116
Michigan
1998 D1 with 58k miles on it. I pulled from the salvage yard for $700 in 2020 just after I got Covid and was clear to wander the earth again.

Didn't run & only a hand full of lights worked.


- Fuel pump
- All fluids & filters
- A hand full of bushings
- Wiper Blades front and rear
- Catalytic converters were cut off from the yard so I replaced those.
- 2 inch lift & shocks
- suspension arms
- Tires - And if any of you mounted/dismounted your own tires you would know that's not easy with the lip on these factory wheels..
- wheel bearings all the way around
- Brakes all the way around
- ATB diff up front
- Ignitions coils, Wires and plugs
- Updated some grounds
- Got all the exterior lights functioning properly
- Freed up all the seat adjust motors
- Cleaned the fuse panel
- Took both broken sunroof motors made one good one and bought a replacement
- Resealed sunroofs
- Removed dash to clean and rework the heater flaps
- Removed all of the interior to clean up and prevent rust
- Replaced blower motor
- Fixed a wiring issue not letting any of the windows work
- Updated cruise control
- Fixed intermittent wipers
- Half of the lights on the instrument cluster didn't work. bad contacts.
- Ripped the top end of the motor a part to relieve stuck lifters
- Replaced a hand full rubber hoses
- new radio
- Bent up some Brake lines in the rear


* This was all in about 3 years time while I drove it here and there at the same time. Lot's of cleaning and oil changes during the whole process.

I'm sure I'm missing a few things but I think I have roughly 5-6 thousand into the whole thing minus Labor. If I had to pay someone to do what's been done, double it.
 

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robertf

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2006
4,780
354
-
Looks great!
Thanks. Its got hundreds of hours in fixing various BS. Previous owner was in way over his head. One of the cylinder heads was milled down so much that it bent every pushrod as soon as I finally got it to start. the entire fuel system was full of rust. alarm wiring was all hacked up. lots of wirenuts hidden everywhere.

If I didnt have d1 knowledge or access to the diagnostic equipment or fabrication equipment I could easily see an extra $15k to $20k in getting it to its current state
 

LRDONE

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2020
336
116
Michigan
If your gonna fix peoples cars fix rich peoples cars. I spent my life working on cars I could never afford.
Yeah I hear ya. I'm going on 8 years of working exclusively on Porsche. A lot of times they don't care what it cost, they just want it fixed.
 

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
Yeah I hear ya. I'm going on 8 years of working exclusively on Porsche. A lot of times they don't care what it cost, they just want it fixed.
Yep they care more about when it’s going to be done than what it’s going to cost. Seems like some of them just need a place to store them. Those are the people who don’t call you back when you need authorization. Then don’t pick it up forever and you have to keep the battery charged and brakes from getting lot rot.