Can I post a frame off restoration here?

[crazzywolfie]

looks pretty good. i would like to get the cab on my 81 swapped out and painted but there is only so much time to do everything and my main project has been my summer vehicle.

 

[reek]

lately, my limiting factor has been $$$ more so than time. luckily my welder has a full tank of gas mix, I have plenty of body filler, and block sanding is free.

my summer project sits and waits for my work hours to pick up. Painted a light metallic grey. it's the wife's 67 chevelle from high school. I'll tell you what, the d100 is WAY cheaper to restore than this chebby.

 

[crazzywolfie]

hahahaha ya higher demand cars are always more expensive to restore. it is part of what has scared me off from wanting a late 60's muscle car. i have seen what some people ask for some of the silly pieces and it is just ridiculous. i guess that is probably why people go so aftermarket and kind of butcher up old cars a bit with custom dashes. i don't think i would ever buy a incomplete project ever because of that. it would be worth paying more and starting with a more complete vehicle than sourcing out parts

 

[Stefan N]

Good job

 

[reek]

More progress before the weather gets too cold. got both trucks painted. the epoxy primer needs a 24 hr period of 65 degrees or greater. those days are almost done. the yellow truck is coming together faster since the step side needs a bunch of work on the bed floor. matte black hood will go on soon.

 

[reek]

the step side:

ain't the 8.75 a beauty! putting in a new set of axles, Truetrac, 3.55 gears, green bearings and 1350 U joint conversion.

 

[McBroom]

Never mind I answered my own question.
Must have more caffeine!!

I Love my 18 Ram 2500HD 4x4 CC
Blue Streak Pearl off-road

 

[reek]

Well, finally got around to getting the 3rd member built on the 8.75. Used the Yukon crush sleeve eliminator and boy what a way simpler way to go. Measured the old crush sleeve with my point to point caliper and pretty much added shims to the eliminator till it was equal to the original, eliminated a lot of guessing on pinion depth.

Truetrac with 3.55 gears installed. the screw in adjuster make backlash so easy. 100 times easier than the GM 12 bolt I did for my Chevelle.

will be installing the disc brakes tomorrow.

 

[reek]

been slow on the progress. ran out of funding again, my day job has been slow. weather limits the quality of pics I can get but here's the yellow truck with hood and grill. still working on wiring. will be custom wiring since repro harnesses are minimal to none.

did finish the steering column rebuild and rear disc conversion on my 8 3/4 rear end as well.

 

[crazzywolfie]

looks good. too bad you didn't live closer. i think i got a complete harness out of a 79 that you could have had. it might be good for parts or rebuilding. i also got a few other 70's truck pieces that i saved off a truck that was going to be scrapped. i should have saved the whole truck but i really didn't have the space. i think it was a 79 w350 with 360 and 4 speed. it looked bada$$ with a beefed up frame.

 

[reek]

so it's been a while. had some family issues to deal with so things were on a long hold. In the meanwhile I scrapped all the crate/stroker/hemi ideas. I just rebuilt the 318/magnum 5.2. it had 182,000 miles on it when I checked the odometer. my original plans of the yellow truck going to my father changed so was going to re-ring the old motor and get it running. Upon bore gauge eval, the block was actually in great shape so no machine shop, just honing and freeze plugs. Just had to do the right thing. so, new rings, new cam and crank bearings, new cam and lifters, surprisingly un-cracked 5.9 magnum heads, and an Edelbrock intake.

I rebuilt a 42RH and as of tonight, finally back in the yellow truck. Further progress is likely to still be slow going.

 

[madtrucker2016]

so this is my second favorite part of any restoration. a clean and freshly painted frame. Only part better is once all the suspension is hung and it's a rolling chassis.

yes that's a second frame in the back ground. after stripping 3 trucks, I realized I had 2 really good frames and a bunch of parts in really good conditions. Compared to my usual projects, these old dodges are really cheap to work on. So I'll be completing 2 trucks, one stepside as stock as possible and a second styleside/fleetside less stock. That will probably be a surprise gift for my dad when I'm done. View attachment 132908 View attachment 132909

You have to paint the springs , Rust is not a good color .but the frame came out looking perfect lots of prep work just on that.Good luck will be looking as it goes into its stages.

 

[reek]

You have to paint the springs , Rust is not a good color .but the frame came out looking perfect lots of prep work just on that.Good luck will be looking as it goes into its stages.

ha! that does seem to be the only part I didn't end up painting. original plan was to see how the completed truck sat and likely get shorter springs. so for now, I'm probably just sticking with rusty springs.

 

[reek]

Now that the 318 is done, I started work on the 360/5.9 magnum. Apparently, California has banned all sorts of after market heads and I can't seem to get anything thats new casting shipped to me. I think I could get the edelbrock heads at $1000 per piece. A bit too rich for my blood. Rock auto had some new casting Engine Tech magnum heads for about $250 a piece. No reviews and no experience with ET heads. But I have used plenty of their engine rebuild kits with good results. So given the choice of $2000+ vs about $500, took a chance with ET.

I was pleasantly surprised. the casting is smoother than OEM. I was setting up to port and polish but it was so smooth I didn't think it was even worth the effort. The intake ports were a mm or so smaller than the intake gasket openings so not much to grind down there either. So moved on to lapping the valves. Stems slid smoothly, runout was essentially perfect. since my goal is to make no more than 350 hp, I stuck with OEM but new parts. Mopar rockers, push rods and springs. Melling valves and keepers. So a new fully set up set of heads for about $800. I hope they hold up as good as they look. May take a while to find out since I'm a long way from firing up the motor.

 

[reek]

finally got my heads finished and started on the Exhaust for my 5.9. The Headman tight tube shortys needed some massaging on the driver side. The cheaper Summit Racing brand shorties I put onto my 318 were actually easier to fit and in retrospect, would have prefered them on this application as well.

I ordered a Walker exhaust y pipe to use but their 'wrinkle' bends pretty much took the diameter down to probably 1 inch. so I ordered some 2 1/2 tubing on Amazon and started welding. finally got everything made, the Y pipe junction was a pain and I had to … eh fudge it a bit. Hopefully it won't be too much and steal a bunch of my low end power.

 

[crazzywolfie]

probably would have been better off ordering magnum shorty header and using a stock magnum y-pipe. still make them for the dakota.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=995804&cc=1087589&jsn=699

 

[reek]

that's the walker y pipe I ordered. looks awful in real life and the bends just choke down to a really narrow diameter. I used the one good stock / OEM y pipe already on my 318 truck. We'll see how the power output feels.

 

[Tray Burge]

I think the old body styles have their own cool look to them myself.

 

[crazzywolfie]

did you get the one for magnum manifold or did you order one for LA manifolds. the ones that hook to a LA manifold are usually pretty wimpy and use smaller pipe from the split to the manifold. the magnum ones seem to run larger pipe from the manifold to the split.

 

[McBroom]

finally got my heads finished and started on the Exhaust for my 5.9. The Headman tight tube shortys needed some massaging on the driver side. The cheaper Summit Racing brand shorties I put onto my 318 were actually easier to fit and in retrospect, would have prefered them on this application as well.

I ordered a Walker exhaust y pipe to use but their 'wrinkle' bends pretty much took the diameter down to probably 1 inch. so I ordered some 2 1/2 tubing on Amazon and started welding. finally got everything made, the Y pipe junction was a pain and I had to … eh fudge it a bit. Hopefully it won't be too much and steal a bunch of my low end power.

View attachment 195559 View attachment 195560 View attachment 195561

Studying the angles of the y pipe I'm hoping that it don't hang to low.
It is truly looking amazing. Been following your build since the 1st post. Keep up the good work!

Blue Mule