Below is a pic of the 48 Dodge that I am working on. One pic is the stock body before the cut-off wheel got to it. You will notice that I have cut it up a bit. 4" chop, 1.5 inch out of the crown on the roof, 2" pie cut out of the body and sitting on a 93 Dakota frame. I have used the fire wall and floor from the dakota and also the radiator support. Plans are to pancake the hood to match the body. I have 383 MOPAR for an engine. Not sure what to use for a tranny as I am not up on morden MOPAR trans. Maybe someone could help me with that. I plan on using it to pull a trailer. Thank for any help, advice.
If you are going to use that 383, the A518 O/D Mopar auto is NOT the same bolt pattern as the trans is, as these were only available on the LA-series small block vehicles - every V8 Mopar from 1988 - up! There supposedly is a company that makes an adapter so the later OD trans will mate to the B/RB engines. Your only real choice is the tried and true 727-B TorqueFlite transmission. Tough as nails, and when used with a cooler from a 1970 - 1988 rear-drive cop car, you'll not have a problem. Enjoy!
nice. It rings with me because I have been doing alot of the same to my 53 Pilothouse. top chopped, dropped the windshield opening an additional inch and a half, 91 Dakota frame, firewall and floor. Running a 68 318 with a 904 trans. I didn't take any crown out of the roof, I like the bulbous look for some reason.
MOPARMAN, A friend of mine put a 48 chevy p/u on a dakota frame so I did some looking on here to see about the dodge. You were one of the post that I found and used for info. I have the whole 93 dakota so I want to use as much of it as I can such as A/C, Brakes,power window regulators and door locks. The radiator support was an easy swap,and will allow me to use the dakota radiator and a/c condensor.
...nothing inexpensive about the ultra-bell's... As noted, the basic 727 is all that you should need. You will have plenty of grunt so running 2.94-3.23 out back will keep the cruise speed rpm under control. Recall that plenty of 6,000lb Chryslers used the 383 2bbl (290hp) with good success. .
Wow, the de-crowned roof looks amazing. I have the same kind of thing on my Pilothouse, but mine was flattened out by 8 year old kids jumping on it and doesn't look quite as nice
Awesome so far!! I've been wondering about what happened with this truck since you bought it. Congrats,looking great!!!
I've been busy slicing and dicing this thing up. Just about finished with the hood. I have the hinges all figured out just need to get them welded up. I post some more pic's in a day or 2.
UPDATE: Hot Damn the hood works. I been beating on this hood for 2 weeks to get it close to flat and decided to work on the hinges. Check out the pic's, the hood clears the cowl when opened.Still lots to do, but now that I know it will work I can make the necessary changes to square everthing up, weld some bolts to the hood and make spacers to go between the hood and hinges and some bracing.Its kind of flimsy right now. I will be using the original bracing but installing it in a different location. The hinges are from the 93 Dakota. I know the welding looks pretty bad, I was setting under it with hood closed and swearing like a trooper with sparks flying everywhere. It will all get fixed now that I can work with it opened.
some nice changes you have made to your 48. I like the one piece hood Since i have not had any luck selling my 48 woodie, I am starting to once again think about what motor. I was really thinking about a new 5.7 hemi (ya I know it is not traditional but I do not give a F about that.. no one will see it and it will be great on long distance drives) problem is everyone I talk to tells me I have to us a 04 or 05 truck motor/ trans only due to the computer and its ease to put into a old car, that makes finding one a little tough due to the limit yrs.. Thought about a 360 but I am not a mopar motor fan because I have never had one nor had any friends to own one and it is my understanding there is not many options for overdrive trans.. I do not want to spend the money to build a mopar motor from the ground up but if I came across a fairly priced one on craigslist I might go that route. only considering using a Mopar motor because everyone tells me I must use one due to how rare the woodie is and because it would help its value. Had a BBC in it for a short time but that is now back out.
I would go with the BBC. Not really a big MOPAR fan myself. But I found 2 383's on craigs list at a reasonable price. If a BBC had shown up frist I would have one. After all look at all the SBC's in Fords and other off brands.
Good move to keep it all Mopar. If you finish the build with a brand-x drivetrain you will likely not get the top dollar you want when it comes time to sell. The Mopar guys will surely give you crap for having anything but a Mopar engine and most everyone else will not see the value in the truck itself. Very few rodders keep their rides forever so why not make it easy on yourself? If you can pull off a 5.7 swap you will get plenty of 'atta-boys' (but maybe not from this forum). There is NO shortage of A-500 or A518 tranmissions to bolt up behind a 360. And, the 360 is no more 'mysterious' than a 350. Plenty of parts from thousands of sources. Don't overlook a 400 or 440, there always seems to be some on craigslist from a motorhome and you can run a pretty tall gear since they have gobs of torque. There are several 5.7 swaps documented on the A-body and B-body forums but it seems that electronics are a huge part of the swap process. .
Looks fantastic!!! Creative too. I'll shoot you a pm sometime this week. I'd really like to take a ride up and check it out or help where I can.
I really like that chop. It makes me wish I had the balls to chop mine... Very cool keep the updates coming man!
I haven't done it myself, but here is a simple 727 to 518(overdrive) swap if you go with an older Mopar engine: http://www.transmissioncenter.net/SwapInformation.htm
Thanks thats good info. I have a 727 in my possession right now, probably go with that unless something better comes along. I am a long way from fitting the motor and trans.
JYPSEA, what are your plans for rims and tires. the fronts you show are pretty tall, but going much shorter will really put you on the ground.. kinda like mine (might have to raise mine some by removing the 2" drop spindle and going with a stock spindle). my front fender sits well below the rim. I have a 235/70/16 on there right now.
I am not sure. but everytime I sit back and look at it I think about what will happen when I drop the 383 boat anchor in there. The Dakota frame has v-6 springs in it. I will definitely need stronger front springs or maybe air bags. I am trying to build this as cheap as possible so a trip to the bone yard is in order. Maybe I'll do like we did in th '60 and put those lead spacers in the springs to lift it up a bit. As for tires I think a narrow tire may look smaller. I need to shorten the frame and plan on doing something with the bed to make it look more like a fleetside and will shorten that also then I will concentrate on tires and wheels.
The Dakota is a truck...I doubt that you'll have issues with the front springs, the B engines are not a heavy as most folks think. .
Most of the body work on the cab is done, working on the box now. I am a fan of the fleetside look so I widened the box 8 inches to fit the cab and shortened 19 inches, pushed the fenders under the sides and removed 2 inches from the top of the sides. Cut the running boards down and shoved them under the cab a bit to smooth the sides out. Not sure what to do with the tailgate yet but thinking of a panel on each side for the taillights much like the '57 Ford pick ups.
I put a '90 Dakota frame clip in a '56 Plymouth wagon/318 with stock springs --according to NAPA's books the 4 and v6 use the same ones. The first road trip about beat me to death so it was back to the parts books and found out the Dakotas have 2700# rated and the hunt found me a set of '66 / 327 biscayne same diameter and approximate height rated at 1825#. Rides like a car now!
These modifications are looking great! Makes me wish we could easily get our hands on them Aussie utes that have the tailgate area of the bed figgered out...it sounds like you have a workable solution in mind
The Jalopy Journal
