[Hippie]

Have made some progress on the '86 D150 I got from my kid. Got a lot of the little nickel and dime stuff fixed but there's still about a "dollars worth" left. Got the steering fixed and it drives pretty nice now, I'm actually starting to like the old pig.

I started putting a stereo in it this afternoon but it's going to be a bit more of a job than I anticipated. Someone (probably my kid) has absolutely butchered the wiring harness and of course none of the wiring matches any wiring diagram I have found so far, add in that somewhere between where the radio connector used to be and the speakers the speaker wires completely change colors and ID stripes. Also to fit aftermarket 6 X 9's in the doors in place of the factory 6 X 9's is requiring a "little" trimming with a Roto Zip. FYI, drywall bits will cut thin sheetmetal......

I painted the back bumper black and replaced the busted up grille with one out of an '81 Ramcharger which also donated it's steering box. I'm going to hide the rusty chrome "modular" wheels with some wheel covers for now and then that's about it for cosmetic refinements. I have started referring to it as "The Awsum Dodge from Possum Lodge" since there have been numerous repairs performed with zip ties and duct tape. Red and Harold would be proud!

 

[CrashFarmer2]

I have started referring to it as "The Awsum Dodge from Possum Lodge" since there have been numerous repairs performed with zip ties and duct tape. Red and Harold would be proud!

The handyman's secret weapon! Red Green would be proud.

 

[Bryan59EC]

I have an 82 short/wide with a 6 and a 4-spd OD
Just recently turned over to 53,000 actual miles
Base truck---I added---PS/Tilt/cloth seat/stereo
Slow as hell----but rides nice

I prefer driving this over the 05 Ranger

The day I brought it home with 43,272 miles.

I now have some weird engine miss that I need to get worked out.
runs rough only in 4th gear (od)

 

[Hippie]

Nice truck Bryan, the guy I got the Ramcharger parts from has a '78 Adventurer short bed stepside that is VERY solid. He drives it around the barn yard once in awhile and that's it. I'm not a Dodge guy per se but I'd love to get my hands on that. All I'd do is cherry it out and lower it just enough to get it down out of the clouds. He's had it for at least 25 years and has no plans to part with it.

Finished the stereo install today, no duct tape was involved but there was a generous distribution of zip ties. Found more electrical butchery and straightened it out the best I could. I'm surprised it didn't burn up the way it was cobbled up. So far everything still works and there haven't been any sparks or smoke.

It's no thing of beauty to be sure but I still get satisfaction from having brought it back from possibly going to the crusher. If scrap prices had gone up to where they were a year ago that's what my kid had planned for it, minus the 318 of course. I couldn't let that happen, it's still too good of an old truck for that. With some TLC it has a lot of years and miles left in it.

 

[ChevApache59]

I've got an old Dodge too, mine's an '87 W150 longbed, 318, granny four-speed, about 150,000 miles on it. My dad originally bought it for $750, all four ball joints were bad, steering shaft was badly worn, the tires were slicks, scratches and dings all over, and it was horribly dirty. The truck was used in construction and it's like they never rolled the windows up. After plenty of minor work it runs and drives great, four wheel drive works just fine, added an Edelbrock intake/carb (really helped a lot), built a front bumper and mounted an old Warn winch on it, eliminated the air pump, EGR, and a lot of vacuum lines. I added a nice loud stereo system and put add-a-leafs in front and rear to help out the sagging springs. Mechanically, the truck is very solid. I have a '59 Chevy truck that gets most of my attention, but when that one's taken apart, the ol' Dodge always gets me where I need to go. It's big, ugly, and pretty slow but it's not ready to die just yet! :thumbup:

-Matt

 

[Hippie]

I've got an old Dodge too, ........ It's big, ugly, and pretty slow but it's not ready to die just yet! :thumbup:

-Matt

Matt, you don't know what ugly is LOL! Your ol' Dodge looks like the Overhaulin' crew just got done with it compared to mine. Looks like a pretty nice truck to me.

 

[Hippie]

Set the timing, adjusted idle mixture and hooked the vacuum advance up to the correct vacuum port on the carb and WOW what a difference! It actually has some get up and go now. Also I have 35 miles on a fill up and the gas gauge has not moved, last fill up it had already dropped to the 7/8ths mark in 35 miles. I got 7.5 MPG on the last tank, I made the changes before I filled up this last time so I'm anxious to see what I get now.

 

[Hippie]

Well, a lot has been done to the Dodge in the last couple weeks. Most of it is a lot more nickel and dime stuff (about $5 worth) you don't want to hear about but on a more interesting note I built a different Holley for it. I had a couple good cores on the shelf so I threw a 6619 in the Berryman's for a few days and filled the empty spots in my jet collection while it was soaking. Got it put on today and tweaked, it's real close, probably good enough to hold me until next Spring. I put a 2 stage power valve in it and started out with #60 primary jets, ended up with 62's. The old carb had 66's in it and was full of all kinds of crap, I'm surprised it ran as good as it did.

Before the poor thing couldn't break the tires loose on wet pavement. Today I actually got a little squeak out of them on dry pavement and that's with 500 Lbs. of sand bags in the back. That may not sound like a big deal but if you knew how gutless it was when I started you'd know why I'm all excited.

I also mounted a vacuum gauge on the dash and with the new carb I see a lot less movement of the needle while driving around. Hopefully I can break 10 MPG......

Oh yeah, got me a new (well, new to me) .30-06 to hang in the EZ Rider rifle racks!

21 Nov.: It was only pulling 12-13 InHg @ 55 MPH on fairly level roads so I bumped the primary jets up to 63's. Now it's averaging 15-17 InHg. NOW I think I'll leave the jets alone until Spring. Or not.

 

[DoubleVision]

Cheech and Chong taught us all about those EZ Rider rifle racks by our old pal El Monte Slim yesssssirrrrrr Hippie lol. Sounds like it`s coming on along pretty good. My vote would be give`er a timing set, spiral core spark plug wires, K&N air filter, open the exhaust up with headers, duals, crossover and turbo mufflers, pack the wheel bearings with synthetic grease, refill the rear diff with synthetic lube then recheck your mileage.

 

[Hippie]

Thanks DV, it feels pretty good now, hope to get a few miles on this tank today to see how it does. It drives a LOT better though. I'd love to put a better exhaust system on it but the one that's on it is in pretty good shape so it's hard to justify the money right now. It's a little loud at highway speeds, it has a single inlet/dual outlet Magnaflow on it but the headpipes are pretty small and are not mandrel bent so there is definitely room for improvement. I'm watching eBay for some 1-1/2" primary tube headers for it though. The 600 really is too much carb for this application, I also have a 390 Holley 4 Bbl. I was saving for another project I might try if I can't make my goal with the 600. I'm shooting for 15 MPG Hwy., considering the aerodynamics, weight and drivetrain that could be pretty tough but that's what I'm shooting for.

I'm using the Dodge as my "dress rehearsal" for another project but that project will have the advantage of a purpose built long block with improved cylinder head design, overdrive transmission, better gearing, less weight and better aerodynamics.