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1985 Ram Project

J

JGC403

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
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Location
Baileyton, TN
Since I couldn't sell her, I might as well finish and use it as a DD. I drive 34 miles one way to work. 20% back roads and 80% highway with a couple of stoplights. My current DD is a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a stroked 360 and I'm getting between 16-18 mpg going back and forth to work. So the goal with this project is to get better MPG than the Jeep.

I know the Jeep is probably lighter than the Ram and might have some better aerodynamics than the Ram, but the Jeep is 4wd and the Ram is only 2wd.

So I'm going to use as many tricks as I can come up with to achieve my goal and I think I'm gunna need them.

I have a 383 big block that is going into the Ram. Transmission is a A-833 OD. The rear gear is gong to be a 3.55 or a 3.92 haven't decided yet. 383 is going to be fuel injected.

Suspension, haven't decided if I should put a leveling kit on it or drop the truck 3".

Should be interesting.
 
16-18 isn't really to bad for 80% freeway driving. I just got back from a road trip with my old man down to Florida and back in his 06 2500 with a cummins and we average 20 mpg running 70mph the whole way. We did 14-16 mpg on the way back but we were pulling trailer back. I don't put a lot of long miles on my 06 1500 with the 5.7 Hemi its all pretty short trips all the time and I would guess i only get about 12-15 out of my dd.
 
Worked on the interior a little, the original plastic door panels were shot and I don't think you can get replacements anymore. So I found a set of steel ones from a late 70's truck I think. Should bolt right in just need to drill all the holes for the screws, luckily the doors are dimpled where all the screw holes need to be drilled. So I painted them up, and put a coat of Rust-Oleum Undercoating on the back of the panels, figured that it will help keep them from rusting and help deaden sound. Tapped on one of the panels before and after and it doesn't sound as tinny.

I'm going to use the undercoating on the cab behind the seat inside and out. I wanted to put a headliner in, but I'm thinking of using the undercoating as a headliner. I'm not sure how good it will look and hold up though.
 
85Rusty said:
As far as mpg goes, good luck. As for the rest, WHeERES THE PICS?!
Click to expand...

Well here is a teaser for you. See if you can guess the part. Just picked it up a Carlisle today.

TunnelRam_zpscc9ad939.jpg


Here is the painted door panel. The Truck was originally had a Charcoal grey metallic interior. So I decided to keep the metallic in the door panels to. Interior is going to be black and charcoal grey.
Painteddoorpanel_zpsa0ad52aa.jpg


Back side of the door panel with undercoating.
Undercoatingdoorpanel_zps0f539cfc.jpg


I need to come up with something for the armrest for the door panels. The ones that were on the steel panels are a molded vinyl or something. So I'm gunna try and make my own, just haven't looked into it to much yet.
 
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Big Block 383

1968Barracudaproject026.jpg


Pistons, custom made for use with 440 rods. I reduced the rotating assembly by just over 1 pound. She will like to rev like a small block.
1968Barracudaproject023.jpg
 
Thats pretty much how it sits right now. Haven't had the time to work on her up till now. Hopefully next weekend I'll be getting my engine hoist and can test fit engine and trans to figure out where I need to cut the hole for the shifter.

1985RamProject005.jpg


I'll be experimenting with what rear gears it likes/ I like with the OD trans. The 8.25 that is in it now is a 2.94. I bought a 9.25 rear with 3.55 gears and a sure grip. So I'll get it going with the 8.25 rear then swap in the 9.25 and see how mpgs change.

I'm trying to do this on a budget, so I am going to keep the steel wheels paint them red and the lug nuts and the rest of the stuff in the middle of the wheels will be black.

All of the trim studs are getting ground off. And I'll be doing a "C" decal on the box like this one but a little different.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS0o7GMIBn4mObihZe9wOpgqm1BnIhu387-UYkQ8aokCxSLsq-DGw

I have a roll pan for it, and a bed cover from a late 90's Ram that I'm going to make work.

No chrome at all.

Some more little odds and ends. Wanted to do the taillights a little different than just the silver trim on the raised edge around the light, so that is what I came up with. I'm debating on using the side markers still. I'm thinking about getting some small round ones like what was used on the 1968 Barracudas and using them instead of the rectangular ones.
029_zps9d5c575d.jpg


Ramlights_zps1e5cc310.jpg
 
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I have seen a couple of 80's Rams where the front bumper was smoothed into the body of the truck. I really like how it looks but I'm not sure how they did it. Did they cut up a stock bumper and move it in, or is it all custom sheet metal?
 
JGC403 said:
Well here is a teaser for you. See if you can guess the part. Just picked it up a Carlisle today.

http://s743.photobucket.com/user/JGC_403/media/TunnelRam_zpscc9ad939.jpg.html

Here is the painted door panel. The Truck was originally had a Charcoal grey metallic interior. So I decided to keep the metallic in the door panels to. Interior is going to be black and charcoal grey.
http://s743.photobucket.com/user/JGC_403/media/Painteddoorpanel_zpsa0ad52aa.jpg.html

Back side of the door panel with undercoating.
http://s743.photobucket.com/user/JGC_403/media/Undercoatingdoorpanel_zps0f539cfc.jpg.html

I need to come up with something for the armrest for the door panels. The ones that were on the steel panels are a molded vinyl or something. So I'm gunna try and make my own, just haven't looked into it to much yet.
Click to expand...

Air gap Intake

Cut the bumper in half to shorten it and trim the frame rail. That'll suck it right up

Nice straight truck to start with. I love the idea of the "the dude" stripe. I want one on mine too. Post a DIY thread when you do the roll pan please. I'd like to see how you do that
 
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85Rusty said:
Air gap Intake

Cut the bumper in half to shorten it and trim the frame rail. That'll suck it right up

Nice straight truck to start with. I love the idea of the "the dude" stripe. I want one on mine too. Post a DIY thread when you do the roll pan please. I'd like to see how you do that
Click to expand...


Wrong on the intake.

I bought a fiberglass roll pan on ebay for the truck. He said you just use sheet metal screws to fasten it to truck. I think I'll try to come up with something a little more elegant.
 
As for your rear gears then with that motor , trans , and especially if you run that intake your gunna want to run something like a 391 in the rear for the best mileage and power ratio .
 
I would rather not buy new gears. So i'm just gunna see how well the 2 ratios I have run.
 
Alright, so I'm back on my project truck. Need to get it done before snow season starts. As of right now, the 383 short block is just about together waiting on parts to finish. Last weekend we finished the rebuild of the manual steering gear. We finished rebuilding the A-833 OD this afternoon. Painted the steering linkage last weekend with POR-15 and put them all on this evening. Last for today I finished porting one of the 906 heads with MP porting templates and a gasket match. So its getting there.

Trying to figure out what to do for the clutch linkage, first option is to use a mechanical linkage and I'll have to custom make a torque shaft. 2nd option is, I found a 1st gen Ram in the junk yard with a hydraulic clutch, so I took the master and slave cylinder, but it looks like I would need to get a different slave cylinder and custom make a bracket for the slave cylinder. So I'm undecided on what route to take on that. Once the engine and trans are in place I'll have to mock some stuff up and see what option I like better.

Ram_A-833OD_zps8c9f5c23.jpg

Ram_906_heads_gasket_match_zps6600035c.jpg

Ram_valvetrain_parts_zps2c08154c.jpg

Ram_A-833OD_zps8c9f5c23.jpg


Ram_906_heads_gasket_match_zps6600035c.jpg


Ram_valvetrain_parts_zps2c08154c.jpg
 
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