BrianT
1984 Dodge D150
Hey everyone! I started a thread on the first truck I bought for $2500 but things have changed so I started a new thread so that I can keep track of everything that I've done to the new truck, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning.
Back in the early 80's I owned a 79 Little Red Express truck for a couple of years. I loved the truck but needed the money for college so I sold it. A local guy had a mid 80's short bed with a 440 in it and I always liked that truck. So a year or so ago, I started looking for another short bed. I wasn't looking for anything too fancy, just something to run to the dump with or to take when I go to swap meets. I found this 81 with a slant six and a 3 speed OD transmission for $2500 so I bought it.
It had some rust issues in the bed sides, driver's rocker and driver's floor pan, but other than that it was a pretty solid driver that just needed a little work here and there. I owned it for about 3 months and did some little projects just to make it road worthy when this truck popped up on Craigslist for the same $2500
I quickly went and looked at the 84 above and determined that it was a much better starting point for a project. The rust has been repaired and it had a driver quality paint job on it that looks pretty damned good from 20 feet away. Lots of new parts have been added and it has has the same 225/3 speed OD drive train. So I bought it. All of the sudden I owned TWO mid 80's Dodge SWB trucks! I put the first truck back on Craigslist and was able to get my intial investment back after a couple of weeks and a lot of tire kickers. So I'm back to square one with this $2500 truck. Now for the details.
I bought it from an older guy who used it as a project truck for him and his son. The son had enlisted in the Navy and they didn't need the truck anymore. The reason the price is so low is that the engine pushes the dip stick up about 2 inches after driving it for a while, and the previous owner felt that it was going to need some serious engine work and he was done messing with it. I felt that unless there was a rod coming through the side of the block, I was just going to keep driving the slant six until one did! So far, I've put a couple hundred miles on it and there's been no problem. I put half a can of Seafoam in the valve cover and the other half in the gas tank. Hopefully that will free up the stuck rings or whatever is wrong with it until I can get another engine built.
Like I said before, the rust has all been cut out and replaced. The bodywork is mediocre, about what you'd expect from two people working out of a residential garage. The floor pans have been replaced and Dynamat and new carpet put down. The previous owner was a BIG fan of LMC Truck which is located here in Kansas City, because when you open up their catalog, you can see that he bought just about EVERYTHING that they sell for this truck! From the LED headlamps to the new tail light lenses with chrome trim, their products are everywhere. He even threw in a bunch of extra parts that he hadn't gotten around to installing yet including the original steering wheel and a clutch/pressure plate kit which it's going to need pretty quickly.
It has about a $600 stereo system in it which includes a RetroSound Newport stereo w/Bluetooth and hands free, two speaker boxes under the seat and two new speakers in the dash. I'm a pretty big car stereo buff, so for me, this was icing on the cake. No need to change a thing.
The plans are for now to limp the 225 around while I work on a couple of little things that need to be done like fixing the door locks and fiddling with the engine to see what's going on there? The long term plans include dropping the truck by using the B series lower control arms and doing an axle flip on the rear end. I've already picked up a good running 360 with flywheel, bell housing, V8 radiator and headers for $250. I'd like to keep the power levels modest and run the original OD transmission. I'm not building a hot rod. I alreay have a Dart with a 408 stroker in it if I feel the need for speed. I just want something that has a little ass to it, and will keep up with rush hour traffic.
That's enough for now. I'll add to the thread as I do different things to it. I'd like to use this thread as a way to keep track of my progress and how much I've spent on the truck. And hopefully provide me a way to stay motivated. Let the build begin!
Back in the early 80's I owned a 79 Little Red Express truck for a couple of years. I loved the truck but needed the money for college so I sold it. A local guy had a mid 80's short bed with a 440 in it and I always liked that truck. So a year or so ago, I started looking for another short bed. I wasn't looking for anything too fancy, just something to run to the dump with or to take when I go to swap meets. I found this 81 with a slant six and a 3 speed OD transmission for $2500 so I bought it.
It had some rust issues in the bed sides, driver's rocker and driver's floor pan, but other than that it was a pretty solid driver that just needed a little work here and there. I owned it for about 3 months and did some little projects just to make it road worthy when this truck popped up on Craigslist for the same $2500
I quickly went and looked at the 84 above and determined that it was a much better starting point for a project. The rust has been repaired and it had a driver quality paint job on it that looks pretty damned good from 20 feet away. Lots of new parts have been added and it has has the same 225/3 speed OD drive train. So I bought it. All of the sudden I owned TWO mid 80's Dodge SWB trucks! I put the first truck back on Craigslist and was able to get my intial investment back after a couple of weeks and a lot of tire kickers. So I'm back to square one with this $2500 truck. Now for the details.
I bought it from an older guy who used it as a project truck for him and his son. The son had enlisted in the Navy and they didn't need the truck anymore. The reason the price is so low is that the engine pushes the dip stick up about 2 inches after driving it for a while, and the previous owner felt that it was going to need some serious engine work and he was done messing with it. I felt that unless there was a rod coming through the side of the block, I was just going to keep driving the slant six until one did! So far, I've put a couple hundred miles on it and there's been no problem. I put half a can of Seafoam in the valve cover and the other half in the gas tank. Hopefully that will free up the stuck rings or whatever is wrong with it until I can get another engine built.
Like I said before, the rust has all been cut out and replaced. The bodywork is mediocre, about what you'd expect from two people working out of a residential garage. The floor pans have been replaced and Dynamat and new carpet put down. The previous owner was a BIG fan of LMC Truck which is located here in Kansas City, because when you open up their catalog, you can see that he bought just about EVERYTHING that they sell for this truck! From the LED headlamps to the new tail light lenses with chrome trim, their products are everywhere. He even threw in a bunch of extra parts that he hadn't gotten around to installing yet including the original steering wheel and a clutch/pressure plate kit which it's going to need pretty quickly.
It has about a $600 stereo system in it which includes a RetroSound Newport stereo w/Bluetooth and hands free, two speaker boxes under the seat and two new speakers in the dash. I'm a pretty big car stereo buff, so for me, this was icing on the cake. No need to change a thing.
The plans are for now to limp the 225 around while I work on a couple of little things that need to be done like fixing the door locks and fiddling with the engine to see what's going on there? The long term plans include dropping the truck by using the B series lower control arms and doing an axle flip on the rear end. I've already picked up a good running 360 with flywheel, bell housing, V8 radiator and headers for $250. I'd like to keep the power levels modest and run the original OD transmission. I'm not building a hot rod. I alreay have a Dart with a 408 stroker in it if I feel the need for speed. I just want something that has a little ass to it, and will keep up with rush hour traffic.
That's enough for now. I'll add to the thread as I do different things to it. I'd like to use this thread as a way to keep track of my progress and how much I've spent on the truck. And hopefully provide me a way to stay motivated. Let the build begin!
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