D150 Short Bed Build
I bought a short bed off of Craigslist a few months back and want to start a thread where I can document everything that I've done to the truck. So if you like trucks, read on, if not, turn back now.
It all started when I found this truck on Craigslist. It's a 1981 with a slant six and 3 speed OD transmission. It has a little rust over the rear wheel wells, in the driver's rocker and in the driver's floor pan. But it's a good solid truck other than that. The Lean Burn has been removed and it has had a bunch of new parts thrown at it. I picked it up for $2500 and planned on using it for a swap meet truck or to haul crap to the dump. I started repairing little things like the horn and the temp gauge that needed to be fixed. Nothing major, just maintenance that needed to be done.
So....fast forward a couple of months and I'm searching Craigslist like I always do and I find an ad for this truck. It's an 84 with the same drivetrain, but the rust has all been repaired and the truck has been repainted (although the body work is not the greatest). The seller had thrown a TON of money at this truck and it is full of new parts. So I bought it for $2500. The same price as the first truck above.
Turns out that the second truck has a stuck ring or something which causes the dip stick to pop up out of the tube an inch or so after driving, but I'm not going to let that stop me from driving it. It'll take more than a little crankcase pressure to kill that slanty so I'm not going to worry about it for now. Now I own TWO 80's Dodge short beds!!!
When I got the truck home last week is when I really started to get suprised. Someone had really spent a lot of money on this truck. From the replacement grille to the new rear tires, there are TONS of new parts. There's even a RetroSound car stereo in it with Bluetooth that connects to my iPhone every time I get in!
So the first truck is on Craigslist, just trying to get my money back out of it. Hell, I'd even take a little loss on it because I got such a good deal on the second truck. I figure I would have had to spend about $3-4k of my own money just to get the first truck into the same condition as the second truck, so either way, I'm going to come out okay.
So fast forward again a couple of weeks and a buddy tells me that he is going to drive about an hour away to pick up a small block intake and carb off of CL that he plans on putting on the 78 D150 that he is building. Sure. I'll go along for a ride on a Craigslist deal. When we get there and pull the intake, the guy asked us if we knew anybody that needed a 360 drivetrain? Maybe?!?!? If the price is right.
I ended up paying $275 for a pile of parts that has even me scratching my head. I got the running longblock as shown. It looks to be very clean inside as if someone has been in there in the last ten years or so. The bellhousing and flywheel. The four speed transmission and transfer case. The headers and the V8 radiator. The only catch is we have to pull everything in the guy's front yard. We are going to try and do that in a couple of weeks over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
I bought a short bed off of Craigslist a few months back and want to start a thread where I can document everything that I've done to the truck. So if you like trucks, read on, if not, turn back now.
It all started when I found this truck on Craigslist. It's a 1981 with a slant six and 3 speed OD transmission. It has a little rust over the rear wheel wells, in the driver's rocker and in the driver's floor pan. But it's a good solid truck other than that. The Lean Burn has been removed and it has had a bunch of new parts thrown at it. I picked it up for $2500 and planned on using it for a swap meet truck or to haul crap to the dump. I started repairing little things like the horn and the temp gauge that needed to be fixed. Nothing major, just maintenance that needed to be done.
So....fast forward a couple of months and I'm searching Craigslist like I always do and I find an ad for this truck. It's an 84 with the same drivetrain, but the rust has all been repaired and the truck has been repainted (although the body work is not the greatest). The seller had thrown a TON of money at this truck and it is full of new parts. So I bought it for $2500. The same price as the first truck above.
Turns out that the second truck has a stuck ring or something which causes the dip stick to pop up out of the tube an inch or so after driving, but I'm not going to let that stop me from driving it. It'll take more than a little crankcase pressure to kill that slanty so I'm not going to worry about it for now. Now I own TWO 80's Dodge short beds!!!
When I got the truck home last week is when I really started to get suprised. Someone had really spent a lot of money on this truck. From the replacement grille to the new rear tires, there are TONS of new parts. There's even a RetroSound car stereo in it with Bluetooth that connects to my iPhone every time I get in!
So the first truck is on Craigslist, just trying to get my money back out of it. Hell, I'd even take a little loss on it because I got such a good deal on the second truck. I figure I would have had to spend about $3-4k of my own money just to get the first truck into the same condition as the second truck, so either way, I'm going to come out okay.
So fast forward again a couple of weeks and a buddy tells me that he is going to drive about an hour away to pick up a small block intake and carb off of CL that he plans on putting on the 78 D150 that he is building. Sure. I'll go along for a ride on a Craigslist deal. When we get there and pull the intake, the guy asked us if we knew anybody that needed a 360 drivetrain? Maybe?!?!? If the price is right.
I ended up paying $275 for a pile of parts that has even me scratching my head. I got the running longblock as shown. It looks to be very clean inside as if someone has been in there in the last ten years or so. The bellhousing and flywheel. The four speed transmission and transfer case. The headers and the V8 radiator. The only catch is we have to pull everything in the guy's front yard. We are going to try and do that in a couple of weeks over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
