1985 D150 "Mr. Curtis" race truck with a 2015 6.4

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kingcrunch

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Howdy,

i guess this is my first own thread here.
Welcome to the mess i got myself into.

This is "Mr. Curtis", my 1985 D150 (slant six, a833, 8.25 3:55).

img_20160624_175854.jpg


Rust free (literately) Texas truck, ran good, some maintenance required. I want more.
I want a race truck for autocross, track days, hill climbs and general bombing around on the Autobahn (i am located in Germany).

So in addition to Mr. Curtis i bought this little accelerator:

6-4l-hemi-turnkey-13.jpg

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A poor 2015 Challenger SRT-8 donated its 485hp drivetrain (engine, transmission, wiring harness, ECUs, fuel tank, ABS module, tachometer, pedal box, exhaust, etc.) in form of a turn-key pallet from Cleveland Power and Performance (Cleveland Power & Performance - Late-Model Car Parts, Restomod, Salvage Rebuilds, Custom Cars).

They take a short video of every turn-key-pallet they sell.



Good thing Dodge made a "race truck" from 04 to 06.
A Ram SRT 10 donates its Dana 60 HD rear axle (14" rotors with large two piston calipers) and parts of its front suspension (15" rotors with monstrous four piston caliper).

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A D150 is about 3750 lbs, the 500bhp SRT-10 weighs about 5130 lbs.
It should be a fun truck with the Challengers 392 but i guesstimate it runs out of steam at around 150mph.

Any regular six cylinder Diesel station wagon does that in Germany.
I want more.
I want to brute force it to 170. But that's step two.


For step one this is the game plan:

- install Chevy C10 trailing arms (reinforced like on C20s) with coil springs.
I am in the process of making CAD drawings for the custom crossmembers.
It will be installed with a custom panhard bar, relocated shock mounts and a small sway bar

- fab and install frame-stiffening crossmembers, maybe tubular cross-bracing

- fab and install parts to adapt 05/06 Ram SRT-10 lower control arms, spindles and upper control arms and the rack and pinion steering.

- drop in the 6.4 with a Cherokee SRT-8 oil pan and make it work.

- have a specialized builder make a race-suitable cage (that will also stiffen up the chassis with rear and front outriggers
Also proper race seats, harnesses (regular street legal 3-point aswell) will be installed.

- carbon fiber bumper (moulding of the original part), carbon fiber hood (or at least air ducts for venting the engine compartment), etc.


I figure getting the 6.4 to work in my D150 is the most complicated part of this operation.
Everything else is precise measuring, fabbing parts and a bit of brainstorming through parts catalogues and Ebay.com


The 6.4 comes with an ABS-module for example. I can not re-use that with my truck, the calibration will not match the chassis behaviour OR the brake system so i need to get rid of that without disturbing the network of ECUs.

I wonder if there is a way to do that with say WiTech hardware and software.
Does anyone have experience with that?

One problem is:
I need to keep the original ECUs to make this thing road legal concerning emissions.
So there's no way of putting a Megasquirt Pro in the truck and running it that way.
This project would be a lot less fun if i could not make it road legal, so consider this a must-criteria.

So here it is... The Mr. Curtis project. Hope you like it.
 
Subscribed!!!!, I have always owned Dodge trucks, way before they were as cool as now, I actually had an 82 I bought new exactly like yours, same colour to, this should be entertaining!, good luck with your build!
 
I'm definitely watching this one!!! This thing is going to be a real sleeper that's going to terrorize the Autobahn like Freddy Kruger in everyone's dreams! Please post video's as you can and good luck with your build. It's going to be awesome!
 
oh my.... The German Farm Truck..
 
340duster said:
Subscribed! what part of Germany are you in?
Click to expand...
I am located in the Ruhr area.

Guys,
thanks for the interest in the project. I would not go as far and compare this project to the Farm Truck.
It shall be more like Mark Boveys "Targa truck".
 
There was an episode of Fast and Loud where the guys put a 6.4 in an A body Dart. They had a difficult time trying to get it to fire. They eventually brought in some guys (I think from Florida??) to get it going and to setup the processor. They needed to get into the programming for sure.
 
My case is more along the line of weight saving and removing uneccesary components.
It's a complete take out and ran when shipped but there's probably several components i just can't use and would have to install just so i don't get any error messages.
I have no use for the ABS unit for example...
 
OH YEAH BABY!

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And then i thought, oh shoot, this axle is damn wide.

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I have a regular 8-lug D60 stealing space in my shop and i thought this thing was big.
This SRT-10 axle is even bigger. 3.5" axle tubes really do look huge in person.
 
The rear axle is in fact too wide.

It's 1776mm WMS to WMS. Put 9" wheels with 25.04 offset on there (this is the SRT-10 replica wheel in 20x9") and you have 1955mm from rim to rim.
The trucks wheel arches in their stock form have a spacing of 1942mm, from the inner lip of the wheel arch to the inner lip of the other wheel arch.

I can make it fit but it's still very tight and that's not taking into account any tire on the wheel. I am considering getting the axle shortened by 40mm on ONE side.

I am thinking about moving the pumpkin over to the passenger side to offset the drivers weight.
What do you think about that? I am not really sure it's a good idea yet...
 
You don't want to offset a center section then you'll get into torque steer issues. Think FWD cars with different length drive shafts. Take it in and have it shortened on both sides. Your going to have to find some new shorter axles or have someone cut yours down and respline them.

Riddler
 
Riddler said:
You don't want to offset a center section then you'll get into torque steer issues. Think FWD cars with different length drive shafts. Take it in and have it shortened on both sides. Your going to have to find some new shorter axles or have someone cut yours down and respline them.

Riddler
Click to expand...
hey, I`d like to have one in my 02 quadcab !!
 
I am looking into rolling the lips of the wheel arches. Should be good enough.
The 5x5.5 bolt pattern really gives me fits though.

There is about two wheels i could use (SRT-10 repop or OEM wheel, both 20x9).
Both are too narrow for the tires i want to run (285/35 R20).

So i am turning back to european manufacturers and these have nothing that might fit the wheel centering on the front wheel bearings and rear axle shafts.
Yay!

I also just found that the Rams hub/wheel bearing does not lend itself to be re-drilled for a 5x4.72" (5x120mm) bolt pattern.

ARGH!
 
Could always keep the rear axle and have a set of rear rims cut and widened. Then you'll just have to flare out the rear wheel wells like a widebody car.

Riddler
 
Nope, our technical surveillance does not approve cut&weld on wheels.
I maybe found a way to get approval on a set of Forgeline custom made wheels.


In the meantime this happened:

img_20160816_200444.jpg


Farewell from the old venerable 225. In preparation of modifying the frame with the front crossmember of that '05 Ram...
Unfortunately, the person i aquire the frame pieces from does not have SRT-10 lower control arms.
And the person i knew had a set, cut them up for my initial idea of modified VAN lcas... sometimes i have less sense than a bag of hammers.
 
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