Thats an awful lot of vehicle for a little 273

[74Dusted]

I know most like to skip right past the 273 and 318 and move straight to 360's, 408's, etc. Here's something to show that the little ones are capable too.

Here's a little 273, with a whole lot of vehicle around it. She sits in a highly modified '84 Dodge D50 4x4. The truck in question runs a fullsize W100 Frame, Solid Axle Swap (Dana 44 up front) and a B-Body 8-3/4" Sure Grip in the rear with 4.10's, a KM100/NP203 Transfer Case Doubler (she's AWD/Fulltime 4WD), a 727 with a TF2 Shift Kit. She sits on 33" Tires with 3/4 Ton springs in the front and 1-1/4 Ton Ambulance springs in the rear

She's fitted with 2" Tube Bumpers (.250" Wall) with front & rear winch cradles (has a 10k on the front and I pulled the 12k from the rear so I wasn't welding around it when I built the hinges for the bed), and the front bumper is equipped with a Meyers Quick Connect Snow Plow Mount.

The Bed is a 9.5' Dumpbed, 2" Tube Structure, the sheeting for the sides/floor is repurposed scrap train car that was bought from the scrapyard years ago. My dad and I built the dumpbed about 18 years ago (it's where I learned to weld)


The little truck is no slouch with the 273, even with all the weight. It's pretty good about burning all 4 tires if I get into the throttle hard. Of course the 273 isn't stock either. She's bored .060, with Forged Domed Pistons, 1.88 Valve J Heads (Milled), a 340 Intake with a 650 Eddy on top (did have a 850 Thermoquad on it, but I needed it for my car), a 495/505 Isky Solid Cam, Forged Crank, H Beam Rods, 11.1:1 Compression. It gets pretty good mileage (high teens), as long as it's not fully loaded. I use the little monster as a daily driver.

 

[toolmanmike]

The little engine that could! Great story!

 

[gilberttitan08]

I'm a big fan of the underdogs. That's a beautiful Ram 50!!!

 

[74Dusted]

I'm a big fan of the underdogs. That's a beautiful Ram 50!!!

Thanks. It was literally an Overnight Transformation. On December 23rd the clutch blew out of my other Ram 50 (1992 2.4L 5-Speed 4x4 with an M90 Supercharger). I might have thrashed on her a little too hard trying to yank down a Red Oak for firewood and collapsed the pressure plate in the process.

I was without a vehicle (my turbo diesel dakota 4x4 needed tires and a tail pipe, my '84 D50 needed rust repairs and a bed, my '92 D50 needed a clutch), so 6 of my friends showed up after work and we pulled off an early Christmas Miracle. We replaced the doors, replaced the bed with a dumpbed, fixed the dents and rust and sprayed it and had my '84 back on the road by Christmas Eve.

It started out looking like this (A few years ago). That pickup bed was a Rust Free Southern bed off an '83 2wd...

That same bed spent 3 years exposed to the crap they spray on the roads in PA and it looked like this.

Also the Passenger side Door (from the same southern truck) fell off when I opened it on December 23rd.

In roughly 24 Hours it transformed into a nice truck again, thanks to help from my friends. Oh yeah, it's got a pretty ridiculous amount of lift too. Lifted makes it pretty nice taking it up 1800's stone quarry trails to get firewood, thats some rough terrain at times

 

[Dartthunder340]

Man this is cool to see!

 

[Johnny Mac]

So tell us more about these..lol... Pics?

"Ram 50 (1992 2.4L 5-Speed 4x4 with an M90 Supercharger).
turbo diesel dakota 4x4

Was the "other car" you stole the T-Quad for, Perhaps an AWD stealth with a 440 swapped into it?lol

 

[74Dusted]

So tell us more about these..lol... Pics?

"Ram 50 (1992 2.4L 5-Speed 4x4 with an M90 Supercharger).
turbo diesel dakota 4x4

Was the "other car" you stole the T-Quad for, Perhaps an AWD stealth with a 440 swapped into it?lol

My '92 D50 daily driver, she's fitted with an M90 Supercharger, Eclipse/Laser Turbo ECU, 4.22 Gears with an Electric Locker in the rear axle, 5" of lift, 32" tires.

I picked her up for $190, fixed a few things, modified a few things (it was stock when I bought it). Little creature gets an amazing 22-24mpg

Turbo Diesel Dakota. The 5.2 Magnum died and a friend offered me a Turbo Diesel with transmission, accessories, etc for less than the cost of a junkyard 5.2.

It's a '92 ClubCab 4x4 with a Mercedes 5 Cylinder Turbo Diesel, 3.23 Gears, 30" tires, 8.5' Snow Plow, and a NP203 transfer case (like my '84 D50, the Dakota is also AWD)

No, I needed the TQ for one of my Dusters. Though lately I've had this idea bouncing around, about converting my '65 Barracuda to AWD

 

[Johnny Mac]

thats crazy man! i admire the "engine"uity.

There are quite a few muscle car GM products rolling around using typhoon or trailblazer awd running gear.... an AWD 65 cuda that appeared stock, and didn't sit on a dakota frame with 37's..would be extremely cool!

 

[74Dusted]

thats crazy man! i admire the "engine"uity.

There are quite a few muscle car GM products rolling around using typhoon or trailblazer awd running gear.... an AWD 65 cuda that appeared stock, and didn't sit on a dakota frame with 37's..would be extremely cool!

Agreed. I was thinking something along the lines of building an IFS Front Axle based around an 8-3/4" (I have one that someone fubar'd the tubes on, it'd make the perfect test subject), build a custom K to mount it in, with Early Dakota 4x4 spindles (when they were still 5 on 4.5" pattern)

Add an AWD case from a later Dakota/Durango (I believe they offered that for 2 or 3 years).

I already have a 4WD/AWD TF904 with a Small Block Bellhousing sitting here, already have the Dakota parts, etc.

Top it off with an MPFI 5.9 Magnum and it'd be one intimidating stock appearing '65 capable of killing subarus while driving to work

 

[Johnny Mac]

Agreed. I was thinking something along the lines of building an IFS Front Axle based around an 8-3/4" (I have one that someone fubar'd the tubes on, it'd make the perfect test subject), build a custom K to mount it in, with Early Dakota 4x4 spindles (when they were still 5 on 4.5" pattern)

Add an AWD case from a later Dakota/Durango (I believe they offered that for 2 or 3 years).

I already have a 4WD/AWD TF904 with a Small Block Bellhousing sitting here, already have the Dakota parts, etc.

Top it off with an MPFI 5.9 Magnum and it'd be one intimidating stock appearing '65 capable of killing subarus while driving to work

I will 100% follow that build thread.lol

 

[74Dusted]

I will 100% follow that build thread.lol

I'll let you know when I start on it. Currently I'm helping my friend build an AWD 5 Speed Supercharged 3.0L '90 Daytona

 

[74Dusted]

Oh yeah, the Electric Locker in my '92 D50 was a factory option. My little 92 was ordered with the Sport package (Cargo Light, Power Antenna, Stripes (I removed them, they were peeling), 4 Speed Delay Wipers. It was also ordered with the "Winter Package" which came with 4.22 Gears (I wish it would have got the optional 4.65's or 4.89's), a factory Electric Locker, HD Torsion Bars, and the HD V5MT1 5 Speed instead of the weak KM145 5 Speed.

Got a handy little switch to the right of the steering column to lock/unlock the rear axle

 

[Johnny Mac]

I'll let you know when I start on it. Currently I'm helping my friend build an AWD 5 Speed Supercharged 3.0L '90 Daytona

Pics!
All very cool !

 

[74Dusted]

Pics!
All very cool !

Sorry man, don't have any pics of the Daytona yet. My buddy just picked it up a short time ago (with the full intention of going AWD and Supercharged right out of the gate). He's still gathering up parts for her. We hope to start on it this spring, after we pick up the AWD donor (already have the Supercharger and some assorted other parts)

He gives me crap (jokingly) for a previous vehicle I modified... I helped my cousin convert his Mazda RX7 over to a Supercharged Mopar 318 / Manual Shift 727 combo. What can I say, I like creating stuff that never existed factory (I won't transplant a non-mopar engine into a mopar though, excluding that Merc Turbo Diesel in my Dakota)