New addition to the stable - 83 Ramcharger - questions, too

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Mopar to ya

Mopar to ya

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So, the old 98 Ram is getting really rusty. I was cruising Craigslist not really looking to buy, and found a 1983 Ramcharger that was very clean. 318, 106K miles, 2WD, aftermarket A/C that works. The plan is to learn body work on this thing and also to eventually drop in a big block. It is very solid, owned by an 89 year old mechanic until he passed away. It turns out he lived in my home town, about a mile from me. I never knew. The only bad spot on the truck is the rear quarters are going to pop through with rust holes very soon. I need to know where I can find inexpensive repair panels. Also, I don't have it home yet, so I don't know what tranny and rear end the 2WD version comes with. Anyone have any ideas on where to find parts and what to look for?

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I joined the sister site to this one and have bought a few things for mine
fortrucksonly has been great for me and my son, we have or truck restoration going on over there and there is many members from here over there with allot of help Mopar to ya
 
Oo's Very nice Ramchager, my user name there is J town ram
 
Ahh yes the good ole' Ramchargers. My first car was a 1984 Ramcharger Prospector III package, it was equipped with 4WD, 360 and an A/C that worked until they outlawed R12 refrigerant. And I was a poor High school graduate who couldn't afford a retrofit to R134.

You most likely have an A727 automatic. If you have a manual in, it would be a NP-435 4 speed.
The rear end would most likely be the 9 1/4.

Aftermarket repair panels is not very common for these things, you might have to cut out a good one from a junkyard or parts car.
 
Depends on the rust.

LMC truck is showing blow out patches for the wheel arch. Seems like parts are starting to dry up a bit more than ever. Auto Body Specialties used to catalog small patches forward and rearward of the wheel arch, about six inches or so high. A quick look at their catalog shows nothing, now.

But it might be worth making a call and check to see if they have any warehoused.

Here's a link: http://www.autobodyspecialt.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?display=home

You can also try your local paint jobber. Mine supplies through Keystone. I've bought a lot of rust repair patches over the years for a lot of different vehicles.
 
Like Tantibus 74 stated:

Should have an A727 and 9-1/4 in it, since it appears to be an automatic on the column from your pics. Looks nice. I scrapped out an 84 and an 86 - too many Michigan winters did them in!
 
Red it is, no question. I found some rear quarters at Rock Auto - cheap crap as always - and they were like $46 each. Shipping was $131. I have time and will play and try to find a better quality. I'll probably dress up the 318 in the meantime. I never sold my Moroso fabricated aluminum valve covers and I have a sb intake and 4 bbl carbs. I have two sets of headers that may fit, but I really don't want to do exhaust yet.
 
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