The 40 440

[famous bob]

View attachment 1715735497 View attachment 1715735498 View attachment 1715735499 View attachment 1715735500
Now back to the originally scheduled fab work.

I musta missed something , pistons so far down in the hole they dont need valve reliefs ??
And kick a$$ top end ?
Still following .

 

[qkcuda]

Wow, this build is really moving along.

 

[sireland67]

Looks like a better start than I had

It has some really nice metal. Glass is even nice.

 

[Cool Hand]

Kinda flying through the build. Looking through my photos ,and basically adding commentary by memory. Then trying to put it in order. If there is anything someone wants more detail on let me know. I may not have more pics for you,but I do have the details. So far I have only posted about 15 percent of the photos that are relevant up to this point.

 

[sireland67]

I would like to see the firewall area.

 

[Cool Hand]

I would like to see the firewall area.[/QUOTE
Getting to that next. Coming your way.

 

[Cool Hand]

I musta missed something , pistons so far down in the hole they dont need valve reliefs ??
And kick a$$ top end ?
Still following .

The 240 trickflow heads have pretty large chambers,so the flattops work perfect.

 

[famous bob]

The 240 trickflow heads have pretty large chambers,so the flattops work perfect.

what about piston to valve clearance ? I dont get it !

 

[Cool Hand]

what about piston to valve clearance ? I dont get it !

Got about 500 miles on it ,and a trip to the track for road course, and auto cross. No clearance issue. We are changing intake, and cam but that is to get the power lower on the rpm curve for better low end torque. Better vacuum for fuel injection, and better street manners. It gas never had valve ,and piston contact. Besides valves are clear af tdc.

 

[Cool Hand]

So I was getting ready to jump into the metal work,and rust repair. Then a request for firewall fab popped up so thats where the metal work will start.

This is a pic of the stock firewall. It would have worked just fine like this,but it had alot of unnecessary holes. So we opted to build our own especially since we needed to build a tunnel and front floor pans. The pans on these trucks are removable panels,and someone forgot to put ours back before we bought it.

There is a bead roll on the stock firewall that we used as our cutoff point. Recessed the area by an inch and a half then made a cardboard template of the hole.

Transfered it to some 18 gauge. Did some bead rolls that would stiffen it up ,and also frame in the brake booster area.

The spot on the top right is for booster

We then made replacements for the missing floor panels. Looks tight but there is over an inch of clearance for trans.

That little bump was all I needed for clearance. In fact it could have been completely flat and been fine.

Here's the finished metalwork on firewall with booster installed. Nice,and clean only special tools used was a Woodward fab bead roller. About a days work to do including the floor.

 

[sireland67]

Those missing pans for the floor were made of wood originally.

 

[Cool Hand]

Those missing pans for the floor were made of wood originally.

Makes sense. Have a friend that built a ratrod out of his 42,and he put marble tiles in the recessed area. Looks pretty cool.

 

[Cool Hand]

So there was a little rust damage on the cab that needed to be handled. All very simple patches no compound curves. Inside ,and out on passenger side cab corner is where I started.

Marked, and cut it out. Kept the piece for template.

Slowly used the shrinker,after I bent the bottom. Shrink fit shrink fit.

Tacked it in. Tack every inch or so. Then filled it in with the air hose to cool the metal as I went.

Ground it down even with a flapwheel. Doesn't have to look perfect you don't want to grind it thin. Just knock the weld down so it is below the plain of the panel. If you have the heat right the weld line will shrink just enough to leave a low area for a small amount of filler.

Finished off the lower rear panel where there was a series of pinholes the same way. Then fixed up and strengthened the inside.

Can't find a pic of the inside corner all finish welded,and,smoothed out.. The front passenger corner by the body mounts was a little harder. I will get to that next.

 

[Cool Hand]

Pass. Front damage same on both sides ,and goes through to the inside by cab mounts.

Let's start cutting

Body mount patched. Making templates. One piece at a time. Trying to match seams from original piece.

Passenger side done.

inside done. Now patch up outside,and grind it smooth

 

[Cool Hand]

Cab repairs are done. Now we can move onto repairing the grill,and front-end parts. Unfortunately the front fenders were beyond repair so they were replaced. DCM Classics in Michigan helped us a ton with all the parts. Including fixing up the trim. They are very knowledgeable about these trucks,and they are a small family owned business.

 

[famous bob]

Got about 500 miles on it ,and a trip to the track for road course, and auto cross. No clearance issue. We are changing intake, and cam but that is to get the power lower on the rpm curve for better low end torque. Better vacuum for fuel injection, and better street manners. It gas never had valve ,and piston contact. Besides valves are clear af tdc.

Yeah but , u either got the pistons down in the hole a bunch at tdc , or a very small cam --------??
still following .

 

[thesiren74]

Wow! Amazing build!!

 

[Cool Hand]

Yeah but , u either got the pistons down in the hole a bunch at tdc , or a very small cam --------??
still following .

Fed mogul rebuild kit. Trickflow topend kit.
Fem map 155-300. Tfs-61602003
Check out the specs.

 

[Cool Hand]

Here's the damage on the lower front grill. To fix it I made a strip of steel the width of the flange, and went back and forth to the shrinker until it matched the damaged piece. Transfered the holes,and welded nuts to the back like the original

The bolts in this pic are what attach the fender

Here is one side done

Second side finished

Ready for the new dcm fenders.

 

[sireland67]

Fiberglass fenders?

 

[pauly]

Wow! That thing is going together quickly! Impressive fabrication skills!

 

[vitamindart]

very cool! love the old dodges

 

[moparmat2000]

Wow!!! A lot of work, and a lot of talent. It's going to look great!!!

 

[Cool Hand]

Fiberglass fenders?

Yep. Wait till you see what I do with em.

 

[Cool Hand]

Wow! That thing is going together quickly! Impressive fabrication skills!

Just so everyone knows we are not this fast. This is a recap of our SEMA 2018 build. We are doing some engine mods that we needed some suggestions for which prompted the build thread so the guys could see what all was done. Thanks, and stay tuned.