RAMMAN4

I'm pretty new here, but I figured ya'll wouldn't mind seeing my conversion project. I found this 1973 dodge crewcab behind a driveline shop a few years ago. I traded the guy that owned the truck some 6" schedule 40 pipe for it, $288. The 360 in it was locked up, it has drum brakes, and lots of rust. In the years since I've owned it I've cut alot of the rest out and fixed the whole interior floor and sealed it and coated it with herculiner. I decided not to put another gasoline motor in and have since acquired a 92 D250 with a cummins and getrag for the conversion. The project is slow, but it's coming along a little at a time.

RAMMAN4

I took the gas tank out that was behind the rear seat and installed a ramcharger gas tank out back between the frame rails. I also cut the rear hangers off and built custom drop hangers and a shackle flip as well. I installed the 2500 pound springs from JC Whitney, but I think I will be upgrading to the 3500 pound springs.

RAMMAN4

Just a few pics of my donor. I think it'll work out great. I'll be heading up to my inlaws place next month to get a bunch of my parts so I'll really get back to work then. The rest of my pics can be viewed here http://ramchargercentral.com/index.php?topic=29363.0

Bogie

Just keep at it Matt it takes 3x longer that you think it will but it will be exactly what you want it to be. Good to see you over hear as well.

RAMMAN4

Just some more pics

RAMMAN4

And some more for now

RAMMAN4

Here's how you fix a roof the previous owner jacked up because of the dodge's notorious roof rot. First you have to unbolt the old roof to get at the hack job








Once I got the roof off I determined that this was bondo and could take it out with a circular saw and alot of patience.

RAMMAN4

And once you do the front of course now you have to do the sides because the PO's maintance didn't stop there. I figured on the front and passenger side I took about approximately 30 pounds of bondo. I had cleaned out the rear of the roofline a few years ago and it was pretty close to that much as well.

RAMMAN4

And since nobody makes a roofline for the 72-85 crewcabs anymore here's how you fix that. You find one that somebody is scrapping out and get the whole roof and cut off what you need.

rbrettctd

Looking great! Nice to see taking the time to do it right!

rjm022

**** good job!! you"ll have a hell of a ride when you are done- something to be proud of! answer one question for me (being a northeast guy) i did not think vehicles rusted out like that down your way-was it a texas truck all its life??? spend alot of time near the ocean??

RAMMAN4

The original owner was only about 20 miles from where I lived. I don't know what the previous owners did to it to let it get to the condition. The original owner stated that roof came apart on him and he had to put the bolts through keep it on, but other than that I have no idea.

RAMMAN4

I got the rest of the old roofline chopped off today and had to lay the "new" skin on it to see what it'de look like. Now's it's finally looking like a dodge and not a precursor to a tetnis shot.

RAMMAN4

Now that I got the roof all fitted up it is time for some major surgery to remove some cancerous rust. Instead of cutting out the pieces one by one and patching them as I go I decided to just go ahead and cut out the whole upper portion of the window channel and replace it with a nearly rust free panel from my donor roofline.











Lots more to come. I'm just taking a 5 minute break and back to work I go.

BRUISER

Looks very good so far.. but man if my 4 door looked like that I would have walked away and found another..

that is gonna be a lot of work and time..