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Project hand back up the hand me down.

1046 Views 17 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  100LL
I recently aquired my grandpa's old 89 dodge d100 long wheel base. I've got tons of history with this truck, It was bought new in 88 as my granpa's company truck and it put me in the hospital twice that year "clotheslined twice while running full speed in the forehead by the open tailgate", and it proceeded to be the bane of my existance for the last 20 years lol.

He gave it to my little brother as a graduation present so he could get back and forth to the local vocational school but that only lasted a week before he blew up the poor little 3.9 V6.

A few weeks ago my mom called me and let me know what happened and how heartbroken my grandpa was about it, and to top it off my little brother was about to sell it for $100 as scrap iron lol...I immediately drove down there, swapped the title into my name and towed it home.

Here is what I came home with!


It's a bit rusty but it's all perfectly straight except for the driver side door which can be fixxed.

That still leaves the problem of motorvating the old dog, A V6 simply is'nt enough for this monster of a truck so I made a few calls and located a 318 that had been sitting up for the last 5 years that a friend had rebuilt for his old ram charger about 6k miles before he wrecked it. He delivered that along with a brand new trans and a few random parts he salvaged from his crash.

$50 got me all this!, he even threw in some 17" ram r/t rims with the center already machined out to fit my hubs!

So far in the last three weeks I've got the new motor in, had to make some new motor mounts, I've lowered it 4" in the back and 2" in the front. The exhaust manifolds won't work with the new motor mounts so I hit up ebay and won a set for 99cents that came off of a jeep cherokee, free 2 1/2 inch exhaust pipe to run the duals. I've started taking it down to the metal to get rid of the rust and fill the little dimples all over it. Waiting on a set of tires...will have those just as soon as another cop car gets a new set.

Sooooo exhaust, paint and tires is what I'm waiting on. I think this build MIGHT end up costing me around $500? max!

I've already cranked it up and driven it around the block a few times with the open manifolds lol, this baby snarls!

Once I get done I plan to give it back to my 72 year old grandfather...on the condition should something happen it will come back to me lol.
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Nice lookin' truck, and the coolest part is yer fixing 'er up for your grandpa.

Way to go Red! :thumbsup:
Sweeeeeet.

Lucky you. I <3 me some old Mopar trucks. You'll love it.

FWIW... the 318 is OK, but if ever dies... time for a 440 wedge project!!
I can't decide whether I should do it up with a classic two tone blue that's close to stock "its mostly metalic baby blue right now" with the 17's.

Or do it up rat rod style and order some rally wheels with beauty rings and moon eye hubcaps, he used to have an old ford roadster that was pretty close to a rat rod and he always talks about that car, if I do it up that way the paint will be a lot easier....flat black, red rally rims with moon eyes/beauty rings and some coker whitewalls baby!


I prefer the rat rod look myself, flat black...maybe take a few parts down to bare metal and clear them,,,thinking it would look good black with the roof left natural with clear on it... The roof is a seperate peice from the cab and they used to paint that peice white back in the day...it'd be a cool little twist on it I think...like an old caddy with the stainless roof.
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Once I get done I plan to give it back to my 72 year old grandfather...on the condition should something happen it will come back to me lol.
A dammn fine idea. Good for you, and your Grandpa. :)
Red, this is an awesome story.... keep us posted with pics and all.
Black w. the white roof... yes

Rallye wheels with the trim rings... yes

440 Six-Pack bored .40 over with a stroker crank, tube headers, nasty cam & 3.5" dual exhaust...oooooh yeeeeeah
Sweeeeeet.

Lucky you. I <3 me some old Mopar trucks. You'll love it.

FWIW... the 318 is OK, but if ever dies... time for a 440 wedge project!!
Oh me and my dad been going round and round over the big block idea, I actually have access to one for free that came out of an old school bus but it needed rebuilding, this motor and trans was basically new and cost me $50 so I decided how close I can keep this build to being free lol. Plus the 318 is tough as granite and a pretty good performer...and it runs with my stock computer and wiring harness off of the 3.9 lol.
Yeah, the 318 is a good motor. Owned me a few over the years... but as they say "There is no substitute for cubic inches"... :D

There is a ton of Mopar aftermarket performance parts you can get into... have fun!
Speaking of Mopar, has anyone ever used rust converter? you know the stuff that's supposed to stop rust and turn it into primer, the bed is pretty bad off right now, it's still pretty solid but I've gone at it with a wire wheel for two hours today to knock off the heavy stuff but it's a bit too deep to kill completely without a bead blaster "which I don't have".

I wanna just neutralize the rust and line it with bed liner, and maybe put wood plank on top of that.
You could try Naval Jelly.... messy stuff... but a lot of old P/U restorations will cut the old steel out & go custom with a wood bed. Not cheap, but it is an alternative.

Also.... add exhaust stacks. Like the "Little Red Wagon"... fackin' cool... :)

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lol maybe if it were a stepside, but that's a little too popular with the ******** around here for me to do, if it were'nt so low now I might would have done some laker pipes or something lol...I love old cars with laker pipes!

I'll give the marine jelly a shot, worst comes to worst I'll just cut the whole thing out and go back with new sheet metal, I can get that for free at work. I kinda want to try getting a few sheets of pink foam insulation and fiberglass and making a bed cover...it'd only have to be like 30 feet long and ten feet wide, lol the bed on this thing is UGE! yeah so big the H is silent!
...it'd only have to be like 30 feet long and ten feet wide, lol the bed on this thing is UGE! yeah so big the H is silent!
OK... if it's THIS big, call the Navy:



LOL
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OK... if it's THIS big, call the Navy:



LOL

I think it might hold an F-16 or two, I'd have to pump up the air shocks though lol.
"If you can land a jet on your pickup truck, you might be a *******..."

;D
"If you can land a jet on your pickup truck, you might be a *******..."

;D
What can I say, it's long and hard lol. I've never driven an lwb before, lol it's a lot like driving a battleship...it does feel cool when it gets sideways but it takes two lanes to do it! lol
Awesome man! I restored a 75 Dodge Power Wagon the summer after I graduated high school :) +1 on keeping this up to date with pics!
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