1975 Dodge Crew Cab Power Wagon Build and Cummins 6BT Conversion

[Dustoff35]

Here we go.  For quite some time, I had been looking for a 70's - 80's, relatively rust-free, crew-cab truck.  Ford, Dodge or GM, it didn't really matter.  My objective was (and still is) to put a cummins diesel into it, either a 6BT or 4BT.  I avoided local trucks as they were anything but rust-free.  I searched CL in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado's western slope, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.  I even flew out to look at a few trucks.  I eventually found what I was looking for a little over 100 miles away, in Indiana.  These pictures I took when I drove to Indianapolis to look at it for the first time.  Here it is:   

[streetrodchev]

Waiting to see where this build goes.

[Flyin6]

If you think I am detail oriented, I believe you will see a whole other level of thoughtful construction with Duane's build

Hey, anyone know where that piece is I wrote describing Duane??
Could you post it here to start off right and DOT up his thread right from inception?

[Flyin6]

subd ...... oh wait, that's not an option yet.

For a site that is not open yet, we seem to be hummin' right along! Welcome aboard! 
 
FYI, there is a "NOTIFY" button at the top of every thread, use that instead of posting "subd" - OW_09

[Dustoff35]

Hey, anyone know where that piece is I wrote describing Duane??
Could you post it here to start off right and DOT up his thread right from inception?

Payback, Eh, Don?  Considering the DOT havoc wreaked by myself and others on your D-Max thread, I figure I have it coming...

[Bob Smith]

Haven't started the build yet but have a mat on the garage floor to wipe your feet before entering the truck, I see what you mean Don.

[KensAuto]

Finally going to see Duane's build, wow,  can't wait. ...just don't let Don help with painting anything (that can be seen by us)!!

[Dustoff35]

After the seller and I negotiated a fair price and closed the deal, I decided to have the truck transported to my house rather than try to drive it home.  It was snowing at the time and I didn't want the truck subjected to road salt on the 100+ mile journey.  It turned out to be a good decision for more reasons than just road salt avoidance...

About 4 days later, the truck arrived on a roll-back.
 

[Flyin6]

Hey, anyone know where that piece is I wrote describing Duane??
Could you post it here to start off right and DOT up his thread right from inception?

Payback, Eh, Don?  Considering the DOT havoc wreaked by myself and others on your D-Max thread, I figure I have it coming...

You most certainly do!

[Flyin6]

Haven't started the build yet but have a mat on the garage floor to wipe your feet before entering the truck, I see what you mean Don.

Get's way better (Worse)
Duane, you're about to be found out!

[Flyin6]

Just thought of something
I get to be a DOT on my own site!
So folks lets remember the PDRTBTP Ratio (Proper DOT response to Build Thread Posts) of 3:!
Need a ROLMAF here

[KensAuto]

If you think I am detail oriented, I believe you will see a whole other level of thoughtful construction with Duane's build

Hey, anyone know where that piece is I wrote describing Duane??
Could you post it here to start off right and DOT up his thread right from inception?

Sorry Duane,but the boss asked and he shall receive.(for a second time I might add)
Don, I couldn't copy the page, so hopefully the link works.

http://www.duramaxforum.com/forum/diesels/236098-12-valve-dodge-survival-truck-build-thread-149.html#post5335633

[Flyin6]

Thanks Ken, that's perfect!

Here it is for the rest of you common rabble:



Duane, my friend:

For those of you who don't know Mr. Duane and that's everyone, well allow me to splain a few things.

Duane looks at everything as he is examining a new ailen life form. He is detailed oriented to the point I feel like beating him after discussing how to tighten a bolt.

You see, I just tighten it. Duane reads and studies the metallurgy. Was it Brazilian iron or melted down jap kars?? He learns about the company that zinc washed the thing, and finds the unit price the manufacturer paid for it, adjusted for cost of living of course. He then calls a few people, posts up in some bolt forum, and builds a folder with all the information he can on the thing. Me, well, by now I'm glassy eyed and thinking of a second way of killing myself after listening to him and watching this magnificent waste of time!

Now satisified that he knows enough about this bolt and how it might be viewed by changing EPA and OSHA standards, he selects a torque wrench.

His are sterlized in an autoclave and calibrated by NASA. They are manufactured using a secreative process developed after WW2, by captured German scientists and prayed over by tibetan Buddist monks.

After consulting his Almanac for the exact time of the day when the solar system is at the greatest point of balance and the air quality is optomized, he selects his operating room attire and enters the temperature controlled environment of his garage where nary a single microbe that he doesn't know about survives. The item to be bolted together is placed on a dead flat New Zealand granite plate and aligned to true north. The wrench approach angle is calculated and he brings the torque wrench to with 1.565432345" of the bolt. After controlling his breathing and checking the room temp to be an even 68.385 degrees he places the wrench onto the bolt head.

About this time I open the door, trip, spilling my sweet tea all over the floor, and Duane passes out due to a sudden heart stoppage. I walk slowly over to the defibulator hanging on the wall and examine it. Thinking Duane's still pretty young, I make a call or two to some buddies, then finally walk over to his corpse, forgetting all about the defib thing I just kick him in the chest. Works every time, He just wakes up with a sore chest and a bruise and I feel a little better as well.

We then forget all about that bolt and take off to a nearby gun shop. His wife calls us seventy three times, I listen to one hundred forty six "Yes Dears,"  and we do guy stuff the rest of the afternoon.

No sir, you don't want to see any of his tools, garage or anything else. He never actually can get to the point where he finishes anything! And then there are his vehicles, which for some reason, to my knowledge, he has never ever washed...Really!

Black hawk pilots...

[jms89]

Sweet looking power wagon! You don't see one of those everyday.

[Armalite]

Nice Duane!   ;)

[Flyin6]

^^^There's Ash!

Avatar's sideways bro

Texas thing?

[jms89]

Well i stumbled upon this gem today on craigslist...i immediately thought of this build.

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/4775238031.html

[Dustoff35]

Well i stumbled upon this gem today on craigslist...i immediately thought of this build.

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/4775238031.html

It looks pretty nice.  Its on an early 1990's chassis, 12v cummins, 5-speed. He wants $20,000.  Here are some pics of it in case the link goes dead:

[Dustoff35]

OK, time to start updating on my Power-wagon. 

[Dustoff35]

While the truck did start when I first looked at it in Indianapolis, it started hard and the carburetor float bowls had to be filled or I'm sure it would have overheated the starter or run the battery down.  We never brought it up to full operating temperature as it was started inside a large building and the exhaust gasses were building up pretty fast in the enclosed space.  I figured it probably needed a good basic tune-up and maybe a carburetor rebuild kit.  No big deal, I can do that.

Once the roll-back truck unloaded it and departed, I took my son for a short ride in it down our 1/2 mile long driveway.  By the time we got back, steam was rolling out of the hood.  I found several pinhole leaks that were misting out of the radiator, creating a fog of steam and coolant.  Great.  New radiator also.  Interestingly enough, the radiator was original to the truck as were the heater hoses and clamps.       

[Dustoff35]

At this point, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with the truck.  No real mission statement.  I explored the possibility of running it on propane or dual-fuel.  I even went so far as to pick up a purpose-built DOT approved (HA-HA!) 35 gallon tank setup I found in Indiana on Craigslist.  The propane system had been installed on an F-150 that was a fleet vehicle for some utility company out of Texas.  After an ECU malfunction, the 2nd owner of the F-150 decided to pull the propane setup and just run on gas.  I bought the system mainly for the nice in-bed tank setup , lines and fuel-door refill port.     

[Dustoff35]

Ultimately, I decided I didn't want to use propane or the gas engine for that matter.  The propane system went to a good home, Sean, aka stlaser.  Not sure what his plans are for it.  Sean?

[JR]

Sure you can find an oil burner for that but propane would be a great addition.

[BobbyB]

Can't you run propane in accompaniment the diesel you're planning on running? Doesn't it cause you to have better mileage out of the diesel? That's what I've heard, as there is a shop up here advertising something along those lines.

[Dustoff35]

Can't you run propane in accompaniment the diesel you're planning on running? Doesn't it cause you to have better mileage out of the diesel? That's what I've heard, as there is a shop up here advertising something along those lines.

I don't know.  I'll look into it at some point. 

[Flyin6]

Propane in a diesel is like nitrous in a gas motor...simply no need at all for a "truck"

Now having said that, water and alcohol injection is healthy for the diesel both reducing combustion gas temp which makes the motor live longer and easily adding 100 ft/lbs of grunt.

[Dustoff35]

My immediate objective was to get it up and running and operable at least.  Out went the old radiator, in went new belts and hoses. No more coolant leaks.

[Dustoff35]

Off came the carburetor, a Rochester Quadrajet.  It has been a few years since I rebuilt a carb, so I found a guy on youtube who went through the entire process step by step.  He actually rebuilt the same Mopar model Q-jet that I had.

[Dustoff35]

Disassembly and Cleaning.  There was a lot of scale and dirt buildup in the float bowls and the power-valve  was seized in the bore.

[Dustoff35]

Re-assembly.

[JR]

Wow, its been years since I touched one of those, my elky has one.

Speaking of the elky, the darn thing stopped and won't start. Pretty sure its the ignition module.

[ce_tx]

AWESOME another crew cab build, I really like seeing these old trucks being built!

That one looks really clean.  Take it from me whatever you had to give for it and if it's a clean/rust free as it looks your a many dollars ahead when it comes time to paint it if you do.  I spent quite a bit, A LOT, of money on my paint body work.  The only original sheet metal on my crew cab is the two front fenders and rear two doors, everything else has been replaced by donor parts I gathered up.  That is including the cab as well.

Good luck with the build and I will be watching to see what you do with the truck.

[Dustoff35]

AWESOME another crew cab build, I really like seeing these old trucks being built!

That one looks really clean.  Take it from me whatever you had to give for it and if it's a clean/rust free as it looks your a many dollars ahead when it comes time to paint it if you do.  I spent quite a bit, A LOT, of money on my paint body work.  The only original sheet metal on my crew cab is the two front fenders and rear two doors, everything else has been replaced by donor parts I gathered up.  That is including the cab as well.

Good luck with the build and I will be watching to see what you do with the truck.

Thanks.  The truck is as clean as it looks and very original.  I have followed your build on Diesel Truck Resource and you are doing a great job!

[Dustoff35]

Here is the finished carb back on the truck.  It runs much better now but it really needs a manual choke.     

[JR]

Getting the same done on both my 91 subs. 1500 won't start (think the alarm disabled the pump) but the 2500 runs great.

[cudakidd53]

Duane-

Might it run better if you hooked up the air cleaner to the exhaust manifold which supplies warm air off the exhaust to the engine when the vaccum valve on the Snorkle closes?

[EL TATE]

Reminds me of the engine compartment of my 72 Wag. you could sit on the inner fender and work on the motor. Good find there Duane.

[Flyin6]

Now if we can just get him to post a little!

[Dustoff35]

Now if we can just get him to post a little!

Sorry guys, a local issue has been dominating a good bit of my time lately.  For me, it spooled-up right about early July of last year.  Even Don has become involved, though he seems to manage to get more truck-time in than I do... :-[ 

 

[Dustoff35]

Duane-

Might it run better if you hooked up the air cleaner to the exhaust manifold which supplies warm air off the exhaust to the engine when the vaccum valve on the Snorkle closes?

You are probably right, I didn't think of that.  Too many years of working Fuel injected stuff I suppose.  I will probably just flip the air-clceaner lid (remember that old trick from the '70s & '80s?)  I don't want to put much more time or $$$ into a power plant that will ultimately be removed.

[cudakidd53]

Yes, remember that trick to the extreme- had a 1970 AAR Cuda that had the stock, functional fiberglass hood with front facing scoop, feeding a "six pack"...........oh how I miss that car!

[Flyin6]

Yes, remember that trick to the extreme- had a 1970 AAR Cuda that had the stock, functional fiberglass hood with front facing scoop, feeding a "six pack"...........oh how I miss that car!

So that's where CUDAkidd comes from!

[cudakidd53]

Yes, remember that trick to the extreme- had a 1970 AAR Cuda that had the stock, functional fiberglass hood with front facing scoop, feeding a "six pack"...........oh how I miss that car!

So that's where CUDAkidd comes from!

Actually comes from my father and I dirt track racing- he started one year racing a 'Cuda, announcer pegged him "Cudaman".  The next year he built a new 'Cuda and I took over the old one and was pegged "Cudakidd" and we gave the Bow tie boys grief...........and NO, the AAR's were not used for the dirt!

[Dustoff35]

I finally decided what direction to go in regards to drivetrain.  The 360/727 is going to come out in favor of a 12valve-5speed setup.  This means that I will need to upgrade the axles; the D60 rear end and D44 front end will not hold up.  Time to start looking for a donor truck…
 
After a few weeks of searching I came across a Craigslist ad for a complete '92 D250 chassis.  It had a 12v, Getrag 5speed, NP205, D60 king-pin front axle and a D70 rear axle.  I made the call and Dan and I went to look at it.

After starting the motor which had sat for almost a year, we agreed on a price and Dan and I went to pick up Don's trailer.

A loaded D250 chassis is rather heavy, too much for us to push onto the trailer.  Fortunately, there was a track-loader nearby...


 

[JR]

Nice find!! I am thinking of a P pump motor I found a couple hours south, just $1500 and it has video of it running. Only issue is 300k miles on it and cash flow with the taxes!!

Is there a 14bt going in the back??

[BobbyB]

You guys down there have all the fun. And I'm up here drinking coffee and looking at the snow..

[OldKooT]

Looks to me like you have a very nice crew, and now a solid drivetrain. Now the fun part begins.

What is your plan for the clutch pedals/firewall modifications?

 

[ce_tx]

Very nice find on the donor!!

[BobbyB]

It had a Getrag 5speed

Duane, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you a main proponent to sticking with the automatic in D2 ? Why the 5 spd? DOn't get me wrong I think a 5 spd will be awesome in the truck, I'm just wondering and I can't remember if you were pro or against the manual in respect to D2, so I was wondering..

[Dustoff35]

Is there a 14bt going in the back??

That is the plan…

The chassis came with two "spare" D70 axles… I wonder why?