1957 Chevy 3100, meet 1994 Dodge Ram 1500

[Purcell69]

I'm new to the forum here, but I've been playing with my 1957 3100 long be off and on for about 20 years. I picked this truck up in Phoenix two decades ago, sans motor and transmission, but with a decent body and good title for $1500 from a salvage yard. The truck was pretty much original and unmolested, though repainted a few times.

Over the years, I did a disc brake and power steering conversion on the original front axle, powered with a 350 and 200-4R automatic. I swapped in a rear axle from an early '80s Delta 88 to match the front wheel bolt pattern. The truck ran great, but the bump steer was lethal. A small bump in the road would cause lane changes.

Later, I opted to swap out the straight axle for a Camaro subframe. I cut the frame, rebuilt a 1974 Camaro sub amd installed it. I am not a fan of the down in the weeds look, so I sandwiched 2x2" square tube between the frame and subframe before welding. It still sat too low for my taste, but the bump steer was now gone.

During this time, I also played with EFI. The Quadrajet was ok, but I wanted something different. I found a 1983 Crossfire Injection system from a Z-28 and installed it, using a modified 1990 C-10 ECM to run the system. It worked, but there were issues with vapor locking, mostly due to the routing of my fuel lines in the engine compartment. Also the idle air control motors on the twin throttle bodies were a pain. From there, I went to a straight TBI on a manifold modified for my early heads, complete with a 35 gallon aluminum marine fuel tank in the bed. Not perfect, but functional. The transmission went south and the project sat again.

I always like the look of the old Task Force NAPCO trucks. In high school, one of my fellow students had one as her daily driver. The 235 sounded like it was getting ready to hover while running down Scottsdale road at 45 MPH, but the all business look appealed to me. A few years ago, I started toying with my own take on the NAPCO, albeit with better suspension and modern power. I started comparing the Dodge Ram 1500 4wd chassis to the stock TF frame, first because the Dodge has a solid front axle with coil spring suspension, and second, because I had a 1996 Jeep Cherokee with complete 4.0L running gear that would make a nice donor. The Jeep body was completely rusted out, so it was only good for the drivetrain. The NP231J transfer case has a driver's side drop, so it could be used with the Dodge Ram chassis.

I began hunting for a long bed or extended cab Ram 1500 4wd to use for a chassis donor. After comparing wheel bases on the two trucks (my TF and the Ram) I knew I would need to either shorten a long bed/extended cab chassis or lengthen a single cab short bed chassis to match up. Since it is easier to shorten the existing chassis, I looked for the longer platform. As this plan began to hatch, my wife convinced me that it would be easier to just stick with the Dodge running gear than it would be to use the Jeep's. The reason I like the Jeep idea was because: a. I already had known good parts on hand; b. The inline 6 kept to the original appearance of the NAPCO platform; and c. The 190 HP 4.0L was decent on fuel, at least in the Cherokee.

On the other hand, parting out the Cherokee freed up funding to acquire the 1994-2001 Dodge Ram 1500 chassis for the heart of the project. Getting one from Craigslist with either a bad engine or transmission would keep my cost down, and I could replace or rebuild the engine when the time comes. Or, if I was so inclined, I could use my existing 350, mate it to a 700R4 and use the mid-90s Chevrolet left hand drop transfer case (NP242-C, I think). Of course the Chevy option meant buying another transmission and transfer case which blows my limited budget.

After one failed trip to Ft. Worth to look at a 1996 Ram 1500 with a bad transfer case (and a severely rusted frame. Who ever heard of a truck frame rusting through?!), I found a 1994 Ram 1500 long bed, 4wd automatic less than two hours away. The motor was bad and partially disassembled, but the bulk of what I wanted was there for $500. The seller needed money and wanted it out of his pasture. There was a buyer who was going to scrap it for $400, but I was willing to give the seller his asking price and he was happy it would go to good use. With some of the money made from parting the Jeep, we went to Texas again.



-Joe