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

[Kim57]

Welcome.
This should be a neat build.
Kim

[Russell Ashley]

Welcome to the forum, looks like the start of an interesting build. Be sure to keep us updated with lots of pics.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Welcome to the forum, looks like the start of an interesting build. Be sure to keep us updated with lots of pics.

Will do, I have that well in hand. I have a thread running on a different forum when I was clued in to Luther's Cummins NAPCO clone build. I just need to get this thread up to speed now that I have it started. So far, I have the bed removed from the Dodge as well as the front clip, both of which were sold off for additional funding. I have already shortened the Dodge frame to match the wheelbase of the 1957. More pics and the details thus far will be added soon.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Here are a few pics of what i am working with:

My 1957 3100 LB











And the Dodge









-Joe

[Purcell69]

I made some progress this week. Story to follow.



















-Joe

[Purcell69]

Last week, I finished shortening the frame down to the 123.5" wheelbase to match the 1957 body. When I first considered using the Dodge 1500 chassis, I knew that I would either need to lengthen or shorten the Dodge frame, depending on the configuration of the donor truck. A short bed, regular cab would require something in the area of 5" to be added to the wheelbase, and was least desirable to me. It would be far better to shorten a frame from a longer chassis. I had planned on cutting and welding, adding boxing plates where needed. It turns out, Dodge assembled these trucks with a rear subframe that was nested into the main frame and riveted into place. This made my work easier.

I was able to grind the heads off of the 14 rivets used, then drill and punch the rivets from the frame. The front leaf spring hangers used four rivets each and there were three per side for the crossmember. After I unbolted the rear leaf springs, I rolled the rear axle out of the way. I supported the subframe with my engine crane and slid it out of the main frame. I had to trim off the second set of pedestals that the bed mounts to in order to make room for the front leaf spring hangers. With the pedestals gone, I was able to trim 11.25" from the main frame rails and then re-insert the subframe and bolt up my leaf spring hangers. (I need to add pics in here)

Yesterday, I finished removing the dashboard, pedal assembly, brake booster and cab wire harness. I put the steering column back in to aid in moving the truck out to my shop framework for cab removal. My daughter's boyfriend, Michael, was recruited to help with the cab removal.

We moved the Dodge out to the "shop" after I loosened up the cab bolts. With all the cab wiring and connections removed, the cab with the help of my chain hoist and my 1951 Harry Ferguson tractor. The cab would not go high enough to pull the chassis backward, due to the engine. Instead, I pulled the chassis forward of the cab, set the cab down and dragged it out of the way. With the cab clear, I dragged the chassis back to the driveway to get ready for engine removal. The previous owner started to remove the engine after a perceived head gasket failure. All that was left to remove were the bell housing bolts.

The 360 has a little over 200k miles and was "bad" at the time of purchase. The PO stated he had hit a cow (hence the Frankentruck paint scheme), which damaged the radiator. Rather than replace the radiator, he opted to keep refilling it. One day he decided there was enough coolant, only to overheat the engine and possibly blowing a head gasket. The truck was parked and sat for roughly four years in the pasture. Looking underneath, there is one quickie freeze plug repair and one missing on the passenger side of the engine block. I am thinking worst case, the block cracked either from freezing or overheating. I expect to get the engine out this week to see what there is to work with.

-Joe
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[Bierkan]

I thought everyone knew that the 94+ Dodge trucks were component frame trucks. :-) Trucks were assembled in Mexico from US stamped parts. To increase the number of frames they could ship, to allow them to sandwich together, they made the frame in sections. 4WD front hoop is the same for a standard or extended cab. Long or short bed is the same frame hoop for 2wd and 4wd, std and ext cab. And so on. I remember this because it was in some car magazine back in the early 90's that, IIRC, featured the dual-axled T-Rex Dodge truck.

I had a 95 with a 360. Shoulda kept it. NOTHING would kill that truck. During one move, where I had my motorcycle, some tools, all the flammables that the moving company wouldn't touch in the back of my truck (1500 pounds in a 1/2 ton truck), the engine boiled out all the water 'cause a dealership's mechanic put the thermostat in upside down. Warped the radiator, fried the fan clutch and damaged some hoses. That was at about 160,000 miles. I sold it at 250,000 and never touched the motor in between. If the heads warped or cracked, it never lost compression or leaked fluids. Lucky.

A huge tree fell on that truck during a storm, too. Fell across the truck and covered it from front to rear. Only place it touched the truck was on the tailgate, crushing it. Bed, cab, fenders were all spared. Lucky. Yeah, I still miss Clifford the Big Red Dodge.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Bierkan

I thought everyone knew that the 94+ Dodge trucks were component frame trucks. :-) Trucks were assembled in Mexico from US stamped parts. To increase the number of frames they could ship, to allow them to sandwich together, they made the frame in sections. 4WD front hoop is the same for a standard or extended cab. Long or short bed is the same frame hoop for 2wd and 4wd, std and ext cab. And so on. I remember this because it was in some car magazine back in the early 90's that, IIRC, featured the dual-axled T-Rex Dodge truck.

I knew there had to be a reason for the subframe, I just figured it was to allow different variations from one main frame, as in long bed to extended cab, etc. Thanks for the info.

















-Joe

[ghettoluxury]

Looks like you are moving along nicely.

[Bierkan]

I used to build seat mechanisms for Dodge at one company and later Dodge Ram hood hinges at another. Every hood hinge for the 94 to 2004 hood hinge was built wrong to the print, but functionally correct. Apparently the CAD drawings were unclear so a part intended for the right hinge was installed on the left and vice versa. We figured it out in 2001 but left it alone, per Dodge's request. It didn't affect the safety of the hinge, either. Just fun facts to know and tell.

[Purcell69]

^^^ That's good stuff right there.

So far I have been moving along pretty steadily. The project to this point has been funded via disposing of a rusted out Cherokee and spare parts from the Dodge. I'm planning on pulling the Dodge engine after work tonight and taking a look at the internals once it is on the engine stand. I need to move a trailer out of the way so I can pull the '57 along side the Dodge chassis in preparation of moving things over. That way I will have a ready reference for my body mounting locations. I have some repair panels that I need to acquire and install on the '57, such as cab corners and the right side floor. I will do these once the cab is between frames.

-Joe
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[Purcell69]

Well I got out there this morning since nothing got done after work the past two days due to rain. In spite of teh motor being "bad" i had made an effort to cover it up since rain was expected, however this morning there was about a quart of water in the bottom of the intake manifold. Not a huge deal, since the engine was coming out today.

I made sure the wire harness was clear, supported the transmission and removed the bellhousing bolts. With the engine crane in place and some creative jacking below the transmission, I had the engine free of the chassis in just a few minutes. I did not take a lot of pictures at this point, since it was about 90% humidity and I was sweating like a whore in church, but I did take one or two.



This engine has had a bit of a hard life after being overheated, run hard by a volunteer firefighter, and partially disasembled for parts, being somewhat exposed to the elements. When I pulled the intake manifold, I really wasn't expecting to find the end of the rainbow. I didn't. But then again, it wasn't a compete turd hole either. The motor was not full of sludge. There was some old oil resude that had cooked on, like in most motors with a crap load of miles, but nothing to indicate it was completely wasted, or water logged for that matter. Then I spotted something a bit more troubling.



The #8 cylinder has at least one bad lobe on the camshaft. Back in the days of solid cams, this was not unusual on a high mileage motor, however, this engine has a roller cam, meaning the lifters that ride on the cam have little wheels that roll along the cam surface, rather than the nearly flat bottom of the lifter itself. Roller lifter cams are not known to wear and fail under normal conditions. The roller on the bottom of the #8 exhaust valve wore a groove into the lifter lobe, about 1/16"-1/8" deep, as best as I can tell. The PO told me about how it smoked (or steamed) after the head gasket blew. Surely he did not drive it like that for any length of time, making chocolate milk from motor oil and coolant. If so, the bearings throughout the motor, as well as the crankshaft are most likely toast.

I had already planned on replacing the camshaft with a torque oriented grind, so the loss of the cam is insignificant in itself. The cause is another matter, as roller lifters are normally reused when the cam is replaced, unlike traditional hydraulic and solid lifter cams. Roller cams are around $300, give or take. Roller lifters run about $16 each, or $256 per set, if the whole lot of them is bad. At this point, a lower mileage Craigslist motor would save me a lot in the long run, $400-$500 for the motor, $200-$250 for fresh gaskets and re-ring, plus the cam for another $300 puts me right at $1000ish for the motor. If I try to salvage what I have here, a full rebuild is pretty much in order, so figure $2k. I may just get a good sub-100k motor and swap the cam for now. I'm not in a rush, however, I'd like to have the truck at least move under its own power before winter gets here. My shop isn't anywhere near done and probably won't be fully funded until next year at the earliest. I'll dig deeper into the 360 Friday or Saturday and then it will be time to start looking at the body swap.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Friday morning I opened up the 360 for a closer look at what remained. The camshaft was clearly damaged due to a bad roller lifter. Once I looked at the other lobes, I spotted at least two more heavily worn cam lobes, so there are no less than 3 lifters that are bad. I unbolted the cylinder heads and removed them both. The left side of the block appeared to be in good shape. The cylinder bores still have crosshatching from the original assembly, and there are no ridges at the top of the cylinders, not bad for a 200k+ motor.

When the right head came off, the problem revealed itself immediately in the form of a blown head gasket at the #2 cylinder. In itself, a blown headgasket is not that big a deal, however, water had been left standing in this cylinder, probably since the truck was parked years ago. The piston was not frozen in the bore, but it did several good hits with a rubber mallet to get the piston past the rust and scale that now made up the upper half of the cylinder wall. The cylinder wall has heavy pitting from the corrosion, which will require at least a 0.060 overbore, or a sleeve to be installed. The head does not have an obvious crack, but the combustion chamber for #2 is heavily rusted as well.

At this point, I think I would be better served to buy a known good used engine and replace the cam in it, along with fresh gaskets. I've spotted a few Magnum 360s on CL for a reasonable price, even with under 100k miles. I could get one of those, install a new cam and be monetarily ahead of where I would be if I were to rebuild the motor I have now. For now, I am going to start prepping the frame for paint and sorting out my cab mounts.

-Joe
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[ambryatim]

Hey Purcell69 I remember your truck, I almost bought it from you a couple years ago when you had it for sale on craigslist. You are in law enforcement right? Glad to see you working on the truck...and building it the way you want. Good luck and I look forward to seeing you progress.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by ambryatim

Hey Purcell69 I remember your truck, I almost bought it from you a couple years ago when you had it for sale on craigslist. You are in law enforcement right? Glad to see you working on the truck...and building it the way you want. Good luck and I look forward to seeing you progress.

Correct on all counts. I really am glad I did not sell the truck back then. The wife got hurt on the job and we were in a battle with her employer, so money was really tight and the truck was just sitting there...

The battle is still going, but we were able to get the finances under control. Honestly, I am glad you did not buy it back then. I would be regretting it.

-Joe
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[Truck Guy99]

Nice build! What will it be? Daily driver? Mud toy? Camper toter? Keep us updated! This is gonna be one cool rig.
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[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Truck Guy99

Nice build! What will it be? Daily driver? Mud toy? Camper toter? Keep us updated! This is gonna be one cool rig.
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Thanks Guy. I'm pretty much looking for a daily driver/play thing. I've got a company car that I drive 5 days a week. The rest of the time I'm either on one of the bikes or driving the wife's Cummins or the daughter's Cherokee when the weather is less than "ideal" for the motorcycle (below freezing or pouring rain). That is why I am focusing on low and mid-range torque when choosing a camshaft. I know the 360 is not a fuel sipper, but I'd like to get the most out of it.

-Joe
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[Purcell69]

Progress on the project has slowed a bit in consideration of other more pressing matters. The wife has decided that it is time for me to finish my workshop. I started the workshop about 5 years ago, before she got hurt. I got the framework up and then things turned upside down for us financially, putting the shop on hold indefinitely. Things have now stabilized and she is ready for me to move my project out of the carport so I can convert it into a workout room. The framework thus far is visible in the pictures above where Michael and I are removing the Dodge cab from the frame. I still need to get some materials, but I have a neighbor who is helping me with the dirt work and foundation for the slab in exchange for some repair work on his XJ Cherokee. The main shop will be 30'x30' with covered parking on either side for the horse trailer and equipment. Trusses for the roof will go up this weekend, weather permitting.

And since we have had phenomenal rain this year, the east pasture has grown out better than ever. The 40+ year old wood fence is no longer serviceable for horse containment, so the pasture has not been grazed this year. A few weed patches come up and were nearly as tall as I am, so I took the morning to brushhog. I've been acquiring material to rebuild the fence with pipe and wire panels, which will most likely take place this coming year. I hope to have the W3100 project operational and in the bodywork phase by then, in the shop.

Oh, I nearly forgot...I scored a motor on CL this week! I found a running 125k mile 1999 5.9L V8 two hours away, $300 complete. I am picking it up Thursday morning.

-Joe
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[Bierkan]

Congrats on the shop go-ahead!

The 5.9l is a darn good engine. In a 2wd application with the weight of an AD truck and an overdrive transmission behind it, it should get around 18 mpg. My Clifford got that as an average between city and highway. If I kept it at 55 on the highway, I could get 21. And this was with a Ram 1500 extended cab that weighed damn near 2 ton.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Bierkan

Congrats on the shop go-ahead!

The 5.9l is a darn good engine. In a 2wd application with the weight of an AD truck and an overdrive transmission behind it, it should get around 18 mpg. My Clifford got that as an average between city and highway. If I kept it at 55 on the highway, I could get 21. And this was with a Ram 1500 extended cab that weighed damn near 2 ton.

That's good to know. I am going to try to retain all the drivetrain management electronics, including the rear wheel ABS just to keep things simple. The front axle on the 1994 Dodge has a vacuum controlled central axle disconnect, allowing the front drive to freewheel like lock-out hubs. I will still give up a little bit to rotating mass, but it won't be nearly as bad as the old full-time 4wd. My 1978 W200 Power Wagon never got better or worse than 10 MPG, but then gas was about $1 per gallon, too.

-Joe
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[Purcell69]

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Well I picked up my $300 Craigslist engine Thursday afternoon. We had to go to Tulsa for an appointment and the guy selling the engine was in Sapulpa, not too far down the road, so I was able to combine the trip. This engine is from a 1999 Ram 1500 and is essentially the same as what came out of the 1994. The only difference between the two is the newer engine does not have EGR, which will not really affect what I am doing. More importantly, the new engine has a bit more power. Somewhere around 1997, Dodge increased the horsepower rating on these motors by 15 HP. I don't know if it was a change in the cam profile or the computer tuning. If it was the latter, I am still using the old computer, so I am stuck with the lower output.




I got the motor complete with all the accessories. Externally, it looks like it is in good shape. There are no signs of coolant leaks and the grease buildup is not bad, so it doesn't look like it was abused by lack of maintenance. I haven't pulled the intake and oil pan yet, but I am pretty confident I could set this engine in my chassis, hook up the wire harness and fuel connections and have a good running engine, albeit a 125k mile engine. At the minimum, I am going to replace the oil pump, main seals, inspect the bearings in the bottom end and replace the timing set. There is a known issue with the intake plenum and gasket, so I will address that when I pull the intake, and I will replace the camshaft as well. Beyond that, some cleaning and paint should seal the deal. About $500 will make for a solid motor, the bulk of which being the aftermarket cam.

While I have everything disassembled, I am going to soda blast the aluminum engine brackets and intake manifold, then paint them with high temp clear to keep oxidization at bay. The block will get cleaned and shot with Hemi Orange. For now, I am going to hang on to the other 360, just in case I need the crank or rods, though I really doubt this will be an issue.

-Joe
__________________

[Truck Guy99]

Nice. Make sure you take plenty of pics of the body swap and motor/trans mounts. I'm also interested in how you make the body mounts. Keep rolling!
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[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Truck Guy99

Nice. Make sure you take plenty of pics of the body swap and motor/trans mounts. I'm also interested in how you make the body mounts. Keep rolling!
Posted via Mobile Device

Will do. The motor mounts and transmission mounts should be unchanged on the 1994 Dodge chassis, if everything fits like I am expecting. The cab mounts will be a different story. I am planning to reused to factory Dodge mounting donuts to better isolate the cab from vibration and road noise. I will have to make and install my own body mounts though, since the Chevy frame rails are relatively flat and the Dodge frame drops in the middle, under the cab. At this point I am debating cutting off the factory Doge mount from the frame and relocating them to use with the Chevy cab. If not, I can always make my own and weld them in place.

-Joe