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Old 08-21-2017, 09:46 PM
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Back to my roots

Hello all. My name is Bert. i am an HVAC technician in Las Vegas.
I have recently picked up a 75 dodge 3/4 ton long bed club cab.
she has a 440 and 727.
I started life as a mopar kid with a 74 plymouth fury canal boat that just would not die.
Later i found me a 78 dodge of the exact same setup as the one i just found, however, with a 318. I remember that truck wold smoke the 16.5 wide back wheels.
eventually it caught fire and burned by spitting up when i got on it one day due to not having an air cleaner or good vacuum advance. being the dumb teenager i was at the time i pulled the 360 from the fury and threw it in the truck. had one hell of a vibration due to not knowing the torque converter from the 318 was not compatible.
this caused the truck to throw a fan blade up the arm of my moms last husband and almost sever his artery.
we fixed the problem and it was a good work truck until we lost the family business due to his accident.
i have been a chevy guy and with the gas prices a subaru guy building a lifted 78 brat and a lifted 79 wagon.
I have been looking for a truck like this for a while to throw me back to the days of the unstoppable dodge truck i once had.
I have a 78 pace arrow RV for a donor engine and tranny.
the truck is a one owner vehicle that was driven by the guy until it burned a few valves coming up the hill from cali to vegas. it has sat for 20 years with the heads off.
Its all there so i will rebuild the original and maybe throw a cam in it and upsize the bore.
for now i will run it with the donor engine.
I am in need of a dashboard as mine has turned to dust under the vegas sun.
I was wondering if anyone her can steer me in the right direction.
Thanks
Happy to join your forum.
Old 08-22-2017, 02:36 PM
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Welcome.
Old 08-22-2017, 07:39 PM
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HVAC in Vegas.... Hope you work at night?... lol
Welcome to the site.... Welcome back to the Mopar family....
Try these folks >>>>> http://www.mopartruckparts.com/
Also: Just dashes might be able to redo your old one, might just give them a call..
Old 01-05-2019, 10:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Bertmann73
Hello all. My name is Bert. i am an HVAC technician in Las Vegas.
I have recently picked up a 75 dodge 3/4 ton long bed club cab.
she has a 440 and 727.
I started life as a mopar kid with a 74 plymouth fury canal boat that just would not die.
Later i found me a 78 dodge of the exact same setup as the one i just found, however, with a 318. I remember that truck wold smoke the 16.5 wide back wheels.
eventually it caught fire and burned by spitting up when i got on it one day due to not having an air cleaner or good vacuum advance. being the dumb teenager i was at the time i pulled the 360 from the fury and threw it in the truck. had one hell of a vibration due to not knowing the torque converter from the 318 was not compatible.
this caused the truck to throw a fan blade up the arm of my moms last husband and almost sever his artery.
we fixed the problem and it was a good work truck until we lost the family business due to his accident.
i have been a chevy guy and with the gas prices a subaru guy building a lifted 78 brat and a lifted 79 wagon.
I have been looking for a truck like this for a while to throw me back to the days of the unstoppable dodge truck i once had.
I have a 78 pace arrow RV for a donor engine and tranny.
the truck is a one owner vehicle that was driven by the guy until it burned a few valves coming up the hill from cali to vegas. it has sat for 20 years with the heads off.
Its all there so i will rebuild the original and maybe throw a cam in it and upsize the bore.
for now i will run it with the donor engine.
I am in need of a dashboard as mine has turned to dust under the vegas sun.
I was wondering if anyone her can steer me in the right direction.
Thanks
Happy to join your forum.
so its been over a year and i have been driving my truck as needed.
the swap took about 2 days with my son and i.
i am probably gonna get some flac from this but the ignition module gave out on the first start up over a year ago as well as the one from the donor rv...........so seeing as i had so many chevy parts laying around i ended up wiring an hei ignition module and coil to the mopar pickup in the dittributor and it worked like a charm.
it was supposed to be temporary, as the plan was to rip out the engine and swap it during my 2 week vacation and be riding on my birthday at logandale roadkill style, but i have had no issues whatsoever... the rv was exactly like the one from the roadkill general mayhem episode lol.
time and money are always the culprit of a franken-truck.
besides the inevitable vapor lock problems i have come to live with out in this desert she ran strong pulling a trailer with 4 quads and one in the bed.
i wound up retrofitting a fuel pump from a donor subaru legacy inside the cab fuel tank, noisy but works great.
just purchased a 34 gallon under cab tank and fuel pump assembly.....more GM parts as i could not find anythin dodge for a realistic budget.
So.... now that i have angered some of you, would it be audacious of me to ask what is a good daily driver cam kit to get some of the dog out of that economy smog RV 440?
Old 01-06-2019, 02:48 PM
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Glad things are working for you, GM parts in a Mopar?
Old 01-06-2019, 09:51 PM
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Originally Posted by Iowan
Glad things are working for you, GM parts in a Mopar?
shamefully yes. but in my defense i grew up in nowhere arizona and attended the school of fix it or walk.
the fuel tank is just a fuel tank and i cant argue with a 34 gallon tank to feed a hungry big block.. it is a bit wider and i may need to do some hacking and reconstructing under the bed.
I do plan on installing maybe an MSD set up one day but if the hei components work and get me around i see no urgency in doing it just yet.
I am more focused on getting the fuel tank in and then fabricating my exhaust system.
the bump stick is a must though. i cant live with a 440 rated at 185hp, the boys will just laugh at me. Even though it has a performer 440 and carter competition sitting on top i am sure it is adding very little to the party without getting those valves to open up and breath .
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