This truck has been in the family for 20 years.  It had a happy life as a daily driver, often pulling our race cars to the track.  But despite never having failed and going strong at 200k, there was no squelching the urge to take it apart.  So first it was a supercharged 360.  Later on, that got transplanted into the Dart and ran 11.6 with no changes so that was making pretty good power.  After that, it was a 440 for the truck.  A bit softer, but still pretty stout.  When the Diesel truck came along, this one got parked from 1998 until 2004 when it finally got some well deserved attention.

Below are some pics taken along the road to recovery.  All work was done at home by the family members and it took a couple of years to get it done (thankfully, it’s a hobby).  It’s not a factory restoration, but I purposefully limited modifications to “bolt on” type things that could be reversed in case that was ever in its future.

The truck had never seen a garage until 2004 so by the time we were ready to start, the bed was rotted away and critters ate most of the interior.  Somehow, the frame had nothing more than some surface rust so we were in good shape there.

The frame and body were first.  The bed took the most effort.  Since you can see both sides of the sheet metal in the bed, there’s no hiding bad bodywork. So there was lots of welding, grinding, shrinking, stretching, etc. to get it reasonably straight.  Tarps, filters and fans were used to convert the garage to a paint booth.  Even painted, it still looked a bit homely so the stance was going to get some work.

Since there’s not a lot of companies making lowering kits for mid-70s Dodge trucks (none), I designed this set up.  The spindles drop the front 1.5” and the leaf spring mounts drop the rear 3” to level it out some.  Still plenty of ground clearance for daily driving.  Stock type steering is upgraded with polyurethane bushings, dual sway bars and bilstien shocks.  I had Steer and Gear rebuild the steering box and include firm feel valving and a fast ratio gear set.  It actually rides pretty nice (for a ’79 pickup).

The interior is mostly stock with a custom gauge panel and stereo.  The ash tray was ditched in favor of a brake controller for the trailer and an air/fuel meter for tuning.

The axle assembly got a complete rebuild with a new posi unit and 3.55 gears.  The overhaul was pretty straight forward, but as with any project, having the right tools can really speed things up (and visa versa).  I made extensive use of the hydraulic press and suspect this would have been a bit more difficult if the axle housing was still in the truck.

The motor is a mild 360 with Edlebrock heads and intake.  Once the block was machined and prepped, it went together pretty quick so I didn’t think to take pictures during the build.  You know what it looks like in there anyways. 

To complete the drivetrain, an A518 overdrive transmission is used.  That required a custom cross brace and some wiring for the overdrive and lockup converter functions, but they're nice features to have when highway driving.

Getting it done and back on the road was cause for celebration.  But instead of smashing a bottle of champaign over the fresh paint, we opted for cake….. and yup, all of that hard work earned me the second piece.