1947 Dodge truck back in service

[swampratt]

This poor old truck.
I got this truck in from my dads fishin' drinking buddy 1987. wife/girlfriend then got pregnant and I sold it in 1987 to my fishin' drinking buddy.
15+ years later my wife buys the truck back from my buddy for my birthday present..WOO HOO.


This poor thing has sat without an engine or glass in it for all those years.
I had it running around 2003 I put it on the road with a 350" chevy .
Drove it for many years and pulled the engine and stuck it in my 57 chevy.


I let the truck sit for a couple years and built a 385" chevy which lasted 4 months or less and got a leak in the rusted out cylinder wall.
I then put together a 327" small journal..It was a putz!
Drove it for 1 day and parked it.


I just stuck together another SBC this time a 357" with roller cam and ported vortec heads.
Runs very well
Took it for a short spin today..almost feels as strong and the 385"
The 385 had ported 601 heads and 280H on a 108 LSAcomp cam. 230@ .050 and .480" lift.


This roller cam in the 357" is the Hot cam ex lobe on intake and exhaust side 228@ .050 and .492" lift on a 110 LSA.


I need to get to the track and get some ET or wheel dyno it and see how it does compared to the other engines I had in it.


You learn a lot when going vortec heads .. what fits and what does not. Just a work truck and hunt/fish truck.

Too bad the tunnel-ram would not work on this.

 

[DRC458]

Good job! I'd love to see/hear it run sometime!

 

[coolhandluke]

Very nice...I swear I've seen that truck before at my former neighbor's father-in-law's house. By chance is your buddy's last name McCann or Ramsey?

 

[Perplexed]

What kind of money would it take to get the body and interior back to something like factory appearance?

 

[Dave70968]

Very slick!

 

[swampratt]

Thanks guys. Will be trying to gather up some friends and relatives to go to thunder valley for fun and grudge/ test and tune night ..ladies and men racing.
Will take the truck.
It runs well.
I do not have any buddies by that name but I have put tens of thousands of miles on it chasing parts and working out of it.

The factory interior was nothing but vinyl seat-- I think..
Shiny pretty paint and body work if you do it yourself would cost less than $1000.
I have done some shiny cars that i also took all the dents out of and cost was usually less than $600.

I do not like shiny..I use my vehicles..drive through the woods tree limbs running down the side of my vehicles does not bother me.
Hauling firewood and scrap iron in my vehicles is a must.
If I had shiny It would look like crap really quick.

Might as well leave it Patina.
I have been offered ludicrous money for this thing and turned all the offers down as it is not for sale.
I like it and will keep it and enjoy it.

The last 350 I had in it got 18 MPG with NO overdrive.
City/ highway or pulling my boat it would get 18.
I did load it way down once and got 12.5 MPG.
Pulling my boat and a 4 wheeler in the bed and 1200 LBS of lumber and steel for a porch.
And my son and his friends in another vehicle packed all their stuff and 4 ice chests of goods into the boat.
It was packed and off to lake Eufaula we went.
I was sad that it got 12.5 MPG.

But we used his 2014 5.3 Chevy truck to pull the boat on that trip once and it got 11.5 MPG.
I used his truck to haul a Willys Jeep to MO and it got 8.5 MPG..What a putz.
Transmission constantly searching for a gear.

Fun stuff.

 

[D. Hargrove]

Oh hells yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Snake]

You should do that truck some justice and drop in a 400-440 Chrysler big block.

 

[SPDguns]

PLEASE leave the original patina!!!!!

 

[swampratt]

Oh the patina stays for sure.
Yea a mopar engine would be nice but not a weak ass 440.
The 340 is a much better power plant unless you buck up and have indy 440 heads.

All my relatives up North in Oregon have the market cornered on Mopar stuff but will not let go of it.

When i got the truck it had a 1965 420HP 396 with tunnel-ram and different cam and made 625HP at the crank.
I sold it also in 1987.

I did mock up a BBC for this truck and have a 427 bored .030" 11:1 compression with steel crank and Ported and milled 781 heads sporting 2.19-1.88 valves.
A tunnel-ram and a little solid flat tappet cam 248-252@ .050 .589" lift on a 105 LSA.
I was expecting 575HP from it.. never put it together.. have all the parts laying here waiting.

That would also be a good daily driver set up.

I have raced against 440 6 pack Mopars with my old 350" nova with 270H magnum cam and ported 186 heads and beat the pants off of it.
Of course 3000 stall 456 with a spool. Turning 30" hoosiers and 11.9 compression 245PSI cranking pressure gives me a little edge.