Rebirth of Monster Mudder

yeah, if the flipped turbo works to clear everything, I'm planning on running the air filter into the cab to keep it clean and get it cooler air

NakeDiesel said:

yeah, if the flipped turbo works to clear everything, I'm planning on running the air filter into the cab to keep it clean and get it cooler air

Click to expand...

Very cool!

Also, shouldnt you set up the steering wheel prior to mounting the seat?

I didn't try to take a picture with me sitting in the truck, trying to balance on the seat and trying to fit the steering column in there.... I have to drill a new hole up higher for the steering column to pass through, the existing slot is too low and the column will hit on the motor mount on the drivers side.

I'm starting to lean toward buying a steering wheel kit from Summit that will allow me to have a detachable steering wheel to make getting in and out easier.

And no I really wasn't making motor noises while sitting in there....

I do know the cab is going to be more cramped than the old one. Going to be interesting once I get the wheel, seat, and pedals installed what the ergonomics are going to be since I'm 6'4" tall... The w2a intercooler will be under the dash and possibly the air filter on the passenger side. I'm also thinking of putting the ice chest for the w2a cooler in the cab as well so that I'll have short water line runs. Then the shifter and the fire extinguisher. Oh and I'm hoping to get the roll cage installed too.

Looks awesome, cant wait to see it all together and finished!

NakeDiesel said:

And no I really wasn't making motor noises while sitting in there....

I do know the cab is going to be more cramped than the old one. Going to be interesting once I get the wheel, seat, and pedals installed what the ergonomics are going to be since I'm 6'4" tall... The w2a intercooler will be under the dash and possibly the air filter on the passenger side. I'm also thinking of putting the ice chest for the w2a cooler in the cab as well so that I'll have short water line runs. Then the shifter and the fire extinguisher. Oh and I'm hoping to get the roll cage installed too.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a sardine can stuffed full in that little cab, you are going to need to use the little space you have very wisely in order to fit it all. Good luck, I like the setup. Do you know what the weight difference will be with the new body?

I found the water neck in Michigan for 21.00 + shipping, it's used but I don't care, they wanted 50 to 60.00 else where.



I'm going to plug that outside port and use the bottom port for my coolant bypass to the back of the head.

Yeah it's going to be cramped a little, still need to decide if I'm going to put the second seat in the truck, that will be determined if I stay in class 2 or not. I can have a passenger in class 2, but can't in class 3.

I'm not sure how much weight it's going to reduce, I'd really love if it reduced my weight by 1000lbs, but I'm shooting for 500lbs. Part of it depends on how light I can make the bed on the truck, but I still want to try and keep the truck as balanced as possible. Wish I had a set of race scales, it sure would beat having to haul the truck an hour away, unload it and run it across the big rig scales at a truck stop.

Went out to the shop a bit ago to turn on some heat to warm it up a tad from the 49 degrees inside and pulled the turbo while I was out there. I flipped it and looks like that is going to solve a couple of problems






Exhaust would have to be a tight 180 to get it to the rear along the frame. I'll figure that out when I get there.

Finished up the support rods today, need to pick up some bolts for the front grill and nuts for the back.

Also threw the doors on it and used some pole barn nails for the hinge pins to see how they fit.

Please tell me you are going to leave the body in a patina state for the final...

Nope, it will be getting a full paint job, not into the rat rod scene

what are you planning for the box? Getting some period correct looking side pannels and hanging them over bare frame?

I'm going to build a box frame out of thin wall square tubing off the factory dodge bed mounting locations, then take the PW fenders and cut them down to about 1 foot tall and put them on the sides and cab end. I have the bed parts for the sides, front and bed rails where the wood bed was, but the bottoms of all of them are pretty cancerous with rust. The bed will be covered in sheet steel.

I got to put a little time in on working on the truck today and finished up the huge cedar chest that I've been building for a xmas present. I concentrated on the hood today, because the nubs that slide into the pivots on each end were pretty much gone and was making it difficult lining stuff up and getting the front grill shell to where it needed to be.

The hood was missing a bunch of rivets on one side of the hood. I had been putting penetrating oil down the grooves for a while in preparation for separating the two halves, but it still took quite a while today working on it to get it apart. Once I got it apart, I started with the side missing all the rivets, I lined up the pieces, drilled out the rivet holes and replaced them with steel pop rivets.







After I fixed that side of the hood, I took my replacement ends and marked where to cut off the old pieces and then I drilled and pop riveted in the new ends into place.











I shot some self etching primer into the channels before I slid the hood back together.



Put the hood back on and lined up the grill now that I can hood the hood at both ends.


Clearance problems with the turbo has been solved.






The back of the cedar chest



I also worked out some of the dents in the hood and cab while out in the shop today, still have a few more on the top of the cab I need to work on and on one of the doors.

I'm liking the new body on the truck!

Since we've been iced in this weekend with my wife stuck at work, I've been out in the shop working a bit on the truck. Working on making templates for the floor panels and trying to figure out how to get the curve needed for the transmission tunnel put into the 11 gauge steel. I've got it partially formed right now, but it still needs more bend in it.

Been welding up all the cracks and holes on the driver side on the cab, it was fun trying to get the steel on the cab held where I needed it with one hand and welding it with my other hand, but taking it slow I got it all back out and welded up. The front part of the cab on the drivers side was separated by about an inch, took a big ratchet strap across the front of the cab and back under and worked it back to where it needed to be. I also welded up the mirror holes on the front of the cab as well.

Here are some pictures I took

My new replacement 8" bench grinder my wife bought me, first one went pop and started smoking when I plugged it in.



Where the mirror used to mount



The front of the cab before welding it





After welding the front of the cab



Some other welded areas



Partway through fixing the back of the cab on the drivers side, guess I didn't get a picture of it after I finished it



Back of the cab was broke/cracked in 3 different directions



One of the cracks on the passenger side I still need to weld up

Making some progress on the truck getting the sheet metal welded back back together where it's cracked/torn.













Hopefully I will finish welding up the cracks tomorrow and start working on something else.

We picked up some of the painting materials for my son's 91 dodge truck today and the paint will be mixed and ready for it Thursday. We have to finish stripping the body off the 93 1/2 ton gasser I picked up as a body donor and get it ready to primer in pieces and the jams, firewall, inner fenders etc... painted before we start reassembling on the 91's 3/4 ton 4x4 diesel frame. Does anyone have any arm rests for a 93 door panel?

Finished welding up the passenger side of the body today and beating out a few more dents. I also drilled a 3" hole above where the factory steering column went to see if I can figure out how to use the 96's steering column so I don't have to buy a build your own kit. I think I can make the 96's column work. I'll throw the seat in on some wood blocks tomorrow to see if I can get in and out with the steering wheel where it's at. I wish I could find an aftermarket steering wheel to get rid of that crappy dodge steering wheel.











I finally dug out the 3/8" plate steel slab I have from where it was leaning against the wall and crap piled all around it. Need to cut two long pieces from it to make the mounts for the front grill.

We also moved a bunch of crap around the shop again to free up the corner where the paint bay is going to be. Still need to grab all the pipe pieces for my large garage in a box frame and get it erected inside the shop and then cover it with some heavy mil clear plastic.

Worked a little on the truck today now that Christmas is finally over and we started putting together the paint bay in the corner of the shop. We have all the framework put back together and the top sheet of plastic duck taped in place.



I pulled off the original water neck on the side of the block as well and test fit the new water neck, there is all kinds of room in there now and I shaved off a few more pounds from the truck...

with the original installed, the neck was right up against the front grill side.


The old and new compared


The new one held in place, lots of room left...



Also today, I cut a 2" wide strip off of my sheet of 3/8" plate slab to start making the brackets for the front grill.

First bend complete using a big arse crescent and my cutting torch


Here it is with the second bend and held in place where it will be installed




Bolt holes are marked for the grill, I'll pull it off tomorrow and drill the holes on my drill press tomorrow hopefully.

you have my attention with the power wagon body. the 66-74 wm300's had a longer nose fwiw.