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1954 Dodge Project Trucks


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So my friend has given me his "spare" '54 Dodge truck in exchange for some help with his '54 Dodge truck.  Both are 3/4 ton trucks with 4.78 gears in the rear and 230 flatties.  My friend has a '54 270 truck Hemi for a swap that I'll be helping him with, and I've found him a 3.73 limited slip rear end from a '94 Ford Ranger.  I'll be mating a late 1970s or early 1980s A-833 4 speed with over drive behind the Hemi.  This combo with give him final drive ratios of 11.53, 6.23, 3.73 and 2.72 so the Hemi won't be over revved at highway speeds.


 


For mine, I plan on going the rat rod route as, well, it's a total rat already and I don't want to spend anything on it.  The flatty will stay but the rear end will be a 2.94 sure grip from a late 1980s Dodge Diplomat squad car.  I was inspired by Robert Horne and will also swap in a mid 1980s Ranger 5 speed.  That will give me final drive ratios of 11.64, 6.09, 4.09, 2.94 and 2.47, pretty darn similar to my buddies truck other than a super low highway gear, but I do plan on using smaller diameter tires than he is.


 


I hope to take pictures as we go at it, I'm working on designing my own A-833 to Dodge 270 Hemi bell housing which I will share a drawing for when it's done.


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V6 or 4 banger Ranger rear end? The V6 is an 8" or 8.8", the 4 cylinder is a 7.5"...

 

The 7.5" is considered a bit of a weak sister rear end, but the one in my 94 standard cab 2wd 2.3L 5spd Ranger has over over 205K trouble free miles on it... The neighbor has a Ranger sourced 7.5 in a 5.0 track car.

 

They are a bit narrow, you may need wheel spacers. And the brake fittings are metric threads on mine (Canadian built).

 

If the parts Ranger is complete, grab as much as you can. My 92 parts junker is donating dozens of parts to my Dodges.

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V6 or 4 banger Ranger rear end? The V6 is an 8" or 8.8", the 4 cylinder is a 7.5"...

 

The 7.5" is considered a bit of a weak sister rear end, but the one in my 94 standard cab 2wd 2.3L 5spd Ranger has over over 205K trouble free miles on it... The neighbor has a Ranger sourced 7.5 in a 5.0 track car.

 

They are a bit narrow, you may need wheel spacers. And the brake fittings are metric threads on mine (Canadian built).

 

If the parts Ranger is complete, grab as much as you can. My 92 parts junker is donating dozens of parts to my Dodges.

 

The Ranger rear end is an R6 code, confirming that it is a 8.8 differential with 3.73 limited slip.  Length from WMC (wheel mount surface) to WMC is within half an inch. 

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Tonight I was able to confirm that I have accurately taken the dimensions off the 270 Hemi bell housing by making paper template to scale and cutting out all the bolt holes.  Now I have to take dimensions off the A-833 trans and add them to the 270 Hemi bell housing template and I'll have my adapter.  I have access to a laser cutting table at work, I will be using 1/4 inch steel when I'm ready.

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  • 2 weeks later...

More progress, my bell housing to trans adapter has been cut, but I will still need to make a few adjustments to the bell housing.  I have had the flywheel resurfaced, and had it re-drilled to the six on 12 & 5/8 inch bolt circle for the pressure plate assembly of a mid 1980s Dodge Ram clutch.  The original clutch was 11 inches, but had a 8 on 12 & 5/8 and they are hard to come by.  The mid 1980s clutch, pressure plate, and throughout bearing work with the A-833 trans, my only question now is what to do about the pilot bushing.  In the pictures below you can see the opening in the center of the flywheel is pretty large.  I can't get the jaws of my calipers in the ID of the flywheel, but it's close to 2.800 inches.  The ID of the flywheel is also tapered, so I'm not sure how the pilot bushing would press into a tapered opening.  Any one have any advice or know what the original 1954 Dodge 270 Hemi flywheel pilot bushing looked like or where I can get one?

 

IMG_0964_zpsf59c2051.jpg

 

IMG_0966_zpsae3c68ba.jpg

 

IMG_0967_zpsbce9e84f.jpg

 

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Can you reach the center by turning the flywheel over.  Pilot brgs have a flat outside race so a tapered center won't work.  It'll need machining to place a pilot brg.  Check the crankshaft for a pilot brg.  I don't know if they put them in the crank or not on your engine.

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Ah, I hadn't realized that the pilot bushing might have been pressed into the end of the crack, I'll have to check into that.  I was able to finish up the bell housing today and it looks like everything is going to come together nicely.  I still need to work on the release bearing return springs, but that should be manageable.

 

IMG_0968_zpsd8de0679.jpg

 

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IMG_0972_zps0b74d9b3.jpg

 

IMG_0976_zps53aae183.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

Time for a long over due update.  The Hemi turned out to be a 241, but when we removed the heads we saw .030 stamped in the top of all the pistons.  A quick measurement of the cylinder bores confirmed that the engine had been rebuilt at some point.  Everything looked good so we just cleaned it and sealed it back up with all new gaskets every where.  The timing chain was shot so I replaced that and the bolt that holds on the crank pulley and dampener hub was partially stripped, so I adapted a grade 8 bolt (3/4"-16) with a custom made spacer/bushing. 

 

The A-833 overdrive trans has also been mated to the engine successfully.  I pressed a new pilot bushing into the end of the crank as the transmission input shaft was plenty long to reach it.  I found a factory release bearing sleeve from the original 4 speed speed and found an off the shelf bushing that was a perfect fit to press into the release bearing sleeve and still slide smoothly over the trans input shaft.  A stock 1954 release bearing was used.  I ended up having the original pressure plate assembly rebuilt as it better fit the original release bearing.  So the only parts that weren't stock 1954 parts were the clutch disc (as it had to match the spline of the new trans), my custom adapter plate that I laser cut out of 1/4" plate and the bushing I pressed into the release bearing sleeve.  The only other hurdle was having the bell housing machined to accept the trans and adapter.

 

Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures.  I have a two month old daughter, so time is scarce, so I tend to use it for doing the work and don't slow down to take pictures.

 

Also, my 1954 is finally coming out of the barn and to my home this Sunday.  I have a Pertronix electronic ignition kit ready to go for it and an AAJ front disc brake conversion as well.

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Found some pictures of the clutch disc to trans input shaft spline engagement.  I don't have 100%, but I do have about 87%.  Since a 241 Hemi is only rated at 135 HP and 225 ft-lbs so I'm not worried.  

 

IMG_0987_zpsd62c77bb.jpg

 

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Also, I did find some pictures I had taken of my 1954 Truck.  It was picked up in Missouri about 7 or 8 years ago and has sat inside since.  The cab is solid, the only rust is on the removable center floor section.  The doors do have one small hole end along the bottoms.  The bed is missing, but I do have the sides and fenders (so I need the front of the box, the tailgate, and the cross braces).  

 

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As she currently sits in a barn.  Plenty dirty, lots of surface rust, but very solid.

 

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Hood is removed for easy access to the flatty.

 

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Three speed on the column behind a fluid drive.  I was originally thinking a 5 speed out of a Ranger, but I think I'll stick with the factory setup.  

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  • 3 years later...

Time for a long overdue update.  My truck has been sold to another friend, he dropped it onto an early 1990s Dodge Dakota chassis so it is 360 Magnum powered with automatic with overdrive.  It has a very cool rat rod look to it.

My friend and I finally test ran his 241 Hemi, a link to the youtube video is below.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

In the first linked video, the little hemi was only running on 4 cylinders.  It idled smooth since every other cylinder in the firing order was firing.  The two barrel carb was only feeding fuel in one barrel, so one intake manifold plane was fueling.  We swapped carburetors and were running on all 8 cylinders.  Finally made good vacuum at idle and had good throttle response.  Not sure why the exhaust is so smokey, but appears to be oil.  Cylinder inspection on this engine looked good, so hoping its valve seals.

 

The transmission now has working home-made shift linkage.  I did the same thing for my 1960 Plymouth; just used straight hollow tubing and tapped the ends to fit heim joints.  Shifter still needs a rebuild.

 

We have also picked up a mopar E body 8 3/4 rear axle assembly to swap into the truck.  Came with the ever common 2.76 gears, looking for 3.73 ratio.

 

 

A833OD linkage 2.jpg

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  • 4 years later...

It has been a LONG time yet again, but this engine has now been running on a test stand to break the rings in (or back in).  The more it runs, the less it smokes now.  Oil pressure is low, but that is with the old oil after warm up.  Hoping an oil change and some additive will help with that.

 

Dodge 241 Hemi - Running to reseat the piston rings. - YouTube

 

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