"Rem" Project. 1949 B-1-C.

[pflaming]

I love that dash, and the COE is unique but overdone to my taste. More pictures?

[hetiticth]

Alright, here's another long overdue update. 

 

I will be joining the Navy soon, as a nuclear engineer, so I am trying to get the swap done before I leave.

 

Right now, the 218 and 4 speed transmission are out of the truck. As soon as I get them cleaned up a bit, I will take pictures. I am looking to sell these on ebay, once I've rigged up a good way to ship them. I've got a video of it cranking well, but unfortunately I didn't think to take one while it was running. Initially, I hadn't intended to sell the old drivetrain, but I do need money to continue with this project.

 

I found a rear axle at the salvage yard that is the correct width for the truck, which is the main concern. It is a Dana 60, out of an early 1970s Dodge 1-ton. Unfortunately, I was unable to get it out out of the truck, and it was snatched up by the time I went back to get it.

The good news, though, is that I know where I'll be able to find a strong rear end to put in my project. This info should be useful to those looking to upgrade to a full floater.

I believe some Dana 44's out of Jeep Grand Wagoneers would also work. Dana rear ends are nice, because there are a plethora of parts available for them, and they seem to be just about as equally strong as the Ford 9" rear end. The Dana 60s do weight more, however; this is not a racing application, so I do not need to worry about having more unsprung weight.

 

On Monday, I did a test fit of the 440/727. For the Winnebago's, they used a front sump design. This design would not allow me to clear the crossmember that the 218 mounted to. So, I ordered a mid sump oil pan. This way, I should clear both the steering linkages and the crossmember. It does not look like I'll need to modify the firewall at all.

 

Many people run into problems with the steering box being in the way, when doing swaps like this. I believe that I will also have this problem, but I am going to approach it differently. 

I really do not want to modify the frame in any way, so I'll be trying to avoid that with this swap. 

I believe that I will be able to get away with shifting the box closer to the frame, and lengthening the drag link. I believe that I will not have to move the box very far in order to clear, especially if I hook up a mini starter.

 

On the steering box, there is a cast iron piece that I am going to have to create a replacement for in order to do this. I believe that this piece is just abracket and spacer, by looking at it, but I am not 100% sure.

Right now, I only have about one inch before the drag link would become a problem with hitting the suspension on the driver's side. I measure this by turning the wheels to one extreme, to see how close the link is to getting in the way of potential suspension travel. 

 

In the future, I might redesign this system to be used with a different steering box, in order to incorporate power steering.

 

I will also have to modify the radiator support, in order to accommodate the larger radiator that came out of the Winnebago.

 

 

 

 

Once I have finished, I will show detailed pictures of what I have done, and explain how and why I did certain things.