52 Dodge B3B Hemi Project

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This is my heater which I had to modify by lengthening the mounts by about 3". I had to change it a second time to clear the valve cover.

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this was the beginning, the two top plates.

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Here you can see the drivers side coming together. I used 18 gauge sheet metal which is PIA to work with due to thickness, but it will be strong when done.

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Here is the outside, as you can see I overlapped the outer flanges by about 1". I will clean it up once I get it done.

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this is where I am now. I will pull out the firewall and finish welding and piecing it together, then put I back in and weld it all in. I am going to weld the foot well panels as well. I will have an access door by the distributor that will all access to it and the oil pressure fitting and dip stick.

I went with a lokar trans dipstick (firewall mount) to get that to a place where I can access it and I ended up using Sanderson headers which I had to slightly modify and are out for coating.

some of you might notice that the foot wells are ribbed, I used the back part of the 88 Dakota cab which as doner material. I have a bead roller but thought this was easier.

I will also finish welding up the steering supports and then paint the frame while the engine is out. I will probably rebuild the front suspension since it all accessible at this point as well as clean the trans and install the shifter plate.

coming along very well looks like you have it under control

at least part of it...

rapidtransitrick wrote:coming along very well looks like you have it under control

Looks like it is just us 2 on here.

70chall440 wrote:

rapidtransitrick wrote:coming along very well looks like you have it under control

Looks like it is just us 2 on here.

No there is some of us that just side back and enjoy

loving this build so far, Im curious though, are you going to have enough leg room for your gas pedal? I still have my stock firewall in mine but put a new throttle assembly in and its a little closer to me in the seat, which doesnt feel weird right away but you go out for a 20 minute drive and it really put a bad kink in my ankle and Im a young guy, that stuff usually doesn't bother me...

Love the Hemi/Dakota swap. eventually I will do this to mine but I think Im going to use the whole frame and I need to save $$$ for the Hemi.

time will determine how that comes out, however I do not hav many options. I built the firewall as close to the engine as I could get away with and still leave room for servicing, wires etc.

anything new

Funny you should ask, I just got back from England last week and had an opportunity to work on the truck last night. I lengthened the brake pedal and was able to finish welding all of the unnecessary holes in the firewall.

I have to get the front suspension rebuilt, install a stereo, run some wiring, paint the brake pedal bracket and the steering column brackets, etc. We will see what this weekend brings.

It seems fate is against me as everytime I try and work on this truck something comes up. Yesterday it was heavy rain and power outage. That said, I have the left side of the suspension disassembled and will install the new balljoints and bushing and then paint the control arms. then on the to right side.

Today it was a dryer vent issue... damn... I did manage to get the upper and lower control arms blasted and painted.

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I had the headers ceramic coated white, I think they look very retro.

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for some reason it wont take the image...

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there it is..

So, this truck has been fighting me. I have the left side of the suspension apart and have had nothing but issues trying to get it back together. That said, I finally did manage to get the bushings in and the control arms back together and painted, but it was a pain. I used a PST suspension kit and the poly bushings were a pain. Then the lower ball joint didnt want to go in straight which of course caused a number of episodes of violence and bad language. Of course to start all of this off was the upper BJ which I thought was a press in, but turned out to be threaded.... it is ok but definitely caused me some high emotion. I cut one coil off of the spring to lower the front some, we will see how much effect it made. I will post some pics when I get that side back together. I still have to cut the rotor, clean up the caliper and paint it.

I finally got to get some work done on the 52. I rebuilt the left side suspension and brake. I have to say that it was a real PIA for a number of reasons. I can also say that the grease that comes with poly bushing is just short of glue. I will post some pictures.