No, not the 'Ramchargers' of the 60's but an actual 1984 Dodge 2x4 Ramcharger. I will be starting within the next couple weeks in going with a Straight Axle install on the truck. What I have in mind for those who can picture what I'm up to..... is the RC with a straight axle, and either of three choices in drive train I have available to me currently. I'll start with the least desireable for the weight concerns, and that is a 440/727 combo, pumped a bit as time goes by. Second is a 340, with two choices here, a stroker or a stocker 340, again a 904 or 727. The third choice is the existing 318 with RHS heads, H beams, forged crank and single plane or Air Gap and of course the appropriate carb. There are Hooker Comps on that unit right now, but none of the mentioned speed parts ...yet...
Ok that's an idea of the motor..... a unit in small block with 450-500hp, or the BB 440 with around 550hp. Again you see the goals, and actually their not too hard to get to. A seperate note, I'm hating finding all the Speed parts like rods and cranks coming out of China like Scat and Eagle, but their affordable, will they stand up? I'd only want to sacrifice a 318 for that experiment.
The RAMCHARGER...... I will start with the straight axle, and Speedway has been in the forefront as far as I have been able to locate, and I know we have a member here fabbing up axles, so I will persue that, as I may want to go with a slightly thicker tube for my weight. I'll likely ditch the fenderwells in favor of some alluminum sheet metal fabrication work myself, for the sake of lightness, and possible fender-well headers.
The rear will get tubbed slightly to use all the available room I can backing up with offset, to as close to the leaf as I can. This tubbing will be homebuilt and sheet metal since it will likely only be an additional 5-6" in width per side. But that will allow me to go with some 12" wide wheels on the back and put down about 12-14"'s of tread and still be plumbed down from the widest part of the body over the rear wells. In other words, a lot under the car, with none of the hanging out tire thing, which to me looks .... just Wrong. Lakewood traction bars for the rear, and about 4 or 5" lift, or as little as needed to set about level front to back. I don't mind the front 1 or 2 inches above, but no more than that ....for Me.
So,..... you get a lot of ambitious people day dreaming a hot rod, but a vast majority that never follow through with it for various reasons. Well, First thing I will do before anything even gets jacked up on jack-stands, is to get me a better Digital camera to document the build which I hope to take pics showing many small events and WTF's along the way. IN reality, I should have funds by the end of the weekend. So lets give this a starting date of today to be fair. Follow me through the trials, I promise it will be interesting, and I will certainly need your help too, questions or ideas to make it all gell.......................... There it is........Rich
Ok that's an idea of the motor..... a unit in small block with 450-500hp, or the BB 440 with around 550hp. Again you see the goals, and actually their not too hard to get to. A seperate note, I'm hating finding all the Speed parts like rods and cranks coming out of China like Scat and Eagle, but their affordable, will they stand up? I'd only want to sacrifice a 318 for that experiment.
The RAMCHARGER...... I will start with the straight axle, and Speedway has been in the forefront as far as I have been able to locate, and I know we have a member here fabbing up axles, so I will persue that, as I may want to go with a slightly thicker tube for my weight. I'll likely ditch the fenderwells in favor of some alluminum sheet metal fabrication work myself, for the sake of lightness, and possible fender-well headers.
The rear will get tubbed slightly to use all the available room I can backing up with offset, to as close to the leaf as I can. This tubbing will be homebuilt and sheet metal since it will likely only be an additional 5-6" in width per side. But that will allow me to go with some 12" wide wheels on the back and put down about 12-14"'s of tread and still be plumbed down from the widest part of the body over the rear wells. In other words, a lot under the car, with none of the hanging out tire thing, which to me looks .... just Wrong. Lakewood traction bars for the rear, and about 4 or 5" lift, or as little as needed to set about level front to back. I don't mind the front 1 or 2 inches above, but no more than that ....for Me.
So,..... you get a lot of ambitious people day dreaming a hot rod, but a vast majority that never follow through with it for various reasons. Well, First thing I will do before anything even gets jacked up on jack-stands, is to get me a better Digital camera to document the build which I hope to take pics showing many small events and WTF's along the way. IN reality, I should have funds by the end of the weekend. So lets give this a starting date of today to be fair. Follow me through the trials, I promise it will be interesting, and I will certainly need your help too, questions or ideas to make it all gell.......................... There it is........Rich
