Build Power Tour Family Truckster - 75 Dodge D200 Crew Cab

IowaOffRoad

IowaOffRoad

break stuff
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Feb 19, 2021
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Enemy of knees and DDs
For those who don't know, Hot Rod Power Tour is going to run through 4 states on Route 66. Find out more here if you'd like. I also wanted a fairly complete crew cab for a family road trip/trailer puller that would be comfortable but still check the old truck box with a family of 6. I also wanted a manual, and even though I'm pretty brand neutral I'm partial to 70's Dodge trucks. So here it is, as found in the sellers yard:

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318, 4 speed, power brakes, manual steering.

I had initially wanted to take my 48k mile 1965 Scout, but I really didn't want to drive it 7 hours to the start and 6 hours home (which would have been 10 hours there and 9 hours home driving at a pace the old Scout would actually like. So I hit up FBMP and found this ad:
For sale 1975 dodge crew cab short bed 2x4 318 4 speed. Truck is complete but hasn't been started for several years.
Looks to have been a Missouri parks truck then a Missouri Wester College truck before being parked. License plate registration was last renewed in 1997:shocked:. Several years was stretching it a bit, but in the sellers defense he bought it out of a widow's yard and was just guessing. Once I got it home had the ole LA318 running in about an hour. Sounded good, but couldn't revive the old accelerator pump.
Box showed signs of having a slide in camper (brackets bolted in front stakes look like the front tie-downs) and sports a very fabricobbled spare tire carrier.
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Found some cool stuff in the glovebox, some change where the newest coin was a 1993 quarter. Looked fairly uncirculated.
Radiator leaked. Got a solid Aluminum one. After some thought I went with "hot rod" parts for the intake and carburetor. No name RPM Air Gap knockoff and a Demon carb (thermoquad knock-off).
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Brake caliper was locked up. I learned that the only piece of the front brakes that's not like a 2wd first gen is the calipers. Updated calipers to early 90's. Had to also swap brake hoses,. Got that done.
Most of the rear lights don't work yet, and factory oil pressure gauge won't hit 40. Going to install a mechanical gauge.
Fuel gauge doesn't work, hoping sorting out the rear wiring will get it to work. Filler neck leaks when filling, will need to address that. Demon started and idled perfect out of the box.
Trying to get it on the road as a daily soon so I can start finding issues and knocking them out. I'm aware that it's 51 years old and has probably been parked for the last 29, so stuff is gonna come up.
Unless I can get started by April 15th, I'm leaving the body alone with the exception of the floorpans, want to skin them soon to keep dust out and keep structural integrity of the floor pan so I don't have to go Flinstone.
 
Cool
Should be interesting in something that uncommon.
Good luck
 
Got a set of 3rd gen 17s that I was going to run on this temporarily until I sourced some 16" stock wheels to replace the 16.5's. The 3rd gen 17s have too much dish, the wheel hits the control arm in the rear when turning. Boo.
Need to get something on this truck, the 30yo 16.5s aren't what I want to shake this thing down with.
 
Im not a mopar guy but a quad cab sporting dog dish hubcaps has to be purty rare.
Nice find.
 
like most everybody’s crew came back then they were pretty austere. Most were bought by government entities or large organizations like the railroad. Fancy trucks were usually single cab short beds or long beds in the half ton variety unless they were a camper package .
 
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Put some new to it shoes on. Ford truck wheels from the early 90s for less backspacing and 3yo G015 Yokohama take offs that are about 50%. Drove better than a 35-year-old 16.5s but still wandered a lot. So I crawled underneath to check out the steering.




The only real slop in the system is the steering box. Guess I’m converting at the power steering now because I’ll be damned if I’m spending a dime on this manual box. :laughing:
 
Not gonna lie I’ve been looking hard at these old Dodge crews for some time now. I was literally just day dreaming yesterday about how rad it would be to hang one of those old bodies on my 2015 ram 1500 ecodiesel. Way more modern power plant and comfort on the inside, with old school cool on the outside. Bet it’d still get pretty damn good MPG too.
 
That thing is a rare piece of history.

Gonna cruise a ways with them? Or just a day trip? I know a couple people that are going to try and cruise some of the route.
 
Planning to do the whole thing. My and my oldest friend. He’s either going to get his Plymouth Sport Satellite roadworthy (bought it when he was 14) or take his 96 F250 PS crew with a D60 swap
 
IowaOffRoad said:
Planning to do the whole thing. My and my oldest friend. He’s either going to get his Plymouth Sport Satellite roadworthy (bought it when he was 14) or take his 96 F250 PS crew with a D60 swap
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Tell him to bring the F250 and a car trailer, I bet that happens all the time on those power tours, someone needing a lift. LOL
 
Maybe I missed it, but what is the goal? just a driver?
or
are you building a drag racing machine to run in the power tour? if so 9s or 8's in the 1/4 then? 700 inch wide bore space hemi on **** load of nitrous?
 
What is the budget?
Honestly is takes a lot of money/time/effort to make an old truck more like a new truck. I've got like 6 years and $35k into my 72 F250. Still not reliable.
 
Your version of reliability and mine might be different.
It’s got a 1967 318 with non-hardened seats. 4 speed with unknown condition clutch. 4:10 sure grip. All have unknown mileage.
Starts good, cylinders sound even. Makes happy engine sounds when running. Shifts like it should.
Most things that could leave me stranded that are difficult and expensive are things that (typically) give lots of warning before they quit.
The pace of power tour is suited for this truck. The real trial will be the trip from home to Joliet and Tulsa to home. The whole thing is ~2300mi total. I drive similar age junk that many miles over a month or two with no issues. My 79 w150 has been an off and on daily for 20 years (more off than on in the last 1/2 dozen due to family of 6).
I’m quite certain “something” will happen. My goal is to keep that something in the realm of roadside and parking lot manageable for the duration of the tour.
It helps I’m putting all efforts into drivetrain and basically zero into body until after the tour.
 
Budget? If it needs fixed, I’ll fix it. If it ain’t broke I won’t. Bought it for 15, have 7 in carb and manifold, couple hundred in tuneup ****, hundred or so in brakes. Tires are FIL takeoffs from his tow pig. Have 25? In it now, probably another 5 before I feel it’s “done” for purposes of PT
 
rattle_snake said:
What is the budget?
Honestly is takes a lot of money/time/effort to make an old truck more like a new truck. I've got like 6 years and $35k into my 72 F250. Still not reliable.
Click to expand...
You are correct for most builds and cruises. But the power tour does not move fast. The majority of the vehicles have era correct drivetrains. I doubt they break 55mph very often and usually move slower than that.

Construction company I worked for used that exact same dodge pickup line well into the late 80's and we were still driving them from Iowa to Texas with no issues. But top speed was 55 if you had a tail wind.

Keep em full of gas and oil. Maybe top off the radiator. They kept running.
 
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Some AI and Internet sleuthing says that contract number is likely for the Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore district, waterworks, construction.
DACW= army corps waterworks
71 is the year
C= construction
The lat 4 are the contract number, which supposedly falls inside the numbers for the Bloomington dam project. Since it was received in 75, it was likely an open-ended contract.
A
I would infer that it might have transferred to the KC district,?then possibly sold to the college?
**** it, submitted a FOIA, which seems to be the only way to get this information.
 
Well, hit a snag.
Engine is sick.
Driving it to town the other day and it developed a misfire all of a sudden. It's not an electrical problem. Seems to be cylinder 1 and (sometimes) 7 has an issue. Not firing correctly on 1 all the time, sometimes on 7. Compression is 95, cylinder 3 is 125. PB blaster will raise it to 120 until its all blown out. Guessing stuck rings??
I'm less than 2 months away so I'm probably not gonna spend much time at all on this engine after a borescope job. I've got at least 3 others. Will probably bolt a 360 in it.
 
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