64 D100... what to do...

[Gigabitdrew]

Hello from MS,

I just purchased a 1964 D100 SWB without motor or transmission... I eventually want it to be my daily driver (about 10 miles a day).

I have not been able to put a plan together yet, and my budget is very limited. I have about 2K I can spend on it today, any more than that and I will have to save for it. Once I start using it for getting back and forth to work, I will sell my 2001 Ranger XLT 4x4 and have more funds to work with.

My initial thought is to purchase a slightly newer W100/W200 donor truck and build out a really cool 4x4.

I'd love feedback and suggestions.

[Gigabitdrew]

Here it is... I'll post more shortly.

[Gigabitdrew]

Love the front of this thing

[Gigabitdrew]

Future transportation... vs... existing transportation.

[mousecat]

That is a great looking truck! I can't really offer many suggestions on how to build it, but me, I pulled a non running /6 out of my 61, pulled a running 318 Poly out of a donor and rebuilt it. It's running now, but I've had mine for 2 years and haven't driven it yet. Lots of work for me to do however. Looks like you're already ahead of me!

Good luck with the new toy, hopefully you have as much fun as I'm having with mine!


Eric

[Gigabitdrew]

Thank you...

I'm not going to lie... I was really hoping that someone with a lot of experience would chime in and give me a few "nuggets" from their own dealings... hopefully, some still will.

Do any body work first? Even if it takes more time and money to get it on the road?

Go ahead and get it running first and sell existing truck for cash to put back into the 64?

Find donor? Good solution? TBI or carburetor?

I want automatic.... 318/360... or go BB 400/440?

thoughts?

thanks,

-gig

[Hobcobble]

Welcome to the site. Does your D100 have the
tapered axles? Its easy to tell by looking for the nut on the end
ot them. If so, I'd replace the axle with the later style 8 3/4 axle.
Check the gear ratio as well. If its a 3.91 or lower, I'd look for
a 3.55 or higher gear.

You might want to check some parts sources and price out the
complete brake job, which this truck will most likely need due to
its age. A complete job with new or turned drums, all shoes and
related hardware, lines and hoses and master cylinder will probably
run you in excess of $700. If you're planning on driving this truck
regularly, I'd suggest going with a 318 or 360 if you need a V8.
If not, a Slant 6 would get you some better mileage.

The steering components will likely need to be gone through too.
A complete refurbishment with rebuilt steering box, tie rod ends,
king pins, drag link will tighten up the front end for you. It'll probably
run around $500+ to bring it up to snuff.

Before any work is done to the body of this truck, you'll likely
be investing $3000+ to make it mechanically sound and dependable.
Best of luck to you.
John

[soopernaut]

Welcome to the site. Does your D100 have the
tapered axles? Its easy to tell by looking for the nut on the end
ot them. If so, I'd replace the axle with the later style 8 3/4 axle.
Check the gear ratio as well. If its a 3.91 or lower, I'd look for
a 3.55 or higher gear.


John

From the picture it looks like the tapered axle has already been replaced.

Some of the questions you have cannot really be answered by others. You would have to decide the best plan for yourself.

[mopardwh]

First of all, great truck and to the forum. You really want to establish your goals for the truck. Chances are you won't be getting your money back out of it if you put much into it. Next would be to consider a time frame. A 4x4 conversion is a bigger undertaking than just getting it daily duty worthy. So expect to take longer for that. So the question's are;
1.How quickly to do expect to start driving it?
2. Are you prepared to park it again if necessary for improvements later on? Ex: 4x4 conversion
3.What does the truck currently need to be drivable? If it's sat for a while, you could easily sink 2k into brakes and general maintenance to get it going. That should be your main focus if you plan to drive it right away. You could then use the money to buy and build a 4x4 frame with your choice of power plant to body swap later.

[Gigabitdrew]

All great points! Exactly what I'm after. So, yes... mechanically sound first. Agreed. For breaks and steering, as an example, would a good donor be the way to go, or purchase after market new? My thought was about late 80s early 90s donor truck. And honestly, I don't NEED a 4x4... a good sturdy 2wd will work. My thought was that once I get it on the road as my daily driver, I won't really be able to put it aside for more work unless I get another form of transportation.

I do appreciate the replies...

thank you,

-gig

[PwrWgnDrvr]

All great points! Exactly what I'm after. So, yes... mechanically sound first. Agreed. For breaks and steering, as an example, would a good donor be the way to go, or purchase after market new? My thought was about late 80s early 90s donor truck. And honestly, I don't NEED a 4x4... a good sturdy 2wd will work. My thought was that once I get it on the road as my daily driver, I won't really be able to put it aside for more work unless I get another form of transportation.

I do appreciate the replies...

thank you,

-gig

There is almost nothing "after market new" for these trucks. Forget about donor trucks from later yrs. Bastardizing in unmatching stuff is complex, costly, time consuming, difficult and often impossible.
Not only do u need expensive brake and steering work, u still need to buy a motor and trans. Finding ones that will fit this model and yr is not easy and they will likely need extensive work to be reliable. U aren't even going to be close to on the road with just $2k in the bank.

[Gigabitdrew]

Honesty that I can appreciate.

So, with that I'd say that whatever my plan, it should only be a long term plan. I'm fine with that. When I purchased this truck it was with the assumption that this would be a multi-year project. I am still open to suggestions, as I will not start until I have a project plan in place.

-gig

[Txas2step]

. Was the truck auto , standard shift column or standard floor shift? If it was standard and you want auto., there are threads on what you need to convert it.

[soopernaut]

Based on what you stated so far, this might be the most cost effective plan to get what you want. Find a 72-93 short bed 4wd truck that is in drivable condition and swap the 64 body over to that frame. That way you won't have to do a lot of things more than once. If you upgrade brakes and steering now and convert to 4wd later, all that was done will have to be redone. Finding a decent short bed 4wd truck may not be that easy either, they don't seem to be common around here. There is some information on frame swaps on the site as some have done them before.

[Gigabitdrew]

This truck was originally a slant-6 with 3 speed on column. At some point in time it was converted to a 318 with automatic. The owner before me pulled the engine and transmission and had ideas of making it a street rod with an LS1.

This photo tells you a lot.... the cross member was cut for the automatic transmission. Still not sure how I feel about that... motor mounts are in place for a sb v8 (318/360)... but at this point in time, I think that is kind of irrelevant.

No lie, my thoughts were to purchase a next gen w100/w200 truck and use it for a donor... axles (includes breaks), engine, transmission, transfer case.... anything necessary... just not the frame... build it up from there. My truck has 114 in wheelbase... the next generation dodge truck swb is 115 wheelbase. I guess it is an idea to just swap over the body... don't know, always thought it was important to keep the original frame if possible so that the truck looks right.

hmmm.... I'll see what I can find... thank you for the thoughts!

-gig

[soopernaut]

This photo tells you a lot.... the cross member was cut for the automatic transmission. Still not sure how I feel about that...

Dodge did that from the factory on 61-68 automatic trucks. They cut the crossmember and built a spanner. Many people think it looks like something a previous owner did. Yours looks as good, if not better than what Dodge did from the factory.

[Gigabitdrew]

Dodge did that from the factory on 61-68 automatic trucks. They cut the crossmember and built a spanner. Many people think it looks like something a previous owner did. Yours looks as good, if not better than what Dodge did from the factory.

Really?!?! Who would have thought that? That's good to know.

[Gigabitdrew]

Does your D100 have the tapered axles?

I believe the answer is yes... it's dark when I get home, so I keep failing to check for the nut on the end... but I believe it does have the nut.

If so, I'd replace the axle with the later style 8 3/4 axle. Check the gear ratio as well. If its a 3.91 or lower, I'd look for a 3.55 or higher gear.

I will... this will be one of the items on my check list for an appropriate donor

You might want to check some parts sources and price out the complete brake job, which this truck will most likely need due to its age. A complete job with new or turned drums, all shoes and related hardware, lines and hoses and master cylinder will probably run you in excess of $700.

I absolutely will... I was planning on swapping out the axles first, and leveling the truck. The front axle is a solid axle, but it is not 'straight'... it is an I-beam type... so once I get another set of axles under the truck my thought was that should I swap out the leaf springs from the same 4x4 donor if that the axles come from... I'm guessing that may help in leveling the truck. Thoughts?

If you're planning on driving this truck regularly, I'd suggest going with a 318 or 360 if you need a V8. If not, a Slant 6 would get you some better mileage.

This will be my daily driver (about 10 miles a day)... I like the idea of the V8, i'll be occasionally hauling gravel, dirt, mulch, and if I get lucky another project vehicle or two down the road. I hear mixed reviews between the 318 and 360. Some tell me the 360 is the best way to go... more torque. Others tell me the 318 has plenty of power and torque and a much more reliable engine and cheaper parts. So, part of me says the smartest thing to do is a 318.... the other part says 360 for the power and torque. In reality, if I find an appropriate donor that has all the other items I'm looking for... I may just take what it has in it.

The steering components will likely need to be gone through too. A complete refurbishment with rebuilt steering box, tie rod ends, king pins, drag link will tighten up the front end for you. It'll probably run around $500+ to bring it up to snuff.

Again, is it wrong to think that if I get a good driving donor that steeling these parts off of it may at least be a decent starting place? I do understand that I would still need to have all of the steering components gone through. Is the donor idea a bad idea? Am I better off buying new/refurbished parts off the shelf to start with?

Before any work is done to the body of this truck, you'll likely be investing $3000+ to make it mechanically sound and dependable.
John

John, I really appreciate your feedback... I've spend the most time thinking about your advice. I have no heartache with spending that much or more to make my truck mechanically sound and dependable. My big take away was that this was the work that should be done first PRIOR to doing any body work. Makes sense to me.

Now... if the donor vehicle idea has merit... that it is cheaper to buy a working running donor than all the parts individually... AND if you were going to make a suggestion as to the particular year/model donor that would be the best for converting my D100 into a W100/W200... what would you suggest that I look for?

Thanks again for your feedback...

-gig

[PwrWgnDrvr]

61-68 will have all the correct stuff to convert your truck to a W the easiest. U will need to replace that torched crossmem if u go back to a std trans.

[Gigabitdrew]

61-68 will have all the correct stuff to convert your truck to a W the easiest. U will need to replace that torched crossmem if u go back to a std trans.

Thank you.... good to know.