Re: Figured this would be the best place
[Re: maz]
#2028897
03/11/16 12:13 AM
03/11/16 12:13 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588 Freeport IL USA
poorboy
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588
Freeport IL USA
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Having been down this road more then once, I might suggest that you keep and use the Dakota's cab floor pan and lower firewall. Both can be trimmed down to match up with whatever body you find, and it makes using the Dakota drive train much easier because everything will still connect. Most of the older stuff (at least around here) usually needs floor pan work. The Dakota floor pan can be moved back on the frame by simply making new body mounts to connect it to the frame. The motor & trans can be moved back the same amount as the cab floor, and then nearly everything on the Dakota can be reused.
I would also recommend you keep the Dakota box floor. Like the cab, it can be shortened and made more narrow and older box sides can be put on top of the Dakota box floor, and you can still use some of the actual box floor mounts. Most older trucks had wood floors that the box side sat on, and the wood is almost always rotted.
All that said, older truck cabs are the easiest things to swap onto a Dakota frame. Most are cheap, and they are pretty plentiful.
30s truck cabs were very narrow, as in you are sitting right beside your passenger, arm to arm.
40s cabs were wider, you get a pair of bucket seats and about 6"-8" between them.
50s cabs got pretty close to the modern era, 3 smaller guys can fit in those (kinda like a Dakota), and the 60s cabs gave you a few inches between the Dakota size seat and the door on each side.
Car widths are about the same as the trucks, except there wasn't a lot of differences between the 40s and the 50s, as far as width.
When I decided to build my coupe, I already had the Dakota truck. I wanted to build a street version of an old dirt track race car. I intended on adding a roll cage to the Dakota frame, so body condition was not a concern. I began looking for a Mopar 2 door car, between about 35 (wide enough to sit comfortably side by side, my wife and I are not small), and a 54. I really didn't like the 55-56 cars, and the 57 & up were too big (long). The body had to be cheap, and its condition was not a concern, but I wanted as complete of a body as I could get (no missing sheet metal). The 48 Plymouth was the first car to turn up. I bought the 48 Plymouth business coupe for $200, and it was nearly junk (but complete). Everything except the body shell is from a 90 Dakota. There is a build thread over on the Jalopy Journal HAMB board that is still there. The one I did here has fallen off into cyber space somewhere.
I ended up not doing the cage, but the rest of the car came out pretty well, I think. We have had the car on the road for 4 summers now. I'm currently doing a few minor upgrades, but the car has remained largely unchanged, except the cheap paint has faded and looks more authentic.
I'll post a couple of pictures. Gene
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Re: Figured this would be the best place
[Re: poorboy]
#2030121
03/13/16 05:02 AM
03/13/16 05:02 AM
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 12,375 SoCal
MuuMuu101
I got lucky at Woodward!
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I got lucky at Woodward!
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 12,375
SoCal
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Having been down this road more then once, I might suggest that you keep and use the Dakota's cab floor pan and lower firewall. Both can be trimmed down to match up with whatever body you find, and it makes using the Dakota drive train much easier because everything will still connect. Most of the older stuff (at least around here) usually needs floor pan work. The Dakota floor pan can be moved back on the frame by simply making new body mounts to connect it to the frame. The motor & trans can be moved back the same amount as the cab floor, and then nearly everything on the Dakota can be reused.
I would also recommend you keep the Dakota box floor. Like the cab, it can be shortened and made more narrow and older box sides can be put on top of the Dakota box floor, and you can still use some of the actual box floor mounts. Most older trucks had wood floors that the box side sat on, and the wood is almost always rotted.
All that said, older truck cabs are the easiest things to swap onto a Dakota frame. Most are cheap, and they are pretty plentiful.
30s truck cabs were very narrow, as in you are sitting right beside your passenger, arm to arm.
40s cabs were wider, you get a pair of bucket seats and about 6"-8" between them.
50s cabs got pretty close to the modern era, 3 smaller guys can fit in those (kinda like a Dakota), and the 60s cabs gave you a few inches between the Dakota size seat and the door on each side.
Car widths are about the same as the trucks, except there wasn't a lot of differences between the 40s and the 50s, as far as width.
When I decided to build my coupe, I already had the Dakota truck. I wanted to build a street version of an old dirt track race car. I intended on adding a roll cage to the Dakota frame, so body condition was not a concern. I began looking for a Mopar 2 door car, between about 35 (wide enough to sit comfortably side by side, my wife and I are not small), and a 54. I really didn't like the 55-56 cars, and the 57 & up were too big (long). The body had to be cheap, and its condition was not a concern, but I wanted as complete of a body as I could get (no missing sheet metal). The 48 Plymouth was the first car to turn up. I bought the 48 Plymouth business coupe for $200, and it was nearly junk (but complete). Everything except the body shell is from a 90 Dakota. There is a build thread over on the Jalopy Journal HAMB board that is still there. The one I did here has fallen off into cyber space somewhere.
I ended up not doing the cage, but the rest of the car came out pretty well, I think. We have had the car on the road for 4 summers now. I'm currently doing a few minor upgrades, but the car has remained largely unchanged, except the cheap paint has faded and looks more authentic.
I'll post a couple of pictures. Gene I never really noticed the lack of the "beak" nose. I like how you did your bumpers with the steel wheels. I've seen plenty of pictures of your car before, but this is the first time I actually looked at them.
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Re: Figured this would be the best place
[Re: maz]
#2030139
03/13/16 09:30 AM
03/13/16 09:30 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588 Freeport IL USA
poorboy
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588
Freeport IL USA
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I am wanting to keep it a pick up. Just uglier than it is with a bit of older style to it. Seems that I'm going to have to fabricate new mounts no matter how I go. So when I take the body off cut out the floor to use in the cab and figure the rest out with a tape measure. Keeping it a pickup makes it a lot easier, for sure. If you find a cab that still has floors, the Dakota floor pan might be more work then its worth, but around here, older cabs with floors are pretty much nonexistent. Building a real hot rod is much like building a model kit. You build the frame, then add the body on top of it. The advantage of building the real thing is often you can modify the best parts to fit and use. I'm a pretty firm believer that if you have the space to keep a parts car/truck, and the project, you keep everything until you are driving down the road, and are happy with what you have. Having the ability to go to a parts car sitting in a corner to get some little do-dad, or see how the factory might have done something, is a very valuable resource you will use more then you expect. I've built a dozen ground up builds, and there are times I still go look at how the automotive industry did some things (and how much they have change the processes they use now compared to what they used to do). You will also be amazed how many little things a guy will pick off the bones of a parts car. Gene
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Re: Figured this would be the best place
[Re: MuuMuu101]
#2030143
03/13/16 09:50 AM
03/13/16 09:50 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588 Freeport IL USA
poorboy
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588
Freeport IL USA
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I never really noticed the lack of the "beak" nose. I like how you did your bumpers with the steel wheels. I've seen plenty of pictures of your car before, but this is the first time I actually looked at them.
I figure if I post pictures long enough, and force people to look at my car, someday they might actually see at it. LOL! Sometimes there are advantages of working with rusted out junk. The stainless grill bars were in great shape, but the sheet steel that they attach to was pretty much rusted away. There were no bumpers with the car. Back in the day, when they used to race these cars, bumpers like the ones on my coupe were standard practice. The bumpers are 1/8" flat stock bolted to the frame rails and bars above & below the bumpers are conduit. They might look tough, but I suspect they won't take much impact, but then again, street cruising isn't suppose to be a contact sport. After 4 years of driving it, I'm doing a few upgrades this year, but I suppose I should start a different thread about that. Gene
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Re: Figured this would be the best place
[Re: maz]
#2030177
03/13/16 11:52 AM
03/13/16 11:52 AM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588 Freeport IL USA
poorboy
I Live Here
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I Live Here
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,588
Freeport IL USA
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Thank you.
Its been a fun ride. All told, I ended up around $2500, out of pocket money (including the cost of the Dakota & the coupe), in the car by the time I got it road worthy. The Dakota I used was a running, driving truck, with a defective, but still functioning clutch. The largest single expense (over $800, 5 years ago) was rebuilding the Dakota brake system! I replaced everything related to the brakes, except the brake booster and the rear brake backing plates, because I wanted to be sure the brakes were going to be trouble free for a long time (and they have been).
Build time, from the time I acquired the coupe body (the Dakota was already here) to get it roadworthy was about 2 years. Minor refinements have continued all along. The paint was applied after the 1st summer of driving time. To be fair, I own a one man welding shop, the coupe sat outside the shop, which is at my house. When ever I wasn't busy, I was working on it. My kids are grown and out of the house, and my wife enjoys cruising almost as I do. There were not a lot of limitations on my " work on the car time". Time wise, I suspect there are more then 2,000 hours in this car, but I never kept track, and this wasn't my first go at building a car.
I've had a few real nice high dollar rides, and I've had rides with a lot more power then this one has. This car, by far, has been the most fun car I've had since probably my very 1st hot rod. And best of all, my wife likes it too. Gene
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