Looking good!

The 55 is almost done. I have a few little things to adjust and shoot a clear coat on it. I have been driving it for a week now and have already put over 400 miles on it. The 5.7 Hemi runs great and the truck drives really nice. I'm very pleased with the results. Have a look at the you tube linke below.

http://youtu.be/ilU3XUiLmJA

I'll have to admit I'm not a fan of these trucks, but your build just did wonders for this early styling. I LIKE IT, exceptional build on a budget. Would like to see it with paint. Rick

Awesome job! Looks GREAT!

If you haven't built a cover for the gas tank, a section from a 50 gallon drum (new or one with nice patina, oil company logo, etc.) would make a cool cover.

I used the factory EFI with a Hot Wire harness.

You did great Russ can't wait to get a ride in it!

You will in Sept!

turned out great!!! anymore videos coming?

Russ out front of Hyper henry's place in Kitchener Ontario Canada.
Russ was hear for a 2 day visit we were all over the place with that truck everywhere we went people are taking pictures and some asking questions it runs real good!
GOOD JOB RUSS

just too cool

For all you guys that followed this build back in 2013, the truck now has just over 50,000 miles on it since competed and is still running great. It’s my daily driver. Sorry but all the photos are no longer accessible on this forum. They got dropped a couple years ago when the site format was updated.

Thanks for the followup! Still a very cool project!

The pics are still here, you just have to click the link to 'download' them and you can them.

That being said though, any current pics?

Great to hear. My 56CDAK journey is just starting. I bought a solid 56 big window Dodge which will go on my 2001 Dakota chassis. Everything from the Dak cab will go into the 56 as my daily driver. So as a daily driver is the fuel mileage reasonable? I plan to use a remanufactured long block 4.7V8 with a 65RFE automatic, which I hope on highway driving will get me 20+mpg. It should be turning less than 1800 rpm at 70. Curious too, what it's like in colder weather to drive a vintage style cab. Is the heating/windshield defrost equal to what it is in a 2005 Dakota? I'm in Green Bay so the weather here is similar to Ontario.

I have a 49 Dodge truck on a Dakota chassis build here on Moparts. I've driven my truck through a winter (north west corner of IL) with actual snowfall, frosted glass, and 0 degree weather, my truck sits outside when not being driven.

Your 56 should get pretty close to the same mpg as the Dakota got, if you keep the EFI. The shape of the body won't have much effect unless your truck only sees lots of highway miles, then a slight difference due to aerodynamics may make a difference of 1-2 mpg. My 49 with a 5.2 Magnum and a 46RE and 3:55 gears on a 94 Dakota 4x4 chassis got just under 18 mpg @ 75 mph with 235 x 75- 15 tires. Around town is 10 - 13 mpg. The 56 cab is more aerodynamic then the 49 is.

I would strongly suggest that you add sound deadener/insolation to the inside surfaces of the cab (in addition to door & kick panels, and a headliner), especially the roof, firewall, back of the cab, and floors. That stuff makes a huge difference in keeping the heat in during the winter, and keeping heat out during the winter. I use the self stick stuff made from butyl rather then the stuff made from asphalt, the asphalt stuff can melt if the temps get over 90 degrees during the summer. I used stuff called NOICO, but since it came from Russia, it may not be available now, but you should be able to find alternatives.

You also need to be sure your wipers are up to the task, if your 56 still has the vacuum wipers, they are not going to cut it. You will need well functioning electric wipers, and a windshield washer would be a great addition as well.

When you are hijacking stuff from your Dakota donor, be sure you get the heat/ac box and the defroster duct work for the Dakota and adapt it into the 56 dash, The 56 defrosting system needs a lot of help. The Dakota heater & defroster duct work clears the windshield pretty fast, keeps it clear, and warms the cab in about a mile with a 195 stat. Its a cold ride before that 1st mile. Heated seats would be a great option... Gene

The windows on my 55 fog up really bad in cold or wet weather. I beat it with liberal amounts of RainX on the outside and RainX ant fog on the inside. The problem is my classic air AC Heater system doesn’t circulate fresh air from outside to remove the moisture inside the cab.

This is the primary reason I used the heat/ac box out of the Dakota. That box has a fresh air duct at the top of it (Pic 1, extreme right side of the pic about center of the frame, the black oval.) You can also see the Dakota duct work mounted to the cowl, It attaches to the heater box on the smaller square to the left of the outlet with the green foam (The green foam is the AC outlet, I do not have the AC functioning yet.). I am never concerned about heat, all the air in the heat/defrost part runs through the defroster duct. There is enough heat in the cab through the defroster duct work to make the cab very comfortable after a few miles of driving, if the cab is sealed well enough. To me seeing is more important then being warm.

Pic 2 is the hole I cut into the cowl for fresh air. It is about 3" high x 5" wide. on the left side of the hole you can see the fresh air inlet for the Dakota Heater box. If you were looking straight at it, that inlet for the Dakota heater is centered in the opening. I made a simple duct work to connect the hole with the heater inlet out of light gauge sheet metal.

Pic 3, The hole I cut probably can get water flow from under the hood when it rains. This picture shows how I built up a water trough for the water to run around both sides of the hole. Everything clears the hood by about 1/4". I can't find a picture of the duct work I made, I was sure I took pics, but who knows at this point.

Pic 4 shows the cover I use through the summer. Without the cover, there is a lot of under the hood heat comes into the cab. The cover hooks under the top edge and over both sides and is held in place with two screws on the bottom edge. When the truck got painted, the entire cowl above the body seam was painted body color. I have not removed the cover yet this year, but with the predicted temps for the next 10 days, I will likely remove it tomorrow. With the cover painted body color, it blends in nicely, it may not look so pretty after its been removed and installed a few times, but that sort of thing comes with it being a daily driver.

If I can't find pictures of the duct work between the cowl hole and the heater box, I'll try to get a couple then. Gene

I had to move my fire wall back 6 inches and the radiator forward 2 inches to get the 5.7 Gen III Hemi in the truck. There isn’t enough room under the dash for that Dakota heat ac unit. The Classic Air mini unit barely fit under there.