I'm thinking of buying a Rampage and was wondering what and were to look for problems these trucks might have?Like were to look for the bad hard to fix rust points on them?How are the motors and trannys in them?Is there a place that sells any of the body panels or the floor pans for them?I'd appreciate any help.

psssssst...its a K car

You can shag in the bed.

The only thing I can add is most I believe are the 2.2 motors, which I've heard are hard on head gaskets...

On the bright side, a 2.2 turbo would be pretty cool in one, but I like all Mopars, especially the different ones

I had one that was pretty much problem-free 'till it blew the clutch. I had a 2.2 in a van and did head gaskets twice.

The ONLY downside is the carburetor. The rest is pretty much bullet-proof. Get a manual trans version, throw a clutch at it and new bearings in the transmission.

Get the weber carb and a supercharger.

They rust like every other car and rattle but they are fun and get great gas mileage to boot!! Plus they are a truck and are rated at a 1/2 ton but not for towing.

The first place to look for unrepairable rot is where the front leaf spring hangers meet the frame. That is usually the first place to let go.

I have rust free and straight fenders, doors, hood (1984 with 4 headlights) and a whole bunch of other parts if you need something.

The carbs can be difficult at times. A Weber 32/36 DGEV takes care of that.

They are a blast to own and drive!!

I had one a decade ago as a daily driver. It was a great little truck...er car. It was not a truck. I picked up a 273 engine & put in the back & it nearly draged the bumper off on the trip home. At 22 mpg with the 2.2 auto it was a neat little run about back & forth to work. Toped out at 85 mph. I bought mine for $400.00 from a customer who said he was tired of fixing stuff on it. I drove it 2 years & never no problems till one morning I went out to drive it & it over heated. Rad fan died. I pulled it behind the shop & forgot about it, till it was too far gone to mess with. Sold it to a brave local guy who said he was going to get it running again. Have not seen him ot the truck since...RIP. I wish I had not let it fall into disrepair.

Squint a whole lot and there's a real resemblence here.

Check out the floors under the drivers and passengers feet. This is the first area to rot out on these things. Also check out the lower 1/4 panels behind the rear tires are well as the rear wheel openings in the 1/4's. There is NO reproduction sheet metal out there for these vehicles so starting with a rotten one is a bad idea.

Motors and transmissions are pretty good, I've never had to do a head gasket on one, and I overheated one pretty good and suffered no ill-effects. I find they run well, but like said the stock carbs tend to be an issue. Weber makes a nice carb 32/36 or something like that. It's been a while. Actually the stock holley carb is a licensed weber design modded for emissions.

Biggest con is in stock form neither the motor nor transmission have any performance potential. The DC supercharger kit like the one pictured are very hard to find and pricey, plus they don't put out much power. Their auto and manual transmissions won't take much abuse at terribly higher than stock hp levels and require a shifter mod to make a later 80's daytona/other turbo car transmission work. If you want to go turbo you have to find an engine wiring harness from a 87 or prior turbo L body charger or omni. The later years use a different bulkhead connector and IIRC 88 was the changeover year, although the later harness will work if the later dash harness is also swapped in.

My brother's got one he's been slowly fixing up. Bit of a pain in the butt to work on being so tight under the hood.

In all honesty if I ever wanted one, I would get one with a manual trans, put a shelby charger 2.2HO carb spark computer in it and a weber carb and drive it and a fun little economical cruiser instead of doing the whole efi/turbo conversion.

The floor boards in the Rampage I'm looking at are toast.The rest of it is pretty solid except for the rear bottom fenders which are showing rust.The rest of the body even the bed are in good shape.Are the floor pans very hard to replace if I can find a donor car floor pans?What other cars floor pans is the same as the Rampage other than the Charger and Omni?Thanks to everyone who has given there info. here.

I saw this one at the hotel in g'vegas at the springsteen show!!

I have an 83 Rampage, std trans. I found an 89 LeBaron GTS w/auto w/a 2.2L turbo as a donor car. What issues would I have to face besides swapping out the engine? I have to deal w/California emissions. O2 sensor, pressurized fuel, is my current exhaust system adequate after the swap, wiring, cooling system w/radiator and fan, adding the brain box are all things that I am concerned about.