Thought I'd say hello, and introduce myself, I'm Ron and I just bought a truck, 1 ton, it's got a 1960 235 ci engine. when I got it the trans was bad, so I did a t-5 swap. It's been converted to 12v. the body is in real good shape, but needs paint and some inteior work. Other than that it is stock, for the most part. I work at a automotive trade school in Denver CO so, working on it is'nt a big problem for me, skill wise, time wise is another story, having 6 cars in the house it's on as need basis. I'd like to thank all of you, because in the 3 mounths I've owned it you guys have already helped me a great deal. Ron
Welcome ron ! Sounds like a nice rig there . Don;t forget to load it up and work it once in a while....
Welcome again I'm in the early stages of fixing my 3800 to. Moving from a 48 216 to a 58 235. This is the right place to get the help. Rick
Welcome, Ron To bad it's not a G... Oh well~ You have found the place to be. There is no end to the assistance these fine and multi-talented people can help you with. I've had so many ideas and questions~ I've run the table on what to do with my truck. These guys never tuned me out and never put me down. They only help out. It's a great site, and I'm sure they will steer you straight. Good luck with your project.
Ron, If you don't mind, tell me a little about the t-5 tranny and your plans for a rear end ratio. I have heard a lot of talk on here about using a t- 5 with a 1/2 ton but never with our 1 tons. What did you have to do to mate it to the 235 and what did you do about the gear shift? Were you able to make it look original or is it obvious that it is a later addition? By the way, don't worry about Zig and his "too bad it's not a G". He has loooooong bed envy and he knows it! Thanks, Gater
welllll..... Well~ with feet as long as mine... I don't need to advertise tooo much That's OK, G~ In a day or two I'll post a picture of my beautiful 228!
shifter Gater, I trimed the input shaft and the throw out bearing collar to match the m-420's. I had to get a new driveshaft made. I'm running the OEM shifter out of the s-10, I bent it a little bit so it would'nt hit the seat. I'm running a Vega disc so I can still run my foot starter. I'm going to get a column shift floor plate and make a hole in that, so it will look better, than the welded old one. For the rear diff I'm going to get one from the recylcer, a 98 dodge is only 3" wider than the stock one, but I'll do more research first. I'm looking for a 3.5ish rear gear, which will work with my 4.03 first gear, and my .8 od will also like. A big plus will also be newer brakes, not having to adjust them every so often, and it will stil look like OEM. It does'nt look orignal, but it does look to bad, the shifter is shorter and straight, I'll bet with some "rodent technology" you could make the stock handle fit though. Nothing I drive is stock so it fits right in with me, but I like them to look at least close.
Thanks, Ron I have a 4:10 out of a 78 or so 1 ton chevy that improved on the 5:14 that came in it but still needs to be better. The perches matched up fine but the outer edge of the tire is right at the lip of the fender. I would like to find something that fits a little better. Gater
Dodge Rear End Ron ; Before you cut or weld anything , better mock it up as 3" wider means 1-1/2" wider on each side , this will make the tires (stock ones) rub the fender lips and if you run aftermarket wheels , they'll stick right out and look bad as well as rub etc....
rear end width Thanks Nate, I made that mistake already once about 20 yrs ago. Spent a lot of money on that mistake, doing the job twice. Measure 5 times, cut once. Ron
Measure THRICE Cut _once_ I'm sure all of us have gone down that road.. A couple months ago I went to a new club member's house for a tech session , I was pretty busy but I noticed he wanted to cut the trunk panel out of a junker and have it welded into his older , non trunk car ~ I stopped and went over , said " measure twice " and was rudely shouldered aside by our club's body ' expert ' (a nice guy to be sure but...) so I ambled off and back to work , took a look several hours later after the ' expert ' had left and guess what ? That's right , the new trunk pach panel was 1/2" smaller than the hole it's supposed to overlap , all the way 'round... What the hell do I know ? I'm just an old farm mechanic , with dirty hands yet Keep on keeping on !
Hi Ron, From another 3800 owner Welcome aboard. I do not post here very offen been super busy on other items. Ihave just sent my 235 into be rebuilt was told today the head is good and so were the other item in it. So they saythe but back should go very easy. The shop doing the work is EER in San Fernando. With my back doing what it is to me lately I just chose to have someone else rebuild it. Anyway, welcome aboard. CCHARR (Charles)
Great moments Dontcha just love those moments, part of you feels sorry for the guy whos parts jus been trashed.........but a big part of you is looking round for someone to high five with
The guy who lost out , is a very nice gy who's never said a bad word atall , I feel very badly for him . Ralph , OTOH he's supposed to be a professional.....
