It’s happening... First haul!

Ron, good job and your workarounds prop up the front engine compartment bulkhead with a lanyard and temporary frame grounding I would have done, too. From video, engine sounds great, just like the first day off the dealer's lot.

Regarding paint, that is a personal choice. Some are leaving the older vehicles in their exterior aged paint state. One company has been taking classic cars and trucks from the 1950's and earlier, rehabilitated the mechanical and interior, but left it in its found rustic state. Those cars are basically for the well to do for the price they charge.

However, I enjoy seeing these old cars and trucks restored, and although the paint finish may not be historic (too glossy), those are very minor issues for the ultra critical to pick at.

Got any idea on what color you might settle on? Do you plan any interior repairs / upgrades as well?

Well look at the firewall.....ORANGE! That was its original color. Omaha orange it was callled back then. It was a fleet color,  and had to be special ordered on a non fleet vehicle. You had to wait to get that color on your truck for when they were a doing fleet order!  ......Ron said he was partial to green...i've had 4 Green Dodge trucks....3 dfferent shades. ....I'd prefer the then rare Omaha orange myself...i've had 2 that color...

Ron,
I must say that I have been watching your truck build with great anticipation since the first pic of the greasy, rusty, muddy 360 core from the field !!
You have done an excellent job with a tremendous amount of hard work to bring the old Ram back to life !!!
Your extra detail work rebuilding the front end and firewall will look really good when you finish.
I've been into it so much that I delayed watching the first fire up because I always get jittery for the first 20 seconds or so when all the parts are trying fit and they make funky noises !!
Once you get it back on the road then you can finish the cosmetics at your own speed.
Please keep us updated as you finish her …..
Great job, Steve...…………...

Cribbs74 wrote:
Anyway, it took four tries to get the distributor in the right spot before it lit off,

I can relate.  When I rebuilt a 302 Windsor a couple of years ago I had all sorts of trouble getting it right.  Tried all sorts of different theories why it would just backfire and not run.  No.1 on compression, correct firing order, still no good.  Turns out that the manual had the direction of rotation of the distributor printed wrong.  After two hours of trying with the customer's whole family watching, I reversed the firing order and off it went.

Everythings bass ackwards on a Ford! They don't even number the cylinders correctly! I hated having to work on them!

Ron, it sounds sweet, good job.

I had an old distributor shaft without the gear on it that I would chuck in my half inch drill and spin up the oil before the first crank. That way the lifters and bearings would be somewhat ready for the first cold crank. I don't know how much oil really wet the bearings, but I usually oiled them with STP when I bolted it together. It did make it into the valve train though.

And, yeah, lets see a smokin' burnout before you put new rubber on it. Boy, I haven't smelled a good cloud of melted tire smoke in sooo long.
Rusty

P.S.
My favorite Mopar site:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKxu_85y8YGFQcY11cJGNtA
I love his Dyno videos. And he build himself a Kowalski Challenger from the ground up last winter.

OhBee wrote:Everythings bass ackwards on a Ford! They don't even number the cylinders correctly!  I hated having to work on them!  

You got that right. There's even a different firing order between 302 Windsors. Either carb and EFI are different, or passenger and commercial are different. Can't recall which.

Wow, lots of replies! Thanks for the kudos guys. It’s been a long time coming. Once I get this out of the way I can start thinking about cosmetics. After I finish the suspension I need to replace the wood in the bed. It’s getting pretty rotten. Don’t want the bed to come off on the highway!

The suspension has been a real nightmare. It has taken me 2 days just to do one side. The rain didn’t help today as the paint wouldn’t dry and the day before I had to cut every bushing out of the control arms because they wouldn’t budge. The shop press is a great tool, but because of the shape of the A arm it made pressing the bushings out near impossible. I ended up having to carefully cut them out. New ones pressed in easily as I was able to use the press. The bushings only press in and out one way.

Here is a pic of the one side onto the other tomorrow. Hope the humidity is lower tomorrow.

Oldenginerod wrote:

OhBee wrote:Everythings bass ackwards on a Ford! They don't even number the cylinders correctly!  I hated having to work on them!  

You got that right.  There's even a different firing order between 302 Windsors.  Either carb and EFI are different, or passenger and commercial are different. Can't recall which.

YA, really hard to get out the manual!!

Love the aligning drift Ron, doing suspensions you can't get along without one.  

Bob

Don't miss the old style rotors that contain the bearings, used to have them turned. Rotors are throw away now. Looking good all painted up!!

Ron, I assume even though your truck is older than mine our parts look identical. The one ball joint is press and the other is threaded? This is where I'm having a issue, I think my threaded ball joint is going to tear out the threads on removal. My neighbor owns a body shop and said if it happens, he could weld them in. That seems incorrect to me but I suppose if that's what needs to be done. He said he just tacks them with dots around the circumference.

Ken Cook wrote:Ron, I assume even though your truck is older than mine our parts look identical. The one ball joint is press and the other is threaded? This is where I'm having a issue, I think my threaded ball joint is going to tear out the threads on removal. My neighbor owns a body shop and said if it happens, he could weld them in. That seems incorrect to me but I suppose if that's what needs to be done. He said he just tacks them with dots around the circumference.

Hey Ken,

Sounds like you are going down the same road here soon. Yes identical, screw in top press in bottom. So, I think you already know or you wouldn’t be questioning it. The right way is to get a new A-arm. Those screw in BJ’s have very peculiar threads and not very deep at that. Not the best design but mine have held. I don’t get the salt you do in PA though. So I guess if you are strapped for time and just need it driveable you could tack weld it in. Personally I wouldn’t do it if at all possible. If the tack welds don’t hold you are going to lose a spring or worse. Tack welding will destroy the A-arm for any future repairs. Might as well just buy a new one if the threads tear out. I don’t think they are too expensive.

Another thing to consider is they are awful to remove. You only have four flats on the ball joint so a socket won’t work. Dodge has a special tool for them. I ended up buying a huge adjustable wrench to do mine. Even with that much leverage they were still hard to remove. I suppose heat might work in a pinch, but don’t know if changing the hardening on the A-arm is wise.

Ron

Ron.
I made a socket for the Chrysler (Valiant out here) ball joints years ago. Just used a piece of 2" i.d. square tubing welded to a socket. In hindsite, should have used a 3/4" drive as these things can be wickedly tight. I really can't see how you'd rip the threads out of the arm. They are an odd thread, but assuming you don't try to screw it in crooked, the thread is so coarse you couldn't really stuff it up.
Rod.

I remember them SOBs never cared much for the design , but it did work and a tack weld will work if ur not taking the A arm out for the other bushing .

So almost All back together. Aligning the hood now, what a pain! Looks like I am going to have to pull the grill off as I have to move a fender to get the alignment right.

I did take it out for a quick spin. It was a dog at the factory set timing so I bumped it to 7.5 degrees BTDC and it runs much better. Good power.

I really wish I could paint this thing. I have a cab that is in much better shape in Arkansas, I don’t want to spend the time on this one when I am just going to swap it out.


Ron

7 1/2 ° timing? I could only get away with that out in Mt. at high elevation. Around here anything over 2° and it pings! Factory is zero! You sure it's advancing?......suspension work,YUCK!...I'LL take engine work all day,any day!

My 318 specs 8 deg BTDC and it doesn't run unless I advance it another 2 degrees. I usually pull it up to the concrete bollard have my son floor it and I rotate the distributor until it spins the tires, PERFECT!!!!!! tighten it up.

OhBee wrote:7 1/2 ° timing? I could only get away with that out in Mt. at high elevation. Around here anything over 2° and it pings! Factory is zero!  You sure it's advancing?......suspension work,YUCK!...I'LL take engine work  all day,any day!

Yep, factory is 2. Barely could get up a small hill. I read the 7.5 online. I have an RV cam installed, not sure if that is why. Brand new distributor mechanical advance and vacuum working correctly. My dash mounted vacuum gauge is reading about 20ish Hg at idle which is pretty good.

Maybe I should just do Ken’s method. Not so easy with a manual transmission though!

Push it up till it spark knocks when you drive and kick down on it Good then back it off till it stops , if you push it to much it will start to stubble at an idle and if it too high it want turn over freely from too Hi timing . Always us the same fuel helps alot !!