25 Dodge Bucket

Here is what I found in a truck shop that we take our work trucks to. Buried under big cardboard boxes behind a work bench. I'm going to title and register it as a Dodge cause it's me. It came with a 57 or so Olds/Pont. rearend and model A looking rear spring. Going with 440/727/Dana 60. Rear spring and Dana 60 aint going to get along. Going to keep I-beam front axle. Change over to 4 bar in front w/ panhard bar. Should make it less twitchie.
This is the one I put in the what is it part. Seems to be a Murray bodied 30-31 Phord. Works for me. All steel. Story is this was originally hacked together in the mid 60's, it's never been finished and driven. Anyone recognize this deluxe unit?? Central Ca. area near Fresno. Never the less I plan on making it strong where it needs to be and pure fun everywhere else. More to come.
Neal.

Alright! I got me a seat down front [P[P[P[P

I would change as little as possible!!
You have our attention!![P[P[P

looks like a fun little project!

allright!

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It's sad to see that even that long ago, people lost motivation on their projects.
Poor guy only had a few days of work into it before the wife found out and told him its her or the car.
At least he's still married

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jmlcolorado said:

It's sad to see that even that long ago, people lost motivation on their projects.
Poor guy only had a few days of work into it before the wife found out and told him its her or the car.
At least he's still married


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Yep, I recently have tried to sell a car I have and have had a couple of guys blow me full of big smoke only to find out I've been talking to the wrong person.
I'm no big story writer, but I'm pretty fair @ telling it like it is. I wanted to use as much of the original stuff as possible. Reality of what I've really got versus how I want it to perform when done has forced some changes. I'll try to keep the nostalgia look and feel and still get it to handle fair and get out and go somewhere. It's all about function not form for me.
The first major bummer was the discovery that the rear crosss member was 3" channel and left an open spot on both sides for the mice to take 20 or so years to pack the frame rails full of acorns and walnuts. ( Rat Rod??) The bottom of the rails were rotted thru. The original frame now becomes a jig for the new rails. Don't remeber the specs but its wedge shaped, 3" pipe front crossmember. I wanted to add some to rear to make a mount and some protection for my fuel tank. 12x40" spun aluminum. The back of the body kicks up, that explains the lighter 2x5 crossmember. Am going with 4 bar and coilovers in back. Gives me more room for the Dana monster. Had a buddy give me the shock bodies a few years age and another buddy give me the springs recently, so I'm in a set of QA1's right.
More to come.
Neal.

frame

good looking start on the chassis.

great price on the shocks

Later

I'll play
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Oh, cool project too!

This is unrelated to my build. Sometimes when you see a horse trough body and diamond plate dash, you just have to stand there for a while.
Neal.

NitroNeal said:

This is unrelated to my build. Sometimes when you see a horse trough body and diamond plate dash, you just have to stand there for a while.
Neal.

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That's a chuckle!!

I like your build..that Mopar should scoot it along nicely..

that actually looks like a nicely built rod, just built around a water trough..funny

Tim

Doing some mocking up for motor mounts and trans. The headers are hooker B-body fenderwell. They are part of my original vision, part of the fun factor. I'll come off the collector with 3" up under the car with some Flo-Pro muffs I scored. On the collector (3 1/2") I'm going to have QTP electric cutouts with short turnouts. This should work well on the ricers and thumpa rappers.
More to come.
Neal.

Got some more mocking up done. The body fits on new frame well. It's channeled the width of the frame...3". Going to use male- female splined coupler (like PTO) for driveline. Trans crossmember next.
More to come.
Neal.

Did a little more fabbing and mocking up on the front end. Sold my boat and 65 Dart GT to finance more parts. Should have more progress soon.
Neal.

How bout an update?? Everything has pretty well worked out like I wanted. Suspension didn't fight me as much as it could have. Steers well and goes straight. Finally found some windshield stanchions that worked. 25 Dodge grille shell/chinese street rod radiator/Lincoln mk8 fan all get together well. You probably can't see the 1.5" gilmer belt setup on the fan/alt setup. It's that Chinese pro comp deal. Looks cool, sounds cool, and it's a bitch to get the alternator lined up. Has turned a couple rides into treasure hunts to find belt.
Dash came out like I wanted. Real wood eal with vinyl overlay burlwood. Machined inset where the gold machine turn overlay is.
Havin fun killin bugs!
Neal.

Looks good Neal. I miss the yellow, my model A tub was yellow.

Todd said:

Looks good Neal. I miss the yellow, my model A tub was yellow.

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The only place that yellow might have looked good wasw on the small screen. It was in terrible shape. The matte black is stuck good and low maint. The frame is gloss black. They contrast well. Used paint called "magic" implement paint from tractor supply.

Thanks for coming back to update us. It looks like a kick in the pants!

Have fun scaring passengers & passers-by.
-Chaz

Nice high quality work on your car. The dash is especially cool. Looks like Chevy front spindles. Are they on a Ford axle?