1949 AD-kota

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Todd

He's just one of them Rusty-Chainers!
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
1,547
Location
Faribault, MN
Here is a record of the last 2 months of the 1949 AD-kota.

dakchas1.jpg


First was making sure the chassis would be a good donor. A trip to the shop I had worked at previous would get me the frame specs.

49dakota011.jpg


This is looking pretty good.
 
49dakota006.jpg


Using some stock front mounts. These were the first things I blasted in my cabinet.

49dakota005.jpg


49dakota009.jpg



I cut the front body insulators from a semi mudflap that I got from my niece's boyfriend.

49dakota010-1.jpg


A look from under the hood.

49dakota013-1.jpg


I used a piece of 1 1/2 X 4 tubing to make uprights for the front mounts.
 
49dakota015-1.jpg


Since the Dakota chassis is a little wider this works better for the rear mounts. There is a chunk of a heavy duty muffler hanger used as an insulator (this was actually done before the mudflap showed up).

49dakota014-1.jpg


Looking up at the mount.
 
49dakota001.jpg


The front of the frame is too long the line shows 10 inches back from the most leading edge.

49dakota002.jpg


Here it is cut off and filed. I think it is going to need another 1/2 inch trimmed in order to clear the front side of the inner fender.
 
49dakota007-2.jpg


The radiator support falls right ove the sway bar. As you can see in the frame horn picture Dodge used a beefy bracket to support it. I took a 1X2 chunk of rectangle tubing and cut in the mounting holes.

49dakota008.jpg


I trimmed a 1/2" out of the mount to set it in the factory brackets. When the sway bar was pushed back up, it rubbed the bottom of the support. The 1/2" tubing shows enough spacing to be workable.

49dakota009-1.jpg


A piece of 2X4X1/2 stock made a nice spacer.
 
49dakota005-1.jpg


Tire fits in there pretty damn nice.

49dakota002-1.jpg


Looking more like a truck.

49dakota004.jpg


Fitting the hood is a bit of a fight, but I won.
 
49dakota001-1.jpg


Putting a SBC/TH350 in it. The motor is offset 1 1/2 inch, I think the V6 magnum was 2 1/4" offset.

49dakota011-1.jpg


Originally I wanted to use all that I could from the Dakota, motor too. So I started making mounts to fit in the original bolt locations. By going to the chevy mill the mounts were built off those bases. A mechanical fuel pump will clear (woo hoo).

49dakota012-1.jpg


I still need to finish weld and box a couple places.
 
49dakota016-1.jpg


I used the classic parts crossmember. With the offset I had to trim a bit from the right and weld it to the left.

49dakota006-1.jpg


The side brackets were 1/2" short for me. These were made from 2X3 tubing and use the factory frame mounting holes. The new crossmember is about 6" behind the centers of the original mount holes.
 
49dakota012.jpg


I cut the steering column tube by resting the hacksaw against the side of the gear piece, then work your way around. Patience is key.

49dakota013.jpg


I have the bearing from McMaster Carr to fit in the bottom, just haven't got that far yet.
 
49dakota018.jpg


The wheel is very cracked, but I cleaned it up and spray bombed it to get by for awhile.

49dakota017.jpg


The gauges were cleaned up, painted, gaskets replaced, new needle and painted the inside red. By the 80 on the speedo is the high beam indicator, it was drilled out and fit with the newer blue indicator from the dakota cluster.

49dakota010.jpg


The AD gas pedal was attached to the dakota unit.

49dakota007.jpg


Same was done to the brake assembly.
 
49dakota016.jpg


This shifter was laying around from a 80's Nissan. Take off the T handle and machine a piece to fit the piston knob. Push the knob and shift.

49dakota014.jpg


49dakota015.jpg


This may end up in my brothers project. He needs a shorter shifter and it may be a little short for me.
 
Worked on the column today. Stopped out at the muffler shop for a little stretch.

49dakota005-2.jpg


The guy wouldn't take anything to do it and took the time to show me his '55 second series.

49dakota006-2.jpg


This is just mocked in. I still need to repair the mount area on the dash.

49dakota007-3.jpg


This is the lower end of the dakota column slipped over the '49 shaft. Using this would save some coin on not needing aftermarket joints.

Opinions?
 
WOW!!!!!:eek::cool:

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting this!!! Your Dakota swap, so far, looks like a much better match than the usual A.D.-on-an-S10, at least as far as the front track goes. The front tires always look "sunken" to me on the S10 swaps...I'm going to be curious to see how well the rear track works out.

Looks like the front frame to inner fender supports are a little less hassle on this one, too.

I'm wondering if the earlier Dakota brake rotors and axles could be swapped on to give you the Ford/Mopar 5x4.5" bolt circle...[S

Again, a big "THANK YOU" for sharing your build progress![;)

Regards,
Shea:)
 
Just a bit of advise... you may want to figure your seating position out before you securely attach the steering column.

I lowered my seat from stock and dropped the steering wheel down to match. It is a whole lot more comfortable than stock.
 
looks like you've made alot of progress......i just didn't know a chevy could be set on top of a dodge frame....[S:D;)

you make it look easy, though:cool:
 
Todd, You are doing a great job. A lot of thought in each step. Keep up the good work, and, lots of pics.
 
WOW!!!!!:eek::cool:

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for posting this!!! Your Dakota swap, so far, looks like a much better match than the usual A.D.-on-an-S10, at least as far as the front track goes. The front tires always look "sunken" to me on the S10 swaps...I'm going to be curious to see how well the rear track works out.

Looks like the front frame to inner fender supports are a little less hassle on this one, too.

I'm wondering if the earlier Dakota brake rotors and axles could be swapped on to give you the Ford/Mopar 5x4.5" bolt circle...[S

Again, a big "THANK YOU" for sharing your build progress![;)

Regards,
Shea:)

You are very welcome! Yes the earlier rotors are supposed to be swapable along with the rear axles. I am thinking that the rear is going to be narrow, however a ford explorer 8.8 would fix that and the bolt pattern issue.

Oh yeah, what year was the Dakota frame?

'92
 
Todd, You are doing a great job. A lot of thought in each step. Keep up the good work, and, lots of pics.

Thanks Bob. I try to follow your lead on pics, but forget the camera until its almost done. If I'm not sure on something I'll do another project and then the solution comes to me.
 

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