My 41 Dodge

Dirtyrat said:

Well you could go with a different grille (sell me the old one) and then a different radiator...

Will that work? hehhehehehe

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I am approaching that point.

So I went to work on it Saturday and it couldn't have went much worse. My buddy still has my generator at his house so the power tools I brought with me were useless. Had my cordless drill and broke my hole saw. The bolts I brought for the window frame are too short, need to find different ones.

Think I am going to just move the grill and everything forward to keep the radiator I have and move it forward.

Decided I cant keep going like this and have the rat done in time for the wedding. Talked to a buddy closer to home and secured a spot in his garage to work on it until the wedding. That should allow me to work on it nights and more efficient on my days off, plus his help will be great. Moving it weds.....

Wedding? Congrats, hopefully she is rat-friendly?

Come on now, I know I have posted up on here before about that.

She is not as big into it as I am, but, she does support it and try to understand it. AND........ she wants to ride away from the wedding in it.

She is a good girl and supports all of my stupid hobbies and not stupid ones. She likes the bike, the dodge, when we first got together were the days of the jeep and she LOVED that thing. I can't complain about her at all. She has even went to a few shows with me and has agreed that when the dodge is done she will go with me to a show or two.

Welp, moved it again.



Her new home is about 5 minutes away from mine so much easier to work on, plus this shop is much better equiped than what the other was. And it comes with two helpers!!! So we rolled it off the trailer pushed it into the shop to begin work.



Uhhh some how we managed to take about three steps back......
Got to get moving though. Removed the front axle to put the new ends on the radius links, also moving the axle forward a few inches to allow for radiator and fan clearance. Pretty sure I figured out what to do with the radiator. Going to just use some copper fittings and retain the use of the stock radiator.



Did get a couple other things done, but nothing major yet. My buddy I bought this from came up to inspect progress and has volunteered to help with the suspension in the back. He gave me some instructions on how to lay it out and told me to get started and he is coming up next weekend to get the four link put on for me. [cl

looks like fun.

pcp said:

looks like fun.

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Depends on your definition of fun. But yea I have a good time.


Talked to one of the old guys at work and I think I should have my radiator problem solved today!!!

Already digging having this thing at my buddies down the road was there last night working on it and him and his brother are going to help work on it tonight!!!

Hopefully be road worthy in a couple weeks!!

Glad to hear you are making progress man!

AWESOME! [cl[cl

Time to build!!!!

radiator modded and repaired (will post pics later). Hopefully that will work!! Continuing efforts on the Dodge Wednesday. Keeping my nephew for the next couple days, he is 5 and wouldn't be much help fabricating.

[P Getting exciting now!

Where did you end up picking up your air bags? I'm tossing around some ideas...

Come in Neverdone, earth to neverdone.....

I'm alive....... barely

Been on vacation so to speak. Worked on the Dodge quite a bit. Started to do some electrical but wow what a nightmare that is. Not sure why since everything on this is so simple [S. So I decided to move back to some other things.

So I worked on the floors


Worked on finishing the front


For some reason I didn't take a picture [S but rebuilt the ends of the front radius links and moved the front axle 3" forward.

I attempted to put the radiator back in, but it needs some help still with making the fan fit. It will rest on the airbags right now. Either need to mod the shroud or get a different fan. Really want to use this fan. It was donated by a buddy and came from his alcohol late model dirt tracker.



Next was the real fun. I enlisted the help of my buddy Rick (former owner of my rat) and his welder.
]

Got the four link done on the back!!!




Per my orders he left his mark on the one frame bracket. Need to put a little paint on it and clean up the axle some and that part is done. Going to order more supplies to build the pan hard bars yet and the suspension is finished!! Still a long road to travel but I think it is doable to be ready to roll for the wedding!

Sorry the picture quality on some of these is so bad. Sounds stupid but sometimes the pictures my phone takes are not so good.....

looks like you are making some progress though!

Dirtyrat said:

looks like you are making some progress though!

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Slowly but surely!!! making an honest effort anyway!

Back at it the last two days. Finished the drivers floor and bolted my seat back in!!!!


Mounted up the radiator and filled it back up!!


And got to hear her run for the first time in months!!! Only for a few seconds because it started dumping trans fluid all over the floor. some how I poked a hole in the cooling line....... Moved on to some other things. Remounted the shocks in the back, put the bag valves back on in the front, did a little more wiring stuff. Still need to figure out what to do about a fan. Feeling like I am getting some stuff done, but not as much as I would like too. Time is closing in and still a lot to do. I think once I get the panhards done I will be feeling better about all this. Just need to keep plugging away. While I wait for the heims to show up to do the panhards, I think I am going to try and get the rear frame finished and get the hitch on. Back to work [

quick question, what is teh measurement from your firewall to the centerline of the front axle?

Back at it last night. Salvaged some of the old frame my buddy built. Cut it up and tacked in place to be re-purposed on the back of the frame. Continuing the notch on the back so I can put a cross piece in the back. But before I put that on, I am welding on a receiver tube. Ya never know, she might need to pull a camper or something one day!!!!

Hell yea you have to pull a camper at some point, at least that way if we plan some shows with both rats, we can both have campers behind them, and somewhere to stay!