The "crustbucket" 1946 chop top dodge pu. 1st build on the cheap...

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rusty46

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 30, 2008
Messages
143
Here's my first rat build and some details about it. I originally had a '46 ford cab which the build was gonna be based on. I made a trade with another NC member on here, ratcrazy. Super nice guy by the way. Me and best friend John started the madness one Saturday afternoon and here's the story. This build started in july '08 and we are still on it. We are thinking the entire build will be less than $2500 and so far we are well under that figure.

We started by taking apart an old '77 dodge d100 shortbed pickup because I had this crazy idea about something I wanted to do with the frame. We rolled the frame up close to the house and chopped 2ft. from the center then replaced the shocks. Then we took and cut a coil and 1/2 from the front to lower it. We swapped in a '74 duster rear end as well because it was laying there and it would tuck the tires in nicely in the rear.

The same month a farmall grille was purchased for $25 and then John donated some '65 dodge polara headlight bezels for the cause.

The engine and transmission were purchased from an '84 dodge diplomat for $150. We pulled the heads off and looked in the cylinders and it looked excellent. Changed the cam/lifters,timing chain, intake/carb, cam bearings and oil pump as well as the gaskets needed. The trans was inspected and looked great. Adjusted the bands and then we slapped the pan back on. There is $700 total in the drivetrain including the purchase price. I think we done good here. Motor is solid mounted using original mounts.

The mods are a weiand single plane intake w/1in. spacer, modded 600 holley carb, accel super stock distributor, mopar 450/455 cam,comp cams lifters,
shaved 360 heads, double roller timing set. Traded for the weiand valve covers and made the air cleaner from a 1940's chrysler hubcap and yes the hubcap was free as well :D The trans is the original 904 lockup. Headers were donated.

Stayed tuned there is more info ahead....
 
The beginning....

Picture1149.jpg
 
stay tuned...

The next pics will be the ones of the '46 dodge cab that I traded the '46 ford cab for. The '46 ford cab was bought for $200 and then it was traded for the following '46 dodge cab. It was (is) in bad shape but it is what I wanted because you dont see the old dodge trucks done up especially not with a mopar drivetrain. I looked for 2 years to find one but finally got lucky on the killbillet forum through a member there named crazyrat. We are both happy. Great guy to deal with. It is chopped somewhere in the neighborhood of Im guessing 5 to 6 inches. The doors will probably be converted to suicide and they have not yet been chopped. So I guess we get to learn.

The bottom the cab was eat up so I cut what was left of the floor out and we began to repair the lower portion of the cab with sheetmetal off of a bus that was laying here. FREE...the best price.

Sorry but this ride will retain the IFS. It's what I can afford and it's already there. The brake parts and suspension parts for this frame are cheap and available making this frame a winner in my opinion. Im going to use power steering cause again it's already there...
 
More info and details...

Here are some more items that were purchased to figure into the build.

*15x4 front et rims $25 for the pair
*farmall grille emblem $17 (I couldnt find one that was old and had patina like I wanted :rolleyes:)
*The studebaker hood ornament was just set on there for the he.. of it. (it's from a '49 and it's for sale, pm if intrested)
*I will be using a '48 dodge car hood ornament that I bought from the charlotte autofair 7 years ago for $25
*mistubishi leather bucket seats from an eclipse (Yeah I know...but c'mon they were $20:D:p)
*It was figured into the engine build but it has a mini starter from a '99 dodge ram ($35 junkyard cost and works like a charm! weighs half of what the original does)
* I splurged on two items and got a sparkly moon eyes steering wheel (blue)
-$65 and the moon triple gauge set ($69)...:D
*More details as I can think of them...

The cab in pictures above are the ones of a mockup only. It will sit much lower than the pics indicate. But with a chop that extreme we cant get to krazy with the channel. We are patching over the welds at the moment. The ones on it were in no way even decent looking for a rat rod.

Other plans include....

Radiator is going in the back, doors will probably be going suicide (rat rod style), and hopefully soon I will be getting a dodge stepside truck bed and cutting it to less than 1/2 original length. That will house the radiator,tools, and battery. I will use a 50's or mid 60's tailgate.

Stay tuned as this is about to get intresting :D
 
Using a gm 1wire alty from ebay. I got the 78 amp version for less than $60 shipped to me. Completely rebuilt with a 1yr. warranty. Search "rat rod alternator" and his will be called "ratty" . Great to deal with! marketed for rat rods. This 1 wire alty will make life alot easier. We modified a bracket and used quite a bit of spacers but we got it to line up with no problems. Just my 2 pennies I thought I would pass on :D
 
Made some progress on the cab yesterday. Got some more welds cleaned up and some more minor patching done as well. We were on a roll till we ran out of welding gas ...oh well. But on the bright side it is starting to look like a cab.
Picture1571.jpg
 
Here is just a little detail we added to the roof just give the truck character. We grabbed a saw blade and angle cut it to appear as if it were ripping into the top of the cab. Cost=$0...
Picture1572.jpg
 

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