34 Dodge Humpback

Rat Rods Rule

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Tires and such

Thanks guys! I'll put up some more progress in the next few days but I'll answer some questions. The tires all the way around are for show use only really. I managed to widen my key stones to take the sprint car tires, which are absolutely not practical. The tractor tires aren't even rated for asphalt really. My mind-set this whole building has been style, not practicality. I do want to be able to drive it however and I've built it to do so. I have located some disc brakes spindles that I can make fit my wheels and axle. I will run some standard 15x7.5 or something wheels on the rear and the front will be some nice white Walls. Not sure yet on that.

For a power plant, I've got a 383, pretty stock bottom end. I found a pair of short cross rams instead of my 2 four. I have a set of huge hooker fenderwell headers to bolt up but I want to make my own. I have a Chrysler 4 speed behind it vs my original push button automatic because it was so huge.

More to come! That's all I can think of. I'm building it to my taste, but I'll consider suggestions!
 
When I first started reading this thread, i thought the truck was one of the ugliest i'd ever seen. BUt you have did it justice for sure. very cool ride, and nice work!! [cl

I'll be looking forward to more pics. [P
 
Hi MrDodge. Keep up the good work young man. Wow, a Dodge in a Dodge, and a big block to boot, with a four speed; you get my vote. You're sure not scared to tackle any tin work; very good.
I am just going to start on a '34 Dodge Brothers truck this winter, so yours is of special interest to me.
The guys are right when they say tractor tires won't take the speed very long.
Keep on tinkering.
 
Some more

Thanks everyone! It's really encouraging to see an interest in my work. I'm not trying to please everyone, but if you don't like it wait a while! It isn't finished!

Answering some more questions. I don't have the coil overs installed yet, are they cool? I've seen some guys split a leaf but I really like the look of the coil overs. It's up in the air at this point. The tractor tires are for show, and so are the sprints. I want to paint whitewalls on both of them which would render them almost useless on the street. They are just so freaky to look at, matches the car. And I've tried to keep everything that I can Chrysler because I don't really like to mix that stuff up. I want a 440 but the 383 is cool.

Here's some more work, primarily widening the keystones to 18 or so inches I don't recall exactly what they ended up being. I didn't want them all the way on the outside anymore for practicality (i know i just talked about not caring but an 9 foot wide car is a bit much). And I didn't want to lose the body line, so my ride height on the rear is now this. I really don't think it needs to be any lower but if i had to, i could slap some normal wheels on it and slam it till the rockers scraped.

Pics of the wheels and tires.

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I got this huge shotgun style finned hoodscoop for my birthday and I really love the way it looks with the BBC headers, but a few weeks later I found some Chrysler short rams off a 69 or so and I love them more. I also want to build my own headers, so I think I'll incorporate some supports for the rams.

You can also see that the grill shell is taller than the scoop. Not awesome. But the cross rams are awesome. Pics of those to come.

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It was a look, not one I think I liked as much as I do the cross rams but it will always be an option. I really stinking love this scoop though haha.
 
Up to date!

I didn't finish the sprints in time to take them to the show so I just ran some dish style wheels I had lying around with white walls on them. I did a ton of structural stuff to hold the body square to the frame and I switched the BBC headers out for some fender well 383 hookers. They come down perfect just under the door, but I dont like the way they sweep back so fast. I also can't get the rams on there flat because they come up so high so I think they aren't staying.

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So here are some glam shots of the rat in my driveway. There's a couple from earlier this month when it snowed in New Mexico.

I got some little eyebrows and stuck them on the headlights. I really like it better with them.

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This last one is of me and my good friend Luzaide. She saw the potential for the dodge when i bought it and has been an encouragement throughout it's build. My sister is sticking her head through the rear door making a strange face as well. I included this because there are no pictures of the inside of the rat other than this one. I want to make the interior pretty wood based and i like my red leather seats. All of the structure inside is square and welded strong.

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This is all ive got

So here is where I am as of last week. I found a matching set of 3 rib 20x7.5 inch tractor tires and mounted them on my rims. It's a whole lot of tire, but I think with a white wall it would look pretty slick. I need to do some work to get them on the car but i like them a lot. Here are some pics of the cross rams.

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I was cleaning out my backpack at the end of this semester and I found this picture I drew in a notebook from 2010. I guess rat rods and math go hand and hand in my mind...

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Again, thanks everyone for your comments! I'll keep you posted with my progress and please keep your suggestions coming; I do like to hear what people would change. Remember it isn't finished! I don't think a real hot rod ever is haha.
 
dual shotguns?

Have you considered running dual shotgun intake scoops?
Seeing those peeking around that grill when you come up behind someone would be a crazy sight in a rearview mirror.
 
The cross rams are kool
The tractor tires are not made for highway use and would be very dangerous to do so. If they are just for display at car shows then power on.
 
More!

Been a few days since my last post but man have they been busy! Made some more progress on the Dodge, little by little. I had it up on our new lift for a while working on the steering and decided to do some maintenance. I drained over a gallon of water from the car, which would have been okay had it come from the radiator and not the oil pan. Needless to say, the engine came out. It had to anyway to put the four speed in I suppose.

Worked on the steering some! Used a piece of re-bar as a tie rod. Also used some huge hyme joints that are probably unnesicary but they look so cool. I will end up relocating the steering box because it conflicts with the oil filter slightly. Does anyone know how to relocate an oil filter?

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Also a 430 connecting rod fits the brake mounting plate better than the one I have rigged up but I couldn't get my hands on one so I welded a scrapper to a main cap for now. Steering is smooth!
 
other things

I keep coming back to these big block chevy headers. I've got the know how to adapt them to big block mopar, its just going to take some time to make it look right. I think they look absolutely perfect with the cross rams. They dump just under the door and can actually be ducted further back to right in front of the tire if I want later on.

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The headers are the main reason for the steering box relocation. When turning hard right, the arm gets really close and I don't like it.
 
More on the headers

A few more pictures of the manifolds

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The hugeness of the pipes really sells how big the car is. It's over 6 feet wide with my new axle and it's almost longer than my whole 4 post car lift. With the big tractor tires and the sprints on the rear, it will look proportional, but put a person by it and it looks huge.
 
Rear End Work

I had a chevy suburban axle of some kind under the rat because it was wide enough basically. I didn't like it at all, the pumpkin wasn't in the middle, the emergency brake cables were pinched, not posi, it was drum brakes, and it was modern. So I tossed it for this 60's Dodge truck posi-trac rear end. I converted it to disk brakes before it went in. The brakes clear everything and work great, they are the style with drum shoes inside for emergency brakes. This axle looks awesome, fits correctly, is Mopar, has disk brakes and is just everything I really wanted.

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