1986 Dodge Ram 50 360 swap

[geezer101]

Original brake lines, only thing I added was one short section of steel line to the line lock and everything is uncut and oem.

To mount the Stealth's brake booster I had to drill two holes in the firewall for the lower studs. Used the Stealth's aluminum spacer between the booster and firewall and the brake pedal line up perfectly.

I did a similar thing to install the BMC out of a Gen 3 (think it was a Gen 3...) Pajero. The 2 top brake booster studs lined up with the steering column/brake booster brace holes. I cheated a little by using the Gen 3 brake booster spacer and used the bottom through holes as a drill guide and went through the firewall with a new 8mm HSS drill bit (I dummied the spacer in place with 2 x 8mm bolts and flange nuts so the spacer was held exactly where I needed it) Had to do some sketchy free hand bending of the existing solid brake lines, but it appears to have worked fine.

[travhous]

Building custom headers and have one side pretty much finished up. Went with a tri-y design just to simplify things and there just isn't much room to work with. I purchased cheap stainless headers off eBay and cut them up to build these. Much cheaper than buying all the tubing, got a few sets for around $45 a piece.

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[geezer101]

...and they'll probably be better finished compared to how you got them. Nice work! I have a similar idea to use headers from an NA Talon if I ever get the chance to go twin cam. I can get them relatively cheap but the freight will burn me.

[Salteen]

how did you fit that? i saw a 302 swapped MM but a 360? that thing is huge, a 318 block is like twice the size. thats so cool

[t97]

Question regarding your gauges. Are you able to use the factory speedometer? If so what did you need to do to keep it?

[travhous]

Question regarding your gauges. Are you able to use the factory speedometer? If so what did you need to do to keep it?

My truck was originally equipped with the baby 904 automatic transmission which is nearly the same as the v8 904. Original speedometer cable hooks right up, just had to swap the speedo gear in the transmission.

[travhous]

Getting more fabricating done.


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Cut outs for the exhaust.

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Truss for the rear axle housing. I'm curious how far I can push the the stock differential and just trying to save a couple dollars.

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New exhaust tips and put the rear bumper back on for more rear weight. Took the bumper off over 25 years ago and I actually like the look of it back on the truck.

[travhous]

Headers wrapped and installed, ended up taking few days to build both sides. First time building headers and they are a tight fit.
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[Salteen]

if that were my truck i would have chrome bumper under it, but thats just an opinion. i really like it. i love these little trucks and i want to do so much with mine but i cant, so right now i am looking at a 1992 D50 2wd reg cab short bed to convert into a SRT4. i want to do a cummins swap on a power ram. might do it with the 82 and a clapped out cummins just for shits and giggles

[Salteen]

btw i love the headers. what does wrapping them do?

[travhous]

btw i love the headers. what does wrapping them do?

Keeps more heat inside the tubes, hotter gases flow faster. Also lowers under hood temperatures.

[Salteen]

oh ok, might do that to my G54B when i get the turbo on it

[geezer101]

Awesome stuff travhous Good to see someone going all in and making sure it's done right. The header wrap is a good idea, especially with how tight you've got the headers up against the engine. Would've been challenging to get it all together.

[Chargerx3]

Nice custom work going on there.

[travhous]

I had to replace the transmission and decided to do some improvements on my tranny mount. I thought I would share what I think is a easy solution for the 1st Gen crossmember if you're doing this sort of swap. Find a 2nd Gen crossmember and things should be much simpler. The second generation has a pad welded to the rear of the crossmember compared to the first generation where the trans mounts right in the center. If running a 904 tranny the stock automatic mount should bolt right up. I tried to run the first gen mount and it was not nearly strong enough for the v8 swap. I'm going to stick with the crossmember I have been using because I would have to many things to change like exhaust and etc... But if I had to do it again I would use the gen 2 crossmember and hope this might help someone doing the same kind of build.IMG_20200326_182358~2.jpg

[B-Line]

Really like the attention to detail.

[tortron]

i gotta measure up that 2nd gen trans cross member and see if it will work with mine

[Salteen]

Well, how is it going?