Stubby, affordable 4 wheel'n

[Bill in MI]

I picked this 1/2 ton up locally in MI cheap. It was missing the hood, engine and bed. I have a 230 in the shed, found a hood in Minnesota and a bed in New Hampshire. Should I run the six or stick in the 360/727/dana20?

[JimmieD]

Option 3: run the 6, 'til you've got the 360/727/Dana 20 built, bulletproofed and ready to drop in?

Sounds like a winning combo and would make a great and very practical truck.
JimmieD

[Ugg013]

Bill:

I have a 318 in the Beast, and that's pretty darned tight. What's your plans with it? Are ya gonna turn it into a ground up resto, or have fun with it? If the latter, ya gotta up the 6, those just don't have enough umph to em. Ya can't seem to get out of your own way. If it were me, and I just wanted a fun toy to enjoy and use, I'd stick a small 8 and auto in it, keeping the T-case and axels the same, but maybe changing the gears to 4:86's or so.

Enjoy
Ugg

[fuzzyalex]

If the 230 is good, I would consider putting it in and driving it around for at least a little bit. Then get your other engine ready to go in and find out what is involved with it. If you want more driveability, then I would take the sheet metal and cab off of this truck and fit it to a "more modern" truck... that way you have all the mechanical lined up in the right places and have better gear ratios in the axles, plus everything is "pre-matched". This requires only moving the sheet metal around and making brackets/attachments instead of trying to find all of the necessary parts (like driveshafts, steering boxes, bellhousings, etc) and fitting all of those. I know of a guy who put a hemi in his old WC, he has lots of power but still only goes 55 mph with the axle gearing.

[W_A_Watson_II]

Bill,

WOW, nice find and a great project. It depends on what you want to do with it. By Pw has the 6, and once I rebuild it it will be a good all around truck. My M on the other hand is being built to have a little more fun with and I'm doing a 318 with a NP435 4 speed, but keeping the stock transfercase and axles.

Enjoy and hope to see you around town.

Will