1957 Chevy 3100, meet 1994 Dodge Ram 1500

[Purcell69]

Well FedEx dropped off a few goodies this week. I picked up an all aluminum radiator to replace my copper and brass unit, the one without a transmission cooler. No more monkeying around with the Cummins water/oil cooler.



I also got a pair of new rear tires in 235/85R16. My fronts are the same size, albeit used roll-arounds. At least I have the same size on all four corners now. I just need some decent weather for the radiator swap. Come on Springtime!

-Joe

[joedoh]

in the midwest you dont have to wait for spring, just thursday. haha

nice goodies!

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by joedoh

in the midwest you don't have to wait for spring, just Thursday. haha

Very true! The problem is Thursday is always my Monday. Lol

My days off fall on Tuesday/Wednesday and it seems for the past month, those days are cold, wet, or both. If one of them is supposed to be nice, I'll have a trip scheduled for a Dr.'s appointment in Tulsa, without fail. Lol.

No matter, I'm going to make some time to start the radiator swap this week, even if I can't finish it right away.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

https://youtu.be/0ZCNMN1WDNc

-Joe

[Old57]

Looking good, keep chipping away at it and It'll be done before you know it. I was hoping to have a lot more driving time on mine lately to make sure everything is good, and get some break in miles on the motor. This weather, and salt on the roads has put a stop to any of that.

[joedoh]

man I still think the bed floor came out awesome.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by joedoh

man I still think the bed floor came out awesome.

Thanks Joe. Hopefully I can get the rest of the bed to match my vision.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Here's a short video on the radiator swap. I had a bit of difficulty due to the chassis swap. The radiator would have been a perfect fit if I was on the stock GM frame.

https://youtu.be/RN3tgeWpfvU

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Here's the second half of the radiator swap video. All I have left to do is plumb up some new transmission cooler lines.

https://youtu.be/RkCl6nu9Aqg

-Joe

[Purcell69]

I've made some more progress now that the weather is starting to get nice again. I picked up a set of vintage 1957 center caps off the local FB Marketplace for $40. They are OE, not reproductions and even though they aren't perfect, they are fine for my needs. They will need some cleaning up, but they'll be fine for daily driver status.

In addition to the hubcaps, I started installing a fuel door to work with the factory Dodge fuel tank. I've got an old Ford pickup bed trailer that I was able to harvest a fuel filler door off of. It fits nicely into the front face of the left rear fender and still has enough drop that I shouldn't have issues getting gas into my tank.

https://youtu.be/qAn0__za2Gg

-Joe

[joedoh]

those will look perfect!

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by joedoh

those will look perfect!

My thought is to use some of the factory Dodge poverty caps behind these to secure them to the Dodge wheels. Some 1/4" all-thread run through the centers and a bowtie air cleaner nut to hold them in place with just a touch of Loctite to keep them from coming loose while driving.

-Joe

[americanmusc1e]

Looking darn good!

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

Looking darn good!

Thank you!

-Joe

[Old57]

Good choice for the caps. I really like factory steel wheels and caps. They have the perfect look to me.

[Purcell69]

Kim and I raided Pull-a-Part the other day. It was her first time to the automotive Promised land and I think she was an even bigger kid than I normally am when I am there.

We found six Dodge poverty caps that will, or should, work for my plan, three apiece in two slightly different styles. One fits very neatly into the 1957 Chevy hubcap, the other bottoms out with about 3/8" exposed. I think they will still work, depending on how deep the Chevy center cap sits in the Dodge wheel.

Yesterday I built a prototype to trial fit the assembly. I don't have any of the Chevy bowtie air cleaner nuts yet, but it still works with a standard nut for now.

I discovered a slight hiccup while mounting the wheel. The bulge style lug nuts I have tend to pull past the holes in the Dodge center cap, rather than hold them in place. For the trial fit, I held the Dodge center to the wheel with two 1/2" washers under the lug nuts. This morning, I picked up some machine shims that should retain the Dodge center caps and still allow the lug nuts to seat.

-Joe

[joedoh]

man those are perfect on there!

[Purcell69]

Right now, they are being held on with some all-thread run through the Dodge center caps, but I had an idea to weld a fender washer to a threaded coupler and then epoxy the coupler inside the Dodge center cap. From the front side, I can run a stainless steel button head bolt through the center of the hubcap to the threaded coupler. Less pieces involved and a slightly cleaner look, not that this is horrible.

I just knew these wheels would look right with the 1957 vintage hub caps. The dish in the center was the right size, but lacked the spring clips to hold the hubcaps on. The contour of the wheel wasn't quite right to install the retaining clips, so I went this route instead.

I am so close to being able to start driving it around a little, at least locally.

-Joe

[dsraven]

how about getting or making some spring clips and rivetting/welding them to the wheels? it would be easy to remove and less messing around.

https://www.classicparts.com/1936-63...ctinfo/64-905/

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by dsraven

how about getting or making some spring clips and rivetting/welding them to the wheels? it would be easy to remove and less messing around.

https://www.classicparts.com/1936-63...ctinfo/64-905/

I wanted to do that in the beginning, but the contour of the dish in the center of the Dodge wheels is such that the spring clips won't work. The original GM wheels were flat in the center with pretty square sides and the clips were riveted into the bottom of the dish. The Dodge wheels have a tapered sidewall down toward the center of the wheel, so the Chevy center caps sit in the top, or opening of the dish, about 3" above the bottom of the dish.

Basically, the center of the Dodge wheel is the female portion a giant inverted flare fitting.

When this is all done, there will only be two moving parts, the Chevy hub cap and the button head screw that retains it. The Dodge center caps are held in place by the lug nuts and serve as a retainer for the Chevy hubcap. It was a bit of trial and error to see what works and what can be done to make things work simply.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

A few weeks ago, I installed the new aluminum radiator, though I did not install my fan yet, or hook up the transmission cooler lines. This week, I took care of both.

The fan I am using is from a 1995 Ford Taurus 3.8L V6 wagon, which is the two speed fan the Jeep rock crawler guys like to run. It has a shroud build in and covers most of the radiator. On the low speed side, it flows 2,000 cfm and you can feel the air being pulled through the front of the radiator. The high speed side is rated at over 4,000 cfm, which will be more than enough to keep things cool even with the A/C on, stuck in traffic somewhere. The fan is run through solenoids with the high side linked to the A/C compressor, though I think I may run an override switch, just in case.

I ended up making some mounting brackets out of aluminum, no fancy welding, just a bolt together, but it is solid.

Once I got the fan mounted, I disconnected the Cummins oil to water cooler I had been using from my transmission and hooked my plumbing to the built-in transmission cooler in my new radiator, backed up with auxiliary cooler in front of the radiator. In the future, I will need to tidy up some of the cooler line plumbing, but it works right now and is leak free.

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

Nce wife Joe! Good job all around on the truck!

[joedoh]

square bodies are getting red hot around here, build it with the 350 and if she complains build another one with the big block, while you still can!

[Purcell69]

Joe, I think we will be going with her original small block, since it came from her first truck, which her grandfather had owned before her. Back in 1993, I was driving that truck to work when it decided to drop a valve seat. It was at that point when we put the 454 in her truck and I rebuilt the 350 to use in the '57. When I went to the Dodge chassis and running gear, I pulled her 350 back out and stored it, sealed up and out of the weather.

In the long run, we may go with an LS motor in her truck, but we will keep her 350 no matter what.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

After all the busy this week, I got a chance to blend in the metal work for the fuel door this afternoon.

I had put a coat of Rage on last night, but I was in a bit of a rush, so there were some minor flaws. I sanded it this afternoon to get it down to the low spots, cleaned it up, and then applied just a bit more to even out the low spots. Once it cured, I sanded again, cleaned it up and hit it with some primer to protect the work since rain is coming back tomorrow.

-Joe