1964 Dodge A-100 Hot rod sort of rat rod build thread.

I also have the steering wheel and seat moved towards the center of the truck about 3.5 in. Just feels like it will be a good spot for it and I'm not sure what kind of angled down bar we're going to have near the door as part of the cage.

 
For sure I want to run a full set of old school Auto meter hoonigan gauges.https://www.autometer.com/gauges/hoonigan.html. I've been staring at this dash and it might be as simple as a single piece of metal across the face of the dash. Do some fill work on the top part of the dash in the center. Not sure what went there. This will have an under dash vintage air kit and I'm not sure what kind of defroster set up that has. Speedo,tach,and boost maybe up high above the steering wheel. Then there would be two fuel gauges, water temperature, oil pressure, volt meter, two oil temp for Trans and engine. So that would be 10 gauges I believe. Cab is small enough even the gauges way over to the right I should be able to see without a problem even without doing angled pods. Maybe have a spot down on the end and do a custom glove box or little cubby

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Vintage Air unit tucks up nicely well out of the way. I've had this truck almost a year and I was able to actually sit in it today. Now I can go back and forth between the front and the back of the truck with tons of projects.

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Nice project !. 

Why not put a dodge motor in a dodge  vehicle ?, Hellcat maybe ?. 

Then you can stab that LS motor in your sand car !.

 
dunesteve said:
Nice project !. 

Why not put a dodge motor in a dodge  vehicle ?, Hellcat maybe ?. 

Then you can stab that LS motor in your sand car !.
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That would have been cool but we work on the ls motors all day in our shop. Plus I can only imagine the cost difference. I have a little Nissan V6 in my Funco running 14 lb of boost making aroun 525 horsepower. So that works well. Looks like I have another grandson coming tonight so I will have my other two grandsons for probably 4 days. Maybe I will take them on a field trip to the metal yard and buy some tubing for the roll cage. I know we need at least one piece longer than 10 ft for the hoop so I will need to grab a trailer.

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Well fourth time in and out of the hospital yesterday with my daughter. No baby yet. So I'm down here in this swamp pit working. This piece was a lot harder to make than I thought. Glad I bought two pieces of steel because I goofed on the first one. The width was not quite what I wanted. It will actually go on the inside and then I'm hoping to have my buddy plasma cut an 1/8 trim piece on the outside to match. Maybe have him put holes every inch to one and a half inches all the way around it and then put some of these 1/4-20 Allen head bolts in each hole to pinch the two pieces together. Plus this piece on the inside will give me something to weld or attach to. After a day and a half thinking about it I think I have a game plan on a frame to hold the two seats. I want it to be Stout.

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Pretty sure this is how I want to do it. But I'm not 100% yet. I think 1 inch of clearance between the tire and the wheel well will be more than enough. Right now the air is out of the front bag so it's sitting down as far as it will go. when I sucked the truck down it did not go very far so I think one inch will be enough clearance. I will make this whole seat framework removable and then weld it in at some point. That is one by two by .120 wall tubing. I'm thinking if we run a bar along the door for the roll cage I might want to tie these two pieces of box into it. And also put some triangular gussets in over top fender well in case this thing explodes a tire under your ass.

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I can build the wheel well just like it is now or actually run sheet metal over the top of all that box tubing which would hide the tubing and all of that framework and just go back and keep it flat all the way back. I'm thinking that might be a better way to go. Then the  seat bolts would go in from underneath and I would need to plug that hole for the rubber grommet.

 
So turning the tire hard one way and the position I had that box it has a full interference fit. If I move that front piece of box forward roughly an inch to an inch and a quarter I would then have about 3/8 clearance between the tire. I can definitely move that piece forward and then weld a flat tab in for the seat bolts in the front. I don't think 3/8 is enough clearance though. If I go forward 2 in with the box I would have about half inch clearance there. And then the front seat tabs would be flat plate hanging out 2 in. Certainly not as strong but I could add a little gusset piece in there. I have to think if you're turning hard and hitting bumps that suspension is going to let it flex as well. Decisions decisions on how much clearance to give this.

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Here is a picture with the seat. I think I have a solution. If I take that back short side of the box and cut it out. Then take the bottom long section of the box and bend it up that turns it into a triangle. Do that for probably an 8 in section. Then weld it all back together. I think it would still stay super strong. Then take the outside of that bar and tie it into the outer roll cage bar that runs along the door.

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There is still a little short section of wheel well on the front side that needs to be cut out. Right now the tire is interfering at the top of that but once it is removed there will be a full inch of clearance down there. So that will be good.

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The back side is also close and once that section is cut out it will have a good inch clearance back there as well.

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Not a rear engine truck but dang this thing is cool. Obscene amount of fab work. I am on part 3 and lovin it. 



 
Trim plate came out great and can't wait to start fabbing it in. Cut it out of 3/16 steel. My buddy was super cool this week and spent time with my grandsons and the plasma cutter. They loved it.  I have 3 to 5 days before I can get back to the truck. Wish I was working on it this weekend. 




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So go to 9:15 of this video. Ron does a reinforcing strip along the seat. He used special dies to wrap the aluminum around aluminum rod and then rivets it on after bending the shape. This takes many passes on the bead roller slowly bending it over. This is what I want to do along the edge of the rear wheel wells. I bought his $40 dvd that shows how to do this and emailed him as well. Can't really buy those dies so I will need to machine them for the bead roller. Thinking I might use copper rivets as well. Some of this stuff I can't wait to try. See how much metal I can ruin. lol.  I have never seen this done on the edge of a wheel well. It is always wrapped over with a vertical piece. Plus I want you to see the rear Corvette suspension. If I can figure it out I will probably incorporate it into some other areas. Also another really cool idea I just came up with is the partition between the rustic wood in the bed. Every one uses those metal strips like you see in old trucks. After doing the guitar project I was thinking about taking some beefy #50 chain and welding each link to make it a solid strip. Then welds studs that bolt from underneath. Router the wood so the chain is set down flush in the wood between each section. That number 50 chain is almost 7/8 wide so it is beefy. That will be the same chain as what the front steering chain drive is made of. Again something I have never seen done. 



 
Been working on a customer's vehicle all last week, finally had a chance to get back to this today. Lovin the location of the turbo. I was going to put the wastegate up closer to the turbo but I might come off of the two pipes at the bottom where they turn 90° and keep it low. Changed my mind again and I'm going to buy a bell 28 long by 7.7 by 3 1/2 in thick intercooler core. It's going to mount up high above the rear window so the air that flows over top of the cab will hit the intercooler. I will make a small scoop for it up there as well. It will Mount up on the x bracing for the roll bar on the exterior. Garrett did not make an intercooler the size I wanted.Next up is a cool guy brace coming up to support the weight of the turbo. Might have to start doing a little dimple die action.

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