Projects 52 Dodge B3B Hemi Project

Hopefully the posts helped someone


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Latest issue, seems that old hemi has a little more torque than I imagined... Seems those smoky burn outs resulted in some frame twisting: left (drivers side) is about 1 - 1.5" lower in the front than the right (pass) side. Rear is almost 2" different in the same direction. If it isn't one thing it's another.


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I put the left side on the lift, raised it some and bounced on the right side. I have both side about .5" apart in height (left side is still lower). That said, I am not sure if the height is a result of suspension or frame. I haven't releveled the frame on the lift completely, I did some measurements yesterday and it "appears" as though the frame rails are offset but I need to level it all out and remeasure to be 100% sure.

Regardless, once I get the frame sorted (either in my cave man method or actually taking it to a frame rack), I will need to figure out what to so to make sure it doesn't do the same thing again. The trans cross member is a bolt in and has to remain so because it is the only way I will be able to get the motor/trans back out. Admittedly I probably removed more cross members than I should have, but I did box the rear frame over where I "C" channeled it for the rear end.

So I am asking you guys, give me some ideas of what I should do to stiffen the frame or perhaps better said make it stable. In my mind the options are;

• Add cross member/s - down side here is space due to the modifications and the fact that the original gas tank is still in the original spot. Behind the tank is perhaps possible. I do have a piece of 2x3" rectangular steel welded across the rear frame rails and of course the Dak clip has a welded in K frame, so each end should be somewhat rigid.
• X brace - same problem as above but even a bigger problem. I don't think this is feasible.
• Frame boxing - this is an option, but I am not sure it will be enough.

 

boxing would be the obvious starting place, beyond that...

 

...one can never have too much grunt...
Did you take any pics of the frame w/o the sheetmetal on?

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the only pictures I have of the frame are of it when I first received it, before any mods. I am about to go out and level it and begin measuring and see what is actually going on. I go back and forth between thinking it is a suspension issue and a frame issue. On the one hand, I am having a hard time believing the frame is twisting with both ends solidly tied together (K frame in the front and rectangular steel in the rear), plus 2 welded in cross members (2" tube for the shocks and 1 rear factory riveted) plus the bolt in trans CM (although this one probably wouldn't stop anything from twisting). But in saying that, the suspension question seems unlikely as well seeing that the front is all stock. The back I could believe if the springs were weak on the one side (doesn't appear that way). Regardless, something is moving, I just have to figure out what.

 

so after checking this out I have reached the conclusion that it is NOT the frame at all, rather it is the suspension handing up. I used poly bushings throughout and I believe they are binding on the left side front (as well as other places I am sure). I am now is the process of checking the torque of all of the bolts/nuts as well as adding some silicon lubricant.

 

This is really good news. I didn't use the poly bushings because I was told that they would have to be lubricated a lot and I didn't want one more thing to stay on top of.

 

I have used them previously on other projects w/o issue. They come with lub (which I used) but I think they are just wearing in. I am going to loosen and re-torque the control arms and see if that helps. I was also told to use silicone spray so we will see.

 

I think I am confident that this is a suspension issue. It still "droops" on the left front corner. I am not sure why it does this, but it does. I have loosened and retorqued everything but it still seems to sag a little. it might be as simple as everything needing to wear in some or might be something else (no idea what). I have looked at installing airbags up front but to be honest I am not really in a mood to go through that. So, I think I need to drive it some and see if it loosens up a little, if not then I will have to decide what to do.

 

Old brain here...crs... Did you change/cut the oem springs? Maybe the LF is slightly weaker/shorter?

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I did but they were too low and I replaced them with brand new progressive springs. Granted, it is entirely possible that the left side is weaker than the right, however I need to figure out how to work around it now. I was thinking about air assist bags but then I have to relocate the shocks which is possible, but at this stage I am not sure which way to go.

 

When I hear of a left front sag I think "was a previous owner porky?"......

 

not sure but I have replaced all of the suspension (front and rear).

 

A real pita, but swapping left for right will tell if it is a spring problem or if you need to look somewhere else.

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very true (both counts). I am at a point where I am going to live with it for now. I installed air shocks into the rear and all appears to be ok (relatively). If I pull the springs in the front, I will bag it and be done with it.

 

The old girl made her first in town visit today, drove her down to the parts store to pick up some fiberglass resin for a project I am working on. She runs good although it still seems to "tick" when first fired up, but goes away once warm. I even hauled some steel in her to make a steel rack. She has a few issues which I will need to work on, but all in all she works well. The guys at the parts store thought she was "very cool". That hemi really wants to run, just purrs at about 50 running at around 2100 rpm. I never did figure out the lean issue, I resigned myself to live with it for now. If it bugs me enough I will bag the front end. I suspect that the left spring is weaker than the right but that might be wishful thinking. It does seem to have come up ever so slightly which again is good enough for me now.

 

One issue I will need to address is the leaking oil filter adapter, not sure where or why but I do know it is leaking. I will need to change the oil soon anyway so I will deal with then.

 

Hopefully just a gasket.

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hopefully that is all it is. I will check it out, RTV it if need be.

 

So any update it's been quite awhile.

 

Not really, I haven't done a lot with the truck since finishing it (so to speak). I did change the oil (changed out the break in oil) and while doing that I had to remove the oil filter adapter and reseal it. It seems that the main bolt that holds the oil filter receptacle (the part that the oil filter screws on to) wasn't sealing. After inspecting it, the flat "shoulder" that the fiber gasket was supposed to seal against wasn't flat, thus it was leaking. After some filing and the use of some "Rite Stuff" it seems to have sealed up.

 

Great thread, and an inspiration for me. Ive got a 50 1/2 ton and a 392.

 

It was a fun build, good luck with yours.

 

I am considering selling it presently. Nothing wrong with it, just don't use it.

 

Hi all, I am back... I still have the 52 due mainly to the fact that I cannot bring myself to sell it, just something about it that talks to me.

Anyway, I am back because I need to change the coil springs or do something with the front end. As a reminder, I used a 88 Dakota front clip for this build and subsequently am using a coil spring front end. The problem is that I do not believe the 6 cyl springs can handle the weight of the Desoto Hemi. I have looked around to try and figure out options and reached out to Eaton springs to see about some custom springs; they responded with "you might consider going to coil over shocks", however that would require be to reinforce the shock attachment points significantly as they were never intended to take the entire load of the front end.

Since this site is populated by old school hot rodders, I figured I would present this here as I am sure many have experienced this and overcome it.

 

I think that someone at Eaton simply took the easy way out of the conversation. There are innumerable coil spring design options and surely one must be an acceptable replacement. The 1988 does not appear in any listings that I looked at so you may have to compare the numbers from a catalogue and get a spring with a higher spring rate than that of a 4-cly unit. MaMopar did offer a Shelby V8 package in the GenI Dak so that spring may be a starting point. I don't have any 'newer' parts manuals so I can't offer a part number.
Plenty of support for later trucks....something must interchange.

Sua Sponte

 

Thanks, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Eaton promotes their ability to make custom springs which is why I reached out to them. I am going to continue to dig into it because I really want this sorted out.

On a related note, I am going to put EFI on it as well. Basically there were/are 4 things on this truck that I need to address; 1 - the springs, 2 - the EFI, 3 - the heater (it works bc I tested it before installing it but for some reason it dosent now, perhaps a wire has come off), 5 - the wipers (same deal as the heater), 5 - hook up the driving lights.

In the grander scheme of things, none of these constitute really big issues, just things I need to do to make the truck "right" (more right than it is now).

Happy to be back on the HAMB...

 

Just as an FYI, earlier this year I had a small tornado remove the roof off one of my shops, this resulting in me having to replace 2/3rds of the roof but it also allowed me to extend my shop by 8 feet Also, I have made some great headway on my Cuda project getting it painted (again.. long story) an am now finally assembling it. All that said, the 52 keeps drawing me back... as it should be.

 

Here is the shop repaired