53 dodge truck finally of the Dakota chassis

Lots of work left to do, but the cab and front end are blocked up and positioned correctly on the Dakota frame. Still alot to do, but feels good to get back in the saddle again after the wifes surgery put all work on hold for a while. I know some of you would say that I should have left it on the stock frame, but I am building it for the wife and she needs the ease of handling and better ride. so, whattya think?

 

it looks like your wife is going to be driving down the road with a big grin on her face pretty soon.
That looks pretty slick from where I sit.

 

Nifty fifty-3!

 

Way cool !!

Any details to share ?

.

 

very nice, I have been waiting for these photos, now spill the beans and share the details.
looks great!

 

Detail will be upcoming, I need to get more pics. The 53 body fits very nicely on the Dakota frame, I am going to use the front mounts and floorboards/forewall from the Dakota and the back mounts and floorboards from the 53. The Dakota 318 engine sits in the stock location and it looks like the 53 Dodge radiator will even fit! By using the front floorboards and the firewall out of the Dakota, I will have the stock location for the master cyl and the pedal assy. I don't like the Dakota steering column, but I have an early Chev tilt column that should fit well. As soon as I get some time, I will take somne pics of the floor and mounts and post them. Bud

 

Looks good.I plan on doing the same with my 57/54 Dodge pickup. So I'll be watching your progress. I would also like to see more more detailed shots and specs, when you get around to it.

 

I think these frames are going to gain some traction. They work much better than the S10s.

 

Nice work, it looks like it belongs on that chassis, keep up the good work Ron...

 

Looks good. What year Dakota did you use? later shawn

 

1991

 

here's my 89 Dakota with my 48 Ford truck

 

wow your engine sits up there compares to where it sits in a stock frame. i have BBC in mine and I have to look down to see it. how much is your truck channeled over the frame.

Is the factory susp lowered at all, or is it just the channel that brings it down that far (I know the factory frames are very thick compared to newer frames)

 

the body is channeled over the frame, I have not measured the exact amount, it is just blocked up at the stance I was looking for. the frame is at stock ride height. Hood will fit.

 

Ok, got lots done yesterday (doesn't look like it though). I took the cab back off the frame, set in the Dakota front floor pan and got busy. I had taken some good measurements when the Dakota floor was initially installed and also scribed around the edges of the dakota floor onto the 53 truck floor and screwed in the dakota floor to the 53 cab floor so I could take the floorpan back out and cut what was needed to cut on the 53 firewall and the floor after the truck cab was back off the frame. at that point, I made a couple of jigs for the front stantions that I used to block up ride height, I got the measurement by taking the blocks I used for ride height, put them next to the Dakota front mounts and measured the remaining distance between them for the correct floor placement at the body mounts in front. the rears I will address with you later. I cut out the firewall (scary) on the 53 an inch from the factory seam, and ended cutting the upper part right at the seam althought the pic doesn't show it. I trimmed the floor, cleaned up the rust and popped in the Dakota front floorboard. I clamped it into place, using the screw holes and scribe marks as reference, made sure the body to frame mounts rested on the jigs, welded in angle plates to the floorboard to kick panel braces, made up some 2 inch spacers for the front upper sides of the firewall to cowl areas and welded them in too. that is as far as I got. here are some pics.

 

thanks for the update. looking forward to the progress

 

got the floor welded in for the most part, radiused the cowl to keep the tires from rubbing as it sits low on the frame, its starting to come together. with this set up I can use the dakota master cyl, gas pedal assy, probably ac and heater too. Not to mention the old floor was real rusted out. this kills 2 birds with one stone. progress pix below. Bud

 

Wow, alot of work. It is looking good.

 

very nice, a lot of hard work

 

It's looking good Bud, I like the way your doing it with the firewall and floor keep up the good work. Ron

 

Thanks to MOPARMAN4GZUZ's advice... I advanced my progress on my 95 Dakota / 49 Dodge truck merging considerably. The jury is still out on whether I was "smart" or "stupid" for attempting to leave the Dakota as "together" as possible while I did the cab swap. I figured that it would just be more stuff to have to reassemble later, and to try to remember what fasteners and electrical connectors went were. But, I finally relented and removed the steering column and all of the interior wiring harness last night, and more than likely, the heater / AC box will be removed this weekend when I take the AC condenser off of the Dakota's radiator core support.

If anyone would like more photos of my project, send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll send you a small stack of photos and an explanation of the things that especially kicked my behind.

THANKS again to MOPARMAN4GZUZ!!!

 

no prob, just make sure you hang the front fenders before you do any welding to make sure the front wheels are centered in the openings. It looks to me like the cab sets too far back right now. By the way, I know a couple of guys on the pilothouse website that would give their eye teeth for your mirrors and brackets. Bud

 

You read my mind! I am going to borrow a third engine hoist this week to hang the front clip (I left everything as "assembed" as possible on that too) before I weld the cowl. You're right - the cab sits far back off of the cowl in the photos, but I still have some fine tuning to do where the 49 cab meets the Dakota rocker panels and it's not welded yet. I don't want to have to fabricate any more filler pieces for the floor than absolutely necessary. I did take your advice and offset the Dakota cowl 2" inside the 49's firewall/cowl and my preliminary measurements make me a lot more comfortable. (Remember, I've never done anything anywhere near this level of custom body work and fabrication before! I've done all sorts of engine swaps, disc brake conversions, etc. but never tried to join two entirely different vehicles!)
I also removed the steering column and interior wiring harness (finally). I talked to a Chrysler mechanic and he confirmed my suspicions and told me how to eliminate all of the air bag controllers, crash sensors, wiring, etc.

 

keep us updated, you should start a thread for yourself and post the progress. Bud

 

The power of the HAMB search... Is there any more progress of this truck?

 

can you steer it without fender scrub?