Customs Need help with my 1954 Dodge truck!?

I am having a extremely hard time finding anything for my truck..can anyone point me in the right direction?....I am looking for motor mounts to install a Chevy small block, job rated emblems, and interior pieces. I also have a few newbie questions I would like to ask someone in the know....



thanks in advance, Terry

 

try Chassis Engineering out of Iowa...or....Butch's Cool Stuff...

 

or get one that uses the factory chevy mounts. Cutting and welding required, which is the way it ought to be when you do a swap like that.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/trd-4840

If you have more newbie questions, just ask them.

 

Take a look at P15-D24.com site. Lots of good information.

 

Lol....they sent me here.

 

Put a Dodge engine in it, maybe they'll take you back!

 

Jim nailed it. If you want an old truck with a shiverlay engine then why not start with a shiverlay truck? You'll get alot more help and pats-on-the-back from the gm crowd. There have been more gm v-8 swaps in a 54 AD than in any Mope truck so the knowledge base and available parts are nearly endless.

.

 

Would it really be that much easier to go with a Dodge small block? Or just more socially acceptable..lol?

 

It's probably easier to do the Chevy. Which is partly why it's more socially acceptable to put the Dodge engine in it. You gotta earn it!

 

Its always easier to buy bolt on parts. Where the fun in that? Where is the challenge? Old time hot rodding was run what you bring and build what you got. So jump in with both feet and build your bolt on parts. Much more satisfying!!!

 

Not to hijack the thread but I am taking the road less traveled on my 46 Dodge I just purchased. 225 slant six is going in with a supercharger! Why do what everyone else does?????
Having said that.....Try this site they do mostly Mopar trucks and stuff!
http://www.srpmstreetrods.com/srpm/...frame-ff80808117344aab0117418947563e01-c.html

 

You could by a 54 Dodge pickup with a factory installed V8. 54 was the first year Dodge offered a V8 option, but that would have been a Dodge motor.

Butches' Cool stuff has motor mounts to put your chevy motor in the Dodge. Its not any harder to put a Dodge motor in your 54 Dodge truck then it is to put a chevy motor in it.
www.robertsmotorparts.com will help you with most of the other parts your looking for.

Its a Dodge, so there simply are not many aftermarket parts available, you want aftermarket support, you need a 50s Chevy or a 50s Ford pickup, most other brands don't have many new body parts available.
If you have other questions, I can help, Ive had a few of this era Dodge trucks. Gene

 

When I wanted to put a sbc in my 49 jeep wagon, I used one of Speedway's tubular mount cross members. It's adjustable for width and uses nova-style chevy mounts. Solved a lot of problems for about 60-70 bucks. Some welding required.

 

We happen to have three of those pilot house dodge trucks in the hoard. There is plenty of video on U tube about them. Roberts has the rubber door and window seals, No repop sheet metal is available. You have to find good used. There is a guy that makes a complete interior kit. his has fiberglass backing on the headliner . Its much nicer than the original and you can install it yourself. There is a Pilot house Facebook Group.Ours one runs and has the original 217 flat head six. The other We where thinking the 440 and 727 trans that's in a old motor home would be great in it. the third one we are using for parts. You can install volare front suspension. Any of the Old Hemis from a 332 all the way to a 392 would be at home in it. Ive seen quite a few 318 swaps on U Tube. The cab is wider on the Pilot house than the Ford and Chevy trucks of the same era. Im not really a dodge man but I really like the 48 thru 55 dodge trucks. Remember the Dodge Truck on lassie. They actually had several. One had friction materal on the rear fenders so lassie could get grip when he (Lassie was a male) jumped up in the bed. The one Timmys dad drove was a stick four speed. and the one used when Timmys mother drove was a Hemi with a Automatic.

 

I have a 56 Dodge Town Panel and it's hard to find aftermarket support for these 50's Dodge trucks. I've had to be patient watching sale ads and ebay to find parts. Otherwise I've had to make them. Roberts has been decent. A 46-48 or so Dodge pickup gas tank will work for your truck with some modifications and can be bought new through Tanks. I used this tank for the 56 as 55 and 56 had it's own style tank of their own. I didn't use a Chevy engine though. I installed a 360 magnum from a 96 Dodge van with a 727 from a 70's conversion van. Converted the 360 from fuel injection to a carb setup. I reused the engine mounts that bolted to the engine by flipping them upside down and welding them to the frame. Then modified a set of Hemi engine mounts and used the rubber engine mounts from the 96 Dodge van. Have had several thinking it was a factory setup with the engine mounts but truck was originally a 6 cyl. Pulled the rear end and installed a 98 Jeep rear 8.25 Chrysler rear end. Mine has drums but is easy enough to find a rear setup with disc brakes. Master cylinder, brake booster, and brake pedal assembly from a 89 Jeep Cherokee. Made my own caliper brackets for the front end and installed rotors from an '01 Chrysler Concorde and calipers from a '98 Dodge avenger. I re-used the shifting cable from the 96 Dodge van and have it attached to the original shifter on the steering column.

 

I saw a Dodge truck like yours at a show in Chattanooga with a inline Cummins diesel out of a Dodge pickup. Looked factory. Enloe took pictures of it when he was taking pictures from the Gasser race.

 

After we got our first one at a estate auction for $100 I wasn't too thrilled. I considered it to be junk. However after getting it running and driving it that changed. The front clip doghouse is the easiest to remove that I ever worked on. They drive very well for a old straight axle truck. The only thing I don't like is the wheel has bolts instead of studs and one side has backwards left hand threads on those studs. The original horn has a great sound. We are still looking for a decent tailgate.

 

I have a quick question...why do most of the pictures I see of old dodge trucks have one back window, but mine has three? And how hard will it be to get new glass?

 

The windows were optional. If yours are missing, they're probably not reproduced, so you'd need to find used ones. The rest of the glass is flat, laminated, you can get it made locally or mail order.

there is a pair of quarter windows on ebay for around a hunnerd bucks right now incl shipping...so I guess they are available.

 

It's not that hard to make the mounts. Place the engine and transmission where you want it to go and shim it to fit level and centered with whatever scrap lumber you can find. Get the engine mounts that mount with a long bolt front to rear and cut a steel tube to fit inside. From there cut patterns from scrap cardboard for supports from the steel tubes to the frame. Replicate these with steel and weld it up. Make up a tube crossmember to go between the frame rails to support the transmission. If you need to drill upwards into the frame, placing a floorjack under the drill really relieves pressure off the old back. Find some other rear end in order to overcome the parking brake issue. Make up all the other odds and ends and you are done.

 

Just on more fun thing about Dodge pickups of the 50s.
They made 3 different cabs.
1) 48-53 and the military Power Wagon through about 66.
2) 54 through mid 55.
3) Mid 55 through 59 (or maybe 60). Very little stuff interchanges between the different cabs.
The windshields were the easiest way to tell them apart.
1) was a 2 piece split windshield.
2) was a single slightly curved windshield with straight door posts.
3) was a wrap around windshield that had curved up door posts.
One thing I have noticed is that some states titled the trucks by the date they were sold, not the date they were built. There also may have been some issues with title swapping over the past 60 years. I have pictures of a #1 and a #2, but no pictures of a #3.
The blue truck is a #1.
The teal green truck is a #2. Gene

 

wrap around windshield...

 

I'm reading this and thinking " there's no mopar trucks with Chevy engine mounts from the factory"

Then I laughed at myself and figured that's enough moonshine for me tonight. Then I'm laughing at your post. Funny stuff

 

Here is a link to vintage power wagons, they have a lot of parts for b and c series trucks. https://www.vintagepowerwagons.com/online-parts-catalog

 

This is early 54..for sale by the way...large engine bay ..tube mounts are easiest to set up..

 

If that windshield is cracked like it looks to be in the picture, I suggest you locate a windshield before you buy the truck. My teal truck had a cracked windshield. They only fit 54 and early 55 Dodge trucks. They were very hard to find, and very pricey 20 years ago. Gene

 

Sounds like you are getting a ton of useful info, run with it. By the way anyone that wants to get rid of there stock toploader trans and bell housing i'm looking for one for my singe seater build(have a L head six with an auto behind it need a toploader)

 

Dodge of Central Michigan has sheet metal and other cool parts and are great people to work with.
https://dcmclassics.com/

 

We have a '54 job rated dodge, fairly stock, gas tank is done. I welded the top a couple years ago now it's dripping from the sump end.

What is available that would fit my truck? Not interested in a cell, looking for some sort of repro, I can modify if necessary.

Thanks

 

For glass I recommend Metro Glass http://www.metropartsmarket.com/glass/classicautoglass-c22s17.html
I used them when I had a deer run into my truck they shipped the windshield to me very nice windshield fast shipping and no issues. As far as parts you will have to make a lot of your own or search for used that you will have to repair. But this is the reward of driving a Dodge. Here is a pic of my 56 I am running a slant six and have been for the last 14 years I have no idea how many miles are on the motor, but I have put over 42,000 on it.