I am considering buying a Dodge. 1982 Ram 1500. I know, I know...... a dodge.....but for $300?

There is only surface rust on the body. No dings or dents. Body is solid! Needs paint. Its faded. Grille and bumper is bent up a bit.

Drivetrain and undercarriage is tip top. Interior is like new, even the bench seat. No holes in the dash, no wiring problems. Front end is tight. It might need A frames before long, but ball joints and tie rods fine.

The only problem I can find is that it had a Slant 6 in it with an AOD. The guy put a 318 out of a 79 in it. Same tranny and converter, just a different flex plate. It has an Edelbrock 1406 on a stock motor and is running really rich. Black smoke and soot. I think that the floats might be stuck or jetted too much for this motor.

Alternator isnt charging, but he says it is a new one but still doesnt charge. I think it is either a regulator or resistor.

Other than that, it drives like a new one. Runs, shifts, steers really good. It down shifts a little hard, but it didnt look like the kick down was hooked up.

I didnt give him my opinion on possible problems, he is fed up with it and I didnt want him to fix it and up the price.....

What ya think?

 

well, im a dodge man, and my 318 powered 78 ram ran great until a deer came off a hillside down through the passenger door

 

Well.................

Here is what I have found. A bad vacumn leak under the carb, kickdown linkage not hooked up, vacumn lines ran the wrong places, and the vacumn advance for the distibutor ran directly to the intake.

I fixed the vacumn lines, ran them correctly, hooked up the kickdown, and vacumn advance, new plug wires, rotor, cap and plugs, new gaskets on the carb, new regulator and resistor, and 4 fuses blown.

Geez........

What happened to simple preventative maintenance? All the guages work now except fuel gauge. It works from full to half tank and goes to empty at half tank.

It ran good before, but it really drives like a dream. Really solid truck.

The next thing on the agenda is to replace sending unit in the gas tank, new shocks, and aframe bushings. New tires and wheels (18's) mud flaps, and fender flares then a paint job in the spring. I am considering a custom paint scheme. The truck is now medium blue (faded) but otherwise ok.

I think I am going to put stainless trin on the bottom, front to back, black fade to purple, to the original blue on the top half to the roof with some triple stripes of some sort to seperate colors similar to what was doen back in the 80's.

Nice truck so far.