• Welcome to For Trucks Only !

    We are a community of American Brand Pickup Truck and SUV owners. Join now! Its Free!

1979 Dodge Lil Red Express Truck Restoration

good to hear your getting things sorted out. I've got all the sheet metal rounded up to swap mine over to an early '70s, and got a set of stacks yesterday. As soon as I get my wife's Karma Ghia painted I'm tearing into the truck. Even picked up a rear bumper from a Warlock, and fabbed the brackets. Looks way better than the big ol step bumper.
 

Attachments

  • Bumper.jpg
    Bumper.jpg
    107.4 KB · Views: 217
Yes on the bumpers, you like me all the upkeep on other vehicles take all the time away.
 
well this was a 20th wedding anniversary for her...had crappy paint on it then, and we're closing n on our 31st...my '69 road runner took priority. I let it go a few weeks ago, and I really want to tear into the truck.,..but figured I better get her some nice paint first.

IMG_2022-06-20-15-45-25-215.jpg
 
Compression on a couple of cylinders is looking a little low, 115 is getting close to not firing 145 is good. It may need a valve job in the future
 
65 sporty said:
Compression on a couple of cylinders is looking a little low, 115 is getting close to not firing 145 is good. It may need a valve job in the future
Click to expand...
Probably not a bad idea. I’m not sure what they all did anymore when I sent my heads in to get dipped. Guess I’ll pull them this fall when I park it for the season.
 
I finally caved and replaced the Thermoquad with a Holley Street Demon 625. Muuuuch better idle and throttle response. It really was bolt on and go. I did reset the idle mixture but that was it.

I had to get creative with the throttle linkage because even with the Holley stud I couldn’t get the throttle cable connected without binding on the carb linkages. My threaded rod seems to be a good solution.
B7A605D7-422D-46E6-A2F4-96D072E78EAD.jpeg
48696258-D67D-406B-B230-E5E1E6E061F1.jpeg
CA3F4A65-72E7-4D3C-95C6-B29CFF917509.jpeg
 
jumbreit said:
I had to get creative with the throttle linkage because even with the Holley stud I couldn’t get the throttle cable connected without binding on the carb linkages. My threaded rod seems to be a good solution.
Click to expand...
I had a Holley Avenger on a car I got, it was setup with a bolt like yours, never had any issues with it. Whatever works.
 
10% alcohol has ruined the carbs, the new one will do the same like filling it with water and letting it sei for a few months. If you can find just straight gas, use it or add Sta-bil, Marvel mystery oil or even better the 2 stroke oil from Walmart brand. One quart every fillup.
 
JDVanWesten said:
Jumbreit, I know you've completed this, but could you give some more detail on that dash? I'm wanting to do mine in the same style. Did you paint this black yourself? Also wondering how you did the red accents. Thanks for any reply!Y
Click to expand...
Yep, painted it myself. Can't recall exactly which paint, was likely just a can of matte black I got from the hardware store. For the red accents I just grabbed a bottle of my sons model paint. I'll bet one of those paint markers would work pretty well too. I recall having to be verrrry steady with my hand on those gauge bezels.
 
I picked up a 1979 D100 Stepside from the state of Washington this February and drove it 2400 miles home to Wisconsin. I got it for $3500 and it is essentially rust-free. I bought it at first as driver that could, if needed, donate body parts to my Red Nite Express if it were to get into an accident. Then I realized, this is ALL 1979 whereas my black truck is 7 trucks put together from 196x to 1989 so why not just do a body swap. Put this clean body on my Lil Red frame and do a proper restoration and paint it red. The black truck will live on the D100 frame.

Video of the two trucks together

IMG_8320_Original.jpg
 
That is sweet! I'm still waiting for my buddy to get around to fixing a door for me so I can start the '70s sheet metal swap. In a couple weeks it'll be a year. I've tried to bring it home a few times but he promises to get it done. Enough is enough, time to get it and fix it as best I can.
 
just remember it's all the good prep prior to paint that makes all the difference in the end . so make sure it's ready for refinishing .
 
Here is how my interior is doing. Took some ideas from yours. Working on new seats now. I'll have better pictures soon. I'll go follow the YouTube channel you have.

20230722_221503.jpg


20230722_182610.jpg
 
Finally! Last pic is what I started with. Hope to get the '72 Dash ready over the winter to put in next spring.

IMG_2023-09-11-15-46-03-758.jpg


IMG_2023-09-11-15-47-35-274 (1).jpg


PTDC0001 (2).JPG
 
We're planning on doing the Hot Rod Power Tour 2024 this June. The truck of course is Plan A, Plan B and C are the '79 Aspen and ''86 Cougar. We have plans d-f as well but not as good options.
IMG_9892.jpg
IMG_1229.jpg
IMG_9087_2.jpg


So first on the list of things to do is go over my work on the truck. I've got a bunch of small things to finish but I really want to get into the engine and make sure I didn't screw something up on my first engine rebuild. I'd like to check the lifters, and maybe even go so far as pull the bearings to make sure I'm not going to lose one on the trip. This truck has never really gone more than 40 miles away so it's not really proven itself yet even though it has 6700 miles on it since the restoration. I took my time but I'm just not 100% confident.

I have a YT video explaining what my prep plans are and I'll be doing more as I go...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top