How many of us are there? Owners of Dodge based RV's?

[whiteknight001]

I'm new here, and curious.

How many of us in Class C own Dodge B300 incomplete
cab/chassis based RV's? I know two others- Steve aka
Ripsaw, with a 1977 Brougham, and Leroy aka 1978_Dodge
_Delta who owns a 440V8 powered sharp looking 1978
Delta RV. I would like to ask, and offer, help, idea
swapping and comparing notes on our particular RV's
which are based on the Dodge B300 van chassis.

Yeah, I know. These are low tech, podgy old RV's that
would be considered "entry level" for folks like me,
but I have a deep and abiding respect for the quality
of these old "monsters of the open road". And anyone
wanting to pick brains, joke about, share notes or just
brag about our old A- Dodge-io's are certainly welcome
to PM or email me. Between all of us we can form a real
good support group, and help each other with problems
we know we'll encounter with an older vehicle.

Sure. I'd love a new RV. But I'd rather have an older
one already paid for, and a lotta great memories. Call
me frugal, an old hippie, or whatever you will. I'm proud
of my old land yacht.

Mopar Madness Manifest in the flesh,

Mark aka White Knight

P.S. Mine's a '72. Is there an older one out there someone's
motorvating in? Maybe even a Travco? W/K

[Leeann]

For '74s:
74 Dodge Compact

'75s (supplement to '74):
75 Dodge Compact

'76s:
76 Dodge Compact

'77s:
77 Dodge Compact

'78s:
'78 Dodge Compact

[79powerwagon]

I just went to AutoZone and picked up the 70's Van book from Haynes. It'll cover enough to get you through whatever you encounter, and it has full wiring diagrams. Since I have owned many Dodge trucks over the years, I have many truck manuals, so things like engine specific and tranny specific are covered in those.

The BEST you can do is an actual Factory Service Manual, which is a crap-shoot in finding. There are some companies now reproducing them on CD ROM, but I do not know if they have the B300 or not.

Just get the Haynes, it'll do just fine!

Eric

[eyeteeth]

It's probably in this thread somewhere... but I'll fess up. I'm going to be lazy and ask as I never have much luck with the search feature.

What's a good chassis/engine manual for these older units, and where on earth would I find one?

[79powerwagon]

Hi Trish, and welcome aboard!

In the early 70's, the 360 came with a 2v or 4v carb, depending on application. The 4v carbs tended to be Carter Thermo-quads (unmistakable enormous black units), and the 2v carbs were either Carter BBD (only good use for them is fish habitat at the bottom of the ocean) or the Holley (not much of an improvement!).

The Dana rear end is under the truck, if it's a chassis cab unit. If you look at it from the rear of the truck, it'll have a lop-sided octagonal shape to it. It'll be plenty strong.

The Dodges all had 3 speed 727's in them. There is a difference between the small block and big block tranny's, but that's pretty much only the exterior casting. The innards are the same (basically).

Later Dodge OD tranny's can be retrofitted without too much grief, but since they're made out of styrofoam, why bother? A better choice would be to shorten your drive shaft and add a seperate OD unit after the tranny (Gear Vendors comes to mind, among others). However, you may be surprised that the old rig may actually get competitive milage as it sits right now! My uncle had a Shasta Class C on a Ford chassis, it was a 1971 I think. He swears he got 17mpg with it. I fully expect about 8mpg with mine, which is no worse than my pick-up truck anyway! :B

One thing to look CLOSELY at when you examine your "new" rig is the chassis battery area. That's where most of the rot will be, and these vans have welded in battery trays, so repair/replacement is not an easy thing. At one point, the battery fried in mmine, leaving a big mess that rotted most everything away! I'm just going to hack-weld it all back together, it's no show queen by any means! But look carefully there.

Otherwise, just expect what you'ld expect from a 30+ year old truck!

Keep us posted!

Eric

EDIT: PS- the cross-over is a heat channel cast into the intake manifold to get the cold running of the engine to be a bit more civilized. You cannot check it without removing the intake manifold. Just expect it to be plugged. Not the end of the world, just a nuisence in my book! 😉

[Trish_Davis]

Real quick, a couple-three things:

I am new to this forum. Not to camping, just to being the parent this time around.

What a thread! Found it the other day, read 3/4 of it. Skipped those pesky 40 pages or so in the middle. Lots of experience and tips. Much appreciated.

I am looking at a '73 Dodge /Avion chassis cab, has the 360 in it, 55thousand.
Now, I need specific information. All early 70's 360 Class C's run with 4-bbl's?

I believe it has the .410 rr end w/ the limited slip, but am not sure. What does that particular differential look like? I got a Columbia in an old Mercury which doesn't look anything like a "normal" differential, so I am gonna assume neither does this. Yes /No /I'm full of it?
(No, really, it IS a Columbia 2-spd. Works off a vacuum rod on the dash, neat.)

The pictures I have of the rig, the trans is a 3-spd auto. Okay with me, I'm tired of shifting gears. BUT a a 3-spd auto in front of a .410 is gonna eat travelling money.
Is there any year Dodge OD trans that's compatible? Driveshaft shortening is not a problem. Lengthening would suck.

And what is this intake crossover/ Precisely, WHERE is it? Never had a van before, can I find this with the hood open and the air cleaner off or I gotta take the inner engine panel off?

Going to look at it Friday; 7-hr drive from here, but worth it for the right rig.

Thanks for this thread, by the way. Even though that was four-five things.
Trish

[Big_John1]

I'd pull the spark plugs just for laughs. If the screw heads went through the cylinders, they might have beat up the plug electrodes.

Most likely, they've already passed through the engine. Being small and brass, you've got a decent chance they didn't do any harm.

[79powerwagon]

MasterBoondocker wrote:

79powerwagon wrote:
Well, I found out the reason WHY my rig only wants to run at 3500 rpms.

Oddest ..... BEFORE you run this with that 2 barrel set-up - check to see if your intake is plugged in the exh heat crossover. They are FAMOUS for doing that .... PLUS if it is plugged -- your mpg will suffer big-time.

Doc, I'm going to take the intake off anyway to find the screw pieces so I'll check for it at that time. I'll pop the heads off too incase the screws are no longer in the intake (YIKES!). I guess that explains the ticking sound I heard when all this happened!::B

[MasterBoondocke]

79powerwagon wrote:
Well, I found out the reason WHY my rig only wants to run at 3500 rpms.

Oddest ..... BEFORE you run this with that 2 barrel set-up - check to see if your intake is plugged in the exh heat crossover. They are FAMOUS for doing that .... PLUS if it is plugged -- your mpg will suffer big-time.

[75Americanclipp]

well, well I am on the road again, I just put the new fuel pump on and now I am cruising.

Plus they gave me the wrong one first, put on and it strip the nut, so I had to JB weld it, so now It's working. so I see my bottom half is a 360 and the top is a 440.

MB300, that what the vin says

[Leeann]

Oopsie - forgot they were brass.....:S


But a magnet would be so much fun!

Take it apart & clean everything while you're searching - why the heck not? 😉

[79powerwagon]

Sorry Leeann, I'll need to fish with chewing gum or something like that! Brass scews in a cast iron intake... magnets won't work well. :B

I suppose it's not the end of the world to pull the intake and heads.

Or will brass simply burn up in the comsution chamber? Hmmmm.......

Nah, I'll take it apart!

[Leeann]

Holy cow...that explains it!

Good thing you found one cheap at a swap meet 😉

Finding the broken screw heads would be good...fish with a magnet first and see if you catch anything!

[79powerwagon]

Well, I found out the reason WHY my rig only wants to run at 3500 rpms.





One of the throttle blades is sheared clean off!



That also explains the lack of throttle responce! I got lucky Saturday at a huge swap meet and found another Holley 2v for a Dodge, and gladdly paid the $5.00 asking price for it! The rebuild kit will be in tonight, I already have it apart and cleaned ready to go!

Maybe tomorrow I go for a self-powered maiden voyage? Probably not. I better find the the broken screw heads that are somewhere in the intake (or cylinders?) first, eh?

Getting closer!

[MasterBoondocke]

whiteknight001 wrote:

unionguy1019 wrote:
Just a post to fan the flames of wishful thinking.

My son who is taking Manufacturing Engineering in college designed a duel turbo fuel injection for my 73 440-3 engine in the MH. With no restrictions on this design work for a grade, he designed it out of titanium. I asked if he would make me one and he just chuckled and said "Dad the titanium alone would cost $450,000." Maybe my Powerball ticket will be the winner!!!!!

BTW he got a 98 for a grade on the design.

I'd be tickled for one in aluminium...

Mark

MAG would be BESTer .... and should not cost anywhere near 450k$ !

Titanium ? ..... WHY the need for that material ?

[whiteknight001]

unionguy1019 wrote:
Just a post to fan the flames of wishful thinking.

My son who is taking Manufacturing Engineering in college designed a duel turbo fuel injection for my 73 440-3 engine in the MH. With no restrictions on this design work for a grade, he designed it out of titanium. I asked if he would make me one and he just chuckled and said "Dad the titanium alone would cost $450,000." Maybe my Powerball ticket will be the winner!!!!!

BTW he got a 98 for a grade on the design.

I'd be tickled for one in aluminium...


Mark