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View Full Version : 82 Rampage 84hp journey to 300+Whp



Sethyboy85
09-08-2010, 09:48 PM
This thread will document the changes, breakages, blood, sweat and swearing at my Rampage.

I plan to apply for a Antique plate here in PA for the car as it is old enough.

I also plan to drop in the drivetrain from my Bastard RT (8 valve) after I upgrade the suspension to G-body front struts/springs and something on the rear.
11.25 vented brakes front and back
Take care of the rust holding the floor up.

Acquired car a few weeks ago, had a nasty sound in 1-3rd but 4th was silent.
Thought it was the starter catching so I replaced it- nope not it still making noise.

Yesterday I made it 2miles from the JY where I had scoped out a 520 with 93k and the only reason the car was in there was because it was rear-ended really bad (said on window "runs/drives good") and I believe them.
My 460 decided to lock up on the side of the road as I knew something bad was happening.
Good ol' AAA got me home in no time and I went out scouting another JY (found a rampage with a good front clip and a few other pieces I might go back for)

Today with the help of my dad I got the trans from JY and tomorrow I will attempt to pull drivetrain and slap in new trans (axles arriving as well) and maybe by friday I will be able to drive it.

Pic will be updated here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloneprojects/sets/72157604556758237/

Sethyboy85
09-09-2010, 10:00 AM
SO I got everything setup today only to realize my floor is just a pile of rust, after poking around a bit im not sure how I don't fall through when I sit in the vehicle...

contraption22
09-09-2010, 10:09 AM
Yup, seems to be pretty common. For a shot of inspiration and determination, check out 54inches' Rampage project log.

54inches
09-09-2010, 10:20 AM
Did I hear my name? If you lived closer I would come by and watch you work on the floor. :)

cordes
09-09-2010, 10:31 AM
Check the frame rails where they meet the firewall too. Crap gets in there and causes water to sit and rot them out. My dad's page was going to be a street/strip car, but after seeing how there was no floor or frame rails it's going to be a full on drag car. I was really surprised because the rear quarters weren't totally rusted out.

Sethyboy85
09-09-2010, 10:33 AM
I am debating if the rust free Mercedes I have in my p-lot that I was gonna scrap could yield some good floor material on the cheap and if I think it's worth it to purchase an Arc welder and see how much fun I can have on this project.

Sethyboy85
09-09-2010, 10:36 AM
Check the frame rails where they meet the firewall too. Crap gets in there and causes water to sit and rot them out. My dad's page was going to be a street/strip car, but after seeing how there was no floor or frame rails it's going to be a full on drag car. I was really surprised because the rear quarters weren't totally rusted out.


they are fine up at the firewall but after that they are nothing but rust. Not sure how I didn't notice this the other week

54inches
09-09-2010, 10:44 AM
You will need a decent Mig welder, hammers and dollys, a good 4.5" grinder, an --- load of cutoff wheels at the bare minimum. Be sure to get a full face shield as well. :)

Vigo
09-09-2010, 02:30 PM
If you lived closer I would come by and watch you work on the floor.

:lol: LOL

Sethyboy85
09-09-2010, 03:07 PM
You will need a decent Mig welder, hammers and dollys, a good 4.5" grinder, an --- load of cutoff wheels at the bare minimum. Be sure to get a full face shield as well. :)


Went looking at a JY rampage but the effort involved to get that floor and the fact that it was lightly rusted (maybe 3-4yrs of life left) just isn't worth it. Pondered getting a big section of floor from an omni and making up the rest but not sure.

Stopped and looked at some welders, a flux wire caught my eye.

I have hammers and a good grinder- a ton of scrap metal that could be stripped to bare metal and used

Going to grab some pictures and work on removing some rust

54inches
09-09-2010, 04:09 PM
:lol: LOL

I loathed working in that tiny little floor. The Suburban is going to be much more fun....oh wait the floorboards are made out of plate steel......no rust. Chevy wins.;)


Went looking at a JY rampage but the effort involved to get that floor and the fact that it was lightly rusted (maybe 3-4yrs of life left) just isn't worth it. Pondered getting a big section of floor from an omni and making up the rest but not sure.

Stopped and looked at some welders, a flux wire caught my eye.

I have hammers and a good grinder- a ton of scrap metal that could be stripped to bare metal and used

Going to grab some pictures and work on removing some rust

Definitely try to get a donor floor, IF you can.

Phuq flux. Solid wire with gas or you will be wasting your money.

Pictures or I hate you.:D

contraption22
09-09-2010, 04:25 PM
To repair the floors on my Horizon, I used some old steel drawers that we had laying around. I also wouldn't hesitate to find a hood or trunklid from an older vehicle at a yard to use as donor sheet metal.

54inches
09-09-2010, 04:43 PM
BTW, I need a:

headliner,
passenger's mirror,
nice rear view mirror.

Sethyboy85
09-09-2010, 07:34 PM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloneprojects/sets/72157604556758237/
^link to my flickr account set that I will upload rampage photos too.

(for the life of me I can never get it to post photos or attach them on this forum- im not a newbie on the intranets by any means but whatever)

Cut out 99% of the major cancer this afternoon, only used 1 harbor freight brand sawzall blade (very surprised)

Tomorrow im picking up a welder +gear, new grinder wheels and some steel.

Coming home learning how to weld, grinding down what I didn't do tonight.
Tacking in some support and gonna go from there and see how far I get.

Sethyboy85
09-09-2010, 07:37 PM
To repair the floors on my Horizon, I used some old steel drawers that we had laying around. I also wouldn't hesitate to find a hood or trunklid from an older vehicle at a yard to use as donor sheet metal.


Haha, I have a LeBaron hood that I had already decided was gonna be the new floor.
I also have 13"x23" 25lb steel plates from filing cabinets that are going to make the main support for the floor, along with bracing it so it will be stronger then it ever was.

Sethyboy85
09-10-2010, 07:41 PM
Day 2 pictures up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloneprojects/sets/72157604556758237/

I went through about 4lbs of wire today welding, I practiced on a recently replaced motorcycle chain (the old one) and welded the links together every possible way and then tried some smaller gauge metal and jumped into the rampage and started tacking pieces in.

I think I got pretty far for my first day welding/replacing the floor.

The LeBaron hood is almost all gone and next up is a spectrum car door and then a neighbor just replaced his tail gate so I have that metal at my disposal before I need to start taking skin grafts off of the mercedes that is sitting next to it, lol.

54inches
09-11-2010, 01:16 PM
Man, that looks FN terrible compared to mine. You are going to need donor braces, so you can mount the seats. WOW.

Good Luck.

Sethyboy85
09-11-2010, 03:38 PM
I worked about 5hrs on it today and that is probably it for awhile- next week I go back to work and then friday jump in a plane to go to my brothers wedding in austria. After that I have my normal 5 days of 3rd shift work and I don't think the neighbors will appreciate it very much if im outside late at night making all kinds of noise so im sure progress here on out will be slow.

As far as seat's I have some 1 1/2" sqaure tube that I was gonna use for additional support/seat mount across the middle and then do the same in the back, tack them in from the side to the middle exhaust tunnel and back towards the gas tank.

Sethyboy85
09-11-2010, 03:43 PM
And oh how my back hurts from crouching down and squating to get in that dang car- I liked working in it better when I could stand on the ground ;)

54inches
09-11-2010, 04:18 PM
I feel your pain brother. My other project is a Suburban and it is SO much easier to work on.

rare_ram
09-11-2010, 10:04 PM
Here's what mine looked like.

http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/12/web/732000-732999/732054_248.jpg

2.216VTurbo
09-11-2010, 10:13 PM
Holy cow! That's a whole bunch of FeO3! Props to you for taking that thing on to save it Seth:clap: How are you gonna seal all the patches? factory seam sealer? I ask mainly because I nothing about cutting out rust and patching floors:p

jory
09-11-2010, 10:19 PM
I did some floor pans in my old turbo z, because the driver side was gone from the wheel well back. Found a solid floor pan at the junkyard and cut it out with a battery powered sawz all. then tack welded them with a flux core MIG. Wish I had some argon at the time but it turned out solid for cheap harbor freight wire. I had to do from the wheel well to the back seat area over the fuel tank and if I hadn't got a solid piece from the junkyard it would have been fun shaping some 16ga sheet metal and fabricating seat supports. After I cut the rusted bits out the floor fit right in. I did have to fab some pieces for the curves on the front wheel well but it wasn't difficult, took me a weekend.

54inches
09-12-2010, 08:29 AM
How are you gonna seal all the patches? factory seam sealer? I ask mainly because I nothing about cutting out rust and patching floors:p

Hijack on.

I am using POR15 and Liquid Nails for seam sealer; heard the LN works really good.

Sethyboy85
09-12-2010, 02:26 PM
Today it rained so I went out and looked inside the car, found a tsp on both front corners under the dash/end of door area, also a few drops sitting on the passenger area door opening/back by truck bed.
Thoughts on where it is coming from?

I have a few hours tomorrow to do something to the car, I might try finding where those leaks are and plug em temporarily. Give it some more rustoleom coats and pick up some loctite/liquid nails to fill in the small holes.

Sethyboy85
09-12-2010, 03:32 PM
BTW my floor is made from a 89 LeBaron GTC hood (white), GMC Sierra Tail gate (red) and a 88 chevy Spectrum driver side door (blue).

DrunkenMessiah
09-16-2010, 02:44 AM
If you haven't gotten any yet, I have a recommendation on a sealant for your floor. The suggestion of Liquid Nails is a great one, but they have tons of products. I've tried a few LN products and have had the most luck with their "heavy duty construction adhesive" for 'unconventional' applications of my own. It bonds really well, repels water, stays a tiny bit flexible and, best of all, doesn't seem too picky about the bonding surfaces being clean. I've found its kindof the duct tape of the construction glue world. The bonding surfaces don't have to be perfect for it to work well.

For your application this means its a lot less likely to flake off over time. I know you aren't relying on it from a structural standpoint but the high grip will keep it from trying to peel away.

Good luck!

54inches
09-16-2010, 02:44 PM
If you haven't gotten any yet, I have a recommendation on a sealant for your floor. The suggestion of Liquid Nails is a great one, but they have tons of products. I've tried a few LN products and have had the most luck with their "heavy duty construction adhesive" for 'unconventional' applications of my own. It bonds really well, repels water, stays a tiny bit flexible and, best of all, doesn't seem too picky about the bonding surfaces being clean. I've found its kindof the duct tape of the construction glue world. The bonding surfaces don't have to be perfect for it to work well.

For your application this means its a lot less likely to flake off over time. I know you aren't relying on it from a structural standpoint but the high grip will keep it from trying to peel away.

Good luck!

Thanks for the real world testimonial. I looked and looked before I bought and I THINK I just got the regular, but I will go home and check tonight.

Sethyboy85
09-16-2010, 03:02 PM
Yup, that is what I got and used on half of my seams from the top side of the car so far, I also did around the windshield in an effort to stop the leaking but presently it is raining and I just checked the car- still leaking but I didn't do the bottom of the windshield tri just the sides and up top above the windows.

I could care less how it looks right now with caulk/construction adhesive ugliness around the window I just want it to stop leaking.

Maybe tomorrow AM if it's not raining after I have been awake since now and before I leave for my flight to Austria I can do the rest of the window, if not I might just try to tarp the vehicle till I get back so I don't have a flood inside the car if we get a bunch of storms...

Sethyboy85
09-16-2010, 03:03 PM
The heavy Duty stuff is cheap too so go crazy! $2.47 a tube at HD my way...

54inches
09-16-2010, 03:08 PM
Yep, that's it; think I spent 1.87 or something.....

shelbymonster
09-17-2010, 09:17 AM
i beleave you gonna have to take the windshield off , when i did my charger i had to change some pieces on the lower left corner of the windshield

54inches
09-17-2010, 10:37 AM
Knock on wood, mine sealed without taking the windshield out. I really wanted to take it out but with the rarity of the windshields I did not.

Let's hope Seth does not either.

contraption22
09-17-2010, 10:44 AM
How rare are these windsheilds considering they used the same one from '81-'87 on hundreds of thousands of cars? I would think Safelite should have them.

54inches
09-17-2010, 11:03 AM
I had Rampage on the brain. Should not be rare at all. Maybe I was just lazy.

contraption22
09-17-2010, 12:31 PM
I had Rampage on the brain. Should not be rare at all. Maybe I was just lazy.

Do doubt the rear and side glass for the Rampage/Scamp is rare stuff, but thankfully at least the windsheilds are shared with the 2-Door Hatch Lbody.

54inches
09-17-2010, 01:43 PM
The rear was not available through 4 National Glass Companies.

Sethyboy85
01-15-2011, 06:42 PM
Well I have spent the past 3 months in Texas for work and I fell in love with a Texan lady. I will be returning home next month sometime to clear out my stuff and the Rampage is for sale.

Giving you guys in this thread a heads up before I make the FS post.

I have 90 omni axles and a 520 with 82k on it and the truck is as it was in the last update. nothing else has been done but collect dust. :)

Vigo
01-15-2011, 07:22 PM
You moving to tx?

Sethyboy85
01-15-2011, 07:57 PM
You moving to tx?

Yes, Austin to be exact. I will also be selling my Spirit RT and could haul either one down as I will be using my Dakota to transport 1 of 2 moto's I presently own back down.

54inches
01-15-2011, 09:31 PM
Why don't you just bring em with you? :) Vigo, why don;t you get it?

Vigo
02-10-2011, 09:09 PM
i got 11 cars, i need LESS!! lol.


Yes, Austin to be exact. I will also be selling my Spirit RT and could haul either one down as I will be using my Dakota to transport 1 of 2 moto's I presently own back down.

LMK if you need help moving heavy objects when you get here. Im only about 30-40mins south.

Sethyboy85
02-10-2011, 09:18 PM
i got 11 cars, i need LESS!! lol.



LMK if you need help moving heavy objects when you get here. Im only about 30-40mins south.

Thanks man, I might have to take you up on that then. should be sometime in March and you know you want another dodge... ;)

54inches
02-10-2011, 11:25 PM
Bring that Rampage with you...

Sethyboy85
02-10-2011, 11:27 PM
Buy it and I will :)

54inches
02-10-2011, 11:36 PM
Can you post some pics of everything?

Nemesismachine
06-11-2011, 03:06 PM
Going to look at this beast tomorrow afternoon. If all goes well it will have a new home shortly thereafter. Seth, I can take some updated pics for you if you want, worst case.

Sethyboy85
06-20-2011, 09:18 PM
Car is now in the hands of Nick and at it's new home in MD

Nemesismachine
06-22-2011, 11:16 PM
You can follow this car by clicking the link below!

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showthread.php?59758