bought a 1980 d-150 adventurer

[moparmagic440]

Hey guys! ive been wandering around the site for awhile now and haven't posted/commented much so i hope im doing this right!



i picked up a 1980 dodge D-150 Adventure long bed with a 318 and 4sp. the truck is a blue/white 2 tone with a gold pin stripe type deal and some rust on the rear wheel wells.

im use to working on the older mopar cars and this is my first experience with a truck, so im wondering what would it take to lower the front end easily? what are some mods that would look good on a stacked headlight long bed dodge ex farm truck? :D

http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp215/moparmagic440/259948_2226855317540_1432509252_2609560_5697394_n. jpg

[Vigo]

Believe it or not we have one guy here who has a lowered truck with that front end. Problem is i cant remember his username...

Here's one to start.. not the one im thinking of but still relevant:
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showthread.php?58127-Lowered-the-Old-1980-Dodge-Truck&highlight=truck

[moparman76_69]

Believe it or not we have one guy here who has a lowered truck with that front end. Problem is i cant remember his username...

Here's one to start.. not the one im thinking of but still relevant:
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showthread.php?58127-Lowered-the-Old-1980-Dodge-Truck&highlight=truck

GLHS592 is his user name.

EDIT never mind you found that thread, are you thinking of turbododgepirate?

[moparmagic440]

thanks for the link! its good to know theres some more D series trucks around here
:D

[Vigo]

EDIT never mind you found that thread, are you thinking of turbododgepirate

I think so.. who has the orange one?


Never hurts to ask, moparmagic! I dont know much about what you're asking about but others here do.. info will present itself in good time.

[moparmagic440]

any help is greatly appreciated, ive only delt with older mopar cars before, mostly B-bodies. and a touch of 1st gen intrepids. Thanks again

[Vigo]

I had a 1st gen intrepid too and wish i still had it.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0009-22231790014_large.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0014-22231790016_large.jpg

[Vigo]

And i believe the orange one is forcefedmopar's.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f98/forcedfedmopar/ds.jpg

[moparman76_69]

I think so.. who has the orange one?


No clue. Turbododgepirate had a build thread for his it was bright blue.

[moparmagic440]

I had a 1st gen intrepid too and wish i still had it.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0009-22231790014_large.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/0014-22231790016_large.jpg


My daily driver is a 93 ES with a 3.3 yours looks 100 times better than mine, was yours a 3.5?

[Vigo]

Yeh, mine was a 3.5. It was a fun car when it worked right but it hounded me with a few issues that i couldnt diagnose for literally years until i got tired of it and sold it. The next guy blew it up, so i bought it back and parted it out.


It was a 97 3.5. It had true duals with flowmaster 40s, "2.7 gears" (slightly lower tranny gears), a 3300 stall converter, dual 52mm tb upgrade (first and only as far as i know), dual cowl-induction CAI (which sounded BADASS inside the car), a rare PCM with no speed limiter, AutoStick conversion with matching instrument cluster, 16x7.5 with 245/45r16s, auto dimming mirror, and maybe some other things im forgetting. When it ran right it hauled ---.. i never ran it at the track but i did race a lot of stuff on the street.. about the fastest thing i could keep up with was a PI 4.6 mustang, those would eventually walk away at 70+mph.. It FELT like it could have cracked 14s when it ran right. When it didnt run right it felt like 17.5. Thats part of what made me get tired of it.

I miss that car and i wish i had not given up on it sometimes, but that car literally kicked me in the --- with stupid issues until i couldnt stand to drive it anymore. I think in retrospect i could have solved some of them, but at the time, even being an auto tech for a living and asking everyone i knew for ideas, i just couldnt make that car right.

[GLHS592]

Nice looking truck. I'm kinda partial to the 1972-1980 trucks. They aren't as square as the 1981-1993 trucks.

There are a few guys on here that have 1972-1993 Dodge trucks. Here's mine.
http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq42/GLHS592/1980%20Dodge%20D-150/P5210017.jpg


Here is a write up I did to show how you lower a D150 using B series van lower control arms.
http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=6552340&Main=6548150
Here is a before/after of my truck.
http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq42/GLHS592/1980%20Dodge%20D-150/D150_Before_After.jpg

[moparmagic440]

ah yes! Thank you GLHS592! that right up will be very very very helpful. and your 150 is probably the best one ive ever seen. ive always perfered the single headlight over the stacked. i cant find a whole lot of information about '80 trucks, my guess is it was a carry over from '79?




And Vigo My intrepid is bone stock with 174,000 miles on her so far, been in the family since '99 when my mom bought it. only real problem its ever had was the tranny going out at around 160,000 but that wasn't really a shock for me because of all the miles. the 150hp or so the 3.3 puts out is enough to push it along decently. but what i think what intrepids have going for them is theyre styling and handling, for a full size car it sure dosent feel like it. the 17 mpgs isnt really enjoyable though..:D

[GLHS592]

ah yes! Thank you GLHS592! that right up will be very very very helpful. and your 150 is probably the best one ive ever seen. ive always perfered the single headlight over the stacked. i cant find a whole lot of information about '80 trucks, my guess is it was a carry over from '79?

Thanks. My truck is a work in progress. I'll get it where I want it someday. Actually, I have always liked the stacked headlights better than the singles, but the singles have grown on me since purchasing this truck. Adventurers got the stacked headlights and lower trim levels got the singles.

There isn't a ton of information out there on 1972-1993 Dodge trucks. There is a good group of folks that are into them on Moparts.com. There is also Ramchargercentral.com. 1979 and 1980 were pretty much identical. They are a little different than the older trucks. They still had the older sheet metal but had the newer "bubble" hood. The interiors are the same as the older trucks.

Finding parts for them is hard at times. I do get a kick out of some of them on Moparts when they cry about the lack of new parts. They've obviously never tried to restore a Dodge Shelby Charger. You can find some new and used parts at www.mopartruckparts.com and www.dodgeconnection.com. They are both kinda high dollar.

I don't imagine you'll ever see parts reproduced for the older Dodge trucks like you do the muscle cars. Dodge produced far fewer trucks in those years than GM and Ford. A Chevy might be worth 3 times what a Dodge is, but the Dodge's trim and interior parts are 5 times as expensive as the Chevy's.

[Vigo]

but what i think what intrepids have going for them is theyre styling and handling, for a full size car it sure dosent feel like it. the 17 mpgs isnt really enjoyable though..

Yeah, i think the 93 intrepid was WAY ahead of its time in styling, and the one i had handled REALLY well for a full size car, and it was a base-model suspension. Mine was an ex-rental so it was super base everything and even had bucket seat delete (split-bench front, which i prefer but is RARE in those cars), i think the only option was the 3.5. Of course it got upgraded with factory stuff along the way. With the stall converter, gears, and autostick it was really fun to drive.

[moparmagic440]

GLHS592: yea im have a decently hard time finding parts. i cant imagine how hard SC parts are to find. i owned a '62 Chrysler 300-H a few years back and parts were impossible to find, i finally ended up selling the car because of that....still kick myself for letting it go though :(




Vigo: i never even knew a intrepid could come with a bench seat lol. Autostick must of made it a blast to drive, ive thought about doing that to mine but haven't actually gotten around to doing it.