Posted by Tug Boat Lonnie on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 6:31PM :
In Reply to: Re: Can PW be converted to be more useful? posted by AAA on Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 5:36PM :
AAA,
Your right, I looked back a my post and realized that my original flippant answer was not doing anything to help Oscar with his question.
Sorry Oscar.
The way I see it, you have two big problems.
1. What will be needed to get this truck up to a cruising speed of 80 MPH? Well, a different engine, tranny, rear end will help.
2. What will be needed to make it handle and stop properly at those speeds?
Well disk brakes all around will help with the stopping. I have no idea what will help with the handling. Different axles, wheels and tires would probably help also. Probably want power steering with all new hardware as well. Might as well put air bags in if you are going to all new steering. New suspension will probably be a must also.
New seats for a better ride will be a must as well as a new dash to better fit the new fuse panels and air conditioning ducts.
Beware, with a small cab like this, there will be issues with the the air conditioner cooling down the cab area too fast and too cold. Seen it before in other hot rods.
The problem is you are trying to turn this truck into a hot rod. By the time you are finished, you will have a very expensive new truck with a power wagon body.
Why not just mount a PW body on a new truck frame? I think you would be much happier with the results.
Best Wishes
Lonnie