Posted by Brian in Oregon on September 26, 2000 at 22:59:29:
In Reply to: Anyone do the helitool 318 conversion yet? posted by Jonas on September 26, 2000 at 19:26:35:
I'm eagarly awaiting arrival of the kit for my M37/318/NP420 conversion.
I dropped in at Ray's shop and took a look at the 360/NP435 WDX and drove his 318/NP420 M37. Impressive. It was difficult to stall the M37. The 360 in the WDX was a tight fit, but it does fit without butchery. The 318 in the M37 only requires a tiny relief for the drivers side exhaust pipe, and no relief for the starter if you use the aftermarket starter Ray recommends. In both cases the original radiator is used. In all cases, you could restore the trucks back to original if you desired (and kept the original parts).
Saw the plasma cutter and other machine tools. Quite a shop. Looked over some helicopter tooling.
Also looked at what basically amounts to assembly line work on the disc brake kits and the motor swap kits. Simply put, the parts are well made and absolutely identical. This is a first class operation.
And, took a peek at some power steering setups on various rigs. Nicely done.
Repowering and altering isn't for everyone. I'm sure purists mutter about Ray. But if you want to make a daily driver and workhorse out of an old Dodge, you should take a close look at Ray's kits.
And no, I don't work for Ray. I just know good ideas and good work when I see it.