OK, I have a 86 Dodge D-50 4x4 long bed. I want to stick a 318, 435 trans, (undecided on tranfercase, 205 or 203) should the transfer case be married or divorce?, also I want to put a solid axle in the front(will be narrow). Where should I begin? Does anyone know some helpful sites or have their own information that will help me come up with a plan of attack.

OK, I have a 86 Dodge D-50 4x4 long bed. I want to stick a 318, 435 trans, (undecided on tranfercase, 205 or 203) should the transfer case be married or divorce?, also I want to put a solid axle in the front(will be narrow). Where should I begin? Does anyone know some helpful sites or have their own information that will help me come up with a plan of attack.


search, but there is a guy on here that has a 440 d50, and this is a helpfull site, just use deh surch funktion.

You are going to have to search.

As far as motor swaps go, a friend of mine did a 4g63t turbo eclipse motor swap in his 4x4 D50, but it was a very involved process. Not exactly what you are looking for, but still a motor swap.

Based off of the 4g63 engine size I think a smallblock should fit without a ton of cutting, but it will be tight.

It's a hell of a learning experiencs, I'll tell you that. You should worry first about the cooling area, then build around it. I messed up, made my truck exactly as I planned, then it decided it wanted to overheat when finished. I had to put the radiator in the bed, I hated it. The small block conversion isn't as difficult as a big block. You should still have plenty of room for the steering and brake booster with the small block, but I sure as hell didn't.

As far as the tranny/transfer case, I'd just use an 80's 727/208 combo. I know they're not as tuff as a 205, but you're probably not going to break it with a d-50's weight. I have an 85 Ramcharger on 38's, and all of the romping I've done to it, it still hasn't let go on me. Just drive shafts. LOL. The way to solve that is to get a yoke from a ford 208 transfer case, it bolts right on and is a 1330 u-joint I believe.

I'd get some axles shortened, or out of something else for it. I used fullsize 3/4 ton stuff, man, way too wide.

Here's a quick link, but just search the internet, just remember to use ram 50 and D50 in the searches. http://www.geocities.com/ram50v8/

Drop the body on a Ramcharger chassis.

It's a hell of a learning experiencs, I'll tell you that. You should worry first about the cooling area, then build around it. I messed up, made my truck exactly as I planned, then it decided it wanted to overheat when finished. I had to put the radiator in the bed, I hated it. The small block conversion isn't as difficult as a big block. You should still have plenty of room for the steering and brake booster with the small block, but I sure as hell didn't.

As far as the tranny/transfer case, I'd just use an 80's 727/208 combo. I know they're not as tuff as a 205, but you're probably not going to break it with a d-50's weight. I have an 85 Ramcharger on 38's, and all of the romping I've done to it, it still hasn't let go on me. Just drive shafts. LOL. The way to solve that is to get a yoke from a ford 208 transfer case, it bolts right on and is a 1330 u-joint I believe.

I'd get some axles shortened, or out of something else for it. I used fullsize 3/4 ton stuff, man, way too wide.

Here's a quick link, but just search the internet, just remember to use ram 50 and D50 in the searches. http://www.geocities.com/ram50v8/


do you have any pics of your fullwidths on your d50? i would love to see them.