Thread: low-buck steel ratrod

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You know, speaking of rat rods, I saw something the other day on the web somewhere of a rod that used a Toyota pickup cab. Now, you can laugh if you want to, but to me this makes a lot of sense. You can cut the roof off and have a steel-bodied roadster with operating doors and integral windshield. You could mount a pony keg fuel tank in the rear or a shorty bed or whatever. Use an "A" or "B" radiator shell and you're in business. I think I'd use the Toyota frame from the firewall rearward (maybe shorten it up from cab to axle) and weld on a home-built 2" x 4" frame from the firewall forward to mount a beam axle and transverse spring.

With all the talk of a $3,000 rod, I'll bet you could do it with ease this way.

You're right. I saw one years ago made from an old Jeep pickup body. They channeled it, cut the top off, made it fenderless. It was Chevy powered, and actually pretty cool.

Do you have any pix of the Toyota rod?


Don

No I don't Don, sorry.

id feel safer using an old frame then a new one sorry tech, but i deliver new "safe?!?!?!?" car parts and lemme say this the suspension pieces are ungodly horribly cheesy pot metal! core supports made of pure plastic or sheetmetal so thin u could break it if u stepped on it!. nevertheless it does sound like a neat idea

Here is some input from farna on another forum. He brings up something I had not thought about, that you would have a built-in title with a build such as this.....
I've often considered such myself. I'd start with the smallest pickup I could find -- an old Dodge Ram, Mazda, Chevy LUV, Ford Courier, Toyota, all early to mid 70s -- nothing as new as a Ranger or S-10. Should be able to get one for near junk prices, though the engine is liable to be junk also (who cares?). After stripping off the body (but don't destroy/dispose of it just yet!), I'd mount the engine where I wanted it and and look at that front suspension. One way to handle that would be to hide most of it. Put the radiator in front of it and see how that works. If you can live with the looks mount the cab right behind the engine. If the back of the cab clears the rear wheels perfect! Cut the top off the cab and use that for your "tub"!! Build/buy a model A/T looking bed, do a little metal work around the cowl (probably stretch/fair it out a bit), and get a radiator shell. Motorcyle style fenders for the front is fenders are required. The four cylinder front springs will be about right with the engine set back, and the pickup rear leafs should be about right too. Moving the engine so far back puts more of the load on the rear springs than the empty truck had, and less on the front springs.

If the cab is to wide it would be easier to take a chunk out of it than to build your own tub. Unless you want to build something more along the lines of a T roadster -- pretty much a flat deck with "wrap around" bucket seats! Not sure you could get that licensed though. With the truck frame and cab, you could legally license it as a whatever year truck, another reason for using a modified cab as a tub. Might have to section the cab too, or chanel it over the frame. That would be some work, but would eliminate a lot of paper work for registering the thing.

So what to do about the front suspension if it just doesn't look right? "Front half" that frame! Cut it right behind the old crossmember and make a stub frame for a straight axle. That will greatly reduce the fab work and material cost. New steel isn't that pricey, but the way. If you have to pay someone to weld it that's a different ball game!!

How's this for a low buck steel bodied Rat Rod...

52 Ford pick up.........$500
68 Chevy 327...........$400
88 Chevy TH350........$30
89 Chevy drive shaft..$20
89 S-10 frame...........$250
89 Caddy steering col..$30
Misc parts.................$200

Total so far................$1430.

Cool. How did the S10 frame swap work out? Were most of the components in the right places, like steering box, etc. Plus, you get later brakes, etc.

Who says rod building has to be 'spensive?

Don

The S-10 frame works great. The 327 engine was a drop in, the TH350 bolted right up to the engine, I had to move the trans mount back a few inches. I changed the 2 pc driveshaft to a 1 pc. Drilled and bolted the cab and bed right to the frame. Had to cut a few inches off the front and rear of the frame for the fenders and bed. The Caddy steering column goes throught the firewall above the old floor mount, so it's a straight shot to the steering box. Gotta change the rearend to a 4X4 rear (4" wider). It's 5" off the ground and I haven't even lowered it yet. So far , no major mods. Everything seems to be trim to fit and bolt on. If you're interested, I've got the whole swap on a website.

www.geocities.com/lakota_circle_dancer/swap1

Dude:

" I build hot rods, I do not restore old cars. I don't believe that only Ford parts should go into a Ford, or Chevy parts into a Chevy. Each auto maker has made some great cars and trucks and some not so great cars and trucks. In hot rodding we pick and choose what we want in a vehicle. We build our rides as unique as ourselves. If we choose to build a Ford body on a Chevy frame with a Chrysler engine, and we attach Cadillac tail lights and Studebaker headlights, then so be it. This is our artwork, and to fit all these parts together in an eye appealing manner takes imagination and skill. During the 1950s, Detroit leaned toward the hot rodder for new ideas. These came out as innovations such as the Corvette, the Mustang, seat belts, dual headlights, recessed door handles, custom outside mirrors, glitzy hubcaps, custom steering wheels, widetrack wheels, lowered stance, and plush, cushy interiors. Today, American cars are assembled in foreign countries of plastic and tin and sold for big dollars. We hot rodders have chosen to go back to the American way with American cars and trucks built in Detroit, of good old American iron and steel from Pittsburg. We will build OUR vehicles OUR way, with OUR money, OUR sweat, OUR busted knuckles, using OUR ideas, to fullfill OUR needs, wants, and desires. We will continue to share OUR knowledge with each other, and as each new generation comes to us to learn, we will pass the torch in hopes that they will continue when we've parked OUR vehicles for the last time.
End of rant."

- From Lakota's site.

Yup, that's my rant.
I'm still getting hate E-mail from guys on the Ford website about putting a Chevy engine in my Ford, and I was banned from posting there months ago. Putting anything other than a Ford part on a Ford is called "Going to the Dark Side". Putting a Ford body on a Chevy frame with a Chevy engine is called "Going to the Evil Side". Oh well, that was then and this is now. Back to the subject: Rat Rods.

Merc in a Chevy...COOL.
How do you describe that? Chevrury??? Checury??? No matter. Be proud of your ride, you've earned it.

BTW, You're right Denny. I do like it here. I visit this site at least once a day. If it wasn't for guys like you, Tech, Bob Parmenter, Dave Severson, TooMany, Henry Rifle to name a few, I'd still be on that Ford site spending $4800 on after market products to add IFS, power steering, power brakes, front discs, reversed eye springs, and torch work to notch the frame for a 2" lowering. I got all of this and more from a $250 junk yard frame. I have you guys to thank for all the replies to my posts. Sometimes you didn't respond to my questions. This told me that the answer is a "no brainer" and I should go back and look. Sure enough, there was the answer staring me straight in the face.
Again, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

OOPS....

Sorry Ladies, I should've known better. I've been trying to get my wife to join the site. She's working on a 70 Ford pick up that's been in the family for years. She wants to keep it "as is" meaning better steering, brakes, and performance, but no bodywork. HMMMM...That sounds like Rat Rod to me.

Originally Posted by lakota

Yup, that's my rant.
I'm still getting hate E-mail from guys on the Ford website about putting a Chevy engine in my Ford, and I was banned from posting there months ago. Putting anything other than a Ford part on a Ford is called "Going to the Dark Side". Putting a Ford body on a Chevy frame with a Chevy engine is called "Going to the Evil Side". Oh well, that was then and this is now. Back to the subject: Rat Rods.

thay would hate me iv got ford 360 pistons in my gm 2.5 iron duke

im looking for a s10 to do a modern day rat rod(is what i call it)
thinking of a 4"to5" chop top
ford 9" rear on later bars and coils
bring the rear axel to the back of the cab
then do a strech to the front and sold axel
some kind of rad and cover no fenders or hood
the motor is a 151cid 2.5 block w/ 360 ford pistons, chevy 250 I6 rods, a153 crank, a boat head w/ 202-160 valves, a costom 4 barrel intake. (called the mustang killer)
and a 4 speed manual trans

Hey Nitrous--keep me posted on your progress with an S-10 rod. I have been considering the same thing, although your idea goes a bit further than mine. I have been trying to find pics of an S-10 without the box or front fenders/hood/grill. I have this vision in my head what it could look like, but so far its stuck in there!