Gallery Page 171
Ed Burchard's 1978 Dodge Ramcharger
Ed originally bought his 1978 Ramcharger in 1982, with 90,000 miles on it. It is a former Colorado State Department of Game, Fish, & Parks vehicle. It originally had a 318ci, 2bbl Carter BBD carb, single exhaust, NP 435 4speed, NP 203 F/T transfer case, 355 gears, and P235x15 tires. Ed owned it until 2005 when he sold it to his nephew. Since the 2005 Dakota he bought just didn't cut it in the hills, he flew to Phoenix, bought his Ramcharger back and drove it to Denver a year and a half later, a 'lil worse for wear and needing back the TLC it was accustomed to.
Ed's Ramcharger now sits smiling in a carport awaiting the rest of the limited restoration planned for it. Since its return the fuel system has been completely redone, the dash gone thru, new ignition components, new shocks, with the brakes yet to go as well as some rust work and new paint----it'll be the 4th paint job. Ed will also put in a new water pump as a 1977 Dodge Van he had saw the pump impeller shaft break and he don't want to see that happen again, even though that was a long shot and an odd circumstance.
Over the years, Ed rebuilt the 318, drove that a few years, then put a rebuilt 1977 360ci in it, bored .030 over with 8.5:1 compression, with a mid-range cam, hogged the heads, put side dump dual exhaust on, and an Edlebrock 500cfm 4Vcarb., converted the F/T 4WD to P/T with an NP 208 transfer case and a Mile Marker hub conversion kit. Ed's sister reupholstered the front seats and he sacked the red original interior scheme with black components from a junkyard.
The Ramcharger now has 15x8x33" tires. Ed rebuilt the tranny once and the chassis has about 190,000 miles on it in total. Since it's mostly a "for fun" vehicle, the miles he drives it are limited. It gets 10 MPG even going downhill with a tail-wind. Ed doesn't regret jettisoning the orig A/C, but as he gets older, he says he could use the comfort. At the elevation in Colorado where he operates the vehicle in the Summer, no A/C isn't all that bad. Oil pressure is 65 PSI at speed and 30-40 PSI at idle. The coolant temperature runs 160F unless going uphill in Summer when it climbs to about 200F on long pulls.
Ed says he "will keep this sucker til he dies". He believes anything Dodge makes today just doesn't compare to his 1978 Ramcharger.
If you want to know more about Ed's Ramcharger, email him at:
hdwnd@comcast.net
Are you proud of your Dodge truck or car? Want to show it off? Please email me a pic along with a description of your vehicle and I will add it to the Gallery.
Joe Leonard 2009-03-05