'72-80 power wagon questions, wheelbase,etc.

[79w200]

Hi, I just drug a '79 w200 single cab long bed from the Southern Utah mountains back to Vegas and had a couple questions I know some of you can answer. The body and interior are beat up badly, except for the seat. All the glass is good and everything works. It was basically a firewood truck it's whole life, always maintained, it just always had firewood rounds bouncing off it. Since the roof is all banged up,not to mention the driver's door and bed, I'm kicking around the idea of converting it to a club cab shortbed. Does anybody know the wheelbase of a club cab (2 door extended cab) with the short bed? My wheelbase is 131". I can always cut a bed shorter if I have to. Any info. on this conversion would be appreciated as it could save me a huge headache. The engine is a 360, not sure of the mileage, but I'm guessing alot. I need to rebuild the carb. (2 bbl) and replace the radiator. I did a compression test on the engine today. All the cylinders are 120-130, except for #5, which is 110. That spark plug was the only one with any deposits on it. It was still a trivial amount but enough to take note of. My main concern is getting it to pass smog. If anyone has an opinion on those test results I'd appreciate it.

[712edf]

Welcome!
Well regular cab long bed & club cab short bed I think share that same 131" WB or pretty close, but the drop center of the frame may be different. The drop center is the area between the axles where the frame is closer to the ground. If the regular cab frame rises sooner to meet the bed floor their may be clearance issues if a longer cab is installed. But even if that's the case, a small body lift might help. Of course the rear cab mounts will have to be moved regardless.

FYI club cab long beds & crew cab short beds share a 149"WB.

Bucky

[79w200]

Good point on the drop center. With a body lift I would only have to lift the suspension a couple inches to fit 33x12.50's, so that would work out good. Right now I'm just cleaning it up, getting it running right, and making sure it'll stop straight, turn both ways, and not catch on fire. I had a F150 catch on fire at a gas pump once, cleared that place out in a hurry =)...just glad I had a fire extinguisher on hand. I can get at least another year out of the tires, so that'll give me plenty of time to find another body and collect all the suspension/lift parts I'll need. My biggest concern about lifting it very high is that I don't want to lose any towing capacity.

[USN78W150]

wheelbase

The Club Cab short bed trucks are on a 133" wheelbase.

[712edf]

and not catch on fire. I had a F150 catch on fire at a gas pump once, cleared that place out in a hurry

Comedian Richard Pryor remarked after his freebasing cocaine incident, " When you are on fire, people will get out of your way!"

Bucky

[79w200]

" When you are on fire, people will get out of your way!"

Ain't that the truth!!! As far as the club cab short bed idea I could just cut a bed 2" shorter and make that work. I guess my next mission is finding a club cab and attacking it with a tape measure and notepad. I need to find out the distance between the front and rear cab mounts, how far in front of the rear cab mounts the frame begins to drop and how far in front of the rear cab mounts the frame finishes dropping (the low point at the rear of the drop center). Then I can figure out how much body lift I'd need to make it all work. The location of the front cab mounts would be a common reference point for both trucks. Luckily this'll work on a short or long bed club cab cause I'd be pulling the tape from the front and I haven't seen a short bed club cab in years (part of the reason I want to be driving one). I've also been thinking about adding a.c. but then my girlfriend will want to ride in it.

[USN78W150]

There was a short bed Club Cab 4x4 for sale in Tucson about three weeks ago. It did not get the starting bid of $1,200. It is a 360 with automatic and a/c. Maybe it will be relisted.

[horace]

Short clubs were W150 only

[79w200]

Tucson's not too far from Vegas, I could get there and back in a day. I've still got about 2 months before I get going on this project though, I'm almost done rebuilding a mk2 Jetta for a commuter car. That way I can afford to take the truck on weekend trips, which I like to do alot. Any chance I have to get out of this **** hole they try to call a vacation paradise....I've been checking on Craigslist in pretty much the whole western U.S. and I was really surprised to see how many crew cabs are still out there. It might work better for me to save my money and hold out for the right truck instead of dumping money and work into something that will become really nice, but it'll never be the truck I want. I've already done that with half a dozen old trucks over the past dozen years. An old timer once told me that one of the definitions of insanity is when you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result...