Ok so a week ago I went to look at a mid 80's 4x4 250 "power ram". Has a 360 in it. It was dark out so I didn't get a serious look, but I had a flashlight and here's what I found:

Manifold(s) leak bad. Of course I heard this before I saw it...
Frame is rusty, but not too shot. Of course, I'd have to see it in daylight to make that call.
Rockers & floor pans are gone, Some rust in the bed. Floor pans have had thick gauge steel put over them. Not an ideal solution, but at least no one's feet are going through it.
All the electrical works, 4x works, seems to shift ok but here's my main questions:

Thing has NO power, or at least it doesn't feel very powerful. The carb is gone, that I'm sure of. When you start her up she idles real low and will stall if you don't feather the gas. If you're driving her, and punch the gas, there isn't much acceleration. Could this be only the carb, or could the engine itself have major issues? What do you think my chances of solving the bulk of the power issues are if I replace the plugs/wires/dist cap & carb?

The brake light is on & moving at above 15 produced a lot of vibrations in the seat of my pants. It occured to me that perhaps the e-brakes are stuck as has happened on all of the 4 dodge trucks I've owned once they got rusty back there. Those cables blow.

Also has some of the worst dodge steering wheel wobble I've ever seen.

I have an '86 d150 with a really beautiful body & frame, but a really awful 318 that's near blown. So the question is, for $500, should I avoid the power ram and put my money into the d150, or buy the power ram and combine them (say the body from the d150 onto the 250), or some variation of?

I really need a decent truck; nothing pretty, but pretty reliable. I don't have the credit/funds to spend $4000 on a solid one, or go to a stealership. So I have to be resourceful.

How much would it cost to replace the engine on the d150 with *anything* that'd mount right up?

 

Uh, sounds like it's ready for the junkyard lol

I swapped my 88 D100 body onto a 84 D250 chassis. It was a NIGHTMARE. Nothing matched up, wiring was different... bed mounts different, dash harness different... ugh

Sounds like the carb is no good or needs a rebuild. It IS a Holley lol... could be timing too.

Getting another LA motor (pre Magnum) for the D150 would be cheap and easy. Tons of 318's and 360's on Craigslist for cheap.

 

It won't hurt to look at it again unless you are far away. I would not pay the full amount

 

If the owner will let you run a compression test, that will tell you the condition of the engine. The rest of the power train sounds OK. I would check out that steering wheel wobble as that can get expensive to fix real quick. If the engine checks OK and you can figure out the wobble combining the 2 trucks sounds like the cheapest way to go.

 

i got a whole b250 with a 318+727 trans for $100. i think your d150 might be an easier fix but the power ram would be funner. the 360 might just need a carb cleaning/rebuild and the timing adjusted.