mopar-project

1973 Dodge B300 Maxivan

1973 Dodge B300 Maxivan
Originale B300-Variante
3,5 to. trailer hitch
original sticker
new old beast of burden

We were somewhat limited with our possibilities for vehicle transports lately, since our existing towing vehicle is subject to both the Sunday driving ban and the German driving time regulation for trucks - for the flexibility and possible appointments with our customers not always a good thing!

Besides, an old van is just great. And contrary to the typical VW bus oldtimer, such a Dodge van has a lot more space, fat V8 sound and enough torque to fulfill all its tasks properly.

After some searching we were able to find a van in the USA that met our requirements.
Not only does it have the highest load capacity, it also has the fattest axles, springs and brakes. And the longest cargo space!
Nevertheless, it is compact: no longer than a 1968 Dodge Charger, the turning circle small enough to turn around on a narrow road.

the state of affairs
chassis

Springs and dampers in the front and rear had to be replaced anyway, and we immediately took the opportunity to install the fattest versions in each case. All body bushings were changed to polyurethane, which are firmer and last forever, unlike rubber bushings. For the front axle we are currently looking for a suitable rod, the rear is still to get new, which comes then also still pure.

With the rims and tires, we also encountered a problem rarely seen before. Beautiful classic aluminum rims with a diameter of 16.5" were installed. On them even new tires - unfortunately, however, these tires were much too narrow for the rims. Furthermore, the tire size 16.5 "surprisingly no longer exists. Finally we decided to use the 17" aluminum rims from Mickey Thompson. There are also a number of options for this in the European tire trade, and so the van is now on proper socks. The whole thing finally drives as well as it looks after all that.

The B300 has larger brakes at the rear and front to easily decelerate the maximum permissible gross weight. To ensure that they function smoothly, the van was fitted with new front brake discs and pads, rear brake pads, all brake hoses, brake fluid and a new master cylinder.

interior

The interior also had to be given a helping hand, and the flokati, which was funny but also had various unfathomable and frightening traces of the decades, had to be removed. Everything was cleaned and noise and climate insulation was installed on the walls and roof.

In order to be able to carry passengers, of course, it also needs a bench seat, but this should not be at the expense of cargo space, so maximum storage space had to be combined with maximum seating capacity - with a removable bench seat. To fit the budget, a used Voyager bench seat was purchased cheaply at an auction and the seat bracket was installed by our coachbuilders. The bench seat can now be folded down and can even be moved back and forth.

body

The car is still in its original paint, but since we know more about cars than vans, we have overlooked a few van-typical rust spots before the purchase. This resulted in a few hours of welding that no one had expected, but which were 100% worth it because of the great substance. Since we did not trust the sealing of the 40+ year old skylights, we installed in the course of the same new skylights from a German manufacturer.

For one of the primary purposes, the van still needed a trailer hitch. He got that too, with matching socket and 3.5 to registered towing capacity.

The roof, the windshield frame and a few other areas have been painted after the repairs, of course in the original color. In addition, after proof of rain tightness, a cavity sealant is applied, so that the partly internally bare areas are not exposed to the risk of rust again. The rear floor is also insulated with Alubutyl, and finally an abrasion-resistant and water-resistant screen printing plate is installed as a loading area.

engine

At the same time we started to disassemble the engine. With our MPSP-11 aluminum cylinder heads and their larger 340/360 intake ports, as well as large stainless steel valves, we can expect quite a bit of extra power. To top it off, a sequential fuel injection system is installed for the mixture preparation. In contrast to the now often seen central injection systems on the throttle body, this represents the next development step in injection systems. Here, the fuel is injected directly into the air stream upstream of each intake valve. This has the advantage that injection only has to take place when the valve is actually open. The entire intake manifold is therefore dry, and no gasoline can settle on the walls at cold temperatures or low engine speeds. This results in better starting and response behavior and, above all, significantly lower fuel consumption, because the whole thing runs much more efficiently overall. Of course, this is accompanied by a matching camshaft. The installed 318 always ran smoothly with the original 2bbl carburetor, but we wanted to know what could be achieved with these modifications in terms of performance, fuel consumption and clean engine running in the lower revs or in the part-load range, because that's almost exclusively where the van will be on the road.