2 CENTS AND 5 CENTS OPINIONS WANTED :)

[SOTVEN]

AFTER OWNING AND USING MY M37 FOR 10 YEARS, I HAVE FINALLY DECIDED HOW TO MODIFY IT, SO I CAN BE USING IT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE AS A DAILY DRIVER WHEN I WILL GO BACK TO GREECE.

ENGINE. DODGE 360 V8 CARBURATED. I KNOW INJECTED IS BETTER, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IT SIMPLE AND NOT TO INVOLVE ANY COMPUTERS TO IT.

TRANSMISSION. NV4500 MANUAL 5 SPEED WITH .73 OVERDRIVE, AND 6.7 FIRST AND REVERSE. QUESTION, IS THERE A PTO FOR THIS TRANNY TO OPPERATE THE BRADEN WINCH?

TRANSFER CASE. THE EXISTING ONE. I WILL KEEP THE AXLES, SO THE OFFSET TRANSFER CASE WILL DO. ALSO THE HI-LOW RATIOS ARE FINE

BRAKES. DISCS ALL AROUND. TIRED OF ADJUSTING DRUMS

DIFF RATIOS. CONVERT TO 4.89. I NEED A BIT OF ACCELERATION ON THE HIGHWAY

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM. 12V FOR EASE OF FINDING FROM BULBS TO ACCESSORIES.

TIRES. MICHELIN 11X16 ON BUDD RIMS. (PERHAPS DUALLY CONFIGURATION WITH BOTH RIM CENTERS OFFSETED??) ALSO DOES THE 11X16 TIRE FIT ON THE SPARE MOUNT ON THE DOOR? DOES ANYONE KNOW/

ANOTHER MODIFICATION IS I WILL CONVER THE WINDSHIELD TO A SINGLE PIECE, AS OPPOSED TO A TWEO PIECE THAT IS NOW.

COLOR, DIRTY-WHITE, OVER OLIVE DRAB CHASSIS, GRILL,BUMPERS, RIMMS, WINDSHIELD,ETC, BOTH COLORS NON-GLOSS POWDERCOATING.

ANY IDEAS, OPINIONS, EXPERIENCES WELCOME. THANK YOU ALL

[W_A_Watson_II]

Sounds good. What top speed are you looking for? with the overdrive, differential ratio, and tires, you will be able to exceed what I would consider safe speeds in an M with the stock steering and geometry. I've rune 60'ish in mine, and that is about the fastest I'll run for any distance. I can hit 70+ if I need it, but it gets squarely above 65.

You might consider swapping out the stock T-Case for a daily driver or at least add an oil pump and cooler to it. there is a way to convert I believe it's a NP205 to the NP200's yokes and still run an offset rear differential.

As for the winch, and PTO, Sorry I can't help on that.

God Bless,
Will

[SOTVEN]

HELLO WILL. WITH THE CURRENT STOCK SETUP, I HAVE EXCEEDED THE 60MPH MARK ON THE DASH BY A QUARTER INCH ON THE HIGHWAY A FEW TIMES. THIS WITH NO TENT AND THE WINDSHIELD FOLDED. I AGREE WITH YOU THAT THIS IS NOT A DESIRED PRACTICE. THE TOP SPEED THAT I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN IS 50 TO 55 MPH, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO GET TO THAT SPEED IN SECONDS RATHER THAN MINUTES. ALSO ACCELERATING WHILE MOVING IS IMPORTANT, SAY FROM 40 TO ASCENT TO 50 MPH IN LITTLE TIME. FINNALY, WHERE I COME FROM, WE HAVE LOTS OF MOUNTAINS, SO DRIVING LONG UPHILLS IS AN ISSUE WITH THE 230 AND THE STOCK SETUP IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ANY DECENT SPEED. AND SINCE IT IS A PICKUP TRUCK, AT TIMES WHEN IT IS LOADED WITH STUFF, THEN THE DECREASE IN POWER IS EVEN MORE OBVIOUS. AS FOR THE TRANSFER CASE, MY LONGEST DRIVING USUALLY DOES NOT EXCEED 2 HOURS AT A TIME. SO I GUESS IT WOULD BE FINE, AS IT HAS BEEN.

[SOTVEN]

WILL, ARE YOU RUNNING THE M37 STOCK TRANNY AND TRANSFER CASE BEHIND THAT 318?

[W_A_Watson_II]

Sotven,

With the 6.7 first and 11/x16's (and not the 4.89's) you would match my 1st gear set up in my M pretty close (6.68 and 39.5x13.50-17LT tires). The V-8 with this set up will get up and go, as a matter of fact, I rarely ever use 1st when on the road driving, and use 1st primarily for off-road. I'm sure if I tried I could break axles quite often on the highway, I know I've "burned rubber" once while taking off from a friends shop.

I've uploaded a chart (below) that will be close to your gearing/tire set up for comparison to mine at: http://m37.wawii.com/images/MyM37SpeedChart.gif

[W_A_Watson_II]

WILL, ARE YOU RUNNING THE M37 STOCK TRANNY AND TRANSFER CASE BEHIND THAT 318?

I'm running a Granny 1st NP435, and yes the stock Transfercase: http://m37.wawii.com/

[SOTVEN]

HELLO WILL, THANK YOU FOR THE DATA UPLOAD. I DID NOT HAVE TIME THROUGH THE WEEK TO CHECK THE FORUM AT ALL. I UNDERSTAND YOU RUN 5.83 DIFFS CORRECT? AND YES, I PRESUME YOU ARE RIGHT, THE NV4500 WOULD HAVE EQUIVELANT RESULTS WITH WHAT YOU HAVE THERE. TRUE, IF THE V8 IS PRESSED HARD WILL PROBABLY BRAKE THINGS. I HOWEVER AM VERY GENTLE WHEN DRIVING. ALL THIS TIME I HAD MY M I MANAGED NOT TO BRAKE ANYTHING, WITH TONS OF OFFROAD AND HEAVY LOADING WHEN CUTTING FIREWOOD OR GONE HUNTING. I BELIEVE YOU 100% WHEN YOU SAY THAT YOU BURNED RUBBER WITH THIS SETUP. YET MY DESIRE WOULD NOT BE TO BUILT A TRUCK THAT BURNS TIRES, NOR SOMETHING THAT CRUISES AT 80MPH. I WANT SOMETHING THAT CAN CRUISE AT 55 MPH AT REASONABLE RPM, AND GO FROM 40 MPH TO 60 IF NEEDED IN A FEW SECONDS. ALSO WHERE I LIVE IN GREECE, DUE TO THE MOUNTAINS WE HAVE LOTS OF 8% AND 10% UPHILLS, AND THOSE REALLY FORCE MY CURRENT SETUP "DRAG ITS FEET." I THINK THAT THE SETUP I HAVE IN MIND WILL CURE MY PROBLEMS. AS FOR THE 4.89S MY ONLY INTEREST IN THEM IS TO LOWER THE CRUISING RPM A BIT MORE. NOW THAT YOU PRESENTED THE DATA TABLES, YOU GAVE ME AN IDEA TO MAKE SOMETING SIMILAR IN THE EXCEL WITH MY IMAGINARY SETUP. THIS WOULD GIVE ME A ROUGH DIRECTION OF WHAT I AM DREAMING, AND PERHAPS I MIGHT NOT NEED THEM IN THE END. OH, I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT I INSTALLED POWER STEERING LONG TIME AGO, OTHERWISE YOU ARE RIGHT, THE ORIGINALL SETUP WOULD BE KINDA DANGEROUS AT HIGH SPEEDS. IS YOUR NP435 FOUR SPEED? SO I GOTHERED FROM YOUR TABLES, UNLESS YOU DID NOT INCLUDE THE FIFTH. ALSO, WHAT BRAKES DO YOU HAVE? STOCK? THANX FRIEND