I found it.

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74Dusted

74Dusted

Stock Piler of 340's
Joined
Apr 11, 2011
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Location
Lewistown, PA
Well after digging for quite a while and moving a truck load of crap, I found my '83 Scamp GT. Right where I left it.....8 years ago.









The little 2.2L Turbo II AWD project cruck. Still runs, which was impressive considering how long it sat. Slapped a battery in it, poured some gas in the tank and after about 15 minutes of swearing at it (and pouring some oil down the fuel line to the fuel pump and smacking the carb a few times) it fired up and purred like a kitten.

Tried to back it outside, but it didn't want to move. Guess which idiot set the e-brake and left it on for 8 years? :eek:ops:

Tomorrow I plan on pulling the wheels and freeing up the brakes so I can drive it up to the shop. On the bright side, the stereo still works. I turned the key on and pretty much went deaf in my other ear as I got blasted with the Bad English cassette tape I left in the radio years ago. :D
 
I've always thought it was an unusual ride too, one that I couldn't pass up for the $50 it cost me way back when.

It may be an abortion on 4 wheels, but be damned if it isn't a rare and cool WTF vehicle :D Hence the reason its coming out of its grave, I plan on driving that little creature.

Years back I looked up the numbers for my car. They made roughly 1,200 of the Scamp GT's. Mine was 1 of 130 ordered with a 3-Speed Automatic. I forget the numbers for the Tonneau Cover option (mine had one, the hardware is still there but the cover is long gone), it also has the Tie Down/Cargo Rails option, Tinted Windows, Power Steering, Center Console, etc.

It was very well optioned, and was ordered new by the owner of the local Chrysler Dealership to use as a way to run around their lot. I bought it from the original owner.

Here's what it looked like in early 2006, right before I stuffed it into storage and forgot about it. Nothing has changed on it since then, except for a really thick layer of dirt, dust and cobwebs. The Fender and Fiberglass Nose Piece are still laying in the bed, along with all of the other parts for the little Cruck.




Yeah it is my own barn find, on my own property...that I put there and forgot about, lol :D


It's an L-Body platform. The front half is a Plymouth Turismo / Horizon, and the back half is apparently what you get when the engineers get drunk and make bets :D
 
very inspiring

I tried the same thing once but only found my car
 
cudavert said:
Turbo II with a carb?? Sounds really neat, AWD......is this a storage unit?
Click to expand...

It's a work in progress, I never finished the entire TII conversion. Did finish the AWD conversion a long time ago though. That was sweet, probably the best thing I ever did. One of these days I'd like to do a 2" Lift on it, get it up off the ground a little bit and squeeze some big wide tires under it.


Kinda a storage unit, its an old barn at the edge of my property, used to store car parts (and apparently a car you can forget about for years, lol)
 
MOBodyman said:
Please tell me more about the AWD conversion.
Dallas
Click to expand...

It's not much, just the Transfer Case/PTU and Rear Differential from an AWD Caravan and a shortened Driveshaft and later (1989) Omni CV Axles/Half Shafts.

The PTU bolts up to several other Chrysler FWD transmissions (auto and manual) I don't remember which ones though. I do remember you have to use the Carrier from the caravan trans in your trans with the ring gear from your trans. The PTU slides into the carrier and the regular FWD carrier won't match up with it.

It's easy to do on a Rampage/Scamp, since they're a scaled down version of a caravan in terms of suspension (Struts in the front, Solid axle with leaf springs in the rear) and have plenty of space once you relocate the exhaust. Omnis, Horizons, Chargers, etc are harder but can and have been converted to AWD too
 
i have the same problem at times ....

i left something and forgot about it .... but when i find it, im surprised and i remember something
 
I always wanted to build one of them, the pictures gave me flashbacks of when I unearthed my 74 scamp out of the garage after being put in for a simple engine bay clean up, funny how time gets away from you.
 
Man! Wish I knew about this when I had my 86 GLH Omni putting out around 300hp. That thing was a rocket ship and handled awsome. (far from stock obviously) Would have really been fun in AWD!

74Dusted said:
It's not much, just the Transfer Case/PTU and Rear Differential from an AWD Caravan and a shortened Driveshaft and later (1989) Omni CV Axles/Half Shafts.

The PTU bolts up to several other Chrysler FWD transmissions (auto and manual) I don't remember which ones though. I do remember you have to use the Carrier from the caravan trans in your trans with the ring gear from your trans. The PTU slides into the carrier and the regular FWD carrier won't match up with it.

It's easy to do on a Rampage/Scamp, since they're a scaled down version of a caravan in terms of suspension (Struts in the front, Solid axle with leaf springs in the rear) and have plenty of space once you relocate the exhaust. Omnis, Horizons, Chargers, etc are harder but can and have been converted to AWD too
Click to expand...
 
So, let me guess...the radio volume wasn't that bad when you parked it 8 years ago.
Funny how we view things as we get older.
Congrats on your "barn find"! Keep the pics coming as you progress with your build.
 
Pics will come within the next week or so (Expect a Resto Thread), Once I have one of the bays in the shop open to pull the cruck into.

Apparently that stone floor got really damp/wet under the car over the years, because it needs brake lines, fuel lines, and brake cables. I ended up cutting the e-brake cables off at the backing plates to free up the brakes, then placed an order for new cables.

Had some real nice "company" when I was laying under the car cutting those cables. I looked over and my nose was 4" from a snake skin, and beside that is what I assume to be a a raccoon skull :-? Needless to say I got out from under there in a hurry, I don't like snakes. Instead I hooked a chain to the rear axle and drug the car out with a Come-A-Long and then proceeded to free up the brakes outside :D

It runs, it drives, it has no brakes whatsoever :burnout: I'll clear off the road leading down to the car and tow it up to the shop, seems like to best way to keep from smacking up the body when there's no brakes.


Ocdart, I still play my radio at high volume levels. I was not expecting it though.... Total silence inside the car, stick the key in the ignition, pump the throttle and hit the key....followed by a guitar solo at full volume. :D
 
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