If you look at how the older pick up beds were made with the wooden planks, they were not nearly as heavily framed as you are suggesting. I would build a 2 inch angle iron rectangle to frame the perimeter of the bed and then run the tubing crossways and mount my wood planking to that leveling the bed as required. Not much of an explanation but it would still be heavier than the bed that was on my 65 chevy.
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Only issue is I’d still need to stand it up off of the frame to account for the hump in the frame and suspension travel.
Edit:
One thing I can also do with the angle iron cross members and using the square tube is I can tie that in to the mounts for the gasifier and filter. If I can use 2" angle then I should be able to source them from Tractor Supply or Lowes.
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I’m guessing that you are going to make a 6 foot wide bed. Your widest span will be the 4 foot or so between the frame rails. Outboard tubing from the frame will be a foot. That’s nothing for that size tube but you could gusset them to the frame. The perimeter angle serves no real structural purpose other than to tie the cross members together. You have 2 foot drops from the tubing to adjust the frame to level the bed and frame for the gasifier barrels. Seems easy peasy to me.
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Yeah I’m making the bed as wide as it is now, just a little higher to account for the rear tires. It’s a stupid reason to do it, but I’m going that way because I already made that nice stainless cooler tree and I don’t want to cut and weld it again. Cooling rails will get attached to some 2x4 posts or stakes or whatever people call it when it’s on a flatbed.
I’m also probably going to keep the original bumper. It’s a hoopty wagon not a showstopper.
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Sounds like a good plan Cody, i overbuilt mine but its what i had available to me at the time. Just cost me some added wieght.
I dont even really remember my thought proccess when i built mine but i know i sloped the bed 1-1.5" to the rear. Thinking it had something to do with allowing me to run 2" pipe between frame and bed. Used original bumper.
I will admit im not a huge fan of the side profile of my dakota. Im not really likeing the look of the bed sloping back the way it does. I didnt want a huge step to get up on the bed and that part is nice…but i think it would have looked beter if i would have raised the bed evenly and kept the bed flat.
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Got the Holley 94 giving a good clean idle. It’s at least somewhere in the ballpark I can tune it at. The super rich idle was because I don’t have enough air mixing in past the throttle blades and I had to leave them further open. This was totally bypassing the idle circuit and sucking straight from the main jet.
I decided to try having the throttle body just barely open. Teeny tiny bit. I now have a healthy 500rpm idle, and my idle adjustment needles are 1.5 turns out. I basically have a controlled air leak. I think this is an absolute win because now I can have it start pulling on the gasifier from the get go.
I also moved my accelerator pump to the “rich” position to pick up for the stumble and it’s got a snappy throttle response now. I would call this road safe for evasive maneuvers.
I may eventually add another vacuum line and use a needle valve for an air bleed.
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Now you won’t have to roll down the window to show which is the longest finger on your left hand like @Woodrunner does. 
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I could just put a Cow Pusher on the front and call it a day. I already use the front bumper as a step ladder to climb into the engine bay. I’m sure it could shrug off a minivan or a BMW sedan.
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Got my air cleaner hat. Just barely clears the hood. I’m so glad. I hope this little filter doesn’t choke down the engine much more. I still need to do a driving test.
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Drove the truck around today. It runs pretty well considering the carburetor is intended for an engine half it’s size. I put the resonator on, though I haven’t completed my exhaust all the way to the end. I think sound will improve when I do that.
You really have to step on the gas to get out of a stop. I’ve got it tuned just enough that it won’t stumble when I floor it.
I had to use two return springs on the carburetor because it’s a little stiff and doesn’t want to return to my set idle. There’s no accidentally anything with that gas pedal.
Once I get the O2 sensor installed I’ll have a better idea of what ballpark I’m in.
Truck was about half empty so I decided to fill up with some Premium, she’s earned some high detergent gasoline.
I still need to keep an eye on my mileage and see how the fuel economy is. I wrote down my current mileage when I filled up. Fuel gauge is a little unreliable but I think it’s coming around now that I’ve gone through a couple fill-up cycles with it.
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IT will be interesting to see what kind of mpg you might be able to get with the one barrow carb on it, i think my dad had one on one of his good olds chevy trucks years ago, though i dont remember the MPG.
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Kevin I’m not sure what my mpg will be. Hopefully it will be decent. Might get lucky and have about 15-20 MPG.
Did a short driving video. Sadly it’s still on Dino but at least it’s some efficient Dino.
Edit: I tell you what with this 17" steering wheel and the power steering, I could probably steer with a broken pinky.
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Got the wideband put in. Truck likes to idle at a roughly 13-1 ratio. When I’m actually driving it’s running in the low 14s. I’ll take that all day. What’s odd is I’m getting the random pops that are known for a lean condition. I’m using a genuine Bosch sensor not the generic one included in the kit. I have my sensor at the end of the Y pipe so that’s roughly 20 or so inches away from the end of the manifolds.
I’ll make a video real quick driving from my Dad’s house. I tried leaning out the needles and advancing the timing but I think I started hearing a little knock when I put it in gear.
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I’m reading that 12:1 isn’t too rich for the sensor and shouldn’t damage it. I might just enrich the mixture some more and deal with it. I’m glad the stock jets are cruising at stoich though.
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The ideal mixture on the older stuff was always 14.7-1
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It just doesn’t seem to idle smooth when I get it there.
When I’m at speed it’s in that range no problem.
Maybe I need to clean my spark plugs, could be fouled and isn’t giving a good spark at stoich. They’re only a year old so I shouldn’t need to replace them. I have a new module in the HEI and new plug wires as well.
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Cody the GM V-8’s (like all V-8’s) have a problem with cylinder to cylinder mixture distribution when from a single barrel.
Why they mostly all factory converted over to two barrel carburetors with each barrel only mostly feeding only one side four cylinders.
Read up and when changed over to throttle body fuel injection they still went with a two injectors, split feeding systems.
Maybe read back how Edlebrock for thier street performer and towing intakes had one rear cylinder fed with “Z’ed” legged cylinder feed. They said this was to even out a single cylinders bad mixture feeding. Crank shaft type and selected firing orders creates this problem.
Long inline engines were worse for over-leaning out the outside end cylinders. Or over-rich feeding the center two cylinders.
You have to accept good-enough when single point carburating these.
Regards
Steve Unruh
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This is a two barrel. But it could be an issue using this adapter in the 2 Plane Quadrajet intake. Goes from open to 2 Planes with a big gap. I have the Holley 94 sitting right directly above the intake openings so it’s a straight shot down.
I’m okay with a rich idle, I was mostly concerned with cruising and acceleration. Now that I know it isn’t rich when at speed I’m alright.
It could also be that I need to ground the gauge to the engine. I’m not sure if the ground I connected to is body ground or engine ground, I just found some black wires and twisted it in for testing. Positive is connected to Ignition on the fuse panel.
I also need to check my ignition timing and see where my advance is at. Now that I removed the AC Compressor I should get a better view of the harmonic balancer.
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The ratio Al quoted is optimal for power and economy from a given amount of fuel but also high cylinder temp. A few ticks higher and you risk engine damage. I’d rather stay in the high 13’s. As SteveU explained, not all cylinders are operating at the same ratio or heat range so better run richer to make sure those outside cylinders are in a safe range even if the ones closest to the carb are slightly overfed. Main reason why carb spacers and tunnel rams work better is the gas has more time to intermingle and even out distribution. I’m a fan of good enough now that I’m in my dotage.
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I’ve never driven a dotage. Is that a Ford product, or GM? 
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