Page 21 - Issue 45

The cab of the Dodge is welded
18x21 Cockroach.indd
to the fl oor of the Toyota. Due
to the restrictions caused by this
amalgamation of such dissimilar
vehicles, Jerome had to relocate
the clutch pedal. It’s now operated
by a hand lever. “The transmission is
all synchronized, so I only really use
the clutch to get going. After that, I
just rev match to shift. Heavy traffi c
kind of sucks, though.” It sounds
gimmicky, but just like everything
else on the truck, everything was
done for a specifi c reason – not
just to be frivolous.
The 22RE motor eventually
blew a head gasket and forced a
rebuild. Jerome made a couple
of tweaks, most notably shaving
the head. She now lays down
about 150 horsepower. And with
the VW stinger exhaust, she
sounds pretty darned good. But
more importantly to Jerome,
it gets about 21 MPG. “I won’t
build anything unless it gets
at least 20 MPG. Drivability is
more important to me than
horsepower,” says Jerome.
He calls his truck ‘The
Cockroach’, for a couple of reasons.
Not only does it look like one, but
also because nothing will kill this
thing. Not sitting for 50+ years, not
a huge bump in scrap prices, and
not even a blown head gasket.
Special thanks are in order for
Josh Bebe who did the fab work
on the four-link rear end, Brian
Newcomer for sorting out the
wiring, the remaining members
of the Characters mini truck
club from back in the day, his
current club, Time to Shine, Dad
for letting him do all this stuff at
his house, and Kyle Dowd for the
original inspiration.
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21 8/1/17 7:37 PM