RamCharger.net

One more thing............... I went ahead and spent the $ for "Percys"  no leak exhaust manifold gaskets. They are aluminum, and a peculiar construction. Actually each gasket is two identically cut pieces of aluminum sheet, combined to construct the thickness of a regular gasket.  The mounting holes are relatively large, but that is due to them swedging the holes outward from one side, thus enlargening them. THAT is exactly what I didn't want as I mentioned that being part of the problem fitting regular gaskets.... the sag factor. To solve that I laid them on a nice straight and smoothe piece of wood and used a small headed hammer for bodywork and flattened the swedge out of the gaskets. By doing that the hole was reduced in size. With that done, I cinched both headers up and prayed. I hit the starter and fired it up and still with open headers, I had lost the 'pfffat, pfffat' leak sound I had before. Then hooking up my header glasspacks, it sounded like a healthy motor with no leaks and just the right tone.

For you with problem headers, Percys gaskets are likely the answer..... they were for me......

A couple of things you might want to know.... Headers generally leak .... and the reason usually is because ....... there is a stud on the front and rear of the head, the exhaust manifold studs, the rest are bolts that thread into the head through the header flange. If you set the gasket on the studs as most people do, their hanging too low. Their probably hanging an eigth or better too low on the port to the point you may only end up with a threads width of sealing surface. The cure.... to partially hold the gaskets in place with tape, like masking tape. The gaskets have a 'hook' on each end to catch the studs, but they shouldn't hang all the way down touching, they should be lifted and secured with '''tape' or contact cemented to the head, thus covering the port and header flange with the most material possible. "Percys" makes a gasket that is supposedly 'guaranteed' to seal, and is a bit, shall we say 'abundant' It's probably got more material around the port area to compensate for the hanging gasket syndrome.  The only problem I see here is the port matching.... there is probably gasket hanging inside the port area to a small degree. What other choices do you have? Well stock manifolds or AAR Cuda 340 cast iron manifolds which are $pendy ....about $800, and are similar to cast iron headers, and certainly would never leak....... or proper fittment of the headers you do pick. It's been said you should choose 'Coated' headers and I wholey recommend this for rust reasons. I also recommend Headman over Hookers. I have hookers, and where they dump, you have to get creative with the exhaust routing on the passenger side. I'm told the Headmans don't have this problem. You will likely have to juggle the headers and starter on the drivers side while installing, while the passenger side usually will drop in from the top. Remember the Auto Trans fill tube..... it needs a bit of bending to re-fit with headers now. On the small blocks which I am talking about, the plug wire routing is fairly straight forward with straight ends, but 'L' ends might pose difficulties. You will loose your heat riser to the air cleaner unless you fab up something or cop an after market piece, but other than that.... it's relatively a sound investment/fittment operation. You will need to have a lift or raise the RC considerably to get the drivers side header in. I'd say a lift is mandatory, it just depends on toyr tolerance to frustration pain and vocabulary...lol.

These are new.... and the prices are right....

http://www.blueovalranch.com/

Come on, you figured it would be an easy fix most likely, you offered him half. Now turn it around and your brother is selling the RC to someone offering him half.... same scenario, and a last minute better deal comes around or that guy who said he would give you $X if you ever wanted to sell it... bingo you get at least close to what you wanted... who's gonn'a turn it down ? RC's are a dime a dozen, most less than 2K, and are gas hogs and really not daily driver material.  My B250 Van gets better mileage..... So anyway, don't be too galled over it, but yea, a phone call would have been courtesy, but many don't want the confrontation and skip it..... natural, not nice, but natural. YOU'LL find something for your Bro, don't get hasty, it'll come around... it's spring you know, selling time....

I guess this is barely legal...

Takes a while to figure it out.

The collection ain't complete without one of these........

I'd go for that Bird. purist be damned, I think it's ummm...... um..... ,   I got nutt'in

A lot of Ramchargers come our way over time, with a lot really too far gone body wise for most skill levels to repair. Body work with a scoush of Bondo is one thing, replacing panels and floors quite another. So that makes for quite a lot of otherwise sound drive train RC's popping up for sale and getting cannibalized. With better or nice examples, all Good to Average going from $2,000 or so to $4-5,000. Some want 4X4 exclusively, and others (Like Me) search out 2X4 models as projects for Muscle Trucks. Mine is an 84 Prospector with the 318 and auto. After mods like a Birdbath hood and nice wheels, headers, manifold and such, it should be quite presentable, and fairly quick as 318's go. I have a 95 Jeep YJ for my 'real' 4X4 off road needs, and really, it is probably a better choice than a Behemoth RC, Blazer or Bronco because of it's small size and weight. Still, I'd like a 'Behemoth' RC, and probably a 70's pop-top version. They have their place, and one of them is frequent stops for fuel...lol.... How many of you would seek out a 2X4 RC...? That's where the Jeep shines sort of... 17-18 mpg, but the RC shines when it's raining for sure, provided you got the pop-top on, or have the one-piece later models. Or for Towing where the additional weight makes for a much better tow vehicle. And even a better dry environment for you audio buffs. We have to face the fact the RC's are a Dead Breed, no longer made, but that's not really such a bad thing for those of us keeping our existing RC's alive with donors. I'll admit, I always liked the Ramcharger over the Blazer or Bronco's, though K5's were cool, and the early Bronco's, the 60's and 70's versions a Prime find. But overall the Ramcharger, in my book had the best looks bar none. There's just something about a nice clean Mopar that stops crowds and admirers in their tracks. So for me, it's 99% of the time been Mopar products exclusively. Well Jeep's now Mopar sort of. I mean they own them and the 'Star' still graces the steering wheel center. Now, I just need that Viper motored Motorcycle they made a few years back to be complete.

But for now, my 2X4 is my project, one I'm eager to finish, to get on the road with, maybe even go cross country to Cali to visit friends and relatives for a couple weeks....(probably all I could take of Cali) before hightailing it back to North Carolina, my new, (since 06) home. Gott's keep buying a PowerBall every week, you never know, I might just start collecting Mopars then... 

'Rebel'  'Painless'  'Ez' are the popular ones, and in reading past posts here and there, the 'EZ' was favored. And had somewhat good 1-800 tech help.

I think you were sort of asking about locating complete replacement harness's...... well 'Painless' don't exactly have one, it needs modifications, and there is precious little tech help on the 1-800 line. There was another one on Ebay like the painless job, but different brand. The brand name don't come to mind just now, but it's quite popular as replacement harness's go. A lot of time the problem can be isolated to 'Grounds' and in the steering column. Or if a PO hacked up the under-dash stuff for a sound system. GROUNDS prevail as problem areas though, more often than not. Personally, I have to get in the 'Mode' to mess with electrical, and hate doing so. Most of us do...!

My Jeep seemed to be in that mode for a while. It started with a master/slave clutch cylinders going south and a replacement. Then a throwout bearing taking a dump causing a whole clutch kit to get installed. Still got a squeel on startup that I'm not certain of...... maybe a water pump, (got a new one from NAPA just in case) or it's the alternator. Could even be the idlers or power steering pump, fortunately I changed the idler and it made no difference, so I now have a spare as it were, the old one. Once I get the squeel corrected, it's on to the sound system. I need new speakers front and in the roll bar sound bar. Beyond that, I think I'm sound for a while.

The manifold bolts on a Magnum are vertical into the heads rather than at the 'V' angle of the heads ie. deck. There are manifolds with dual patterns. Drilling might be tough, there might not be 'Boss' material trying to modify an 'LA' manifold. Also watch for alternator and AC mounting in relationship to the thermostat housing, as most that work on RC's are offset to the drivers side of the motor, not the center. You need the offset for the AC to fit. Also the port matching might be important.

I see what your getting at, but I suppose PM's will just have to suffice for now.....