crazzywolfie's 81 ram

[SixGun]

WOW .... 

[crazzywolfie]

ya. i have gone a bit relay crazy lately but once you start using them and seeing how much better things work you start using them everywhere.

[crazzywolfie]

well i think might be doing a bit of an upgrade tomorrow. been talking with PnishrPW over on dodge talk and i learned that denso alternator should bolt on in place of a 65amp alternator with about no modification. just have to adjust the lengths of the of the hollow tube spacer things on the pivoting bolt and shim the alternator to line up perfectly. should be no problem. only thing that sucks is i will only be upgrading to a 75amp denso that came off my 91 but i guess it will have to be a stepping stone to the denso 136amp alternator that i would eventually like to get. hopefully i will see about another 5 amps at idle. could really use them when i got the truck in reverse. really thinking about removing the 2 100w backup lights that are hiding under the bed and replacing them with the 55w ones i have. i can see just as much with the 55w lights as i can with the 100w lights.

also if you are looking for any 70's dodge ram parts you could try contacting PnishrPW on dodge talk he use to have a lot of NOS. don't know exactly what he has left but i think he may have a fair bit left.
http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348801

[crazzywolfie]

well i thought things were going pretty good until after i got the 75 amp alternator installed. i think it must have a bad bearing. the thing got as hot as my heater hoses in the maybe 5 minutes it was running and it seemed to whine a lot when put under load and you revved the engine. almost sound a bit like a supercharger. did seem to keep my voltage gauge steady. no fluttering around a bit when idling. so i guess i may be stuck with the 65amp alternator for a bit longer. think the 65 amp alternator may need to be rebuilt though. there seemed to be something about the way it would spin when i had it off that didn't seem right to me. i think whatever i was feeling may also be related to the voltage gauge fluttering.

now i did get around to swapping backup lights. i didn't quite like the look of the new lights and how you couldn't really adjust them but they seem to work good and put light where you would want it when backing up.

[rjtx667]

One trick I learned on magnum engines.. the like 96 and newer have a smaller alternator pulley... put that on and it spins faster and makes more power.

[crazzywolfie]

i wish i could get a smaller pulley but i think i am stuck using what i got. don't know if they make smaller v-belt pulleys. i know i don't want to downgrade to serpentine belts. i will definitely have to remember this for later. i think i could use a bit extra power for the ramcharger when idling.

[rjtx667]

downgrade? I don't see s belts as a downgrade

[crazzywolfie]

can't beat the reliability of a v belt. they almost last forever. s belts tend to stretch or the tension gets weak and you loose your belt and them belts are not very cheap. v belts at least tell you when they are getting loose and you can't beet the tensioner.

[crazzywolfie]

my new $67 stereo installed. for how cheap it was it sounds pretty good. works a lot better than the old one. the tach would sometimes cause the old stereo to make funny noises that would go up and down with engine rpm on certain radio stations. i even think this new stereo get better reception on most channels. just have to modify my subwoofer box to make more room for the amp. just have to hope the 65 amp alternator will put up with the abuse. only going to be running one 150 watt subwoofer.

[crazzywolfie]

well so far the alternator has not had an issue powering the amp but then again i am no like most people who has the bass cranked up high. still haven't got the amp bolted down yet. it still just sits behind the seat loose.

so far it has been a pretty good week. scored a 390cfm holley for $50. bought a rebuilt battery for $57. then sold the 650cfm double pumper carb that was on the 81 when i bought for $150. i have also spent a bit of time under the hood cleaning things up. electrical looks a lot better. it is amazing what a bit of split loom and electrical tape will do.

[SixGun]

Hey Mat, it looks like you need to get some more loom.  Get the big diameter loom for the larger bundles.  Consider using some thin black zip ties from a hardware store instead of electrical tape.  Make sure to do the single wires as well with some thin loom.  Seems wasteful but really improves the look.

Okay so now you have the before picture.  Post up the after pic when your done.  Good start  LOL 

[crazzywolfie]

well i think i still have about 20ft of 3/4" loom. it was on sale when i was at princess auto the other day. i don't think i am going to go too crazy with the stuff. i just wanted to clean up the wires by the rad support. they look so messy when they were sitting loose. thanks for the zip tie idea. that would look much nicer than electric tape.

the before picture is in post 1 or 11. this is more so the after picture.

[crazzywolfie]

i picked up a new power distribution center for my truck and installed it. my electric fans  are now hooked up to it. now i just hope i don't blow up this power distribution center like i did to the last one. i now also have an idea how many fuses and relays i am using.

[SixGun]

What killed the other one???

[crazzywolfie]

well i didn't kill the whole thing. i killed about half of it. a while ago i was trying to put the wipers on relays and i think i hooked something up wrong and a bit of smoke came out of the thing. now most of the stuff like the starter and headlight relays still worked but the relay i was using for the fan would not work.