Welcome back Carter

[rjtx667]

I gave you all the brackets and even the steering pump, A/C, and Alt.

I can't remember on the smog pump I think I had already taken it off, but I might have given it to ya I don't really recall.

[SixGun]

Found it.  Time for a little bracket musical chairs. 

[crazzywolfie]

that is good to hear. good thing you are getting this done before added coolant to the engine.

[SixGun]

Switched PS brackets today.  Plugged the back of the exh manifolds also.  Airtubes and air pump deleted.

I climbed inside the engine bay to look at the converter and noticed markings on top of the tranny. It was rebuilt in '06. The converter was painted blue so it must be a rebuilt one. I need to get a deep pan kit still.

[The War Wagon]

I need to get a deep pan kit still.

Been veddy, veddy, good to me! 

[SixGun]

100* today which was great for painting but phew it wears you out. I think I drank a gallon of tea.  I even got stung in my armpit by a bee.  Lil bastards. 

Anyways, motor is in and engine bay cleaned.  Paint is still good so I left it alone.  Those Mopar Performance valve covers take special deep grommets and it was missing the breather. Those came in yesterday. I still need to grind the popout hole for the pcv valve.

The front suspension and steering looks rough so I ordered replacements from Rockauto.

[crazzywolfie]

looking good

[rjtx667]

Dang your moving right along there!

[SixGun]

Helps when you have everything already on the truck. Dont have to do a Ramcharger easter egg hunt.   

[ProjectPW]

Helps when you have everything already on the truck. Dont have to do a Ramcharger easter egg hunt.   

Hmmmmm..... I know what you mean ..... we call it musical dodge parts  How many trucks does it take to build one?!....

[ernestgonzales78@gmail.com]

Hey it only took two motors. Lol

[SixGun]

Went to pick up the radiator today that I took in to get cleaned up and repaired. It was sprinkling on the way back and I saw a guy stopped at a light in a Tuner car. He had a long handled squeegee and was reaching out the drivers window doing the windshield.  The wife and I just burst out laughing at the same time. 

It reminded me of a 74 Charger that I wanted to buy from one of my teachers at my high school.  He was a real innovator. He had some string attached to the wipers running through the inside of the car since the wipers didn't work.

[SixGun]

Been struggling with brackets, "Damn Dodge brackets" as Ernest would say over and over when we were putting the motor together. Heck, he even had me saying it too.  I take pictures of everything as I tear it apart.  Ernest is of the throw it all in one pile and figure it out later school of thought.  Like a puzzle with no picture to go by.    Took some time but we finally put it together .... or did we???    Alternator bracket didn't fit right causing it not to pivot correctly and AC bracket was a hair off interfering with the Alt belts.  Switched some washers around and "unbent" the Alt bracket.  Seems to work now - I hope.  I had switched the power steering bracket for the newer model as recommended.  Thought I could get away with just the front large bracket with the adjustment slot but apparently also need the back bracket that it pivots on too.  Pivots on lower bolt instead of upper bolt is why.  Everything needed was stolen from the V6 motor. Thanks Ryan for the idear.  If I ever use that motor again and some day I plan to, it will be HELL all over.  I have stolen so much from it LOL.  Ernest's parts washer in College Station, 3 hours away, apparently ate some misc bolts like a dryer eats socks.     So guess where I got those bolts from.   

Switching up the cooling a bit.  Of course, the radiator was gone through and checked/ cleaned/ repaired by a radiator shop.  Good insurance as Ernest frequently says.  This motor had a 6 blade flex fan and spacer. I had picked up a D250 7 blade fan at the JY some time back. Planned to use it for the 383 but plans changed.  Using it on this one with a new HD fan clutch.  Spins at 70-80% as opposed to 60-70% for stock.  Leaving the electric fans for now.  Switched to a 180* t-stat also.  Seems like overkill right now.

The extra mini starter I picked up some time back will go on this motor also.

The more I look at the front end as I climb under the truck, I see that I really need to rebuild it.  Ball joints and control arm bushings all came in but the steering will need to be replaced/ rebuilt also.  The PO was not afraid to grease everything but as I cleaned the extra goo off, I can see blown seals.  If I'm gonna replace a couple of pieces, I might as well do them all. Prices on RockAuto are great and make it a no brainer to do it all.  Mat, thanks for  introducing me to that site.

[crazzywolfie]

lol. if i was in your situation i would have probably just robbed all the brackets off the v6 and just swapped them onto the v8. then that way you could upgrading to a 120amp alternator in the future and it would be a straight bolt on upgrade once you got the denso alt brackets on it.

i am pretty sure you would have stumbled upon rockauto eventually. it is pretty popular accross the web and once you understand the shipping icon system you can sometime save a whole lot of money on shipping.

[SixGun]

Actually picked up items for all three trucks but the heck, I'll post it here.  There's a guy parting out a 79 RC.  I picked up a roll bar for Carter, visor for the D150, and a Bosch 100 amp alt for the 76 RC. I know Carter is a 2X but he wanted one, the price was right and so was the color. Whaddaya know, the visor is the right color also. 

Those alts (Bosch AL528X) go for $100 reman. Paid $25.