1982 Ramcharger

[SixGun]

Are you just replacing the bushings or putting a body lift? 

Anything in particular you have a concern about?

Pretty simple, apply penetrating fluid - loosen - jack it up -replace - lower - loosely tighten. Repeat until all are done. Then, adjust body and torque it down. Dont forget the loctite. Hopefully, you wont break a bolt like i did. Then it becomes a major pita.

Good luck!   

[ProjectM880]

Will Does your rig still have a  welded rear end? Are you planning to drive on the road with it?

Good job on the progress 

[taz_man440]

Richard, this is the new body.. Hasn't been bolted down yet... I have new poly bushings & a 3" body lift going on  at the same time.. Figured why do this twice...

[taz_man440]

Eric, yes, this still has the welded rear.. Figured I would replace after I found how much abuse this oddball rearend could take.

Here is what the pile of bushings & body lift looks like..  Gonna be interesting...

[SixGun]

Hmmmm..a jigsaw puzzle. 

[ProjectM880]

Hmmmm..a jigsaw puzzle. 

The Chaos that is Dodge

[taz_man440]

Well, it took a lil figuring but I got the new Body bushings & 3" body lift done.  Still have to drop radiator down 3" and tackle the wiring issue..    Anybody know if the wiring changed much between 82 & 87?  I might try to see if I can just plug the engine / engine bay wiring directly into the firewall mount.. You know where the 2 halves of the harnesses meet...

[ProjectM880]

That Ramcharger Is looking Sweet! 

No clue on if the wiring has changed or not. But I would think its pretty close to the same. Was it in 88 when they went to TBI?

[taz_man440]

Seems like it... But this thing has original 87 engine wiring, with a few hacks here & there... The body is now a 82 wiring, & i have the other half of the 87 in body wiring with fuse box and another 86 fuse box with some cab wiring.   so this should be fun...

[crazzywolfie]

i think as far as the wiring goes you got to choose one or the other. the bulkhead connector and a few of the electrical connectors are the only thing that changed between 82 and 87. i think 85 was the year they changed from a 40 terminal bulkhead connector to a 50 terminal bulkhead connector.

[taz_man440]

Well the dash was retrofitted with manual gauges, so that shouldn't be hard to figure out.. Need oil pressure line kit, then Ignition is easy, I'm using a MSD box.. I went through & pulled all old wiring off engine, strung out the existing wiring & cut out the a/c connections.. (no plans for it) then figured out the cab has no wiring for the alternator. PO had installed a Magnum, then removed so I've got to do some patching in for the voltage regulator.  Other than that the difference in connections for the brake, tail, blinkers & gas gauge are different so i'm gonna have to trace & splice to make em work...  Also can't find my old book with schematics...  Guess im gonna have to visit RCC for those..

[crazzywolfie]

the voltage regulator should be easy to wire in. you just feed it power from the same ignition power wire that you will use to power the MSD box.

[taz_man440]

Ok.. So it has 2 wires from alternator +1 lg main (to battery).  is it gonna matter which small wire from alternator to VR ties into ignition? where does the other wire from alternator go?  I do have 2 VR harnesses i can source wires from..

[crazzywolfie]

the one wire on the voltage regulator needs to be positive. this picture might help you understand how to wire it. the terminal labeled I needs to be positive like the picture shows. it don't really matter how you hook them up to the alternator.

[taz_man440]

Thanks a bunch... Got the oil pressure & water temp hooked up so I can test crank...  That way I can make sure the ignition wires don't loos power while cranking.   Looking better. Thanks for all the help!!