crazzywolfie's 81 ram

[rjtx667]

oh you let the magic out of it huh? 

its hard to get the magic smoke back in once its been let out.

[crazzywolfie]

lol. that what people keep telling me and i think they might be right. i haven't had a chance to take things apart and inspect it yet.

[crazzywolfie]

the rebuilt and painted carb. also painted a bit of the intake. Chrysler corp blue

[SixGun]

That looks real nice.

[crazzywolfie]

thanks. i really need to take the valve covers off again to give them some fresh paint. i also really want to make the intake look better but to do that i really need to take it off but my dad say he has a 340 high rise intake manifold sitting in his cuboard. i really need to pull it out and check the numbers and take a look at it. may just be better to clean it and put it on but first i really need to build a sand blasting cabinet so i can clean things without wasting so much sand.

[crazzywolfie]

been a bit busy working on the truck lately. got the exhaust off. sand blasted and patched up the pin holes in the y-pipe and then paint it and it is looking good. i was also about to take the manifolds off and was quite surprised to find all the bolts loose and some had started working there way out. only thing really holding it on was the nuts on the studs.
before

after some sandblasting

after some paint

i also took some video of it with the y pipe off since i had to move it to make room to work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBi7KKQp_gA

[crazzywolfie]

got my exhaust manifolds painted and i'm pretty happy with the way things are turning out so far.
before

after a bit of light sandblasting some of the old paint was revealed

i didn't get any picture after sandblasting because i forgot but got some after paint

i also figure since i am cleaning up under the hood i might as well go after cleaning and painting the engine a bit so these pictures can serve as before pictures.

[crazzywolfie]

been kind of busy working on my ram over the last couple of day when the weather would allow and it is starting to pay off.
replace  some old fuel line. about 1/2 the old fuel line was pretty rotten looking and i think it might have been allowing air to be sucked in somewhere.

after pressure washing. i built some exhaust port covers to cover the exhaust  ports when i pressure washed things.


then after a bit of paint.

i also started bolting the manifolds back on so i could fire it up and kind of bake the paint on a tiny bit. it would also allow me to back the truck up without being too loud  . hoping to get the y pipe back on followed by the rest of the exhaust so that i can drive it

[SixGun]

That looks a lot better.  I need to get me some of those blue spark plugs too.   

[crazzywolfie]

lol. thanks. i was pretty impatient and didn't want to swap plugs with some garbage ones. i plan on getting some new plugs soon anyway so i didn't worry about it too much. i just want to get the truck up and running again.

[SixGun]

Just joshing, I painted mine too when I did my motor. I only masked the tips.

[crazzywolfie]

ya. the truck still runs pretty good with the painted plugs but i got a small exhaust leak somewhere because i was impatient. you can't hear the leak when i am idling but you can hear it when i stomp on the gas.

i also got some video footage of it after i got the y-pipe re-installed. i can't lie. it sounds good but i do kind of like it silent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__vRPQHKhQs

[crazzywolfie]

i been doing a bit of work on my 81 in the last bit. seem to have got some issues sorted out. i think the 390cfm holley carb was fine but i was having issues with the base plate gasket. i used a different base plate gasket when i re installed it and so far so good. seems to be running pretty good but still need to find tune it. also installed the 100 amp alternator finally but still having a bit of an issue there. not sure if i am having an issue with the alternator itself or things are just not line up properly. i know i should have 2 belts on it but can only get 1 belt on it because the power steering belt is the next one over. i think i also got to shim the alternator a bit more to get the pulley to line up. i get the occasional belt slippage when cold. also installed and hooked up a electric fan controller so that my fans turn on and off automatically. they kick on at 210*F and kick off less than a minute later when things hit 200*F.

now onto my newest project got a overhead console out of a 96 jeep grand Cherokee. not quite sure how i am going to make things work. seems like i might have to take the body control module out of the jeep to make the overhead console to work. the only thing on the overhead console that works with out the BCM is the compass and lights which means no temp. the temp sensor hooks up to the BCM and that hooks up to the overhead console. if i had to buy all these parts at a junkyard i wouldn't even attempt to make this work but i am luckily getting the parts for free from my brother in laws friend. my BIL does work for his friend occasionally and worked it out so that i can take whatever parts i want off of it before he sends it to the scrap yard. plan on taking a  lot of the interchangeable parts like alternator, ignition switch/locks, throttle body and maybe a few other miscellaneous things. been kind of eyeing up the leather back seat. might work good in the ramcharger.

[The War Wagon]

That should be fun!  I saw an RC once, where someone had taken the LONG overhead console out of a Dodge Caravan, and wired it into their roof.  Would LOVE to do that with mine, since my wife has an '08 Caravan STX, with the overhead console with all the goodies (I wonder is she'd MISS it?  Hmmmmmm!  ).

DO post findings and results... while I keep thinking about stealing appropriating my wife's console... 

[crazzywolfie]

lol. i think trying to use one out of a newer caravan would be very hard just because of how high tech they are.

would this be the overhead console picture you saw that was installed in a ramcharger? if so i used one out of a 93 jeep Cherokee but i have heard one out of a caravan would fit better. it is just difficult to find parts for older vehicles.