1957 Chevy 3100, meet 1994 Dodge Ram 1500

[Purcell69]

Yesterday, I finished removing the entire engine management harness and visually inspected every inch, except for unwrapping the T junctions. There were no defects or burnt wires and I was really scratching my head. Then I noticed a ten wire bundle running from the PDC to the rear of the truck. It was zip tied to another cable, so I cut the zip ties for a closer look. Low and behold, I finally found it!

Four of the ten wires in that run were either cut or compromised. Now it's time for solder and heat shrink.

-Joe

[lower50's]

Well that sucks, but at least you found it and everything points towards the same thing.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Well that sucks, but at least you found it and everything points towards the same thing.

The damage is now repaired. Tomorrow, I am going to install new convoluted sheath on the engine management harness and reinstall it. I'm still lacking the recall harness repair kit for the ignition switch, but that should be here by the end of the week or early next week. I think I can make it go without the recall parts, so we shall see.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

All of the harness sheath has been replaced now and the harness is reinstalled. The engine cranks via the ignition switch and the fuel pump is pumping. The engine occasionally tries to catch while cranking and will fire off with fuel down the throttle body. I suspect the injectors may be frozen after sitting for years with no fuel in the system before I bought the donor truck. I'm going to let them soak with fresh fuel in the rails overnight. If they don't free up, I'm going to pull them.

So close....

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Here's how I spent my morning. This was only the beginning.

I think my no-start issue my be stale gas in the fuel rails and maybe some clogged screens in the injectors. I can smell varnish when cranking, so tomorrow morning I'm going to pull the rails and injectors to clean everything out.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

It's alive!

https://youtu.be/mTPykrRnJ68

-Joe

[joedoh]

wooooo! nice work!

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by Purcell69

It's alive!

https://youtu.be/mTPykrRnJ68

-Joe

Sounds sweet. Who needs an exhaust

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by gigamanx

Sounds sweet. Who needs an exhaust

That's straight from the cat. I'm thinking I may just add some exhaust pipe behind the cat and call it good. I like the sound.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by joedoh

wooooo! nice work!

Thanks! I'm thrilled that it's running now. I still have a long way to go, but at least I know it runs now. One big step down!

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

Way to go Joe!

[Kim57]

Sounds great.
Kim

[lower50's]

Woo Hoo!! Great motivator having it run. My dad had a '82 chev short box. 350, long tube headers, cats and tail pipes drove for years like that sounded great.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Woo Hoo!! Great motivator having it run. My dad had a '82 chev short box. 350, long tube headers, cats and tail pipes drove for years like that sounded great.

Headers will be in the future, but right now it's just the stock cast manifolds, running two into one, through the cat and out to one foot of 2.5" pipe behind the cat. The exit is under the cab, so it would be a bit much to listen to on the highway for any length of time. I think I may go to a two outlet muffler, dumping ahead of the rear axle.

I also found out I need to jump the distributor back a few teeth after all. There is a cam position sensor in the distributor that signals the fuel injectors. Right now, the injectors are puddling fuel at the intake valves. The valves open and draw in the fuel, so the truck runs, but under load, it will have no power. I'll get this fixed next week and it will run like a champ.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

After mucking around with the distributor yesterday, I think the easiest course of action is going to be unbolting the cab and sliding it back about 6" to give me some additional room to work. I'm sure I can get the distributor out without doing this, but it will give me extra space to get in to the motor, behind that big Dodge intake manifold.

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

Joe, sounds like you are doing really well with your project. Just and FYI. and I'm sure you already know this so forgive me if you do. The distributor on that engine does not control timing like it would in a typical small block Chevy. It adjusts the fuel sync. Here's a youtube video if you need it...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjIKzprbgOY

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Joe, sounds like you are doing really well with your project. Just and FYI. and I'm sure you already know this so forgive me if you do. The distributor on that engine does not control timing like it would in a typical small block Chevy. It adjusts the fuel sync. Here's a youtube video if you need it...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjIKzprbgOY

Thank you for that Ricky. I was aware, but there is some adjustment, as I just found out.

I wasn't patient enough to wait until next week when the oil pump tool is expected to arrive, so I just went for it, without moving the cab, just working with everything as is. I was able to remove the distributor and sorted the proper position for the drive gear. I walked the dive gear into position and reset the distributor, locking it down with the rotor on #1 with the #1 cylinder on TDC.

When I tried to start the motor, it cranked like a hot big block with too much advance. It would start, but wouldn't run, unlike the other day.

Keep in mind, before I ever tore the motor down to install the new cam, I made index marks on the engine block and distributor base, just to have a reference during reassembly. This afternoon, I failed to line the marks up, figuring the 1s lining up was good enough. Wrong. I had to loosen the clamp and turn the dizzy clockwise about 10* to line back up with my original index marks. Once it was realigned and locked down, it starts like a champ again.

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

[Purcell69]

No new pics yet, but I'm making some progress with the rest of things that need attention. I finally have the transmission topped off (9 quarts), I've reconnected (spliced) all of the front wiring for lights, horns, cruise control, etc. and am getting ready to rewrap then with new sheath. I may run in to a slight issue, as there are about 12 ground leads in that group and no markings to pair them up, just black wires. All I could do is match wire sizes. I picture hitting the turn signal and having the horn rhythmically honk instead at some point in the future.

I did a quick and dirty fab for a fan mount and hung the spare XJ cooling fan behind the radiator just as it was getting dark last night. It's not very big, but it will pull air through the radiator and the transmission cooler, so its a start. I'm going to wire it to a relay and have it come on with the ignition. When the big fan arrives, I can use the same wiring.

I have not yet switched out the 1999 injectors for the 1994s, but that will happen later this week after I have a chance to clean the old ones.

Looking under the truck the other afternoon and wondering about the fuel rich condition, I had to wonder if the O2 sensor was working. I looked back in to the exhaust and found the catalytic converter on the truck is an empty shell. I had a spare converter and muffler from the rusted out XJ, so for now, they are welded up to the shelled out cat. It seems like the O2 sensor is now starting to be able to heat up, in spite of being 18" away from the functioning cat, and the truck almost wants to idle on its own.

I am also starting to wonder if the plate I made to block off the EGR port on the top of the intake manifold may be a source of a vacuum leak. Even when manually holding the throttle above idle, the engine speed will rise and fall in a wave. I am beginning to think I may be better served to just buy the necessary EGR hardware and hook the system back up. Of course, I'll have to pull the intake to remove the plug for the EGR tube at the back, but I've had to do worse. At least there is a lot of room to work one the motor. The functioning EGR will at least remove that component from the equation.

At least with the functioning fan, I will be able to run the engine for more than a few minutes at a time. It is slowly improving the more I tinker with it, even though I still haven't found the missing ground for the gauge cluster. Once that issue is resolved, I can better determine what is working, and what isn't. Perhaps I'll be able to drive it around the property by the end of this week. I've got a few days off coming and the weather here right now is great. Time to tinker with it some more as soon as I get caught back up on mowing this afternoon.

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

Joe, I forget what year you engine is. I'm on a Dodge board and could probably get you in touch with someone who has a stock intake manifold that does not have the EGR junk, if you want to go that route. Let me know.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Joe, I forget what year you engine is. I'm on a Dodge board and could probably get you in touch with someone who has a stock intake manifold that does not have the EGR junk, if you want to go that route. Let me know.

Ricky, I appreciate the offer. My chassis and computer is 1994 (OBD-I). The engine is a 1999, as the 1994 motor was junk. I have the 1999 intake, as well as the 1994, which is the one with EGR. I didn't use the 1999 intake because it lacks one of the ports for the two temperature sensors needed by the 1994 engine.

Part of the issue with blocking off the EGR on the 5.9 engine is spark knock. The 5.2L didn't have this problem, so most of the 5.2s from that era didn't have EGR. Since the stock heads are weak and are notorious for cracking, I'm going to put the EGR stuff on and try to save the heads for a little while longer.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

The other day, I wired up the spare fan from the XJ, through the ignition switch and a relay. The mount is ugly, but it is only temporary and gets the job done.

Yesterday, I swapped out the 1999 fuel injectors for the 1994 injectors. The 1994s needed cleaning up a bit. Two had filter screens that were clogged with rust, and when I installed them, the truck had a nasty miss, probably related to those same two injectors.

Today, after letting the truck sit overnight, the miss was gone. I'm guessing the injectors had been frozen up, but fuel in the system freed them. On start up, the engine runs smoothly and pulls about 19" of vacuum.after 10-15 seconds of running, the truck wants to die unless I take over with the throttle, then the idle lopes and varies about 200 rpm. Vacuum fluctuates between 16" and 14" at the same time, moving with engine rpm.

The MAP sensor is at 1.6v when the vacuum is at 19", but goes up as the idle and vacuum fluctuates. Disconnecting the O2 sensor causes the exhaust to be rich and kills throttle response. With everything hooked up, the engine responds beautifully to throttle input and revs as it should. I think at this point, I need to adjust the fuel trim externally to get it to idle on it's own. Other than that, it runs good.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Well, after a bunch of research and talking with folks more in the know than me, I found out what is causing my idle issues, at least more than an other one specific item. The cam profile is too much for the stock computer to handle. Even though the website listed it as being "computer friendly", there is just too much duration at 0.050 lift.

I spoke with Marty Fletcher this morning. He is something of a tuning guru when it comes to the Dodge Magnum engine line. Marty told me the maximum duration the stock computer can tolerate is no more than 210 degrees of duration at 0.050 lift. Period.

I thought the cam I bought fell in line with this, but I guess I screwed the pooch there. Even though this is supposed to be computer compatible and a good cam for towing use, the cam has 212 degrees of duration on the intake side and 218 degrees on the exhaust side. This causes the MAP sensor fits, since the intake manifold vacuum drops below 18" when idling, causing the IAC to "search" for the right signal value while running the idle speed up and down and dumps extra fuel.

Either I can go back to the stock cam or I can go to and OBD-2 system with a programmer and a custom tune to work with the cam I have. If I go OBD-2, my best plan would be to get a complete parts truck as a donor with all the needed sensors and harness components, then sell off the parts I don't need before scrapping the rest, to offset my costs. This is pretty much the plan, but probably not until next year.

-Joe

[lower50's]

Oh man that sucks! I would go with changing the wiring instead of undoing a fresh motor. Another + would be better tuning with the upgraded software.

[joedoh]

oh man, I think I would swap a cam rather than change the whole engine to OBDII.


still, at least you know!