1957 Chevy 3100, meet 1994 Dodge Ram 1500

[joedoh]

woop! congrattys!

[Purcell69]

Kinda feeling a bit like Merle Haggard today. First thing this morning, I found out my day off tomorrow is cancelled due to a scheduled protest. It seems one of our local educators felt it was a good lesson to teach her students that they have a voice, and encouraged a former student turned activist to put together an event. Up to this point, we hadn't been having any of these issues in town and our statistics are on par with the community we serve. We seldom have use-of-force arrests, yet here we are.

Second bit of news was the hospital is cutting the evening security shifts until further notice. This has been my bread and butter for getting things done with Ethyl and paying down credit card balances at the same time. Obviously I will continue to work on Ethyl, but acquiring parts will not come as quickly as I would like, (don't want to run those CCs back up. :deal) The hospital (understandably) doesn't feel the need for security during their evening shift changes as they occur in broad daylight during the summer months, rather than a dimly lit parking lot. IF they continue the morning shifts, I'll try to pick some of those up where I can, but competition for those slots will be fierce. Hopefully come September or October, things will begin to return to "normal". If so, I may just bankroll the extra funds to acquire goodies for next spring.

https://youtu.be/sIKUkcNeZfQ

I spoke with my transmission guy yesterday, about the possibility of paying him to swap the 46RH for the 46RE (before the bad news hit today). He was more inclined to wire up the 46RH to engage overdrive. He said he has done several like this and it isn't a difficult process. Now that the hospital money coming in is all but gone, I am inclined to go that route for now, and then swap in the 46RE at a later point.

Lastly, the alternator...like Yamarocket said, the PCM controls the rate of charge. I had picked up a computer from another donor truck of the proper vintage, (1996-1997 w/360 V8 & automatic transmission) before i bought the SCT tuner and custom tunes. Ethyl ran fine with the 1998 PCM, but it tries to control much more than the 1996-1997 unit and wants a digital dashboard. Anyway, the 1996 computer works fine, but I noticed the charging volts held around 9v at idle and then would jump to 13v off idle. I didn't give this much thought, since the e-fan to cool the engine comes on when the ignition key is turned. Last week, the voltmeter began showing 11-12v while driving in town and would oscillate rapidly between 13v and 15v at highway speed. It appears the voltage regulator that is built in to the PCM is going bad. The fix is to replace the PCM. I have a spare 1996-1997 PCM in the Ugly Truckling that I would prefer to save in the event of an all-out failure. Then I would have to match the SCT tuner to the new PCM. For the time being, I am going to mount an old school external regulator to the inner fender, by the PCM, and use it instead.

https://youtu.be/utXjxwPAcHk

I'm going to wire the new regulator through a relay that will power when the ignition key is ON, and route it through my voltage meter on my dash. The external regulator and pigtail ran about $30 at the parts store, so it's a cheap fix. As I understand it, in a stock Dodge truck, this setup would cause a battery light and possibly a Check Engine light, but since I don't have a CEL yet, and no battery light, these shouldn't be an issue.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Well, after chasing an electronic gremlin for the past week, I pinned it down to a bad alternator. True, the PCM has the voltage regulator built in, but even when I bypassed the PCM and ran through the external regulator, I was having charging issues. Apparently I was pretty much running off the battery, though with Ethyl, the electronic consumption while running is minimal.

Sure, the fuel pump and engine management are electronic, as is the cooling fan, but driving her, the only indication anything was afoot was the voltmeter itself. Had it not been for the low (9v-12v) readings while driving around town, it may have been a month or more before I was aware there was a problem, until all of the sudden she would not start.

It wasn't until I changed the e-fan speed from the low side to the high side that I pinned it down to the alternator. Running the fan of the low side, around town I'd get a steady 12v reading on my dash, but on the highway I might see readings nearing 13v or more. When I switched the fan to the high speed side, I was getting nothing more than 12v even with the engine revving past 3500 RPM. This was through the external regulator that was supposed to "fix" everything.

Yesterday morning, I picked up a new alternator and installed it. Even with the fan running on the high speed side, I was seeing 15v at idle upon start-up, through the external regulator. With that part now verified, I switched everything back over to run through the PCM again.

At the same time, my new dash insert arrived so I can install the new electronic speedometer. I also decided I only want to put this all together one time, so I ordered a new mechanical oil pressure gauge to match the rest of my gauges. No more hodgepodge instrument cluster. The last gauge I needed should arrive mid-next week and then the only thing left to do for the cluster is get the correction box for the fuel level.

No photos of video this week. I was pushing to get things done this week. My days off were cut short due to a protest in the city where I work Tuesday evening and then having to cover graveyard shifts Thursday and Friday nights. The swap between days and nights is a young man's game. In my twenties, I could pull all-nighters back to back and never think about lost sleep. Add thirty years and all of the sudden, a fella's bedtime becomes important.

Fortunately these events don't happen often, maybe once a year, but I'm not a pup anymore.

-Joe

-Joe

[Purcell69]

I got the gauge cluster put together now. All the gauges match and all that is left to do is finish up the wiring.


-Joe

[Purcell69]

The gauge cluster is all sorted now and the speedometer has been calibrated. Things took an unexpected turn ten days ago when the house flooded. A few days prior, I noticed some warping in the wood floor in the hallway, but wasn't sure what the cause was. Two days later, I found water around the base of the water heater and under the laundry room wall, which I had attributed to a failed water heater tank, as it is an eleven year old unit that was well beyond the six year warranty period.

I took Thursday off from work and fired up Ethyl for a trip to Lowes for a replacement water heater. On my way to Lowes, I could smell melting nylon, or something similar. I pulled over to check under the hood, thinking I had a tail from a ziptie that was cut off and ended up on the exhaust. Nothing was obvious, so I continued on. Ten miles further down the road, the smell was stronger, so I pulled over again, this time shutting the truck off. Now I could see smoke coming from the electric fan motor.

I disconnected power from the fan, stopped for a hair cut to let the engine cool, then turned back for home. Ethyl stayed at normal operating temperature for the drive, only warming up to 210* while stopped at a traffic light. Clearly, my cooling system was doing its job.

I swapped trucks and went back to get the water heater. Once it was installed, I took to getting some laundry done for the next work week. I napped for a bit, only to wake to an odd "popping" sound coming from the vent duct work. While looking for the cause, I found the hallway was now flooded. There is a water leak under the slab that was bubbling up inside the wall behind the water heater. I shut the water off and began to strip out the carpet and wood flooring, as there was water under the vapor barrier, as well as between the barrier and the flooring. Once that was done, I vacuumed up the standing water while Kim called the insurance company.

We are covered and that ball is slowly rolling. It appears 2/3 of the house has been affected by water damage that wasn't initially detected, as well as water that got into the under the slab duct work. We are running fans and a dehumidifier to dry things out in the meanwhile, but we may be out of the house up to 6 months for the repair work to be completed.

This will, of course, affect vehicle projects for the remainder of this season, as there is not a shop to work out of, so everything I do is done Spring-Fall.. I am not certain what the insurance company's plan is, but I am leaning toward a travel trailer on-site so we can continue to keep 24 hours care for the horses, not to mention security of the property/materials while work is being done. Everything in the home will need to be removed for the repair and remediation work to be done. Fortunately, it is a small house.

While we were dealing with this, I ordered a replacement fan. I had been using a two speed electric fan from a 1995 Ford Taurus 3.8L. This is the one the Jeep crawler guys turn to. At low speed it is supposed to flow around 2,000 CFM and at high speed it is supposed to flow around 4,000 CFM. I had been running mine on low speed, constant on with the ignition, through a 40 amp relay. The plan was to set it up to kick the high side on with the A/C compressor, once I installed the air conditioning, but I had not got that far yet. The morning the fan failed, it was hotter out than it had been and I was anticipating having to sit in traffic, so I switched the fan over to run on the high speed side. Apparently, that fan was never meant to run in constant high speed mode, and after 15 miles of driving, the motor decided it had enough. Entirely my fault. The kicker of it was the engine never ran hotter or cooler based on the fan. With the stock 195* thermostat, Ethyl runs a solid 200-205*. When the fan failed, I drove home at highway speed at 205* the entire trip, with the exception of the time I spent at a red signal light, where the temperature climbed to 210*. Once I started driving, the temperature dropped right back to 205*.

Clearly, I don't need a fan unless I am sitting, (or when I am running A/C). The Ford fan only covered about 2/3 of my radiator core, and was not made to be used with this truck, though I did build some brackets to make it work. It was something of a pain to remove because of this, so if I ever had a failure on the road, a traveling repair would take some time.

Instead, I opted for the Flex-a-lite Black Magic Extreme as a replacement. Sure, it is a "universal" fit, but it covers all but 1" across either the top or bottom of my radiator core. The CFM rating is in between the High and Low sides of the Ford fan, and it came with a bracket kit and a controller, so it can be set up to run as needed rather than constant on. I began the install yesterday afternoon, but I am not yet done. I still need to bend the brackets to fit my application and finish the wiring, but end result will be a much cleaner installation. The shroud material is much thicker than the Ford unit, although the size of the fan blade is similar at 15". In all, the Flex-a-lite seems to be a very sturdy unit, though I am reasonably certain the cause for the Ford fan's failure was due to my error, not the design of the fan assembly itself.

I did take a photo of the Flex-a-lite kit before I started working on it, and have started making a video of the install.

-Joe

[joedoh]

sheesh! thats a mess! glad you found it before the whole place fell in!

I wouldnt wait till tuesday, my wife would have had me temp fixing an hour after the problem haha

[Purcell69]

Right now we have found a work-around. If I open the valve at the back of the house only partially and keep the pressure low, we can do laundry, dishes, and shower. Of course this means we have to turn the water off as soon as it isn’t being used. By doing this, we don’t end up with water coming back up from under the slab. If the pressure is higher or the water is left on, it will flow up and out onto the floor, which is now bare, and I vacuum it up before it spreads. Tuesday starts my days off, so either the plumber puts in isolation valves or I will.

-Joe

[gigamanx]

Wow that looks like a pretty bad day! Not nearly as troublesome, but I did have a day recently where it seemed everywhere I turned something else was broken or falling apart or ready to injure me. Kind of makes you want to go back to bed and try again tomorrow.

[americanmusc1e]

Hang in there man. House flooding sucks. The truck is looking good by the way.

[Purcell69]

I don’t have a sheet metal brake, so I had to get creative in shaping my fan mounting brackets. They came pre-bent but I need a dogleg to go around the radiator to the fan shroud.

I under up using the awning support, some C clamps, a piece of 1” square tube and a length of 3/4” double D shaft. I clamp the bracket between the support and the square tube, then clamp the DD shaft to the long end as a handle while bending. I put the first bend in, flip the bracket, then put on the second bend. So far, one down, three more to go.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

https://youtu.be/Fl5UAnoF8YI

The new fan installation is complete.

-Joe

[Rickysnickers]

Sorry to hear about your flooding issue Joe. Hope the insurance company comes through for you!!

[joedoh]

pretty stuff! I would love that shroud on my rad with the mechanical fan

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by joedoh

pretty stuff! I would love that shroud on my rad with the mechanical fan

Thanks Joe. I'm really impressed with the quality of that shroud. The plastic is about 1/4" thick and is rigid, but not brittle. Also, I misspoke in the video, the inserts for the hardware are cadmium plated steel, not brass, to the fasteners that mount the shroud to the brackets are steel on steel.

I had considered ordering a pre-fab aluminum shroud off EBay and then sourcing either another electric fan, or just replacing the two speed motor for the Ford fan, since it is a 15" fan blade, just like the Flex-a-lite. I'm sure that would have been a reasonable option, but in the end, the cost would have been similar to the Flex-a-lite unit, and I would have still needed some form of a fan controller, which the Flex-a-lite came with.

We took it out for a test drive yesterday and it worked flawlessly. In traffic, the temperature would climb to 210* and the fan would kick on. Within a minute or so of running, the temperature would drop back to 200* and the fan would shut back down. The fan operation is smooth and relatively quiet, it can barely be heard over the engine at idle, but you have to listen for it.

-Joe

[Wyo George]

I had no idea that you’ve been posting over here too! Now I can follow Ethyl in stereo between two forums.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Wyo George

I had no idea that you’ve been posting over here too! Now I can follow Ethyl in stereo between two forums.

Yessir, Ethyl gets around George. LOL!

How goes your Task Force project? I know you've been busy, but any progress is good progress.

-Joe

[Wyo George]

It's still a bare frame sitting beside my shop waiting for me to get around to blasting it. This time of year is busy as I have the fleet of 62 motorcycles to service and get out on location for training then teaching every weekend plus I've been running the wheels off the new Ram going around picking up new motorcycles and delivering them to training ranges. I'm leaving out tomorrow morning at 0500 to deliver my last trailer full of 14 bikes to a location 180 miles away. I'm not complaining though, at $2/mile transport fee plus my hourly rate on location and return trip it'll be a profitable morning. Then I'll get home, hop on the Harley and head 180 miles the other direction to teach a class this weekend. With any luck the 55 frame will get blasted in two weeks, I'm taking a few days off to get caught up in the shop and as soon as I get it blasted I can get it inside and painted so that I can start building it.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Wyo George

It's still a bare frame sitting beside my shop waiting for me to get around to blasting it. This time of year is busy as I have the fleet of 62 motorcycles to service and get out on location for training then teaching every weekend plus I've been running the wheels off the new Ram going around picking up new motorcycles and delivering them to training ranges. I'm leaving out tomorrow morning at 0500 to deliver my last trailer full of 14 bikes to a location 180 miles away. I'm not complaining though, at $2/mile transport fee plus my hourly rate on location and return trip it'll be a profitable morning. Then I'll get home, hop on the Harley and head 180 miles the other direction to teach a class this weekend. With any luck the 55 frame will get blasted in two weeks, I'm taking a few days off to get caught up in the shop and as soon as I get it blasted I can get it inside and painted so that I can start building it.

And you say that I am busy! Holy cow brother, YOU have a full plate!

Right now, aside from the primary and secondary jobs, things are pretty slack. We are done with breeding season for the year and almost all of the horses have been sent home. Now its a matter of keeping the ones remaining fed and healthy and keeping the place mowed. Michael's Jeep project is on hold while he works on funds for the new engine/transmission and his other part-out truck has yet to be delivered. About the only other project I can foresee is building a front porch for Kim's mom with the steel pipe I was given.

And of course, the home repairs in our place.

Be careful on your travels this weekend.

-Joe

[Wyo George]

I can’t be all THAT busy. There’s 168 hours in a week and I only average 74 hours of work.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Wyo George

I can’t be all THAT busy. There’s 168 hours in a week and I only average 74 hours of work.

I know that feeling brother. I never bother to keep track of the hours that don't fall under an actual paycheck, but goodness knows there's plenty. The breeding season is over, so Kim's "minions" have gone on to do other things, which demotes me back to "barn boy", stacking feed, watering horses, etc.

-Joe

[Wyo George]

Originally Posted by Purcell69

I know that feeling brother. I never bother to keep track of the hours that don't fall under an actual paycheck, but goodness knows there's plenty. The breeding season is over, so Kim's "minions" have gone on to do other things, which demotes me back to "barn boy", stacking feed, watering horses, etc.

-Joe

Sadly, the 74 hours are just the stuff that I bill out or get paid on my paycheck. Working four jobs can be quite hectic at times, especially when two of them require me to keep track of hours and miles and submit invoices to get paid. It's all part of my master plan though, I figure at this rate I'll be retired in only 60-70 more years.

[Purcell69]

For giggles and grins, and a well-deserved day off from work, I took Ethyl to the Stratford Peach Festival last weekend. Turn out was very good and spectators really seemed to like her, but show-wise, she really didn't fit in. There was no class for 4wd of any kind. The "winners" in the classes all seemed to have just written some really big checks to buy their rides. Meh, the crowd and the kids really liked her and it was a fun way to not be at work. That was what really counted.

In the meanwhile, I have started in to the paint and bodywork side of things. She runs and drives, and while there are still mechanical things to do, I need to address the body before small rust issues start becoming big rust issues.'

I've started sanding off the six or so layers of paint that she currently has, and while I'm not fully focused on stripping everything to bare metal, I'd like to get back down to the original paint work before I start throwing primer.

https://youtu.be/hYWzMDvfUmc

I am going to take her back to the original turquoise green with a white roof.

https://tcpglobal.com/products/rsp-a...SABEgJsJ_D_BwE

This color really suits her.

-Joe

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by Purcell69

For giggles and grins, and a well-deserved day off from work, I took Ethyl to the Stratford Peach Festival last weekend. Turn out was very good and spectators really seemed to like her, but show-wise, she really didn't fit in. There was no class for 4wd of any kind. The "winners" in the classes all seemed to have just written some really big checks to buy their rides. Meh, the crowd and the kids really liked her and it was a fun way to not be at work. That was what really counted.

In the meanwhile, I have started in to the paint and bodywork side of things. She runs and drives, and while there are still mechanical things to do, I need to address the body before small rust issues start becoming big rust issues.'

I've started sanding off the six or so layers of paint that she currently has, and while I'm not fully focused on stripping everything to bare metal, I'd like to get back down to the original paint work before I start throwing primer.

https://youtu.be/hYWzMDvfUmc

I am going to take her back to the original turquoise green with a white roof.

https://tcpglobal.com/products/rsp-a...SABEgJsJ_D_BwE

This color really suits her.

-Joe

Looking good! Turquoise green and white is going to be sweet! At least 40x better of a color combination than the factory medium bronze and white on my 70.

[Purcell69]

Well, I don't know what went south, but I have some work to do in the fuel system. The other day, I had pulled her around back to move some hay, only to have the engine shut down behind the barn. I had filled her up before the car show and only drove a short distance round trip; less than 100 miles.

The fuel gauge isn't working yet, but to date, she routinely sees 13.7ish MPG. Given a 26 gallon tank, she shouldn't have been out of fuel. If she was, that would have been a bit over 2 MPG and there was no way she was running anywhere near that rich. Still, I put two gallons in her and she fired right up like nothing was wrong.

Last night, I poked around on the bottom of the gas tank and was satisfied there was much more than two gallons in the tank, so I drove her to the local store to top up the tank. When I got to the store, (closed on Sundays but pumps are 24 hrs), I put 0.013 gallons in her before the gas station ran out. I thought this was no big deal, since there was another convenience store a mile down the road.

As I started to pull onto the highway, she cut out again. Just like she was out of gas again. Kim brought a 5 gallon can from the house, and a recovery strap, just in case. Four gallons filled her to the top, so six gallons in, divided by driven miles equals 13 MPG and change.

It seems I have an intermittent fail in the fuel pump, or the electronics that go to it. I'll have to probe it with my test light and see if it is something with the wiring or the fuel pump went south.

-Joe

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by Purcell69

Well, I don't know what went south, but I have some work to do in the fuel system. The other day, I had pulled her around back to move some hay, only to have the engine shut down behind the barn. I had filled her up before the car show and only drove a short distance round trip; less than 100 miles.

The fuel gauge isn't working yet, but to date, she routinely sees 13.7ish MPG. Given a 26 gallon tank, she shouldn't have been out of fuel. If she was, that would have been a bit over 2 MPG and there was no way she was running anywhere near that rich. Still, I put two gallons in her and she fired right up like nothing was wrong.

Last night, I poked around on the bottom of the gas tank and was satisfied there was much more than two gallons in the tank, so I drove her to the local store to top up the tank. When I got to the store, (closed on Sundays but pumps are 24 hrs), I put 0.013 gallons in her before the gas station ran out. I thought this was no big deal, since there was another convenience store a mile down the road.

As I started to pull onto the highway, she cut out again. Just like she was out of gas again. Kim brought a 5 gallon can from the house, and a recovery strap, just in case. Four gallons filled her to the top, so six gallons in, divided by driven miles equals 13 MPG and change.

It seems I have an intermittent fail in the fuel pump, or the electronics that go to it. I'll have to probe it with my test light and see if it is something with the wiring or the fuel pump went south.

-Joe

Sounds a lot like vapor lock. Is the fuel tank vent clogged? Does it start once the truck has cooled down?