1957 Chevy 3100, meet 1994 Dodge Ram 1500

[Purcell69]

Here’s the latest update.

First, Ethyl now has a front driveshaft. I went and saw the fine folks at Precision Drive a few weeks ago as this whole Coronavirus thing was beginning to blossom here in Oklahoma. In less than 24 hours, Precision Drive replaced the tube with a 3” longer section to accommodate the movement of the engine and transmission, (moved back 3” early on in the build), and rebuilt the double cardan joint and installed a new u-joint at the pinion end. After that, they balanced the whole assembly.

With the the driveshaft installed, I was still without 4wd because I had deleted the vacuum lines that controlled the CAD (Central Axle Disconnect) system in favor of something more reliable. I ordered a Posi-Lok kit for a 2nd Generation Dodge truck and some 3/4” heat shield sleeve from WireCare.com. The Posi-Lok replaces the vacuum lines and modulator assembly and actuates the engagement collar in the front axle via a cable with a pull control mounted under the dash. The unit is simple to use and is reliable as a hammer. The heat shield sleeve was installed over the plastic outer body of the actuator cable, to protect it from engine heat.

Yesterday, I finished the assembly and Ethyl now has 4wd. It is as simple as pushing the button and pulling the control knob out 1”, then shifting the transfer case in to 4wd.

Yesterday was busy all around. I got the AC vacuumed down in the son-in-law’s Jeep before recharging the system. While it was vacuuming down, I removed the damaged condenser core from our 2001 Grand Cherokee and installed a new one, only to repeat the vacuum and charge process one more time. Now both systems are charged and are nice and cold in anticipation of summer.

While I worked on Ethyl’s 4wd system, I did a bit of YouTube video.

https://youtu.be/kiMEdjoMygg

-Joe

[Katrina/10]

I put one of those Posi Locks on my YJ, it worked great! The Jeep axle disconnect looked exactly the same as yours. Nice video, too.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

I put one of those Posi Locks on my YJ, it worked great! The Jeep axle disconnect looked exactly the same as yours. Nice video, too.

Thank you! Yeah, being a Chrysler product, most of the Jeeps and 2nd/3rd Generation Dodges used this design. It wasn’t a bad design, but in harsh weather, it could be slow to react, or just not work at all. I found this out my first winter in Oklahoma with our 1995 Dodge diesel.

According to the folks at Posi-Lok, some Fords used a similar vacuum system.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Just a quick update...I've been working some 14 hours shifts lately, to buy more parts for Ethyl. Consequently, I have not done as much work on her this year as last, in spite of the now warmer weather.

I finally got around to purchasing the SCT X3 tuner from Utawesome Performance and sent a copy of my cam card to Marty Fletcher. He wrote an incredible tune that really makes the most of the cam. The idle is no where near as fat as it was and she pulls hard off idle, all the way through. My driveway is 600' and I had to back out before I found out what all there is.

I've also been parting out the son-in-law's 1996 Ram 1500 (Ugly Truckling) and acquired the Flowmaster muffler for use on Ethyl. The change from that stock Jeep XJ Cherokee muffler that I had been using to something that flows was amazing to say the least. Of course, now I need to add sound deadening inside the cab to my list. The muffler is a 40 series, 3" inlet, dual 2.5" outlets that I am going to exit under the passenger side running board.

Yesterday, I took Ethyl for a shakedown run to the gas station, just to see how she would do on the highway. Keep in mind, I am still using the 46RH hydraulically controlled transmission. I don't have Overdrive wired up and have a 46RE waiting to go in that will be 100% controlled by my PCM. Regardless, she did well. Aside from a squeaking serpentine belt and a fuel filler neck that I need to rework, everything went as planned. She drove nice and straight at highway speed, for the first time in 18 years, and she had no leaks on the ground while I very slowly filled her fuel tank. No drips from the motor, trans, transfer case or axles.

https://youtu.be/O0_W2yjqKUc

-Joe

[joedoh]

congrats on the 4x4! and the highway break in!

[Rickysnickers]

Nice job Joe!!!

[americanmusc1e]

Very nice to see you are still working on this truck! You've inspired me and I bought a 1996 Ram 2500 4x4 frame to put under my 49.

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by americanmusc1e

Very nice to see you are still working on this truck! You've inspired me and I bought a 1996 Ram 2500 4x4 frame to put under my 49.

Nice! These frames are pretty easy to modify if you don't mind knocking out the rivets that hold the front and rear sections together. Just know that your tires will stick out past the fenders a little bit due to the axle width. The improved ride is worth it though.

-Joe

[Purcell69]

Alrighty! Ethyl is now highway legal with insurance. I've taken her out and about a few times as the shakedown continues. So far, the only issue I have seen might be a failing alternator. My voltmeter shows 9v at idle and up until the other day, would jump right to 13v under throttle. Then half way through a 26 mile drive, it started reading 12v while driving in town and would oscillate between 12v and 15v at highway speed. Regardless, my fan and lights didn't seem to be affected.

I did put together a few videos as well. The extra hours I am working have been doing well at paying for the things she needs, like sound deadening. I picked up a box of Kilmat last week and installed almost all of it in the cab the past two days. The improvement is amazing. I still have to order another box to finish out the floor and firewall, but the effort has been worth it.

https://youtu.be/CegI1LzRwms

https://youtu.be/cBd2gKUjXdA

-Joe

[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

[rgunlock]

Oh wow, I am so sorry about your flooding. Hopefully, since this isn't a regional type flood your contractors will stay on the job hard. Glad to hear the fan issue was a "no biggie".

[Purcell69]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Oh wow, I am so sorry about your flooding. Hopefully, since this isn't a regional type flood your contractors will stay on the job hard. Glad to hear the fan issue was a "no biggie".

We’re pretty fortunate that it was what it was. That, and I know a general contractor from my work. He retired from the fire department a few years back. We’ve known him 15 years and know his work. He’s on top of what will be needed to get us back to 100%. At this point, it is just a matter of waiting for the adjuster’s report to make it to the claims agent so the money can start moving. In the meanwhile, we keep the water turned off until we need to use it. We shower simultaneously and flush toilets at the same time. What water seeps out gets vacuumed up with my shop-vac. It’s annoying, but it works.

If things aren’t moving forward by Tuesday, I’m going to cut off the pipes myself and splice in shut-off valves so I can isolate the leak and allow us to use water in the rest of the house while we are waiting.


-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.

[Rickysnickers]

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

[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

[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