RamRunner Refresh

[350TacoZilla]

Yeah any pre-emissions big block isn't bad really for output, just seems like reliability might be an issue for you lol.

 

[75RamRunner]

Yeah any pre-emissions big block isn't bad really for output, just seems like reliability might be an issue for you lol.

I think its operator error more than the platform

Nothing really likes being near vertical with no oil near the pickup

 

[75RamRunner]

Small update, the builder got the engine dyno'd and is crating for shipping today so were looking promising for KOH.

505" with some ported eddy heads made 640/704 on the dyno. Should be a good time

We had some longer talks about tuning and keeping this thing alive and he said the terminator with injectors was bulletproof and proven (wonder where i heard that before) mentioned he had a tune, intake, and injectors all setup for this engine already.

For KOH he has some sniper 2 tunes hes going to send me to keep the ball rolling but then after the trip ill likely pull the trigger on dumping the PCS system and sniper in lue of the better options.

In full disclosure I'm not sure the 8hp75 is going to stand up to the torque, were going to see. the 95 is really the correct trans for the application they're just hens teeth to find.

Got the accumulator from summit yesterday so going to try to get that mounted this weekend.

 

[ridered3]

Small update, the builder got the engine dyno'd and is crating for shipping today so were looking promising for KOH.

505" with some ported eddy heads made 640/704 on the dyno. Should be a good time

We had some longer talks about tuning and keeping this thing alive and he said the terminator with injectors was bulletproof and proven (wonder where i heard that before) mentioned he had a tune, intake, and injectors all setup for this engine already.

For KOH he has some sniper 2 tunes hes going to send me to keep the ball rolling but then after the trip ill likely pull the trigger on dumping the PCS system and sniper in lue of the better options.

In full disclosure I'm not sure the 8hp75 is going to stand up to the torque, were going to see. the 95 is really the correct trans for the application they're just hens teeth to find.

Got the accumulator from summit yesterday so going to try to get that mounted this weekend.

That's going to be a good looking crate!!!

 

[75RamRunner]

Nothing too exicting, been assembling a play structure for the little one during the good weather

Engine should arrive around 12/31 and then ill make the big push

I did cut off the bull horn and cap it, this will be the year at KOH i need it so i dont endo, just watch

Also welded in a cheap amazon stainless o2 bung into the drivers side, tuner wants to take logs with the sensor in both banks. Don't laugh at my spackle i ran out of mig dip also .035 is a little thick for the 16g tube so i had to go a little faster than i like

......or my trimmed rear harness that i haven't pulled out all the way

 

[75RamRunner]

Well i dun goofed.

Didn't think to ask/look until it was already here. got all the front drive bolted on, mounts on, picked it up to get adapter on and just stared at it like this for a good 5 minutes


So dropped a line to JVX for a new spacer and flexplate, hopefully hear back this morning and get that headed this way.

So t minus 4 weeks until hammers and still no racecar noises. My wheeling buddies say I'm right on schedule so i gotta be doing something right

 

[ridered3]

Well i dun goofed.

Didn't think to ask/look until it was already here. got all the front drive bolted on, mounts on, picked it up to get adapter on and just stared at it like this for a good 5 minutes


So dropped a line to JVX for a new spacer and flexplate, hopefully hear back this morning and get that headed this way.

So t minus 4 weeks until hammers and still no racecar noises. My wheeling buddies say I'm right on schedule so i gotta be doing something right

All that's left to do is stab the motor back in and figure out the Dune Sport puzzle pieces

 

[75RamRunner]

All that's left to do is stab the motor back in and figure out the Dune Sport puzzle pieces

I have some very unjustified confidence that its all going to work just fine

 

[ridered3]

I have some very unjustified confidence that its all going to work just fine

 

[75RamRunner]

So dropped a line to JVX for a new spacer and flexplate, hopefully hear back this morning and get that headed this way.

So t minus 4 weeks until hammers and still no racecar noises. My wheeling buddies say I'm right on schedule so i gotta be doing something right

Well haven't been able to get ahold of JVX for 4 days now, multiple calls/emails/voicemails. Hoping they're just taking an extended vacation and not gone.

The crank spacer i can have machined here easy/fast enough. The flexplate is the problem child. It needs to have the 8hp torque convertor bolt pattern and every one I've found on the innerwebs has been for the gen3 hemi crank pattern, which is not remotely the same as the 8 bolt 440/gen 2 hemi pattern.

I reached out to domiworks as they do a lot of 8hp conversion as well but no word yet. Starting to cut it close even for me

 

[ridered3]

Well haven't been able to get ahold of JVX for 4 days now, multiple calls/emails/voicemails. Hoping they're just taking an extended vacation and not gone.

The crank spacer i can have machined here easy/fast enough. The flexplate is the problem child. It needs to have the 8hp torque convertor bolt pattern and every one I've found on the innerwebs has been for the gen3 hemi crank pattern, which is not remotely the same as the 8 bolt 440/gen 2 hemi pattern.

I reached out to domiworks as they do a lot of 8hp conversion as well but no word yet. Starting to cut it close even for me

Sucks to read that. Hopefully since you've posted that here, you'll get a response from one of them soon, since that's how the cookie usually crumbles for me anyway.

 

[75RamRunner]

Sucks to read that. Hopefully since you've posted that here, you'll get a response from one of them soon, since that's how the cookie usually crumbles for me anyway.

Bad News is still havent heard from them, im hoping theyre on extended leave but the non-response tends to mean theyre gone for good in my past experience.

Good News (maybe)

I have a very talented machine shop that i use for prototyping parts for my line of work, i brought them the spacer, flexplate, and diagram of the correct 8 bolt pattern and theyre going to take a crack at it. The crank spacer is just a chunk of steel so thats an easy part for any CNC shop, the flywheel is technically just a flat plate with located holes welded into the ring gear so we feel decent about that too. I'm being told Tuesday i can pick them up so fingers crossed it works

 

[ridered3]

Bad News is still havent heard from them, im hoping theyre on extended leave but the non-response tends to mean theyre gone for good in my past experience.

Good News (maybe)

I have a very talented machine shop that i use for prototyping parts for my line of work, i brought them the spacer, flexplate, and diagram of the correct 8 bolt pattern and theyre going to take a crack at it. The crank spacer is just a chunk of steel so thats an easy part for any CNC shop, the flywheel is technically just a flat plate with located holes welded into the ring gear so we feel decent about that too. I'm being told Tuesday i can pick them up so fingers crossed it works

Well drats on no cookie for you, but at least you've got an alternative option.

 

[75RamRunner]

We have a glimmer of hope on the horizon

In true fashion the machined parts looked awesome, new flywheel and crank spacer had perfect tolerances but in my haste to told them to match the hole size of the 6 bolt crank which takes 7/16-20 bolts and the 8 bolt crank takes 1/2-20....

So I got to take the perfectly matched parts and toss them in my drill press, eyeball centerline, and hog them out to the appropriate size.

Engine is secured, trans is mated, TC bolts are tight, so we are full steam to get the rest of the accessories bolted back up and hopefully do a start-up Friday.


Keep your glue topped off and crayons sharp, this boat anchor might make it to KOH yet!

 

[Bebop]

Make sure not to put it on a dyno and eyeball the tuneup

 

[ridered3]

We have a glimmer of hope on the horizon

In true fashion the machined parts looked awesome, new flywheel and crank spacer had perfect tolerances but in my haste to told them to match the hole size of the 6 bolt crank which takes 7/16-20 bolts and the 8 bolt crank takes 1/2-20....

So I got to take the perfectly matched parts and toss them in my drill press, eyeball centerline, and hog them out to the appropriate size.

Engine is secured, trans is mated, TC bolts are tight, so we are full steam to get the rest of the accessories bolted back up and hopefully do a start-up Friday.


Keep your glue topped off and crayons sharp, this boat anchor might make it to KOH yet!

If ya squint, it's mint!

 

[75RamRunner]

Make sure not to put it on a dyno and eyeball the tuneup

You mean getting it fired just enough to get it into the trailer, that I'm not 100% sure it even fits in yet, and then tuning it at KOH via the handheld is not the preferred method?

Interesting.........

 

[Bebop]

You mean getting it fired just enough to get it into the trailer, that I'm not 100% sure it even fits in yet, and then tuning it at KOH via the handheld is not the preferred method?

Interesting.........

Let's not get bothered by pesky details like that

 

[75RamRunner]

Steady progress, i forgot the engine cage bar has some tension on it so out came the farm jack

Got the exhaust back on, used those Remflex exhaust gaskets as I've had good luck with them in the past, spark plug wires routed, sniper tbi back on and wired in.

- Interesting note on that, the hyperspark distributor comes with a 3 prong plug that goes to the 3 prong harness plug coming off the main body. All the other wires off the tbi harness are long enough the connectors can go in the cab, the stub on the distributor is only 4-6" and the 3 prong whip on the main harness cant be more than 10-12". On an engine with the distributor in the rear (chevy's, sb mopars, etc) it would be a non-issue but being in the front on a BBM I had to splice in 12" of wire just to get the whip long enough to connect to the distributor and the connector is still 6-10" out of the firewall. Id imagine this was an engineering compromise but id sure rather coil up 12" of extra wire then cut into a brand new harness....

Think i got all the tedious ends done, going to get the core support and rad in tonight and fill her up with water, if all goes well might even try to fire it today. Mopars have a flat prong input to the distributor gear so I'm either real close or 180 out, thinking if im close i can time is alone and check that off the list too.

 

[ridered3]

 

[75RamRunner]

She lives!

Got all the fluids in it, radiator back in and the core support mounted so i could replumb the hydraulic oil cooler, fired off right away, couldn't be more happy. The wife and toddler got gassed out pretty fast so i couldn't time it last night but its damn close by ear.

Drag it out tonight and actually let it get to temp and see what's left, hopefully test fit it in the trailer this weekend too

 

[75RamRunner]

We're dangerous now folks

Have a few items to tidy up on top of putting some miles on it

1. Small coolant leak from what looks like the radiator inlet, the clamp is behind the shock resi and always a PITA to get tight, im guessing it just needs a a few more turns

2. Heat cycle and tighten everything again

3. Not really an issue per say, the Sniper 2 ecosystem has a tach rpm output (grey wire) that says analog only, 99% sure the autometer tach i have is electric and they don't mesh. The PCS TCM requires RPM input as one of the data blocks and prior to the hyperspark distributor/ignition box i was using the MSD 6AL rpm output to input RPM to the tach/PCS. I used the grey wire out of the harness this time as the hyperspark box doesnt have that provision and the tach don't sweep but the trans shifts as it did prior so i need to understand what kind of tach it will output to. To be clear i do have RPM signal on the handheld, so its not a reading/pick-up issue.

Obligatory rev video, she's rowdy. Drove her up the road a bit and back and got into 6th and she'll cruise at 21-2200. The dyno says she's related to a cummins now though

 

[06h3]

God damn that’s some power!!!

 

[Levigarrett76]

Nice !

 

[ridered3]

 

[Hooligan]

Dang! That sounds fun.

 

[Bebop]

That is a **** ton of torque, wow

For your tach, can you simply hook it to the neg terminal of the coil?
Edit: worth mentioning sometimes you need a pullup resistor to drive an old tach.

 

[Levigarrett76]

What cubes is the new mill?

 

[75RamRunner]

That is a **** ton of torque, wow

For your tach, can you simply hook it to the neg terminal of the coil?
Edit: worth mentioning sometimes you need a pullup resistor to drive an old tach.

I've read the multispark CD boxes can roast the tach's. might still do it to try it. Its a newer Autometer Gauge.

EDIT: to be clear it would be landed on the neg terminal as you said but the input or something from the box to coil ****s it off. So i've heard, never tried it. First time for everything though

EDIT.2: I can't imagine the autometer is a square wave signal, it read the signal from the 6AL which i believe is a sine wave like the sniper.....

What cubes is the new mill?

505", ive had a few 505s in B-body mopar cars and they're really a great plant. Gobs of driveable torque, they don't want to spin much past 5500 though, 6-6200 through the beams max usually. which reminds me i need to see if i set a redline in the sniper

 

[Bebop]

I've read the multispark CD boxes can roast the tach's. might still do it to try it. Its a newer Autometer Gauge.

EDIT: to be clear it would be landed on the neg terminal as you said but the input or something from the box to coil ****s it off. So i've heard, never tried it. First time for everything though

EDIT.2: I can't imagine the autometer is a square wave signal, it read the signal from the 6AL which i believe is a sine wave like the sniper.....

I've also read the same thing. But I've also read that it works fine for some people...

MSD also has a tach adapter for a different style of tach

https://www.holley.com/blog/post/tachometer_operation/

https://documents.holley.com/d4c16dc42052bcb123a26e27fe50cece35a15d50.pdf