RamRunner Refresh

Got some wrench time on the truck over the weekend, first item was making the steering steer again.

KOH Carnage

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Freshie

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There's really no binding on that shaft as there's another U joint farther up by the column mount, not sure how it even happened. Easy fix though.

Fought the starter for a good half day and found my problem is two fold

1. The top mounting hole on the starter is oblonged, probably from when the stud walked out by the dunes so it has some play to go left right. Well engagement on the adapter could be better and when it walks the 1/8-3/16 out away from centerline it misses the flywheel entirely. Also unfortunately the mounting holes are top/bottom so only clamping force is going to hold the starter in place and i fear the mini torque and high compression are going to be an ongoing walking problem. Im thinking of tig welding a tab onto the adapter to stop the ability to walk left/right.

2. I've sheered some flywheel teeth. On the custom one of one i just had made pre KOH :grinpimp: I'm 99% sure its the same flywheel ring gear used in th350/th400 adapters to mopar BB as mopars have the starter ring on the TC in their trans applications. If i can confirm that ill get another on and have it made again.....

Drove it around the back roads a bit and everything else appears to be operational minus the drivers rear brake either dragging or caliper bent out of place. I get a high pitched rotational squeal at around 30-35mph that i noticed driving through the pits but completely goes away at higher speed/lower speed.
 
Rig is still alive and well, were waiting on our second kid literally any day so haven't made any plans to go wheel in the near future.

I fixed the taillights and redid the rear harness so the light bar is integrated better and i don't have 15 useless wires going from the firewall back to the lights anymore.

My brake dragging/wheel bearing sound was actually loose caliper bolts, so that was a nice easy fix. Pretty concerning they backed out that much so ill retorque next garage session and if their loose throw some red loctite at them.

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I try to drive it 1-2x a week, it keeps starting fine so i may just leave the flywheel alone. Which means it'll act up on the first trail outing I'm sure, but that's a future problem.

Took the family out to a local range that has a very ungroomed road in, wouldn't call it a fire road but the washboards and potholes make taking a normie truck in a long slow process, little man seemed to be fine taking a short nap in while we were cruising at 40-45mph where other cars were doing 8-10.

Took the top off too because were back into nice weather

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I still haven't landed a wire on the negative terminal of the coil to see if it makes the tach work, mainly because I'm too lazy to take the dash cover plate off. I need to just do it. its bugging me enough driving to get it done.

I do want to catch Fullsize Invasion at the rubicon in July so thats my next major outing. Hoping to hit fordyce 1-2x before then
 
75RamRunner anything new to update?
Yes/No


took it out to Bridgeport for mothers day and cruise it around, the flywheel has lost more teeth and i now have to Bar it over every 2-3 starts. So that's not awesome.

I'm dropping it off at a buddies shop since i don't have a lift anymore and i remember how much fun it was getting it in, to pull the trans so i can refab the custom flywheel.

I have some goodies for the trans, a new case port for the cooler lines (i currently have fittings expoxied in to the outlets) and a new pan with a sender port so i can get rid of the abomination of a remote sender that is scarely close to the exhaust.

I also ordered new speaker pods since my cheapo door speakers died again, and I'm going to fab a tube door because the sheet metal one has been wrinkled enough i have to yard on it to close/open.
 
Alright little more in depth for those who care

The JVX adapter I used for the original conversion with the motorhome 440 had a 6 bolt flex plate and the aluminum adapter for bolting the trans up always felt a little rough. The crank spacer has never been right for me, the I.D of the spacer was not correct for the OD of the crank flange. This was also true of the 8 bolt forged aftermarket crank in the new engine.

I think the kit was engineered for 8hp70s and there must be a TC depth difference on the 8hp75s because I have fought a trans fluid leak from inside the bellhousing for awhile now. This was a JY trans with 21k miles on it out of a 2019 ram so it could have just been the trans but it never previously leaked with the first 505 i blew up....

Domiworks out of sweden makes some sweet parts for 8hp conversion, they were focused on BMW/Jag conversions when they first came out, long story short they got their hands on a few dodge trans and have parts now so i ordered their adapter kit, mainly for the billet flexplate so i don't have to custom machine one, their trans pan with sender port, and their cooler lines adapter to AN conversion with an integrated thermostat because i suspect one of my issues is overcooling/not letting the trans fluid get to operating temp. I have it tied into the radiator with a second external cooler with fan that's on a switch. The 727 ran so hot i did everything i could to keep it under 220, the 8hp never seems to get over 150. Even in the dunes beating on it with gear changes i got it up to 180 hit the fan and sucked it right down to 165.

I'll take pictures of the goodies once they land


I fully intend to attend the Fullsize Invasion ride at the Rubicon in a few weeks so if anyone is going, come say hi
 
When is the full size invasion at the con? All I can find is mid July dates? I'll be there 5/31 for a trail ride with some friends.
 
When is the full size invasion at the con? All I can find is mid July dates? I'll be there 5/31 for a trail ride with some friends.

7/17-20 are the dates i was told. Ill probably ride out on the 19ths if i show up on the 17th but its open to change.

I dont typically enjoy organized rides, they stop too much for my liking, I'm not a ride for 5 minutes and drink a beer guy, more of a smash the trail to the fun obstacles, play there, food/adult beverage then carry on.

I roll Fordyce to the first water crossing normally before we stop, and that's only because im normally with smaller tire rigs/golf carts.
 
Updates progess:

Trans is out adapters all swapped for the DomiWorks ones, very high caliber pieces. Im impressed.

My trans leak was indeed the input shaft seal on the trans, my guess is from the 12lbs of sand that go shoved in there. I probably need to look into fabbing a sheet metal dust cover for the bottom of the trans at the TC.

Seal should go in today and get the trans back in, im going to rework the sender and hopefully reuse the cooler lines and MAYBE be headed up to Fordyce this weekend.....
 
Flows at 420 and supposedly not going to be lifted for memorial weekend. We were planning on fordyce but now we're all headed to Rubicon fyi.
 
Flows at 420 and supposedly not going to be lifted for memorial weekend. We were planning on fordyce but now we're all headed to Rubicon fyi.

My 6 week old will be attending so i highly doubt anything but to the first crossing and back is going to get tolerated anyways. Its more of a "make sure **** doesn't **** up" test run.

Plus fordyce is 60 minutes door to door for me, rubicon is every bit of 2 hours, plus uncle toms beers, plus waiting on the "built JKs" to figure out how to get around gate keeper. makes it hard for me to enjoy unless i start at Wentworth and smash all the way to spider
 
Rig Update:

Buddies shop got the new adapters on thickness was just different enough to have to re-drill the plate mount for the atlas. Glad I didn't get into it on my shop floor, that mount is a PITA when you can see it

Trans temp gauge in the pan reads better than the block adapter as expected, my input seal was trashed on the 8hp as previously mentioned however, after a few test drives its still leaking.....I'm at a bit of a loss, the only thing I can think of now is the actual TC is leaking somewhere/how. It's probably a 2"x4" puddle after driving, enough to want to fix it. Open to any idea's thoughts on possible leak sources, its definitely inside the bellhousing area and its definitely RPM driven as it doesn't leak/barely does at idle/cruise.


I also really want to get my auto shifting figured back out, I'm pretty positive its all ****ered from not having a clean RPM input signal like i had with the MSD box, so i tapped the negative wire and used it for the PCS RPM input and the tach, and i got zilch.

The only wiring that changed on the tach from the 6AL box to the hyperspark has been the RPM signal input. I first used the Sniper harness output wire which is black and yellow that states in the wiring manual for use with aftermarket tach's but got no readings. Switched to the negative on the coil and still nothing. Not ruling out a roached tach but it seems odd the TCM and Tach both aren't seeing RPM regardless of input source. Any sniper gurus know if i can program one of the output wires for RPM signal?



Headed to Walker River in Yerington NV this weekend for a friends birthday, bringing the go pros to try to get some at speed footage and see if there's any rocks to **** around on
 
You can't
**** I figured as much. I didn't gain much from going to the HyperSpark box besides a cleaner wiring system since its all plug and play. That sucks. Useless to program the 8hp TCM if it can't see RPM, guess ill keep shifting it like a FMVB. The paddles work most the time so its not the end of the world.


I don't understand why the negative coil tap didn't register. I know multispark coils are highly advised against but I've also heard it works just fine.

I also need to find out how to test the black/yellow wire for output to see if the sniper just isnt sending a signal or what its doing
 
You need a real EFI on this thing. Stop ****ing around and bite the bullet.

Go HP, coil on plugs and sequential.

You'll thank yourself.


Or MaxxECU that has native 8HP trans control.
 
You need a real EFI on this thing. Stop ****ing around and bite the bullet.

Go HP, coil on plugs and sequential.

You'll thank yourself.


Or MaxxECU that has native 8HP trans control.

MaxxECU after talking with your recommendation guru.

Full disclosure I'm waiting on that rebuilt engine i trashed to be done, so I can justify picking up a B-Body Mopar, and then transfer all this Sniper EFI to that as it'll just be a street cruiser with 550ish hp. My mental barrier will let me go full wild on the truck at that point. It needs seats with better containment for how ive been driving recently (No complaints with the corbeau recliners, theyre super comfy, just more daily/slow wheeling) so ill have ample room to relocate the TCM/ECM to a better spot than the firewall for water crossings.

I can bring myself to trashcan all of it, plus this is wheeling season, ill spend too long making it fit nice and lose the whole year.

It does run the engine just fine. I'm sure there's room for important but it fires 2nd/3rd spin, keeps the AFRs in range, and doesn't mind being sideways, so functionality is there just not preference.
 
Take your current motor/harness and save that for your new Mopar car. Everything on the street should have a big block! Now you can justify buying anything you want.
MaxxECU after talking with your recommendation guru.

Full disclosure I'm waiting on that rebuilt engine i trashed to be done, so I can justify picking up a B-Body Mopar
 
Rig Update:

Buddies shop got the new adapters on thickness was just different enough to have to re-drill the plate mount for the atlas. Glad I didn't get into it on my shop floor, that mount is a PITA when you can see it

Trans temp gauge in the pan reads better than the block adapter as expected, my input seal was trashed on the 8hp as previously mentioned however, after a few test drives its still leaking.....I'm at a bit of a loss, the only thing I can think of now is the actual TC is leaking somewhere/how. It's probably a 2"x4" puddle after driving, enough to want to fix it. Open to any idea's thoughts on possible leak sources, its definitely inside the bellhousing area and its definitely RPM driven as it doesn't leak/barely does at idle/cruise.


I also really want to get my auto shifting figured back out, I'm pretty positive its all ****ered from not having a clean RPM input signal like i had with the MSD box, so i tapped the negative wire and used it for the PCS RPM input and the tach, and i got zilch.

The only wiring that changed on the tach from the 6AL box to the hyperspark has been the RPM signal input. I first used the Sniper harness output wire which is black and yellow that states in the wiring manual for use with aftermarket tach's but got no readings. Switched to the negative on the coil and still nothing. Not ruling out a roached tach but it seems odd the TCM and Tach both aren't seeing RPM regardless of input source. Any sniper gurus know if i can program one of the output wires for RPM signal?



Headed to Walker River in Yerington NV this weekend for a friends birthday, bringing the go pros to try to get some at speed footage and see if there's any rocks to **** around on
Had a couple converters on my Buick V6 get a crack on the snout. Not obvious. Would not leak idling or being easy on it.

Fixed it and happened again. Trans guy had a converter made with a 300M snout. No more problems.
 
Torque? :grinpimp: It was a healthy little V6.

On the 2004r the snout runs the pump which I think is pretty standard.

That's interesting, because both big blocks have been 600ft lbs+ at damn near 2500, plus 4:1 case, 5.38s, 43s. Definitely some strain......Had considered the actual case of the convertor.
Take your current motor/harness and save that for your new Mopar car. Everything on the street should have a big block! Now you can justify buying anything you want.

I am considering taking the roller engine out when I get the other one back, id feel a whole let less guilty if the motorhome block dies from being on its side than the nice one that's currently getting beat on, but I've also become accustom to the additional 150ish HP, its completely unnecessary, but it makes me smile so :flipoff2:
 
That's interesting, because both big blocks have been 600ft lbs+ at damn near 2500, plus 4:1 case, 5.38s, 43s. Definitely some strain......Had considered the actual case of the convertor.


I am considering taking the roller engine out when I get the other one back, id feel a whole let less guilty if the motorhome block dies from being on its side than the nice one that's currently getting beat on, but I've also become accustom to the additional 150ish HP, its completely unnecessary, but it makes me smile so :flipoff2:
The V6 was not making 600 ft/lbs. But it did put 414 hp/468 tq to the wheels at 20 psi. Just pushing a Regal around though.

My Buddy made over 600 to the wheels with a stock bottom end... Over 30 psi.
 
To no ones surprise, I am a complete glue eater.

Decided I was going to figure out the rpm signal hell or high water, pull the harness apart and at some point the pin for the wire that takes a speed sensor (rpm input) on the PCS harness got moved to a unused pin. so it was never going to see RPM no matter what i connected it to.

Then i look at the tach, and lo and behold, no power wire going to the back. Managed to hit every other gauge nice and clean and just missed it entirely.

Got that all going, fire it up, and like magic i have tach signal.


Go to shift it, and she won't come out of park. Mind you i just drove it into the shop 4ish days ago. Hook up the PCS software, all analog and digital inputs are showing, except one........RPM. But now I know the sniper is outputting it as the autometer is reading it. Fiddle ****ed with it for a few hours, and then called Russell. I really can't say enough good about that guys custom service. He gives a **** and is good at what he does, what he does isn't for everyone but that's not the point.

We spend another hour doing diag and tests, finally he asked to remote in, and we find out the file corrupted itself somehow. Load a new base file and boom, shifter moves.

Load the big bitch in the trailer at 11pm and were headed to play today in the desert, hoping for a less eventful trip than my prep lol
 
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