Got an 83 Ram Charger with a 440 today!

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I'll admit though, it does look kinda strange sittin on top of a 440. (jus thought Id add that)
 
omahamoparguy,
I know jack-squat about carbs. Are you telling me there is something I need to attach from what you see in the pictures? I know about the hose in back, I disconnected it to read the intake casting numbers. If you see something I need to do or attach, please walk me thru it. Right now you have to pump the heck out of the truck to get it started and it idles pretty darn high and will not kick-down.
 
Damn Button, wish i had a yard round here like that. My 75 would look so much better.

Your new ride looks great. I would like to find a 75'ish with a removable top.
 
It was a cold / windy day so I brought the rear bumper and mirrors inside this morning and let them warm up so I could polish them out this afternoon. Pulled off the license plate marker light and even polished its lense. I'm hopeing gto get back to the yard tomorrow and get a better front bumper, possibly taillights with a chrome trim bezel, and a spare tire. I'm thinking I may grab the best wheel that is on the "Marksman" Ram PU that I saw there. I'd like to have the entire set, (not to mount on the Ram Charger but just to have) but I believe one rim was damaged. Check out the "Marksman" in these pictures.
 

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Like cuda mark said earlier, the intake is probably culprit as the vacuum leak can cause hairpullin bad carb-like maladys. Take the intake off and get it iether magged at a machine shop or have them check for cracks with dye. I believe all the cracks can be fixed with Devcon "steel" epoxy putty. But you may have to disable the egr functions. Another option would be a 440 edelbrock performer intake. Other things to check is having the correct base gasket as the thermoquad gasket is different than the Q-jet gasket (just slightly but it is enough). All the hook ups look ok but think the choke might be hanging up or bad/misadjusted.
 
BTW I just missed a 9 1/4 posi rear for my truck at our local pick a part. The price of steel is up so the yards are crushing the cars sooner due to make space for all the cars coming in. If you see something yu may be able to use now or in the near future, you better get it when yu see it cause it prolly wont be there for long. We got a bunch of Dodge truck up this way too, they jus got more rust in them.
 
Omaha, just sent you a PM.

The Wrench-A-Part here seems to rotate it's stock pretty regularly. I'm actually amazed at the amount and condition of some of these vehicles. Being in Central Texas most of these vehicles are virtually rust free. Those two 1990 Ramchargers were great condition. When I was pulling the rear bumper, I looked at the under carriage and the shocks paint still had a shine to them. Exhaust system was rust free. I thought it was a shame to be parting the vehicle, (as I pulled what I needed from it, haha).
 
Well I made it back out to the Wrench-A-Part this afternoon. First I headed over to the MOPAR car section and the only thing close to a car that might have a big-block was this Satellite Sebring and it ended up having a scavanged 318. Everything else was front wheel drive or Lebaron/5th Aves.
I then headed over to the trucks and saw that the Lil'Red was next to be hauled to the crusher. This truck was not worth saving, burned up and gutted. Months ago I pulled its chromed valve covers just so I could polish them and hang them on a wall. Even they were discolored from the fires heat. Headed to the three Ram Chargers again though. The two-tone blue one gave up its complete underhood lug wrench, bottle jack, crank, and the mounting hardware. The "Marksman" gave up it sweet light blue visors which were in great shape. The white 90 model gave me its rear bumper two days ago and today the white 88 next to it gave up its front bumper. I removed the bumperettes and polished it up with the help of my son at home and you can see the result. I did remove the ceiling trim from the 90 but will have to paint it light blue before I install it since it currently is burgandy in color. I did get a windshield washer resevoir and pump from another pickup. I couldn't find two nice, chrome trimed taillights on any vehicle that was worth taking.
I have a few nick-nacks I want to go back Sunday and get with my son, (he loves going there too but was in school the last two trips I made).
Saturday I will install both bumpers, the mirrors, visors, and the other small interior items I have acquired. Engine bay stuff will wait till I have the engine bay cleaned and detailed so that more than likely will be late spring.
 

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Today was a sunny day, temps around 60 degrees, perfect for installing all the parts I acquired from the Wrench-A-Part. When we were all done, the wife and boys agreed how much better the chrome bumpers and mirrors made the truck look. So for $100, and elbow grease to polish out all the chrome and stainless, I think it was a pretty good deal.
-rear bumper $35
-front bumper $45
-mirrors $20 for pair
I was going to put on the rear bumper but then thought I would sweep out the back area. Which led to removing the stainless trim, which led to pulling up the rubber matting, which led to degreasing and cleaning the exposed floor which was covered in what appeared to be a spilled quart of oil that was full if dirt! Before I knew it I spent the majority of the afternoon cleaning spilled oil and dirt. I cut out the rear rubber matting which I will powerwash tomorrow. I dont want to put it back in but will use it as a template to make a new rubber mat instead. I also installed a much better rubber seal all the way around the hatch opening and installed the black rubber filler panel between the bumper and the body.
Sunday I want to install the window visors, replace/repair the interior light fixtures, and replace the window cranks, all with parts I pulled from the yard. About the only thing left to do on the exterior is reinstall the stainless trim on the drivers side rear window panel and I already got a bunch of clips from the yard for that as well.
 

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Oh boy . . . he's at it again!! Nice work, RAM looks great . . . keep up the great work!! :thumleft::thumleft: Two thumbs up!!
 
great job
do you know if that rear bumper will fit on a 74 D100?

Which bumper are you asking about? I believe the black one would just because of its straight across design. The chrome one may not because of how it is more form fitted to wrapping around the lower area under the taillights.
The rear bumper brackets bolt to each frame rail with two bolts, and dont really think changes the location of the holes from 1972 through 1993.
The front bumper brackets bolt with three bolts to each frame rail. The 1988 front bumper bracket was much more supportive than the 83 brackets but all the holes still lined right up.
Hope this helps.
 
I spy a broken off bolt on the EGR block off plate. May have a vac leak.

That bolt was indeed broken off and there were 2 gaskets underneath when I removed the plate and both were ate up bad! So I have two questions here;
1. How many gaskets should there be?
2. Whats the easiest way to remove that bolt?
 

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That bolt was indeed broken off and there were 2 gaskets underneath when I removed the plate and both were ate up bad! So I have two questions here;
1. How many gaskets should there be?
2. Whats the easiest way to remove that bolt?
1. one gasket
2. by devine intervention if possible. A good drill bit, lots of cutting oil and a
quality easy-out would be my second choice. A torch would #3 and a new manifold
would bring up the rear if the first three fail.
 
Moving right along and looking great, I had to look where you are from, it's cold here.
Keep moving forward Button :toothy2: You are doing a great Job on your Ramcharger :thumleft:
 
You can also take a nice sharp punch, ding 2 slots into the outside edges then take another straight edged punch and work it around with a hammer.
 
That bolt was indeed broken off and there were 2 gaskets underneath when I removed the plate and both were ate up bad! So I have two questions here;
1. How many gaskets should there be?
2. Whats the easiest way to remove that bolt?

Just bumping this along in case someone else has some ides on how to remove the broken bolt.
 

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Today I started cleaning up the engine bay. With the 440 installed, none of the Canisters lines were connected to anything, just hanging along the top of the wheel well. Also some A/C items were removed as well as the cracked windshield washer fluid tank which I already have a replacement for. Then I used some Simple Green and a green pad to scrub up the wheel tubs, inner fenders, and across the top of the grill along the radiator. There were numerous twigs and acorns all down in the fender areas and I also found three rags and an old funnel. I also flushed the heck out of the radiator, but, didn't have the motor running at all so I know there is more gunk still to come from the block.
I sprayed Simple Green repeatedly to the front of the engine area and would hose it off without any scrubbing. This next week I want to get new header gaskets, Valve cover gaskets, and an oil dip stick before I do any extensive running of the motor to flush it out properly.
 

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Today I went back to work on the interior again. Replaced the hacked up visors with some from the yard. Same with both window hand cranks. While pulling apart the dash to get at the wiper control arms, I found a mouse nest. Weird because I didn't see any droppings anywhere.
The backseats belts were pretty nasty so I pulled them and cleaned them. I pulled the entire backseat out so I also painted the locking mechanism. The interior lights were all busted up so I replaced them with ones I pulled from the yard as well. Removing the backseat, I took off the bottom cardboard sheet and then found a mud-daubers nest up under the seat. Tomorrow I will scrub up the black rubber mat I removed today and then will clean the bare floor. Then re-install everything before moving to the cab area.
 

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Well today was another nice day where we surpassed the 70 degree mark, not bad for Central Texas in January! I finished removing the old window tint from both doors windows. The tint was almost purple looking and had lots of scratches. I also installed the stainless trim around the drivers side large rear window useing trim and clips from 2 donor RC's out at the Wrench-A-Part yard.
Next was tackling the wiper arm linkage that had come apart. I had never removed a cowling before but it was fairly easy. I was very careful not to scrape any on the 4 month old paint. The wasp nest was located right under the vin number plate as well as all the leaves. The wife didn't look to thrilled that I used our house vac to suck them all out, haha. I had a couple of these pins, compliments of my units motorpool a few years back and popped one on and presto, both worked fine. I still have to install the arms but I grabbed better ones from the yard and will use them. I painted them satin black and they are drying as I type this. I was also able to find the interior headliner trim piece that runs across the roof, just behind the drivers head. But I painted in satin navy blue and it is drying as well.
Saturday morning I am returning to the yard to grab some other items from my list before we get the 5 days of rain we are expecting.
 

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My son and I headed back to the Wrench-A-Part again today wanting to get the last of what we could find before we get rain for the next 5 days. We ended up pulling;
- Passenger seat base, (old ones handle is missing)
- Sportier steering wheel taken from the "Marksman"
- Wood center console out of the white, 90 model, (we plan to refinish or use as a template to make our own.
- Interior light/switch
- Negative battery cable
- Speedo cable
- Battery tray and support, (ours looks like crap)
- Cardboard seat bottom cover for back seat, (ours was nicked and ripped up)
- Wood grain dash/console from a 88 model to replace our plain black one.
- 6X9 speakers, (son found these like new speakers in a school bus yellow van! I would never have looked in there.

Once we got home I quickly installed the seat bottom, dash and steering wheel as we could see lightning in the distance and darkness was falling. Still lots to do but it keeps me occupied while my knee recovers from surgery. I call all the walking, squating, bending, and contorting myself to fit in various areas of the truck my "physical therapy" haha.
 

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Well didn't get that much done today. I installed a new negative cable on the battery and mounted the repaired wiper arms. Also painted up the battery tray I plan to install to replace the rusted one that looks hideous. Ordered a new oil dip-stick and valve cover gaskets as well. However I did snap these two shots of my toys.
 

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Today I hustled trying to get the work done that I wanted to do before the weather front slams us. It was 70 degrees today and by 7 am Tuesday morning its supposed to be 27 degree's with wind chills around 0! I installed new Felpro valve cover gaskets. The old ones were hard and pinched super thin. The passenger side at the back was nearly non-existant. Luckily none of the bolts seemed stripped out.
Once I got that done I replaced the positive cables clamp and tore out the old rusty battery tray that was waffer thin from all the leaking battery acid from the old battery. Picked up a new battery and hold-downs so now that area looks good as well.
The oil dip stick I ordered should be in Tuesday. I will then feel much more at-ease knowing exactly how much oil is in the engine!
Went down to the DMV and transferred the title and got tags. Only $43 since I didn't go with specialized tags this time, but I may on down the road.
 

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