'68 318 to carbed Magnum 5.2: Check my checklist
Made a quick stop to the junkyard (not the one I got the engine from) today to scout out a few things. I must have gone by 30 Magnum 5.2's and 5.9's this time. Yard was CRAWLING with them, though every single one looked quite rough.
I was able to pick up two really nice Magnum air cleaners (and could probably have come home with 20 more), which I quickly found out are useless to me. They sit comically high on the 4-barrel Summit carb (and probably all others), plus, the bottom of the pan hits the float needle adjustment screw due to the clearance needed for the small-diameter filter element.
Looks like I'll have to dig up a proper air cleaner off a 1970's 4-barrel application. Good luck to me, for there wasn't a single carbureted Dodge in the junkyard that would have yielded one cheap ($100+ for an air cleaner on eBay is BS in my book). Not even any pre-'92 TBI engines. And I'm sure as hell not putting one of those plastic Dakota lawn sprinkler ducts on top of this build.
On the right is a Ford E-core coil bracket, which I intend to modify to mount onto the factory, small-block canister coil bracket. On the right is a little gem that I found on a 1992 Ram (oldest Dodge on the lot there) - a dual-row power steering cooler.
The dual-row power steering cooler looks much like the old single-row units on big block Mopars. It's just the ticket as a slightly over-the-top-looking power steering cooler that still looks period.
Unfortunately, it was designed to mount right on the block in the same spot my power steering pump is located. A bit of home-brew engineering would be needed here.
I wanted to use something that would look similar to the stamped steel bracket used on big block Federal pumps equipped with coolers, so I took the magnetic timing pickup bracket from the van, pressed it flat, and welded it to two pieces of curved steel cut out of the original 318 flexplate.
The not-so-complete, but satisfying result by the end of the evening:
The only SAE pump reservoir bolts I had from the PS pump rebuilds were studs - so I have two studs protruding from the back of the pump to mount and center the bracket, hence the curved shape. All works out rather well, I'd say.
By the time the whole thing is done, it should look something like this:
-Kurt
Made a quick stop to the junkyard (not the one I got the engine from) today to scout out a few things. I must have gone by 30 Magnum 5.2's and 5.9's this time. Yard was CRAWLING with them, though every single one looked quite rough.
I was able to pick up two really nice Magnum air cleaners (and could probably have come home with 20 more), which I quickly found out are useless to me. They sit comically high on the 4-barrel Summit carb (and probably all others), plus, the bottom of the pan hits the float needle adjustment screw due to the clearance needed for the small-diameter filter element.
Looks like I'll have to dig up a proper air cleaner off a 1970's 4-barrel application. Good luck to me, for there wasn't a single carbureted Dodge in the junkyard that would have yielded one cheap ($100+ for an air cleaner on eBay is BS in my book). Not even any pre-'92 TBI engines. And I'm sure as hell not putting one of those plastic Dakota lawn sprinkler ducts on top of this build.
On the right is a Ford E-core coil bracket, which I intend to modify to mount onto the factory, small-block canister coil bracket. On the right is a little gem that I found on a 1992 Ram (oldest Dodge on the lot there) - a dual-row power steering cooler.
The dual-row power steering cooler looks much like the old single-row units on big block Mopars. It's just the ticket as a slightly over-the-top-looking power steering cooler that still looks period.
Unfortunately, it was designed to mount right on the block in the same spot my power steering pump is located. A bit of home-brew engineering would be needed here.
I wanted to use something that would look similar to the stamped steel bracket used on big block Federal pumps equipped with coolers, so I took the magnetic timing pickup bracket from the van, pressed it flat, and welded it to two pieces of curved steel cut out of the original 318 flexplate.
The not-so-complete, but satisfying result by the end of the evening:
The only SAE pump reservoir bolts I had from the PS pump rebuilds were studs - so I have two studs protruding from the back of the pump to mount and center the bracket, hence the curved shape. All works out rather well, I'd say.
By the time the whole thing is done, it should look something like this:
-Kurt
