Thanks! Yea when I first started the build I was only planning to use these wheels temporarily, until I get something different. But they are starting to grow on me and look kind of sharp. But I definitely need to do something about the tires, and even more so the Ram symbols I'm the wheel centers. Haha

 

So here's a little quick update. The last time I posted I mentioned that the Hemi would fire and run but the throttle was none responsive. And yeah I could idle around in gear but that was it. And so I idled around and parked it outside next to the garage. I did go ahead and pull several connectors and check to make sure the wires to pinned right at the pcm. I checked the accelerator pedal position sensor and checked the throttle itself, however everything checked out fine. I couldn't find the problem.

Well told I had to do a mess of yard work and didn't get time to work on it. But I still wanted to hear it run. So I put some gas in the tank and fired it up. And even though I knew the throttle wouldn't respond I went ahead and reached over to press the gas, and to my surprise it revved up. But no, it doesn't respond, I must be hearing things. So I push again and sure enough that thing revved up. So I jump up in the seat throw it in gear and immediately spin the rear hides right there in the grass. HAHAHAHAHAHA!! So frikin stoked! I'm assuming that I had a loose connection and after unplugging and reconnecting connectors it got a proper connection somewhere.

 

Nice! Sometimes the gremlins run away, nothing wrong with that!

 

Alright, so since the throttle is working and the brakes are done I've been super anxious to take a spin. But first I still needed to secure my intake air temp sensor. Since I put the harness in that sensor has just been dangling in place.

To direct air into the throttle I'm using a 3 inch schedule 10 90 degree stainless elbow. So the inside diameter is pretty close to being a seemless match to the throttle.



So all I needed to do was drill a hole, install a grommet and slip the sensor in. Easy enough, I wish every thing I had done to this thing was this easy.









Then I went ahead and did a once over on all the hardware, marking sure motor mounts were tight, control arms, steering. You know, pre-flight checks.

Then it was time.

It still started a little rough, as I haven't worked all the air from the fuel system yet. At first it didn't feel right, so I check the trans fluid and sure enough it was low. So I filled it to the cold mark. Put it back in gear and now things are starting to feel right.

Oh yea and now since the throttle is working the idle has come down to where it should be. Before the throttle was responding it would idle about 12-1300 rpm. But now it's down to where it needs to be. So again, back into gear. As I headed down the driveway I felt a small vibration but I didn't think too much of it, I mean nothing in the cab is bolted down except for the driver seat so. Everything makes noise. But once on the road as I accelerated it felt like it was being held back and the vibration got worse. So I get back to the house to find that the snap ring on the u-joint is missing and the shaft was off center. I have no clue when that happened but I'll be picking up a new u-joint tomorrow. And hopefully the vibration will be taken care of.

But as a note, since the truck is so light and there is no weight on the rear end. It made for a few good quick donuts in the back yard haha.

 

Its looking great man.

 

Awesome! Like the color too.

 

For your viewing pleasure

 

Man this is a great awe inspiring build so impressed!

 

This is by far one of the most amazing build threads I have ever seen. Your mechanical and engineering skills are crazy good. Your dedication to finish this project and start over..just wow!! Great job. Love the swap and transformation!!

 

So it came to my attention that I haven't made an updated post on here in who knows how long. I mean sure you could look at the date stamp of my last post and find out but whatever. So yea I've gotten a few more things done since my last post. As I'm writing this the truck isn't that far from being on the road again.

First let me say that those ram truck 20 inch wheels are finally gone!!!!!! I've replaced them with some steel 17 inch wheels and some 35 inch tires. And wow the transformation there was great. It finally looks the way a '70s era truck should look, badass!!!!











I had some pretty good help getting the new shoes bolted on!






But that was recently. After the last post i managed to go ahead and get my gauges installed. I hooked everything up except for the speedo. And I left that disconnected until I could get the wheels and tires I wanted so then I can calibrate the speedo. So those are all installed. And they don't look half bad.





Also the bed is back on. I have been looking around to see if I could find a bed, but the only luck I had was to find good trucks that had the flare side bed. And I hate to part out a good truck to finish my truck. So for now the damaged bed it is. Now as you can imagine, I'm getting impatient. I mean seriously I just want nothing more than to get into this thing and start wheeling. So I'm not super concerned with the look of the truck. That said the destroyed corner of the bed is still destroyed, but now it's destroyed and hammered back slightly to kind of fit a little better than it would if it weren't hammered on. The turn signal bracket had broken off in the wreck and the bolt holes are now inaccessible. So I just welded the bent bracket to the fender that needs to be replaced anyway. Also the passenger side tailgate hinge went missing in action in the accident so I had to make one. I just grabbed some scrap stainless and through something together to match the dimensions of the driver side hinge. That seems to work fine. I got rid of the bucket seats and put the bench seat back in. Because well there are three of us now, and bucket seats are gonna only allow for one other person in the truck. Not to mention the bench seat was upholstered to match the paint so it's a win win.



Now one of the reasons I wasn't making much progress for a while was because more pressing financial commitments came up and we all know how that goes. Well I've had this air cooled Diesel engine sitting in my garage for a while now. I originally wanted to use it for another project truck, but I figured it'd be nice to 1.) get that big ole engine out of the garage and 2.) sell it and use the money from that to finish my truck.
So I sold it. However after I had a buyer I had to figure out how to get the engine picked up and loaded into either a truck or this guys trailer. Because when i brought this engine home I had to put my engine hoist up on blocks to get it high enough to pick it up out of the company truck. And of course that was extremely sketchy, but then when I went to lower the whole thing on the ground it did fall all the blocks at about 3 inches off the ground. So yea no good. I needed to figure out a way to safely(ish) lift the engine high enough by myself. So figures why not just put the engine hoist in the back of my truck. Now I know that everyone that just read this line is seriously doubting how much sense I may have. I mean really, there should be a red flag that comes up with that statement but I'm gonna do it anyway. So, I fabbed up a little frame from 3 inch angle 1/4 inch thick that the mast of the engine hoist would bolt to. And really that's all that was required. I drilled and tapped 5/8 inch holes in the temp frame and then bolted the frame of the hoist to the frame of my trucks bed. And it worked! Now granted its probably not a great idea to put that much weight on the truck, especially when the weight is being suspended about six feet behind the rear axle. It definitely made the rear end of the truck squat down. But it worked well enough to hoist the engine high enough to load it onto the buys trailer. Which was a gooseneck flatbed. Definitely a win there!!!



So in he past couple of days I've received some new door seals, seat belts a new steering column, and the carpet along with some insulation shouldn't be too far behind.

So rest assured everyone, that I haven't given up. And the light at the end of the tunnel is closer than ever!!

 

Wow ..... hat's some read from start to finish ..... so far!

Nice work .....

 

Thanks its been a lot of work.

 

And here's little more backyard fun. Right after getting the new tires on. Also you can tell in this video that I've got a muffler on it now. So it's a bit quieter.

 

starting the little one young! Gonna be an expert.

 

Haha for sure. He loves coming to check out the garage, and if he can find something to turn he'll keep himself busy for a while.