It's aliiiiiiiive..!!!!

[wicked6]

Welp... I couldn't resist... After a marathon night last night to get the exhaust "in", I got out there today, buttoned up a few things & started priming the fuel system. . Cranked it a few times with the fuel lines cracked, got juice everywhere & tightened everything down. . She fired right up... !!!



I smoked the garage pretty well, to the point that my wife opened the door just long enough to yell that I fumigated the house. . :-laf



oops!



But, alas - there are OTHER issues at hand. . My tach is goofy (VDO, totally errant readings, then it goes dead), and the power steering fluid continues to foam and puke. . Oil pressure gauge is spiked at 80 psi - which doesn't seem right to me... I thought 40-50 psi tops????



Well, for now the journey changes, but my Chevy finally sounds "right" to me. . !!!







Linc

 

[DVolk]

Its aliiiiiiive..!!

My guess on the oil pressure ,you need to adjust the

oil pressure releif screw ,



my 92 when cold will go to 75 for a littel while then down to 50psi



your powersteering haslots of air in it

 

[BPonci]

Congrats! Its always nice to hear and see your progects come to life.

 

[MMeier]

Any pics by chance?

 

[JStokes]

How did you connct the powersteering?

I'm fighting the pukes as well. When you figure out how to fix it do tell. If I get mine figured out I will do the same.

 

[wicked6]

I jacked the front end up (unloaded the front wheels) started the truck, & spun the steering wheel left to right a few times to get the fluid through the system. . Pumped the brakes, etc. . The brakes pulsed BAD, and the steering moaned some. .



I noticed that it was sucking ALL the fluid / foam down (cap was off) so I added some more. . Continued to spin the steering wheel, and noticed the brake "feedback" was going away when applying them. . Added some more fluid when I could see gears again... Welp. When I shut it down, PUKE. . ! ... foamy Royal Purple PS fluid everywhere. . I think I did that a couple times, and just left it alone overnight. . I was freezing my happy a55 off - time to quit & spend some time with the kiddos. . (and try to amend the bad vibes with the wife... evidently, a slap on the butt doesn't work very well) This morning, the foam was back to fluid, and a bit high. . I will roll it out to the driveway again tonight & try to run it. .



On the oil pressure:



I'll double check to make sure they didn't send me the wrong sending unit & go from there. . If you guys are seeing 70+ psi cold, it may be "normal"... When I got the engine, we started it up in the wrecked truck & the stock gauge read 35-40 psi. .



Linc

 

[Forrest Nearing]

stock gauge is a glorified dummy light... I put a mechanical gauge on my 97, and on cold mornings it would hit 100psi no problem

 

[wicked6]

Any pics by chance?

Man, I know I got them SOMEWHERE. . Mostly between my home PC and my work laptop. . I'll start posting them into my gallery or this thread...



I'll say it now - Dang Timo set the bar so high on this list that nobody's repower documentation / photos will ever compare. . LOL



linc

 

[wicked6]

Any pics by chance?

Here are a couple, starting from the beginning... . Yanking the 454 was easy. . Fitting the Cummins was tough... With the Autoworld mounts in place, the firewall had to be "massaged" back about an inch or so. To make room for the 47RH, I had to hammer out the transmission tunnel quite a bit. . If I were to do it over (not), I would've found a removable transmission hump from a 4x4 & grafted it into my 2WD truck. .

 

[wicked6]

stock gauge is a glorified dummy light... I put a mechanical gauge on my 97, and on cold mornings it would hit 100psi no problem

Damn. . !!!!!! Well, that makes 2 data sources for HUGE oil pressure - Joe D. also recommends ignoring the Dodge gauge reading, as it was *probably* calibrated for range, vs. pressure by the Dodge folks... Thanks Forrest. . I do have an idiot light ("warning light") that'll tell me when oil pressure is less than 7 psi. . If I ever see that, chances are something ELSE will have my full attention...



I think the wacky-tachy is due to the default pulse / revolution value in the VDO tach. . I will try using the rough calibration "technique" in the instructions, which . I. uhh ... failed to read. . ahem - now where was I. . ??? :-laf



Technical quandary - (edited) (note: will re-post the following in another thread):



I eyeballed the stock crank pulley diameter, and measured the alternator pulley diameter & I came up with ~6. 75 inches and 2. 25 inches, respectively - giving a pulley ratio of 3. Does this look wrong to anyone. . ??? So, in theory - the tach should be calibrated for 3 pulses / engine revolution & fine-tuned at a later date with an optical... I had a heck of a time trying to measure this in the truck. I shoulda done it while I had it on a stand. .



Any thoughts. . ?? Suggestions. . ?? any / all are appreciated. . Thanks!!!!



Linc

 

[wicked6]

I'm fighting the pukes as well. When you figure out how to fix it do tell. If I get mine figured out I will do the same.

Quick update: power steering "pukes" are gone... I let it sit after the last battle, and when I went to fire it up again, it didn't pull all the fluid down. . Shut it down, & got *some* foam, but not much. . Jacked up the front wheels & started it up, added a couple ounces, spun the wheel back and forth, pushed the brakes several times, held the brake, turned steering lock to lock, held it left, held it right, etc. & the running level stayed up enough that it didn't uncover the pump internals. . Shut it down again, and when all the lines drained back, the level came up with even less foam. . One more shot did it. . No foam on shut down, though the fluid level is a little high. .



Now back to the tach. . Ugh...



Linc

 

[LOtero]

good luck buddy, good luck. whenever you need some IPA therapy you know the guy to call!