Hi my name is...

[WhiteExpress]

Haha! That '89 is sketchy!
I dig the 'rat rod' look to it though!

 

[itsadodge]

Not to spoil the fun, but Rustydagger hit it right on the head. Think of the money you saved on the purchse and how much (how long and how many miles) it would take at even 5 mpg better to get a return on a higher priced rig.

This leads me also to say that you MUST choose your mods, repairs and every dime spent wisely. If it is not a reliability issue, consider how long it will take you to recover that expense in any returns you might have in a potential increase in mileage.

Does that make sense? Other than just saying you have a truck that will get 30 mpg and the cool factor and attention that might receive from a limited audience. For example, even a rear end gear swap at say $500; how much fuel could you purchase for that price and how long would it take you to get that back,

But, to chime in because I am also a sucker for fun stuff like this;

As mentioned before, up your "overdrive" with Taller, skinny assed tires. Look around for some other wheels that may fit that are mass produced from another vehicle (if possible) and swap them on. Or, keep the wheels, and run skinny, tall, hard compound tires aired up to the moon. This will also make it easier to steer when you pull the belt off the power steering, the A/C and then also toss the compressor (weight). Look around and see if you can find underdrive pullies as well. You may find one off a Chevy small block and then re-drill it to fit the crank bolts. Take some measurements and see what you can find. Those are damn near free.



Then find an old plastic bed liner that blew out of someones truck on the side of the highway, take a jig saw or sawzall to it and fit it underneath the engine compartment. Obviously leaving cut outs for the exhaust, etc.


A high flow air cleaner filter will also help.

Synthetic fluids will give good returns.

Hit the local "Pick Your Part" style junk yard. I believe earlier Hyundai electric fans come with metal shields that will fit and can be adapted easily to the smaller radiators. You can get the metal shroud and fan assembly in one piece, that simply unbolts and unplugs in a tidy little unit for cheap.

You may cut into Prius sales if you do it right.

There are some good points in here...

I am running 235/75/15 tires right now. I dont think a taller tire would help me here because the truck feels under powered as it is. I was thinking a smaller tire would put les "strain" on the motor and might help?

I dont have power steering or ac and i dont think the smog pump pulls that much

i think this fan tip was good btw

-23

 

[crazzywolfie]

Hey Crazzywolfie, I see you on all the dodge forums. I like your 81 thread. I was what it would take to mount a Caravan E-fan like you did or i also have a 1998 mustang v6 fan. Thanks for the gear tip. Where i live (kentucky) there arnt really any flat roads. We have "winedy" back roads and our HWY's go up and down

i tend to hang out on most of the popular dodge forums. you can mount caravan fans on your truck but they will overhang the side of you rad a lot. the 3.21 gears should still be fine since you don't have a slush box automatic transmission.
this is pictures of caravans fans installed on a /6 rad. don't exactly fit perfect. you might be able to get them to fit better some other way but you might have to fabricate some brackets. on a v8 they bolt on almost perfectly.

 

[crazzywolfie]

There are some good points in here...

I am running 235/75/15 tires right now. I dont think a taller tire would help me here because the truck feels under powered as it is. I was thinking a smaller tire would put les "strain" on the motor and might help?

I dont have power steering or ac and i dont think the smog pump pulls that much

i think this fan tip was good btw

-23

if you don't have to do emissions testing you would better off to take the smog pump off. taller skinnier tires would help but trying to find taller and skinnier tires for 15"rims is harder than it looks. you would have to upgrade to larger rims to get taller skinnier tires and finding larger rims with 5x4.5" bolt pattern is pretty hard.

 

[rustydagger]

Not to spoil the fun, but Rustydagger hit it right on the head. Think of the money you saved on the purchse and how much (how long and how many miles) it would take at even 5 mpg better to get a return on a higher priced rig.

This leads me also to say that you MUST choose your mods, repairs and every dime spent wisely. If it is not a reliability issue, consider how long it will take you to recover that expense in any returns you might have in a potential increase in mileage.

Does that make sense? Other than just saying you have a truck that will get 30 mpg and the cool factor and attention that might receive from a limited audience. For example, even a rear end gear swap at say $500; how much fuel could you purchase for that price and how long would it take you to get that back, now having a possible 3mpg improvement.
Know what I am saying? So FREE is important. This will require some creativity, guts and a unorthodox approach. But be brave, ignore the "haters" and just try some of these. Keep a log and see what works and what doesn't. Some of this will require "fine tuning" as though it may seem logical, sometimes these things don't work out in the real world and require adjustment. Like jetting, gearing, etc. Like cracking a safe, every driver, environment and route holds its own unique combination.

But, to chime in because I am also a sucker for fun stuff like this;

As mentioned before, up your "overdrive" with Taller, skinny assed tires. Look around for some other wheels that may fit that are mass produced from another vehicle (if possible) and swap them on. Or, keep the wheels, and run skinny, tall, hard compound tires aired up to the moon. This will also make it easier to steer when you pull the belt off the power steering, the A/C and then also toss the compressor (weight). Look around and see if you can find underdrive pullies as well. You may find one off a Chevy small block and then re-drill it to fit the crank bolts. Take some measurements and see what you can find. Those are damn near free.

Then, make your own "aero" Mooney Salt Flats style wheel covers. Rather than expensive spun aluminum, cut the bottoms out of some discarded 5 gal paint buckets, spray paint them up flat black or Neon Orange or whatever floats your boat, then drill a few holes in them so that you can "Zip Tie" them over the top of the steel wheels.

BAM ! Instant Aero covers!

Then find an old plastic bed liner that blew out of someones truck on the side of the highway, take a jig saw or sawzall to it and fit it underneath the engine compartment. Obviously leaving cut outs for the exhaust, etc.

Tinker with it until it runs from the front bumper to the rear of the trans to smooth out the air flow underneath like an F1 car. This will help serve as a skid plate when you slam it on the ground with your home brewed lowering kit.

You may have to add some holes, depending on your seasonal temps and how much air is then trapped in the engine bay that can't get out. But, if you leave the rear of the flat plastic sheet about 4" lower under the cab, it should flow out fine. Just watch your engine temps and experiment especially since your water pump is spinning at 3/4 speed and you have a tiny import car electric fan on it.

You may have to also drill some oval holes in the hood just before the windshield. This is good, as you will have removed the wipers, radio antenna and switched to tiny rear view external mirror. The air blowing out of said holes will help clean the windshield in a downpour.

A high flow air cleaner filter will also help. Or hell, just remove the filter element and stretch a section of old panty hose over the open air box lid.

Synthetic fluids will give good returns. Engine, Trans and rear end. Just put a catch bucket under said underbelly pan to catch all the run off, as in any older vehicle, synthetics will just flow past all the old cork style valve cover and oil pan gaskets and seep everywhere else. Again, watch out, because this stuff is pricy. Find a friend with a newer vehicle who changes their synthetic oil waaay too early, like most do. Offer to do a "free" oil change, if they supply the fluids (if you know they have good synthetics in their rigs already). Surely you can spin on a new filter and run it out a few more thousand miles.

Hit the local "Pick Your Part" style junk yard. I believe earlier Hyundai electric fans come with metal shields that will fit and can be adapted easily to the smaller radiators. You can get the metal shroud and fan assembly in one piece, that simply unbolts and unplugs in a tidy little unit for cheap.

The mighty "Leaning Tower of Power" Slant Six is unstoppable, even with hand me down oil, limited air flow and a pair of Granny Panties doing the air filtration. Trust me.

Instead of putting a heavy wooden bed back in, why not just stretch some chain link fencing around a metal frame and use it as a bed floor. Functional, light and aero.

Also kill the motor at red lights and never, ever allow the engine to run if the truck is not in motion. Idle = Zero MPG.

Then take EVERYTHING out of it that is unnecessary to save weight. No tools, crap in the bed, bumpers or even change in the ash tray.

Learn to drive playing the "coasting game". Ooze up to speed, time your red lights and draft like mad behind any larger rig on the freeway.

Lol. Awesome. Have fun and good luck! And remember, perform these mods at your own risk. You may cut into Prius sales if you do it right.

Drafting behind other vehicles is bad and ****** people off. I had a bit of road rage yesterday over someone doing this to me. This directly affects the other persons mileage. And if you are that close to their backside they can slam in their breaks and sue you.

Other than that, that was an insane post.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[itsadodge]

if you don't have to do emissions testing you would better off to take the smog pump off. taller skinnier tires would help but trying to find taller and skinnier tires for 15"rims is harder than it looks. you would have to upgrade to larger rims to get taller skinnier tires and finding larger rims with 5x4.5" bolt pattern is pretty hard.

We do not have emissions testing down here. I know the cat is gone and the exhaust has one muffler and blows out right under the cab.

Mustangs, Rangers, explores and jeeps (others like newer Hondas and stuff too but the back spacing would be way off) I know run 5 x 4.5 (5x114.3). I have explorer rims on the back (I do not recommend. I had to grind the center out and will not fit over the calipers on front) I have a set 16" mustang wheels I was saving for a project I have HD tall 16 tires but like I said it seems under powered and just crawls up hills as it is plus my speedo is off by about 10% (says your going 50 when you are doing 55) help with that problem?

Thanks for everyone's replies. I was worried this forum was about dead like the other dodge forums I've seen.

 

[crazzywolfie]

i know there are other vehicles that use the same bolt pattern but i know the center of the rims would have to be machined out to clear the hubs. not really worth it. if you get the money to have some machine work done to the engine you can have the heads machined to increase the compression which will help the power. you most likely have the wrong speedo gear in the transmission which why your speedo is of.

this forums isn't quite dead but can be a bit slow. i don't always notice new posts too quick.

 

[itsadodge]

Would places like rock auto have the speedo gear?
Also where's the cheepest body panels you guys have found?
Wheel arches mostly

 

[crazzywolfie]

no. you would have to find a transmision place and figure out which gear you need.
https://c2cfabrication.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=ramcharger&x=0&y=0 they are the cheapest i know of but you may want to compare there prices to rockauto with shipping. some places have higher shipping than others.

 

[itsadodge]

thank you for the link. Cheapest body parts Ive seen.

I looked for a tag under the hood and in the glove box with the rear end gear ratio with no luck.



I pulled the carb today. Found some vacuum lines were melted. The float was bent and stuck other than that it was pretty clean inside for the most part. the fuel line was rusted up and the fitting wouldn't turn so i will be replacing that and see if i have a little more power for the hills

-23

 

[crazzywolfie]

you most likely wont find a tag telling you what gears you have. melted vacuum likes could cause it to not run as good and lack a bit of power but it probably wont make that big of a difference. i am surprised your truck would run if the float was stuck.

 

[itsadodge]

just going to share these here.

I really like this hood. its made with Cuda hood scoops

 

[crazzywolfie]

you can buy a RT style hood but it is about $400 plus shipping
CarHoods.com | Custom Hoods, Monster Truck bodies, Race Bodies, Fiberglass Auto Body Parts since 1987

 

[itsadodge]

I put the carb back on with some new vacuum lines. I made a new air breather tube and got a new air filter. The truck feels totally different. I swear it gained 10-20 horse.

Sway bars? How come these trucks don't have them? Are there after market sway bar kits to fit these trucks? Would a sway bar help improve handling? Upgraded bushing kit for the front end? like Energy Suspension?

thanks

-23

 

[PCA4208]

It was probably an option not included with your truck. I have only a front sway bar on my 79 and it's 4x4.
You could go scouring the junk yards to find a truck with one.

 

[crazzywolfie]

my 81 and 93 both have sway bars up front but the 91 i had did not have one. you could install one if you wanted. i don't think it would be that hard

 

[itsadodge]

well that's what happens when I assume. I have the front end off of a 92 dully Cummins and still no sway bar. if the vans have one do you think it would fit?

 

[dodge dude94]

Should fit. The suspension was pretty much the same between the vans and the trucks, main difference being the ride height.

 

[itsadodge]

Used the truck today as a truck. Hauled a 100 gallon fuel tank


Ok more questions! On the steering shaft

Right above the gear box is this thing. What's the name for it and is there a rebuild kit for it? I think I'm getting some play out of it

-23

 

[PCA4208]

The dreaded coupler. I had lots of play in mine and didn't feel like going through the hassle of rebuilding it. Eventually it'll get sloppy again. I bought a brand new shaft from borgeson with u-joints. Now there's no play, maybe a bit in the box itself. But it steers great now.