Need Input

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Wild one

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Well gents... Went to dealership to get price on parts..... their in person price was retail. It would have been cheaper to order through MOPAR for the same dealership. Turns out for all MOPAR parts ordering from RockAuto is cheaper (for latest generation of most parts, a couple of items were previous versions. E.g. waterpump). All base OEM parts with head job is about $4400. Roughly 5K or so to upgrade cam, delete MDS kit and basic tune.
Guys at parts department said since I wasn't a shop, "they" will not give you that discount. Guy did say that he could give me a new crate 5.7 motor with upgraded manifolds for $5800. It would come with a three year warranty. Not sure which option would be better. Any thoughts on new crate vs replacing almost everything?

I bought the truck from single owner, actually a retired general. Most of miles are highway. Travel from SATX to NY and back, chasing the seasons.
Turns out last night my (the) wife finished paying off the truck buy wiped out money that was going to pay for everything. At least the truck is paid for now.
I think in my current situation, I am going to clean everything up, put it back together and drive it while we reset the truck fund.
If something goes out or tears up.....I will know how to tear everything down in less time. Same amount of cussing though. Let's see if she will fire back up after cleaning up and resetting everything.
I appreciate all the knowledge and you guys taking the time to help me learn. I will be around reading all the threads and learning more about the Ram and the hemi. Let's see where this adventure goes next.
Personally i'd go with a new crate engine. If it's chewing up the cam,and you need to drive it for a bit more,before you can fix it,you'll need a new engine anyways.
 
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Pyromed42

Pyromed42

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Mikes right i'd be doing at the very least a home clean job on the injectors and check their spray pattern.
Google how to clean injectors at home.There's a pile of video's showing how to use a battery and injector cleaner to clean injectors at home.Watch a couple of these video's.

Quite impressive how much carbon was inside the injectors. I will never pay for "fuel injector cleaning" again. Thanks
 

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Wild one

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Quite impressive how much carbon was inside the injectors. I will never pay for "fuel injector cleaning" again. Thanks
If you missed this thread,it has the rebuild kits and how to rebuild the injectors at home,i also posted a couple pics of my old cobbled together kit for cleaning them. I usually use Carb/Choke Cleaner followed up with a Brake Clean flush,and i flush them in both directions. I've never used the syrnge method,but i'm sure it works as well as the other DIY methods do

 
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Pyromed42

Pyromed42

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If you missed this thread,it has the rebuild kits and how to rebuild the injectors at home,i also posted a couple pics of my old cobbled together kit for cleaning them. I usually use Carb/Choke Cleaner followed up with a Brake Clean flush,and i flush them in both directions. I've never used the syrnge method,but i'm sure it works as well as the other DIY methods do

Is this of any concern on the fuel rail? This is after I sprayed little cleaner on rag and wiped it off.
 

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Wild one

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Is this of any concern on the fuel rail? This is after I sprayed little cleaner on rag and wiped it off.
I wouldn't worry about it,clean the inside of the rail though,i spray a bunch of Brake Clean inside every hole,then blow the rail out with compressed air.If you're worried about the rust,wipe the rail down with some oil,and just keep an eye on it.Use engine oil on the O-rings when you re-install the injectors in the rail,and also when you install the rail back on the intake manifold,don't use vaseline.
When you go to re-install the intake spray the hell out of both the head and intake surfaces with WD40 or use your finger and spread a thin smear of engine oil on both surfaces,that way you can slide the intake around a bit to line up the bolts and not dislodge or tear up the o-ring gaskets around the ports.
 

Wild one

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I use these Felpro intake gaskets ,way cheaper then OEM,and i honestly can't tell a differance between them and the OEMs,other then colour.


 
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Pyromed42

Pyromed42

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@Wild one
Started on block and found this. Assuming it the coolant passage and was blocked. 1st pic is location. 2nd pic is what came out. 3rd pic is opposite side. Just clean it, vacuum it and the drain and flush system?
What would cause this? If motor was running fine before I found this, should there be a concern?
 

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Wild one

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@Wild one
Started on block and found this. Assuming it the coolant passage and was blocked. 1st pic is location. 2nd pic is what came out. 3rd pic is opposite side. Just clean it, vacuum it and the drain and flush system?
What would cause this? If motor was running fine before I found this, should there be a concern?
That looks like a high milege engine that was running closer to straight water then the proper 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze. See if you can get the block drains out of the side of the engine and flush a bunch of water through it,and to make sure water actually runs out the block drains.If nothing comes out the block drains,you got issues
 
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Pyromed42

Pyromed42

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That looks like a high milege engine that was running closer to straight water then the proper 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze. See if you can get the block drains out of the side of the engine and flush a bunch of water through it,and to make sure water actually runs out the block drains.If nothing comes out the block drains,you got issues
May end up with a new motor after all.
 

Burla

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Casting sand issues I thought were a little later but just maybe that is casting sand.

Could be bad stop leak perhaps.
 

CanuckRam1313

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May end up with a new motor after all.
My $0.02....... it may be a better experience overall for a new crate engine at this point.

However, the experience of really getting into your existing engine and learning is an invaluable opportunity.

If you go new, at least you're opened up one and know everything about it so you can start on a new engine with a whole different level of understanding on what it's all about.
 

demonram

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If you've already got the lifters out and they have 130k on them just go ahead and replace. Don't put back used high-mile parts that could fail at any time then you'll have to tear the whole thing down AGAIN. Disassembly & reassembly are 90% of the work.
I would add, check the cam lobes as well. Some wear on the lifters tells me there may be some wear on the cam lobes. Get it now while your there, rather than put it back together and have the failure a little further down the road.
 

Wild one

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I believe it is casting sand. There's nothing in there.
You can get at the passenger side block drain pretty easy,see if you can remove it and see what comes out of the bottom of the block.I'd also pull the drivers side block drain,but you have to remove the starter to get at it,i have pulled the drivers block drain once with the starter installed,but it's easier to just drop the starter to get at it.
 
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Pyromed42

Pyromed42

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You can get at the passenger side block drain pretty easy,see if you can remove it and see what comes out of the bottom of the block.I'd also pull the drivers side block drain,but you have to remove the starter to get at it,i have pulled the drivers block drain once with the starter installed,but it's easier to just drop the starter to get at it.
I pulled passenger side. It came out pretty good. I the use syringe and withdrew all the coolant I could see from top side. There was a little mix of coolant and oil (assuming from removing heads). I see why you need to drain oil afterwards. I ran fiberoptic scope down coolant jackets and just looked around in the block and bit. I can see some sediment down the water jacket holes. Just from the passenger side, I am thinking about good flush (or several) will clear it up. We'll see what happens when I do left side.
 

Wild one

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I pulled passenger side. It came out pretty good. I the use syringe and withdrew all the coolant I could see from top side. There was a little mix of coolant and oil (assuming from removing heads). I see why you need to drain oil afterwards. I ran fiberoptic scope down coolant jackets and just looked around in the block and bit. I can see some sediment down the water jacket holes. Just from the passenger side, I am thinking about good flush (or several) will clear it up. We'll see what happens when I do left side.
Once you get the block drained,you could carefully fill it up with a bunch of CLR and let it sit for 24 hours,then flush it with water.Use a funnel to pour it into the water jackets.Stuff rags tightly into any lower coolant holes that the clr would run out of
 
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