Plenum fix done... almost

[Hotroder383]

So having the day off I started to replace the intake gasket's, plugs, wires, cap and rotor. I wanted to put my MSD 6a on it also but could not find a diagram so I skipped it for now. I dont think this is the first time the gaskets have been replaced, the tube and a half of orange silicon was my first hint, FelPro gaskets was my second. I did not get the Hueghs kit, too much money on an engine with 204K miles on it. Hopefully the next time I pull it apart it will be for a rebuild and new intake!
I did mod the kegger as listed on the DIY and took a few pics for you guys. Sorry for the glare I took them on my workbench with a huge window in front of it for light, kinda back fired for pics LOL.

 

[wermbang]

Looks good. I need to check mine sometime, and I think my dads 98 needs it done too.

 

[WhiteExpress]

Installing the MSD is super easy. There are 2 wires going to the bottom of your Ignition Coil. Install the MSD inline with them, Power and Ground, done.

 

[MikesRammin]

How long did it take?

 

[Hotroder383]

If i would have stayed on task and not worked on two or three diff projects, about 8 hours. Now keep in mind I did plugs wires cap and rotor also. Just the gasket fix, with all the tools needed I'd say 6 to 7. Now that wouldn't include doing the kegger mod, just pullin everything apart, cleaning and putin back together. When/if you do it I HIGHLY suggest doin cap,rotor and wires as it is super easy to get to w/o the intake in your way LOL. I am all but done gonna try an tackle the MSD and had to get a new PVC and water pump intake tube <hard tube for the heater hose> and I shall be done.
Be a total of 10 maybe 12 hours for all I did.

 

[WhiteExpress]

There is nothing technically complex about the job. Just a lot of simple things piled onto each other. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time"

 

[Hotroder383]

Yep 9/16 and 1/2 are your friends, for everything but the alt, it is metric. O and be damn careful when you bolt it back up, the small studs on the back of your alt break really easy.... ya just found out myself the hard way. New Alt $120 called a local rebuilder and he has the part will find out how much it costs Monday.... hopefully under $20....

 

[WhiteExpress]

Yep 9/16 and 1/2 are your friends, for everything but the alt, it is metric. O and be damn careful when you bolt it back up, the small studs on the back of your alt break really easy.... ya just found out myself the hard way. New Alt $120 called a local rebuilder and he has the part will find out how much it costs Monday.... hopefully under $20....

Ah yes, those 2 like... 6mm bolts. Evil little suckers. My '00 Ram had the alternator with the plug instead.

I would recommend putting a touch of di-electric on those contacts too. It's often the source of an unexplained charging issue. Ask me how I know.

 

[Hotroder383]

I'll be honest I was REALLY tempted to solder the fitting to what was left of the stud, but then thought of what a pain it would be to take back off again when I had to replace anything up front.

 

[V-10 RAM]

Looks good. I need to check mine sometime, and I think my dads 98 needs it done too.

I posted a TSB on this site that tells exactly how to check & see if there is an intake vacuum leak, which would tell you if the plenum gasket is leaking. Oil residue in the plenum means nothing until you figure out where it is from. My 5.9 limited Jeep was sucking oil through a bad PCV.
More people are changing plenum gaskets on this forum than on the Jeep Forums & other Dodge forums. I really wonder how many are really bad.

 

[Hotroder383]

Well, I was going to pull the intake to do the intake mod anyway. Would have been remiss NOT replacing the gasket after unbolting it to take center divider out and mod intake port and fuel inject ports =) these mods go hand in hand with the msd 6a and MSD Blaster coil I am putting on. Next mod will be chip and new/reworked TB. This is all I am gonna do untill I save up for a rebuild, then it will be new cam, rockers, bearings, rings, and intake, no more gasket to worry about =)

 

[the codes]

you should paint if while you have it off I think you'll be glad you did the keggar. heard it adds to the low end.


Tapatalk Addict

 

[Muddytazz]

I need to find me a spare kegger so I can do slowly while I still drive my truck since its my daily driver.

 

[WhiteExpress]

I need to find me a spare kegger so I can do slowly while I still drive my truck since its my daily driver.

They are all over at Junkyards. I got one shipped for $50.

 

[talon6]

More people are changing plenum gaskets on this forum than on the Jeep Forums & other Dodge forums. I really wonder how many are really bad.

99.7% are probably bad if they have over 90k or so.lol. you do know it is a common problem right? but you are right. its not just the small amount of black residue you worry about its the puddleing of oil that is a dead give away.

 

[V-10 RAM]

99.7% are probably bad if they have over 90k or so.lol. you do know it is a common problem right? but you are right. its not just the small amount of black residue you worry about its the puddleing of oil that is a dead give away.

I guess my points were is I read more about plenum gasket failures here than on the Jeep forum or other Dodge truck forums I belong to. That is why I posted the TSB that came from Dodge. It takes only a few moments to find out for sure it is a gasket. I went as far as to buy a plate from one of the guys on this forum then found the TSB on a Jeep forum & found out my plenum gasket was OK that my PCV was sucking a fair amount of oil through it. I have 137,000 miles on my 5.9 Limited.
The other thing is unless you are going to re cam & add a bigger TB & custom exhaust the mod to the Kegger is not much use for all the work. It is a expensive mod for the performance increase if a persons time is worth anything not to mention materials.
Maybe it is just my generation but MY TIME = MONEY. When I worked before I retired I made over $500/day min.

 

[Hotroder383]

Must be nice to make that kinda money. I made $80 w/o over time, so my time isn't worth as much. As far as not being much use, I just finished it yesterday and did not put the MSD box or coil on and have noticed a good change in low end torque. Now some of that will be due to the vacuum leak also but the actual modding of the kegger only took me about 2 hours. The materials, well ball peen hammer <owned> 3 1/2" grinder <owned>, air dremal with stone <owned but ruined the stone being its alum> and two hours time.
<shrugs> To each his own but I put it back together stock to see if there was a diff and I did notice, now I don't have use of a dyno any more or I would have got the numbers for you guys. But I'd say it was worth 5 hp and a few foot pnds of torque, may not seem like much but it's "free" power and I did not want to spend the $500 on a new intake w/o rebuilding the lower end.
Now I will say that if you have the money, and want real gains in power then by all means replace the kegger and go with the 50MM TB, a good exhaust system, cam and tuner. But that comes later, when I have the money for a rebuild! =)