The mess i have gotten myself into.....
 

Hey guys i have a s**t show ive created for myself and am not sure how to handle things and what my best options are. First i just want to say im an idiot and shouldnt have gotten myself so deep into this. Now with that out of the way where to begin... well i have a 94 dakota 5.2l and ive done some work to it. It was running great till one day it wouldn't engage when hitting the gas pedal. Just wound up and the rpms shot up but the truck went nowhere then all of a sudden it grabbed and i was cruising then it let go again and then grabbed and let go over and over and i limped into my driveway and shut it down. Then when i start it up the next day it cruised fine. I parked it and after that i couldn't get it to engage ever again. So i took the trans pan off and took the valve body off and disassembled the valve body and then put it back together and put it in the truck and i had 1st and 2nd gear but nothing else. I ordered a new valve body and then installed it and got the same result. After that ive said screw it and have just left it cause i dont drive much anyways and its never on a highway or long distance. Then a few weeks ago i was cruising home and it just shut off. I started her back up and drove 10ft and she shut off. And thats all it would do. I changed tps, map sensor, iac, auto shutdown relay and even tried bypassing the thing all together, so i took to trying to find a short in the harness and discovered that the harness looked like crap and i took out the whole engine compartment harness along with the fuseblock and was gonna swap in a harness from a donar 1996 ram 1500, i realised quickly that the ECU had different connectors and thought id just use the ecu from the donar. Things went wrong as usual and ended up removing the harness under the dash and everything... literally took all the wiring out of the truck in thought of putting the entire harness and ecu stuff from the donar in it and now i am lost. I have plugs going nowhere without anything to connect them to and am just overwhelmed and have started looking into converting to a carburetor to eliminate the ecu altogether. My overall goal is to remove everything and build this thing into a fulltime 4x4 dirt ripping toy so i dont want traction control or abs or air bags or a radio, id like to keep defrosters... but basically a dodge dakota gokart thing. Just motor driveline and truck. I basically am asking for direction. Should i continue with trying to get this wiring correctly installed and if so any assistance with what i should have and what i need for everything maybe what plugs arent neccessary to operate the thing and which ones need a home, or if i should focus on getting the thing carbureted and if so a relatively cheap way of getting that done and maybe an idea of what all im going to need? Just looking for a point in the right direction. Sorry to ask some stupid questions just a broke kid trying to build a dream on budget smaller then my brain.

Suggestion.

1) Pick up the 1994 Dakota factory service manual off Ebay or from AutoBooksBishko.COM .

2) Pick up the 1996 Ram 1500 FSM same places, or check over in the Ram forums to see if they have it for download.

3) Start working from that to figure out what goes where.

Or.

If you want to go carbed with stand alone ignition, find a good intake, find the carb, pick up a LA 318 distributor with vacuum and centrifugal advance, and wire up your own harness.

Still get the 94 FSM, so you can wire up the gauges like factory.

Also, note if you do that: Tach is set for 2 pulses per revolution; you'll either need a tach adapter, or a new instrument cluster to put a new tach in.

Or it'll show 2x actual speed, your choice.

RwP

Hmm okay which option is better? I like the sound of the 2nd option best but im not sure. What would you do if it was yours? What do you figure the cost of such operation is?

Aside from the carb and distributor, I would start by deleting all the components you won't use. Since you already have all the wiring out, and 2 wiring harnesses, building your own wiring harness should be simple enough, make sure you solder every connector and use heat shrink tubing, I don't recommend using cheezy crimp connectors on anything. Get yourself a notebook, study that wiring diagram, and draw out your own diagrams circuit by circuit starting at the battery. Locate all the pigtails you will need for the components you are keeping on your wiring harnesses, then cut the wires as far back from those pigtails as you can, leaving yourself as much length as you can so you can keep the factory color codings, use masking tape and label them all, even plug them in and leave the wires hanging. There are only two main things to pay attention to when building your own wiring harness. The circuit will either be continuous power (directly from the battery) or it will be ignition power. Another important thing is the amperage. If you have a circuit that needs 30 amps, you may have to use a relay, if you want to keep it as simple as possible without using relays, you will have to make sure that every wire and component (switches, fuses, wiring, connectors, etc....) are all rated for that amperage. You don't want to send 30 amps of power through a 16 gauge wire or you will have a fire. Typically I will use 2 universal fuse panels, one for battery power, and one for ignition power. I like to start with power from the battery and run it to one of the fuse blocks and the ignition switch. Then I run a power wire from the ignition switch to the other fuse block. One fuse blocks is continuous battery power for things like headlights, hazards, brake lights, dome light, accessories, etc... The other fuse block is for everything else, radio, blinkers, gauges, ignition coil, you get the picture. I like to make sure the main battery power wire is nice and thick, such as 10 or even 8 gauge. The main wire feeding the ignition fuse panel should be around 10 gauge, because those two will feed all the circuits on the truck. Go crazy with the ground wires, they also have to be capable of handling the Amps. Like I say, draw your own diagram one circuit at a time. you can mount the two fuse panels somewhere in the cab in a place you can get to easily, choose your own wire routing, I enjoy doing exactly what you're planning to do, because the end result is simple, neat under the hood, and reliable, as long as you solder everything well. This will not be as cheap as you may hope for though. One great tool for soldering wires is a small pen torch. I find them much more versatile, and they heat faster. Soldering irons are annoying, and sometimes it's a pain to get the heat to travel into the connectors. Here is an E-Bay listing of a few universal fuse panels. You may also look into these motorcycle turn signal flashers, they mount anywhere easily and will handle led bulbs or regular bulbs. There are a lot of cool products for wiring motorcycles that most people don't look for.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Way-LED-I...53.m1438.l2649

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Pin-Elect...53.m1438.l2649

So typically when I draw a wiring diagram, I will use a page in the notebook for the starting circuit and fuse blocks, then a page for each circuit. So in the first page I will draw a battery, the starter switch, starter, wire routing for that (copy whats in the manual), and the two fuse panels. In the next page I draw only the fuse panels, the two main wires feeding them, then I look at the wiring diagram and figure out which circuits I am keeping and which ones will need fuses. Then I label the size of the fuse, which circuit it feeds, and draw the wires coming off the fuses and the color codings for those circuits. Then I draw each circuit on it's own page, such as headlights. It will have a picture of a fuse, label which panel the fuse is in (battery power, or ignition power). Then I will draw the wire route and color codings. Typically it will show a fuse, wire with color codings, then the switch, then the component it's going to.

Keep in mind, sometimes you may have a color coded wire going to a fuse or switch, then when it exits the fuse or switch, the color is changed to another color. This is why you need to draw your own diagrams, so you can keep track of the OEM color codings. It will be easier for repairs down the road. Hopefully this will all be obvious when you study the wiring diagram for the truck. Once you get your diagrams drawn and all the pigtails plugged into the components and switches they belong to, it's just a matter of soldering them together to complete the circuit. It only seems daunting at first because you will have wires hanging all over the place and it will look like a rats nest, but if you are systematic, and work one circuit at a time, things will work out. Don't forget that your gauges and indicator lights on your dash are often shared in the circuit. Pay close attention to the order of the switches and components. You will have the power source (battery, ignition), the fuse, the wire running to the switch, the wire running to the component. Sometimes there will be two switches in the same circuit, such as the parking light switch, which then runs to the turn signal switch, then to the bulbs and dash indicators. One circuit at a time.

There are some cool things you can do too. My old Ford has a key in switch detector, it's only function is to sound an annoying buzzer if I leave the key in the ignition. I deleted the buzzer, and wired all my lights to separate illuminated toggle switches. A blue switch for the headlights, yellow for the running and tail lights. Then I switched the brake lights to ignition power instead of battery and hooked those up through a red toggle switch so I can turn them off if I want. I can even turn off my reverse lights too. The key in switch is now used to light up those switches when I put the key in so I can see them at night. Cool huh? You might find little things you can use for preference changes. I can run down the road with nothing but my headlights if I want to now. Just something I wanted to do, I like the option.

Okay I'll stop typing now.

I'd keep it EFI if it were me. I used to be carb'ed, back in The Day (70's and up until EFI actually was worth using, say about 1990 or so.)

But the go-carbed is also a valid choice.

Just be aware - neither one is cheap. Both will cost a lot of time, due to your flailing around without the proper information first. Keeping it EFI may be cheaper for now since, well, you've got all the wiring etc. But again, I'd grab the factory manual for both your 1994 and the 1996 donor, and while you're at it, grab the 1996 Dakota FSM from the FAQ here; aim for wiring it mostly like the 1996 Dakota if possible.

Take your pick and ride it down the rest of the way.

RwP

Wow thanks for the input guys i really appreciate it. Yarddog especially for the clear instruction and giving me a good starting point to figure this all out. I didnt even know where to begin and after being told i feel like a fool for not asking on here sooner. Gonna go carb'd in the future and try to make my own harness while i save up the cash for the manifold, distributor, fuel pump, and ignition system. Things sure add up quickly.

Yes they do. Re wiring a truck is a nickle and dimer too. But yeah. Take your time and make sure you understand every circuit well. There have been a lot of under hood fires caused by bad wiring. I almost want to tell you not to for safety reasons, lol. Go on youtube and watch some videos of soldering too. Good luck, keep us posted.

cant type right now my hands are full with this harness mess im trying to figure out..

In the end I've always found that it's easier to deal with what you have versus whole sale replacement and or custom builds. It took me several months of sorting and gleaning to build a stand alone engine harness for a project I was working on and then even more time blending it with a harness in a vehicle that was 8 years older, and that was from two cars of the same manufacturer and using the same fuse box and same version electrical system. It's the nature of differences in vehicles and technological improvements.

Do what you want, but this is the kind of project that I've seen over and over never get done, and the longer it goes on the less likely that the project will ever get finished. It's just the nature of how these things happen.

Good luck

Steve