Hello All,


I thought others might enjoy seeing the progress on this project, as I don't think there has been another project like this one attempted yet.

(If there has been some others similar, please share so you can make this project easier!!)


I will be snapping some pics and trying to keep everyone updated on the progress of this Father/Son project


We are hoping for 300-325whp or more out of this combination on this truck.

I can't imagine that the stock 318 engine with it's weak heads could have mustered more than 110 wheel horsepower at the absolute max.... IT WAS WHEEZING !!!! I wanted to dyno it beforehand, but that didn't happen....



Here is a quick run down of what all we are doing to the 1990 Dodge D150 Longbed 318/ 5.2L TBI engine:


1. performing head swap to rebuilt/machined 1995 Magnum cylinder heads with stock valves and some minor port work performed and a valvejob to straighten up the valve seats and faces. Using Cometic head gaskets and ARP head studs and 6.876 comp cams 7831-16 pushrods that seem to have a nice, full turn of preload on the stock roller lifters with Oiling holes in them!!!!

2. Swapping to larger 360 TBI intake manifold and 360 throttle body from a 1990 model 360 TBI engine.

3. Modified the 360 TBI intake with end mill to the correct intake bolt angle to match the new magnum heads

4. Ported the intake manifold under where the throttle body mounts and lowered the internal manifold divider wall under the throttle body

5. Filled and welded plugs into the intake manifold under the throttle body mounting area to block off the EGR system (because the magnum heads don't have this capability for the EGR passage anyways like the LA heads do)- the welding and porting also will smooth the airflow into the manifold from the throttle body

6. Sent the TBI 360 fuel injectors off for cleaning and flow testing/matching before reinstallation

7. fuel will be provided via a Walbro HP High Pressure in-tank fuel pump

8. Using a Vortech SUPER FMU/ bypass fuel pressure regulator to act as the fuel pressure regulator and to act as the fuel enrichment device (fuel pressure increasing device with more than 1:1 fuel pressure to Boost rise) when going into boost

9. I will probably make a DIY Alcohol/water injection setup for the intercooling process instead of using an air/air or air/water intercooler because of the extremely effective nature of Alcohol/water injection.

10. We have fabricated a 6 inch diameter 10 rib supercharger drive pulley that mounts in front of the 3 V-groove pulley setup. I didn't want to modify every bracket on the entire engine for now, so this can be added without the modification of any bracketry or accessories. This 6 inch crank drive pulley combined with the 3 inch diameter stock drive pulley will give us a drive ratio of 2:1 on this engine versus the 2.4:1 drive ratio for the 500 horsepower 5.4L GT 500 engine at 8-9psi of boost. I didn't want to drive it too fast, especially as a starting out point. This should give us 6-10psi of boost (can't be determined until we run it).


11. We have removed the fresh Air pump and associated lines/tubing/vacuum lines/ controls

12. We are in a non-smogged area, but nevertheless, we will probably install some nice high flow cats once the setup is tuned out correctly


13. We are going to fabricate a plate mount and front support system to mount a supercharger from a 2009 GT 500 Shelby Cobra that will mount over the driver's side exhaust area (using heat shields of course) and blow through the Throttle body using a Carb hat setup and spacer to straighten the boosted air out before going into the throttle body

14. We will be utilizing a wideband 02 to assist us in the tuning and the continued operation of the system in case we see it go lean while driving

15. We are going to use a new MSD Boost timing master to retard the timing while under boost ( I may retro-fit it with a differet map sensor because of the nightmares I have heard of with the stock map popping inside of the unit and causing it to bring the engine back up to full timing when under boost load)



What I could use some help/advice on from some knowledgeable MOPAR People:


1. Does anyone here have experience swapping to this 360/5.9L throttle body on a 318/5.2L of similar 1990 year models? What computer do you use, the 318 or 360 computer?

2. Secondly, with the better magnum cylinder heads, I would think that this 318 should be much more efficient than the 360 was originally, leading me more toward the idea of utilizing the 360 computer.... input or ideas?

3. Which exhaust manifolds or shorty headers can we upgrade to? in saying that, the stock manifolds look to be very restrictive on the 1990 model truck..... along with that, I know that full length headers are available, but we don't want that mess on this truck.... I was really wanting to get some high flow shorty headers with thick flanges and ball joint connections for easy, leak-free hookups that we plan to run dual 2.5 inch exhaust all the way out to the back of the truck down the passenger side





Sorry for the extremely long post.

Advice and tips are welcome!



Thanks!

RYNO

 

Opinions are like butt holes, everyone has one and most of them stink, but here is mine. LOL

Sounds like a lot of work and money to be reusing a TBI and first generation computer. These are antiquated systems that I doubt will provide the range and adjustability you are going to need to take advantage of the rest of your modifications. There has to be a better fuel system out there (MPFI for example) and a better engine control system that will allow some adjustability. Good luck with your project. Looking forward to seeing how this works out.

P.S. Why bother with CATs at all?

 

Thanks for the opinions and Good Luck Seal!

they don't all stink, do they?

haha....



I am not sure how the TBI setup will work out either, but, I am hoping we can make it work for the sake of simplicity for the fuel injection somewhat.


I have a VEMS fully programmable ecm( www.vems.us) that I can use if we have to, but, that will require swapping to an aftermarket intake or further modding this iron TBI intake to have injector bosses and adding fuel rails to it to really make full use of it, If I can't get it to work with the TBI system.....


This is my dad's project truck, and he is very sharp, but, he can't program fuel injection aftermarket ECM's like I can, and I hate to make it too much aftermarket on the ECM if we don't have to, but, there again..... if we have to, we will.....


The other reason, although simple sounding, is that this particular intake manifold works with all of the stock acccessories and brackets and the a/c compressor bolts to the front of the intake manifold, so, we really didn't want to swap to a different intake design and require completely different brackets, etc....


Like has been said, we know the TBI is not the most ideal, but, I am going to utilize it in hopes that it will work. If it doesn't, it certainly won't be a deal breaker, but, it will make things more difficult on the ECU side.


The only reason that we will probably eventually use some cats is to keep the inspection folks happy.... it may not happen for several more years....


We got this truck for free from a church friend who didn't use it anymore. We didn't have a truck, needed one, but couldn't find one that we liked for less than $3500 or so..... This old dodge is one heckuva tough truck, it just needs more power!




RYNO

 

Got the heads on and torqued up, installed the pushrods and all the valvetrain for the new magnum heads.....


when we were checking the pushrods out, I had my dad look through them all after running them through the parts washer....

turns out that one of them had a piece of steel slag rattling around inside that was too large to be punched out ..... it was going to plug up the flow of oil to the rocker on that valve.... luckily, the shop where we got the set of comp cams pushrods had some singles and we replaced it without having to wait....

goes to show you that you should never assume that a new part is good before inspection.


we turned the engine over to ensure that it was oiling through all the pushrods, and it was......

the preload appears to be about .050 into the lifters..... should do great...



The Fel Pro steel core, rubber-coated valvecover gaskets had to be slightly trimmed at the front inside to clear the Nut for the head stud...


Got the modded intake torqued up well and all went as planned/hoped.



Hoping to get the old manifolds bolted up for now, looking at some Sanderson shorty hot rod headers maybe....


Gonna try the 360 TBI throttle body to see if it will run right on a 5.2L map....

if not, gonna swap to the 360 computer and try that....


Hopefully I will be able to update to those following this in the coming week about the progress achieved....


Thanks

 

I found this for you on ramchargercentral.com, it says you can use the 318 computer with the 360 TBI but you will have a small loss in power. The how to is how to convert a 318 carb to a 318 tbi but it talks about what you are asking. I hope it helps.

http://ramchargercentral.com/index.p...iew;article=20

Also there is a Jet performance module available too, It might help the issue with the small loss of power using the 360TBI on the 318
they have 2 stages, one is for just stock, and stage 2 is for ones that have a cooler thermostat and a better exhaust system and intakes which you have. If anyone has used them please post to let us know how good they are.


http://www.jetchip.com/

 

Thanks Itsrname2....

I am going to call Jet and see if they can help me any on a tune for it or not, like you mentioned.... I know that most tunes add fuel and timing, so, for boost, I really don't want the additional timing....

We will be running an MSD boost timing master anyways, but again, there is no reason to add timing.


I am going to keep checking on this though.


Thanks!

 

Been a long time since your last post. Was just wondering what your end-result has come to.

 

Just wanted to update with the huge progress made finally!!!!

It is running and driving with the supercharger mounted and boosting to 5PSI currently with the stock 3 inch blower pulley. I have ordered a Metco 2.6 inch Blower pulley in hopes of raising the boost 2-5psi.

I will have to make a mod list of everything done so far and take lots of pictures if anyone is interested.....

The truck is fun to drive now and a completely different animal...

All we need to do now is get that super low RPM stock converter out and swapped for a 2,000-2,300 flash stall and tune on the governor for the A500 for 5,000 rpm shifts at Full throttle!!!!!

We used a 360 TBI throttle body and intake manifold that Dad welded up with the new style bolt pattern to match the Magnum heads. The manifold was highly ported and we did some real trick things to the throttle body for some accelerative enrichment reasons..... but, the stock ECU is still intact and runs good.

We are running the Vortec Super FMU and dialing in the final fuel curve once we get the new pulley for more boost installed... currently, it is running about 11:1 AFR at 5 psi of boost.... and with the stock 1300rpm converter stall, it is too fat under 2,000 rpm..... but, wait till it gets over 3,000 and hold on, it really starts screaming at 4,000+ going from 60-100 pretty darn fast for a 5,000 lb brick!

We have an MSD boost timing master installed, but, at 5psi of boost and 9 degrees of timing static, we haven't seen any detonation or heard any at all with the retard control at 0 to 3 degrees per PSI of boost adjusted.... it also tends to stumble a bit at low RPM because it is quite rich on fuel, so this Boost timing retard may not be needed til we hit 8+psi of boost. Also, we are considering water injection, but, with this blower being driven so slow compared to stock, I don't think the inlet air temp is very high yet..... I need to take some readings for testing sake anyways.....

In my opinion, it is probably being held back somewhat by the small throttle body bore sizing and a few restrictive elbow turns into the supercharger and out, but, Dad is about tired of spending $$$ on it..... There are several places where things should have been done different or better for ultimate flow and more HP, but, the budget has always been limited and time and materials may not have been available for the best construction on all things, so please be forgiving.... We may fix some of these things as time goes on and he gets some fun seat time....


I hope to get some dyno time once we get the new pulley installed and tuned as best we can. I will post up some numbers with the supercharger belt removed and running on Naturally aspirated and then with the belt installed and hooked up.....

 

Have any pictures of this beast?

 

I have some on the camera at home, but, I will take some video and get some good pics to show what we have done for those who want to ......