I have a 1987 Dodge Ram LE 150, its called D150 or something if you go online to look for parts. The VIN number says I have a 360 engine, I do not, Its a 318 Carb, Dunno what happend to the 360, when I bought it had no *****. It Sat for a few years. STATS = 1987 Dodge Ram LE 150, 318 V8, 4H / 2H / N / 4L /, Its an automatic with a stick to shift to 4H etc.. Ive spent some money on this truck, its Dodge, once you fix it right and perfect, it will run forever, I was raised on Dodge, Dad and his Cummins haulin 30,000+ lbs of hay, So far I have put in New leaf springs in the front because the front end goes down? I put a 5 leaf spring on both sides, front. Drivers side still leans down more? New leaf springs are looking like the old ones? How do I fix that? I looked at the back leaf springs, theres practically a metal block going from axel to spring, like a lift, is that stock? Ive put in 2 new starters, one just failed, so put in another one. Gave it its first oil change in probably 4 years, ( its been sitting until I bought it ) I redid most of the radiator hosing, Ive cleaned out the carb, gained a little bit of strength. Even though its a gasser and was blowing out black films everywhere, I had a professional team do exhaust, flowmaster 40 series, true dual exhaust out, into the muffler thats up above almost everything, splits back down into true duels, sounds like a perfect dodge. Sorry about all this explaining, I just want another DODGE owner maybe an older feller to understand and be willing to take the time on helping me! After all this work, my truck can go to 20 mph (25 but speedometer is off, last owner put bigger tires ) without using the extra power ( its not a charger dont know what to call it ) It has to use that power or whatever its called to get up to 45 ( speed limit on 3R in CO ) then its fine, Its not that i make it use it, it automatically does it no matter how slow I slow down it continues to do it until its at 45. It sucks down fuel, Ive replaced spark plugs, spark plug wires, and distributer cap, ( And Yes I DO have it the same firing order as it was out of the factory ) Ive replaced break pads, How do I get better fuel economy? with the newer parts on it, is it straining that motor to were it needs more gas? its maybe 12 MPG on good days, 8 on others, How will I be able to manage that? And the carb is a edelbrock and it is old, 4 barrel carb, Dad says It is to rich in air. But most of the time when you go from a complete stop to go very very slowly, it slams that lip shut on it, and almost cuts the engine, can someone tell me how to fix that? Ive spent give or take $1500 on this truck, Im only 17 and only know how to fix trannys, Drive shaft, torque converter, radiators, basically everything but the engine, I understand the mechanics, but 318 was pretty much a standard chrysler engine, I dont know anything about it, someone help me on all my questions, concerns please? this is so long because I want people if they answer to know exactly what it is, so there is no confusion. Im setting my footholds in life, lining up career jobs, I do live on a ranch so I need power and mileage... someone help?

 

if the truck is 4x4 it is a w150. a d150 is 2wd. unless you really beef things up there will probably always be a lean to the drivers side. all the heavy stuff is on the drivers side like the battery, steering box and driver. all that weight makes it lean. you could possibly try making a battery tray for the passenger side so that you can relocate the battery or ad a 2nd battery and try to even things out a bit.

you had 2 starters fail? did you make sure all the connections clean? also if you have another starter fail you may want to hit the junk yard and get one of the newer style ones out of a 88-93 ram truck or 3.9 or 5.2 Dakota. they are are smaller, lighter and fairly easy to rebuild for fairly cheap.

do you know exactly what edelbrock carb. i think the smallest edelbrock i have seen was a 500cfm which would be too big and may not help get better gas mileage. 8-12mpg is not bad for a a 4x4. my 81 2wd averages 9mpg.

 

For the first part, I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean its opening the secondaries on the carb? I'm not sure what it is you are explaining here.

As for the second part, what lip do you mean? The choke? The secondaries? Something else. If its not the stock carb, you may have to be more specific.

As for the fuel economy, if you are getting 10 mpg now with the truck running as bad as it is, you might end up getting 14 or 15 when its all fixed, which isn't bad for an old dodge.