Added 20hp with the new plate.

 

Been a while since I did anything with the truck. Figured since I had ordered this part from sublime technologies I ought to use it. Trucks Hemi power steering pump puts out ~1000 psi and the the stock box is designed more for ~800. They sell a pressure reducer that you can put in your own pump for like $30 saving a ton on a whole new low pressure one. Thought it would be pretty simple well not so much. I rented the correct puller to get the pulley off since I needed to get a socket on the nut holding in the valve/guts of the pump and the pulley interferes. The pulley had fused onto the shaft and all removal attempts failed. You can see the inside metal flange on the pulley broke off (correct method) then I tried a different puller on the pulley which was even worse cracking the plastic.

Busted pulley.

Pressure reducer valves.
At least with the cracked pulley (pulley also interferes with reservoir removal) I was then able to access the bolts securing the reservoir. Then I could get it in a vise to finally get leverage on the nut securing the valve. What a PITA , you can see the new replacement low pressure valve on top of the original in the above pic. Managed to get it all back together and fingers crossed it will work or I may have to break down and get another pump/pulley. Didn’t have any leaks maybe a slight wobbles when it got back up and running. The steering was noticeably different - not so twitchy more smooth would be the best description. Time will tell if it’s going to work while I’m happy that the pressure is more normal. Now what’s the snowball you ask ? Well that’s the radiator swap I need to do. It’s started leaking more than it originally always did. Who would have thought a rad swap would end up with the front end / motor / trans being removed.

 

That's called 'scope creep', it is rarely intentional, and frequently quite frustrating.

 

So my radiator had developed a small leak and always leaked out the cap instead of into the over flow. I just chalked it up to the cheap part since changing out caps never did anything.

Before removing the radiator I wanted to do a good flush so not to add any contaminates to the new radiator. Each jug represents a full flush. After the 7th flush I added some flush chemicals and removed the thermostat (should have done that earlier!) and still nasty water was comming out.

Old radiator
You can see the stains from the leaky cap but on the passenger side that dark line going down it was a pin hole leak that only seemed to open up when hot. It would hit the fans and leave a residue inside the engine bay- took a while to identify actually.

Removal - notice the ac line that was tucked up away under the radiator.
This will give me an opportunity to get a radiator that has an outlet on the passenger side to shorten / remove the connection in that hose. The AC line had some wear where it rubbed against the rad. Another good reason to address this.

 

Of course the first radiator I get following someone else’s recommendation on a FB group didn’t work. I got this rad from rock auto LIL212AA3R and it was too tall. No way was it going to work with where I needed to mount it.

Liland global part that didn’t fit

Wear on the AC line.

New champion radiator

Cutting down the fans again.
So I ended up calling champion and got one of their radiators. It’s not for a truck but the dimensions work and the outlets are what I’m after CC1643B. It’s 26” across and 16” tall perfect for the truck. Plus if it doesn’t work I can use it on my B body swap I’m planning. It has a trans cooler built in and cools up to 650hp so should be great - only issue is it’s a bit thicker than the old one. I trimmed up the fans/shroud as much as I could but it wasn’t enough to clear. This motor has always been set in too far forward and now it’s really bugging me. Time to bust out the tape measure.

Distance from rad to motor

Minus this, ain’t gonna fit low profile fans.

Room at the back.

Other rear corner.

Check the motor mounts.

Sure looks like the motor could move back 2” and help things out.

The decision is made - I’m pulling the motor and setting it back further. This seems rash just for a radiator but I feel like I should have done it from the beginning and just got impatient. Not only will I have more room I think handling will improve and maybe even those mangled headers would fit. Plus I have a few other things I might improve while I’m in there. Back at it again.

 

So with everything out went to moving the mounts back. Decided on 1 3/4 inches just to be on the safe side since double checking the measurements it looked like the trans dipstick would interfere. I do plan on upgrading to a flexible one.

Kept power steering and AC hooked up just unbolted.

Measured back the new hole locations for the motor mounts.
Camera angles look off but went back level on those mounting points 1 3/4” also had to make provisions for the dimples in the mounts. Driver side would sit in the slot and passenger had a matching dimple that now almost lined up with the slot on the frame.
I had ordered a transmission pump gasket and front seal to fix the small seepage I had but made the executive decision to get the 46re totally rebuilt with a few upgrades and shift kit. With the gears I have and the driving I do with it I’ve been real happy with the 46re, even the modified column shifter rig I made has been working well too so no 8 speed in my near future.

Passenger side mock up

Driver side

Drilled , dimpled and painted.
Because of the location of the bolt on the drivers side mounting plate (above pic) I did have to cut off the tab on the bottom of the lower motor mount for it to fit flush. I’m guessing that these 2 tabs will knock or contact notifying your when motor mount is trashed but I think I ll be fine without it. Also on the driver side I really had no more room to go back since the nut on the bottom was right up against the crossmember frame. While the transmission was out getting rebuilt I did test fit the motor on the mounts to ensure it would work and it all looked good. I also shortened the studs on the motor mounts to help installation when lining up the holley swap parts. I was working on my own but it was a slight struggle getting it in position. Marked the motor mounts on the stud where to cut when it had the engine in.

Cutting down the motor mount , also shortened the studs.

 

Got the transmission back finally - it definitely took longer than expected. We did have a crazy storm to deal with and power outages for days even weeks for some so I cut the rebuilder some slack. I’ve blurred out the builders name since I’m not going to advertise for him but at the same time will just share my experience. New converter with the trans so had to mark up the flexplate / TC alignment again before bolting together.


Didn’t really get any specs on the TC other than it was built for the described application. Pretty sure it’s stock but we had talked about raising the stall a few hundred probably should have done more research on that. The 46re was just “beefed” up with the best clutches and Kevlar bands etc. I wanted a shift kit installed as well to make it a more sporty trans for the hemi. I ordered some more AN fittings for the factory/cobbled trans lines to be replaced. This seemed like another good opportunity to improve the look and dependability for the truck. Eliminating cheap hose clamps is always a good thing.

For the transmission end.

For the radiator trans cooler side.


I will have to wait till the front end is back on to properly size the hoses but looks like some 90s off the trans will work great. Time to put things back together.

 

So must be doing something right since I got the motor/trans back in on my own without too much fuss. The transmission lines up perfectly with the next set of bolt holes on the frame plates so no extra modifications there. A win for the Holley parts!

Trans crossmember moved back.

Driver side motor mount

Passenger side motor mount.
I had the radiator self tapped to the front crossmember for mock up and that would be kinda crappy for a long term install. I’ve been wanting one of these rivnut tools for a while and gave me the perfect reason to get one. This way the radiator can have a closer to factory mount. Pretty simple to use and looks much cleaner. This inspired me to replace the overflows bottle as well so used some more rivnuts and found this black Evil Energy tank on Amazon.

Rivnuts for the new radiator on each corner.

Old overflow bottle.

New overflow bottle.
So fitment wise everything was looking good. The ext manifolds came pretty close to where the brake lines go up the frame but I was able to move them and the motor settled more to where there is a better gap and more clearance to the frame. A little concerned about how the shift cable now lays pretty close to where the exhaust pipe will be.

Exhaust clearance issues.
The fans got temporarily secured to the radiator. I couldn’t bare myself to use the old bent strap metal pieces I had made before with a mix of self tappers and misc hardware. So I broke down and ordered the champion shroud and dual flexlite fans since they are thinner than the larger single fan they offer.

Old fans zip tied to the radiator.

Frame clearance for AC line.
The only spot that really gave me issues was when putting the AC compressor back on, I had to shave a notch in the frame for the line to clear.

Deleting the vac actuator valve for the heater core.
This one’s pretty self explanatory and seems to be working better than the old valve. Picked up the new ball valve from eBay. Had to trim that corner of the engine cover to clear the hoses. It had previously been rubbing on both hoses and eventually caused a leak. You can see the new flex trans dipstick from Jegs. Went with a black one part # 555-615656 matches the other black AN lines nicely. Just need to pull out the rubber bushing in the trans and it uses 2 o rings to seal. Only have one screw (factory blower) holding it in place right now but doesn’t seem to be an issue. Everything is connected up and put back minus the new fans and shroud. It’s almost like Ive done this once or twice 🤣. The exhaust needed to be fully disconnected and it bolted back up. It’s currently held up with a coat hanger and will need to go to the shop for new hangers. The only hanger it had was ripping off the exhaust, I will use this opportunity to try and improve the sound in the cab - not what you think - hopefully quiet it down some.

 

Not to mention the manifold touching the frame and brake lines.
So now you have to turn the valve to adjust the heat? I know a lot of these valves are crap today but somebody must make a decent one. Or convert to cable operated.

 

I think the vacuum valve just shuts off coolant flow to the heater core, when you don't want heat..... So, it'll likely be a seasonal thing. Cable operated would be cool though.