My 1996 Dodge Ram 1500 Project.
Rookie
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 89
Likes: 0
From: Florida
Just read your thread and i have to say you have done a good job. I get my truck back in a couple days had to swap motors so i can to a rebuild on my 5.9 or replace with a reman depending on the cost VS. performance.
Veteran
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 288
Likes: 0
From: N.E, PA
Great to see this kind of build and seeing old trucks coming alive again. Definitely going to be follwing this thread.
One suggestion I would give you about the center caps. I read that the originally center caps didn't fit. I would give these a try. This is what originally came on the 2nd gen 1500's.
http://catalog.thewheelwarehouse.com...nter%20Cap.jpg
One suggestion I would give you about the center caps. I read that the originally center caps didn't fit. I would give these a try. This is what originally came on the 2nd gen 1500's.
http://catalog.thewheelwarehouse.com...nter%20Cap.jpg
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
Based on my experiences with a '98 RAM with a 360, I would definitely hunt down 2 issues on your truck.
#1 A very common problem with these engines is the plenum leak as mentioned previously. Hughes Engines has the parts to do this and were great to deal with. They sold me a new plenum (looks like pretty thick aluminum plate), new bolts and gasket. I can't find a picture of the leaks with the old plenum but the gasket was bowing outward and cracked. I would have thought that the gasket would have gone inward, giving in to the vacuum of the intake and being pressurized by the crank case pressure... I'm confused. The symptoms were pinging under hard acceleration, white plugs and unexplained (no apparent leaks) and conspicuous oil consumption. Below is a picture of the new plenum cover. I numbered the cover so I didn't need to keep referring to the diagram for torque sequence. The truck now runs great (not sure about oil consumption yet). There's no pinging on regular and I'll check the plugs in a few hundred miles.
#2 I winced when I read that you had the water pump off and did not change the timing chain and gears. My timing chain had 3/4" of play which seemed like a lot but the chain was not loose enough to be hitting anything. I bought an expensive one (again, from Hughes Engines). Cheap sets are $40 at Autozone (part number 73089). I haven't sharpened my pencil on this one but if you do the math, I'd bet the ignition timing and cam timing are affected by at least a couple degrees (retarded) with a stretched chain and/or worn gears. More importantly a broken or "slipped" chain can cause some catastrophic failures in your engine. My '98 has about 80K miles... I thought yours had well over a 100K (160K?). It's probably time. Be very careful when removing the timing cover so as not to rip the oil pan rubber "U" shaped part of the gasket. Please don't ask how I know this.
I ordered everything from Hughes Engines and was treated very fairly. I'm not sure if anyone else makes a plenum replacement or not but I hear that just replacing the gasket is an invitation to do the job again later. I also replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires. I (of course) screwed up the firing order but eventually got it right.
With all the tune-up parts, plenum repair and timing set, she runs very well. I went with a 195 thermostat. I noticed you ran a 180. I had previously installed a 180 and was not happy with the heat. After installing the 195, it's back to where it was (before I replaced it the first time), with the gauge going about straight up. I think some folks like the 180 for performance reasons....
Excellent write-up. Good luck in the spring!
Picture of new plenum:
#1 A very common problem with these engines is the plenum leak as mentioned previously. Hughes Engines has the parts to do this and were great to deal with. They sold me a new plenum (looks like pretty thick aluminum plate), new bolts and gasket. I can't find a picture of the leaks with the old plenum but the gasket was bowing outward and cracked. I would have thought that the gasket would have gone inward, giving in to the vacuum of the intake and being pressurized by the crank case pressure... I'm confused. The symptoms were pinging under hard acceleration, white plugs and unexplained (no apparent leaks) and conspicuous oil consumption. Below is a picture of the new plenum cover. I numbered the cover so I didn't need to keep referring to the diagram for torque sequence. The truck now runs great (not sure about oil consumption yet). There's no pinging on regular and I'll check the plugs in a few hundred miles.
#2 I winced when I read that you had the water pump off and did not change the timing chain and gears. My timing chain had 3/4" of play which seemed like a lot but the chain was not loose enough to be hitting anything. I bought an expensive one (again, from Hughes Engines). Cheap sets are $40 at Autozone (part number 73089). I haven't sharpened my pencil on this one but if you do the math, I'd bet the ignition timing and cam timing are affected by at least a couple degrees (retarded) with a stretched chain and/or worn gears. More importantly a broken or "slipped" chain can cause some catastrophic failures in your engine. My '98 has about 80K miles... I thought yours had well over a 100K (160K?). It's probably time. Be very careful when removing the timing cover so as not to rip the oil pan rubber "U" shaped part of the gasket. Please don't ask how I know this.
I ordered everything from Hughes Engines and was treated very fairly. I'm not sure if anyone else makes a plenum replacement or not but I hear that just replacing the gasket is an invitation to do the job again later. I also replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires. I (of course) screwed up the firing order but eventually got it right.
With all the tune-up parts, plenum repair and timing set, she runs very well. I went with a 195 thermostat. I noticed you ran a 180. I had previously installed a 180 and was not happy with the heat. After installing the 195, it's back to where it was (before I replaced it the first time), with the gauge going about straight up. I think some folks like the 180 for performance reasons....
Excellent write-up. Good luck in the spring!
Picture of new plenum:
