The Harland Sharps from John Mercedes @ Southeast RT. You won't find them cheaper for new anywhere on the net, period. www.southeastrt.com

They are a great mod, like adding a mini cam without all the hassle and expense. Completely bolt on and fit under stock valve covers with no manipulation needed. The stock lift will be increased from .432 to .459, which is still well within stock valve spring specs. Also, the push rods should not need to be replaced unless you have a bent one, which should be replaced anyway.

You get a small weight savings ( and a small weight savings on the valve train nets bigger than just losing the spare tire), a reduction in friction due to the roller tip, reduction to resistance due to the needle bearings in the rocker arm, and added lift to the intake and exhaust valves. It'll net you at least 20hp across the entire rpm range of the truck.

And honestly, it felt like more than 20 ponies, that figure I was quoted might very well be for the V6 engine. The V10 claims 40hp gains so maybe 30hp for the V8? I wish somebody had dyno numbers to back up the true gains. Bottom line it was my favorite mod.

When you consider a cam usually requires: new lifters (recommended), new pushrods (required depending on cam), valve springs, the cost of the cam, the gaskets to break down the engine and rebuild, a new timing set if you haven't replaced it, an oil change, and guys usually suggest adding roller rockers to top it off anyway, the choice was easy.

If you're going with a cam, adjustables rocker arms are the way to go, but they do require just a bit more work to install and get adjusted properly. You can use 1.7rr with a cam (the adjustable ones) but understand that the larger the cam, the larger the multiple on the 1.7rr changes the lift and piston-to-valve clearance can become an issue quickly.

 

Part #'s please. :-)

 

s70037 was the non adjustable 1.7rr's I bought.

Just call John at Southeast. He doesn't post prices or do "shopping cart" purchases on the internet because he really believes in customer service and wants to talk to his customers personally. He does answer emails pretty quickly though. Great guy! He charged me $339 shipped last year right around this time of the year.

 

Thanks Aim

 

You're welcome. There's a install article at pavementsucks.com in the tech section.

Only thing I remember being incorrect was the size of the allen head. Luckily, I had a whole set and the allen head sockets I used were all about 1" long so I didn't have the clearance issues the author had.

 

Humm.... sorry i missed so many posts, the email notification must have failed.

Do any of those cracks go thru to the other side? Cracks that dont go all the way thru should not cause a problem. If you did not have the sct tune on it you'd never know there was a problem...

before you yank this one off, can you put a vacuum gauge on it and report back the vacuum readings and the state? (how steady is the vacuum signal) It should be steady. if it is not, can you describe how the needle is jumping?

just trying to gather debug info for the next guy.



Also, the pvc can be on either side and you can swap the valve covers... The quote by the wrecking yard is obsurd. there are local yards that have these for $50~125 bux depending on where you go. Pick-n-Pull yards have them (if you can find them) for $20~25 or so. Back when I was part hunting for the 2000 ram I came across 8 commuter vans in a P-n-P yard that all had 318's that were converted to propane... had a good look at them and they would have been fine on a gasser as there were no intake mods done for the conversion.

anyways, glad to hear a new mani is heading your way...

 

Steve,

the plenum did not have visible signs of cracking all the way thru when I had it off.

It does have oil in it yet again. This, coupled with the fact that the old gasket wasn't "blown" but oil was still seeping in underneath the gasket, leads me to believe there is enough flex in the intake to break the seal in the plenum gasket and pan.

I will try to measure the vacuum again. My idle has been all over the place though, so I'll try to get a calm reading, but I'm wondering if the leak is causing the surging or if I have something else going on.

 

I was talking about the cracks in the intake mani itself, not the plenum gasket...with it being fresh and it still leaking maybe you are sucking in oil past one of the many cracks in the intake. my thought here was that if your p-gasket is new, we'd have to assume oils not getting past it. for testing purposes... what is the possibility of creating a "catch can" of sorts to see what is blowing by your pvc valve?

I cant see the plenum gasket being the culprit again since your a seasoned veteran of the plenum gasket swap. I'd hate to see you swap the mani and there be another reason for the oil in the intake.

Oh and also before I forget... did you verify both plenum & intake surfaces were true before reassembly this timie? (I may have mentioned that in an earlier post)...

 

Well, I suppose I could rig something up to catch any PCV blowby to see if it's excessive.

Here's the result of the vac test:

Very shaky at hot idle. Fluctuates between 19 and 20 psi. Every time the needle gets to 20, it falls back to 19 and starts it's shaky climb back up to 20. it will not calm down and stay steady.

Rpm needle is bumping up and down too. Sounds like the vac needle and rpm revs are in sync.

I'm pretty sure the gasket is good too. The last gasket didn't blow out either, but there was oil that snuck in underneath it. I think that maybe the cracks in the mani are allowing the whole thing to flex a bit when heating and cooling and the plate and gasket are separating a bit.

OR

perhaps I'm crippling myself by overthinking this.

The intake is definitely cracked, badly.
Oil is in the back of the pan.
the vac won't stay steady at idle.
PCV does click when shaken so it should be sealing.
rpm's fluctuate as well surge about 50 rpm's or so at idle. Seems to mimic vac needle movement.
Pings on 93 tune when engine gets hot, not on 87 with 93 octane fuel.

 

got a timing light? you may want to put it on each plug wire to see if the vacuum fluctuation coinsides with a cylinder firing. If your going to tear it down again for a manifold swap, I say look at everything you can before you do.

anyways, your call...