Alright, I have a 99 dodge ram 1500 4x4 318 and over the past month or two I have noticed a loss of power, lower fuel economy, went from 13.5 to 11.5 avg. Also my truck consumes about 2 quarts of oil every 2500 miles. I do have pooled oil in my throttle body so i know its time to do the hughes plate and plenum change. I have a few questions:

how long does it take to do this? My buddy and I will be doing this once the weather gets decent. I am fairly mechanically inclined and my buddy is a certified diesel mechanic who can tear apart CTDs blind folded. .Also how long after ordering from hughes does the kit arrive? Lastly any tips or advice to make the job easier?

Thanks for your help and advice in advance

 

I've heard that if you have all the tools and parts and nothing goes wrong (yeah, right), it should only take about 3 hours.
Or so I've been told...

 

Four to six hours, depending on how things go, and how much beer you have.

Don't forget the little bypass hose that is under the A/C compressor. Do not re-use your intake manifold bolts. They aren't that expensive, but, redoing your intake again could be......

When the intake is off, is THE BEST time to do a tune up as well. It just isn't ever going to get any easier to get to the cap and rotor........

Check your water pump, and the timing cover as well. Once the intake is off, both are exposed very nicely, as a fair few of the parts you need to remove for the intake, also need to come off for the water pump. If you see any evidence of leaks, seepage, etc, reseal those too, and replace the timing set. (only adds another hour or two to the job.)

 

I've not listed it yet, but I have an '02 intake manifold w/ hughes plate affixed if you're interested.. I'll part with it for $150+ s&h.. that will reduce your down time quite a bit.. hugely, in fact- because most of the time I spent on mine was cleaning the head/manifold mating surfaces and getting it ready for install.

the first time I did it it took me about 15 hours.. I labeled everything and took careful notes every time i did something i didn't know if i'd remember because it wasn't obvious..

the last time i did it (due to a bad lifter)- I was in and out in a matter of likely 4 hours..

Knowing now, a few more tricks I didn't before (which I wouldn't recommend because it is NOT doing things the right way but instead skirting around things.. which = taking risks that could screw something up..) I could likely do it in three hours.. but man, unless you are extremely familiar with these engines, which I doubt most garages are- it would take a pro at least four hours, or I'd be damn suspicious of what they 'didn't' do.. ya know?

 

I already did a complete tune up less than 8000 miles ago (plugs, wires, cap, rotar), so im not sure if I will do another complete tune up. if anything just a cap. What do u all think?

We are planning on starting it on a friday evening and getting everything torn apart and then Saturday reassembly everything. I was just curious if this time frame was feasible. As for my waterpump, I believe it is ok but will have to look at once we get it all apart.

As for the offer of the manifold and hughes kit, Im going to have to pass but thank you for the offer.

 

Do the intake bolts come with the hughes kit if not where can i get that at? And where can i get a replacement bypass hose? Part number?

 

Yeah, replace the cap and rotor, just because its easy. If the rest of the parts look good, leave 'em.

 

I dont plan on removing the fuel rail because that seems like a headache is it okay to leave it on while cleaning the intake with cleaner?

 

I wouldnt leave the fuel rail on if your using brake cleaner or anything like that take the fuel rail off other wise orings will get damaged. just buy new ones they are only 4 bucks. Its a simple removal make sure you dont turn your key on when fuel line is off lol

 

X2 ^^^^^^^^.....And squirt down the four corner intake bolts real good with your fav penetrating oil. It will save you from having to extract a broken bolt. Then when you cleaning up the heads you need to chase the threads with a chaser cleaning them out good to get the proper torque spec. Thats if you want to do it correctly.