The engine has 114K on it. I believe you are right in that it sucked all kinds of dirt in there.

 

For cleaning some of those aluminum parts you might try the 'air conditioner coil spray cleaners' available at Home Depot or Lowes. These cleaners are optimized for aluminum.

If you try the ultrasonic jewelry cleaner at Walmart and use it on the injectors,
please write up a post on that.

 

Yeah, we yanked the pump and timing chain cover for a chain swap. Damn that valley is a mess... what kind of oil are you using? My motor had about 155k on it when we took it apart last May... been using Mobil 1 since 123k miles when I bough it and it was pretty clean in the valley the last 2 times i've had the intake off.

What about the bolt? was it on the intake to head? or plenum to intake?

 

If you look to the right of the distributor (which is the driver's side of the vehicle) you can make out the broken bolt in the head. That bolts was hanging up the intake from coming off, besides the one on the passenger side, which was loose and I bent it yanking up on the intake. When I inspected the passenger side bolt, it was covered with rust and looked weathered, telling me it was not tightened. It's a pistol to get to, and I know I didn't reach back that far to get to it.
I had the engine flushed when I bought the truck and they used a synthetic blend. As I stated earlier, the loose intake must have allowed dirt and debris to get into the lifter gallery and accumulate all that muck.

For those who are interested, I intend to do two DIY articles. The first will involve R&R of the fuel tank sending unit, fuel pump, fuel filter, and pressure regulator. In the VW world, I know someone who works for the company that makes the pump, regulator, and filter for Dodge trucks. He supplied me with brand new units, so I'm going to swap them out. I will also write up a DIY for cleaning and testing the fuel injectors.

Since I'm replacing the water pump, can anyone recommend a performance type pump I can use rather than the OE steel unit?

 

OK, I see the stud sticking up from the block... did you get it out yet?

when do you intend to do the fuel pump? Im considering doing mine cause I think the fuel pressure is not steady under load (volume dropping out) and it would be nice to see someone else go though the pain 1st lol, jk (hope you have a sense of humor...)

I took so many pics back in may (about 80) and intended on doing a couple of other writeups but never had the chance. One of which was a RR install, timing chain and another was a head swap

 

Flowkooler makes a water pump that claim is more efficient but I can not confirm this:

http://www.flowkooler.com/pump.php?pid=WP1790

Be aware that there is a pressed on versus bolted on pulley issue depending on model year.

Be on the lookout when you change out the water pump for potential problems with the heater hose connection tube that uses a o-ring seal. This is VERY prone to leak even if you do everything right. Early models of the Magnum had screw in connection instead.
Here's some old post info:
Posted by 96Ram2500
from Northern MN:

" I have researched the heater fitting issue and have found a replacement for
the press in tube with the o-ring. I work at a NAPA and mentioned this in
another thread a couple days ago, but I wanted to get good solid research in.

The water pumps on a early Magnum (92-93) have a threaded heater fitting and
are the same both in height of pulley and mounting pattern. They are also the
correct rotation on the impeller.

Here are some part numbers, whether you have a press on or bolt on pulley:

NAPA part#
58-447- bolt on pulley, threaded heater fitting

58-559-pressed on pulley, threaded heater fitting

I looked both of these pumps up for a 92-93 Dakota with a 318.
Both are rebuilts for about 50-60$.
Just thought I would satisfy some curiousity.
end of cross post

 

No. I am going to pull the heads and have them inspected by a machine shop. I will let me machine shop remove that bolt, because in the event it snaps, they can tap and chase the hole.

I am also sticking with the Magnum heads. The Dodge expert I spoke with wasn't aware of a "cracking problem" associated with Magnum heads. Now, this guy maintains race car engines and is Dodge trained. I have concluded that the cracking problem is from all of you guys who want to put all kinds of bolts-ons in place to race your truck @ 125 down the track. You're chipping the truck and leaning the burn, which is having an effect on the heads, causing them to crack. That's why you run the R/T heads. I'm using my truck to haul cargo, not to haul ***.

 

when I bought my truck, it was originally a service truck of some sort and when I pulled it apart, there were cracks already in the heads. my truck has never seen a track let alone been down one. It gets used strickly for everyday driving and recreation (camping and trials).

I think it's because of a crappy casting and the exhaust manifold design... they tend to crack in the #7 #8 cylinders which is back there at the collector of the exhaust manifold. that is the hottest spot next to the head and I think it leads to the cracking problem. I went with the gibson exhaust to eliminate that potential problem and ultimately went with the r/t's because of the cracks. When I went to get mine checked out, not only were there cracks, there were no replacements available localy that were re-buildable.

let us know what the machine shop says about the heads.

 

OK, that's good to know. I will report back what the machine shop says. Worst case, I will look for the Magnum heads with the hardened seats. I will also look at updating the exhaust system.

 

these would be your best bet...
http://www.hughesengines.com/heads/hd_magnum_heads.asp

if $ is an issue, try to get the bare castings and build them yourself using stock valves etc... Im not sure how much the stainless steel valves help in the long run (they're in my R/T's)... maybe someone here can fill us in?