FuzzFace2

That's a lot of work for something that will not be seen 99.9%of the time. I cant remember if I had that part from the old strip but I think Jim & Gary did the same as I did, just use the plastic washers that came with the garage seal and use the factory screws to hold it to the truck. Dave ----

If you charged the system, it is working and holding PSI then why the need for the adaptors? I run into the same problem, no high side gauge, when I charged my system a few weeks back. My system is working so I am going to leave it as is and looks factory R12. Dave ----

X2 Your truck had many options, mine only had PS and 2 tone paint. But I made a few changes when I rebuilt it. It now has PB and factory AC Yes do start a post and showmany pictures of your joy! Dave ----

Or an oil filter wrench Dave ----

If it is a granny first 4sp then it would be the back up light switch that is up top. Here is a T18 and it is the red thing to the rear of the top cover. On a NP435 it is a little forward from that point. I want to say the wires are black & purple but could be wrong? If you short the 2 together and turn the key on the B/U lights should come on if everything is ok. Dave ----

I got to ask a question? Why a good breathing intake manifold to fill the motor with air but then choke it down as it cant get the air out thru that factory log exh manifold? I would at least go with EFI manifolds if not a header. I would take the exh manifold off and lay the 2 together on a flat bench to see just how much the bolt washer area difference is. If to much you will need to come up with something to fix it. I am running the factory stock intake & carb with EFI exh manifolds. Dave ----

I’ve seen reference to the adapter with the valve but I can’t find one to buy. Or it’s unclear if the ones I find even have a valve or not. Mark I added the Ester oil to each part. Little to the compressor, little to the condenser, little to the dryer & to the evap and may have added a little more than 10oz. The compressor was used and I was told to add oil, but not how much, to it or they would not take it back if bad. I flushed out the evap everything else was new. I did not know my HF gauge set would not hook to the high side, only the low side, so that is all I could read, low side. Like you all the cans I got from AZ also had ICE32 so I did not think twice. Now some of the cans they had would also seal the system if it had a leak, I did not get that type as my system did not leak. I also had to add 5 cans to get the low side PSI up to what the charts said it should be for the OAT at the time. Mine blows cold so I am happy Dave ----

Ok my system 1981 factory intake and carb. I am running EFI exh manifolds with a factory replacement Y pipe, no cat(s). Into what I am guessing is a factory replacement exh system (mid pipe / long muffler / tailpipe out behind the right rear tire) all off my parts truck as it looked pretty new. It is really quite, little to for my liking but it will do till it falls off. Now because I am running EFI exh manifolds that EGR tube had no where to hook up to so I removed the adaptor and used a pipe plug in the hole. I also used a small freeze plug in the intake to seal off the EGR and put the EGR valve back in place just to make it look "finished" I believe Cali used 2 cats on the 300 motor from I had seen when looking for Y pipes. Because of the EFI manifolds I run a hot water plate on the bottom of the intake and I had to use copper tubing wrapped around the manifold for the choke heat asst. Do what you have to with that tube, put it back or plug the holes. Don't worry not running a cat(s) and it being to loud as it will not. I had a straight six with a 3+3-2 long tube headers into a made Y pipe into a turbo muffler it sounded good till you got the RPM up pretty high then it would bark. On my truck and yours this will never happen. Dave ----

Thanks on the floor. I enjoyed doing that kind of metal work like the firewall for AC, the floors / rockers / cab corners, etc. On the floor I tried to get measurements from members and I don't know if they did not know what I was asking or what as I did not get much replies. I had nothing to go by of the flare side bed so I just winged it and it turned out great. I used the style side floor with its cross members left in place. The cross members from the rear going forward all lined up with the frame of the short bed. Now mine was a long bed so it had to be shorten and IIRC the vary front cross member that was left had to be moved back a few inches. Or I had to remove it from the part I cut off to shorten. That was not hard as I drilled out the spot welds, that is why I think it came from the shorten part, and then used the holes to plug weld it back to the floor I used. If you do some measuring of your flare and a metal floor you will see all the bed holes are in the same place it was just the shorting I had to deal with and that front cross member. Now I had to use spacers for brackets for the steps to bolt to the front cross member. They are pretty solid but I would not go standing on them. Out back I used the rear sill outer sheet metal, the only thing left of mine, and welded it to the rear of the metal floor & rear cross member of the style side floor. This took a little bit of work to make it look factory. Someone else did a metal floor and did the rear pan a little differently but can't remember how he did it? It just turned out that the style side metal floor & cross members were the same height as the flare side cross members & wood to bolt the sides onto the floor. I used string down the door body line to make sure the fender body line were even. My metal floor also had LineX bed liner that I kept in place to protect the floor. Hope that answered some of the questions. Dave ----

Not sure but from what little I have seen posted on after market EFI is you need a dist. that the EFI computer can control. So the stock dist., if it will work, will need to be locked so it cant change the timing. I was talking for now if you wanted to remove the air pump & EGR and any of the vacuum lines & junk you can and just keep what I listed. Dave ----

On MY 300 the AIR goes in just before the CAT that is after the 02 sensor so cant see the issue in running the air pump. I also find it strange that sniper said to remove all the smog stuff as it is not what the law wants you to do and you can be fined and / or go to jail. Just strange is all and yes all my smog is gone This high idle you talk of even if the smog stuff is on or off the motor the idle should be able to be adjusted so look for a vacuum leak somewhere. On the 2 belts for the ALT. What you have now you cant do that. Look at all the belts: belts run from motor out on crank. 1 belt for ALT/water pump/crank 1 belt for PS/water pump/crank 1 belt for AC/water pump/crank 1 belt for ALT/air pump Only non AC motors had 2 belts for the ALT and the air pump ran off the crank IIRC. I just went thru all this when I installed the AC compressor on my motor. Oh my motor never had the air pump on it and I blocked off the EGR but the valve is in place and can hook a vacuum hose to it but it will never work. Yes you do have vacuum hoses to the HVAC control and with out it you could not change air flow from the defrost to floor or vents. Only vacuum you need: carb to dist. and Intake to power brakes & HVAC panel. That is all I have on my truck and it runs great working on getting the MPG up a little bit. Dave ----

That is what I thought he was asking and also thinking. What temp stat are you using? I would think have it come on a little above that. So a 195*f stat have it come on say 200*f and off at say 190*f as a start and go from there. My.02 there is nothing wrong with the factory cooling system and then no need to change out the ALT for one that puts out more. Again just my .02 Dave ----

If you are talking of the DRIVE gear inside the transmission it does not take much of that gear to be worn down to stop it from driving the DRIVEN gear on the cable so I found out. I had to replace the DRIVE gear in the transmission and when at it also replaced the DRIVEN gear on the cable. All worked as it should till a did a transmission swap. My cable DRIVEN gear was new but the DRIVE gear was a little worn but looked good other wise. Well I swapped the DRIVE gear from the old transmission to the new transmission and the speedo works again. So if the DRIVE looks a little worn replace it and you should be ok. Dave ----

I would go normal bolts coated with never seize. Why didn't you go with the EFI manifolds? Yes the hard part would be coming up with or making the hot water plate to heat the intake manifold. I found mine on Ebay and think it works great. Oh and the choke just wrap copper tubing around a tube to pick up heat, yep did that way also and works great. Good luck on your fix Dave ----

Yes a lot done mostly the hard part, pulling the wire under the truck. I still need to mount the controller but 2 screws and think 4 wires and done and the breaker for the power wire should be easy also. Yea I first went but the female plug then looked at the paper that came with the adaptor and was I think the file I had in my box was when I wired a truck based on the trailer wiring that was wrong but at the time I only pulled my trailer nothing else and no one pulled my trailer so it was ok. If it was not so hot I would have pinged out the Durango plug and may still do that, so I know the PU is wired right. Think I have time as I have not towed anything since I moved down here. I had to rent a U-Haul to pull my trailer to pick up the trucks, Durango was at dealer for heads and why the PU is a back up now. Dave ----

I did give that some thought but I had the 7 blade and others in my auto electrical box and has been on the truck since November when I got the truck on the road, just not wired up. In almost 20 years I have had the Durango I have not needed the one that came with the truck when new. But you know how it goes you need the adaptor that is always in that other truck LOL Dave ---- In the cool of the early morning (4am) I swapped car out and the Durango in the front blower motor stopped working and kind of know it was the resister & plug because playing with it the fan would start working for a bit. Could not get the plug out of the resister so dropped the unit out of the duct and good thing wires into the plug had burnt. Got that working again but must have a wire crossed as fan blows high 1 setting before the high but it works! Then the PU went in(5am), had a belt squeal on start up & PS would make a noise every now and then and with 2 new belts time to check. The 2 new belts were a little loose but the ALT was tight and it still squeals. I will have to see if it does it with the AC off as it is the same belt I had before the AC. I then moved onto wiring the truck for trailer brakes & power to the 7 blade trailer plug outback that I also had to wire up. A lot of over & under to pull 2- 10ga wires, trailer brake & 12 volt power, to the rear and make all nice nice with split loom and wire ties. Out at the plug I have a Tee that ties in the trucks rear light harness that I will wire into the 7 blade plug along with the brake, power and a heavy ground wire. Now going by the colors marked on the plug the wire colors did not jive with the paper that came with an adaptor I also bought. Nothing other then the ground was on the right blade? A quick Goggle for RV 7 blade wiring and I was back on track. Now I could not install the brake controller because it needs a pig tail. I guess they figured you buy a new car / truck and in the glove box is the pig tail to go between the car / truck harness and the controller. Well our old trucks don't have this and did not know the controller needed it. The wires are pulled inside and tied off out of the way and 1 day after work I will pick up the pig tail. I also need to pick up a breaker for the 12 volt power the one I had would not work. By 2:30 it was 94* in the garage and I was done for the day, did not even pick up the auto electrical supply box. Dave ----

I did hear you guys got it pretty bad from that storm. Family out on LI said it blew over table & chairs in the back yard, trees down and lights out also. We have had worst thunder storms come thru than what we got from this storm and we are thankful. Dave ----

That's a good question. I'd have to check it to be sure, but I'd say around 1750 RPM. Wife and I put a couple hundred miles on the truck today but I was mostly running at almost 70 MPH, and at that speed my tach is reading only 2000 RPM. I have to drive a good 10 miles at 45-50 MPH to get from where I live to the highway, and if I recall correctly at that speed it's usually around 1500 RPM in 5th, or 2000 RPM in 4th. My truck is almost geared too tall, but I like the way it is. 1700 RPM @ 65 MPH is where I am at in over dive with a 2.75 rear gear. Think 55 MPH is about 1500 RPM in over drive. I am running 235 / 75 / R15 tires but I have a 300 straight six and it likes to pull at low RPM's. I need to get the wife to do a ride along so I can track the MPH @ RPM in drive & over drive. Dave ----

Didn't think you would and I did not mean it you would. I just saw the FS 721 and made me think of the 500 and the issues they had with tires. What you said on parts and shows is why I would never use the inflatable spare in the Gremlin. I think it may be the same size used in MOPAR's and they go for BIG BUCKS when found not that I would sell it. It is cool when you find something like that. I know of an 02 Dodge that has never had the spare taken down, heck I don't even know if it is still there LOL Dave ----

Firestone was having tread separation issues on some of their light truck tires used on Ford Explorers back in the mid-late 90s. They traced it down to a specific factory where the tires were made, but Firestone kept trying to blame Ford for the Explorer's tendency to roll over and cause serious injury. For that reason, I will never run Firestones on any of my vehicles. I am talking even before that they had the same issues think late 70's or early 80's and want to say it was the 500 tire. Yep same reason why I will not run FS if I can help it. Dave ----

Very well it seems. I tested 4HI and LO around Bills ~40 acres. Took 7 south out of Bennigton to Pittsfield, then some nice country roads across to 8 and down to Norwalk so Bill could get his other Dodge out of the shop it's been at for four months. I made it down to CT without incident Had it up over 100 a couple of times, so it seems 'tested' Good to hear it is working as it should. That's a nice little drive as I have done it many times. A buddy has a cabin up there on RT9 IIRC by Small Pond, and as a change from I91 we would go that way. Dave ----

I am using the factory evap that I cleaned out hand fulls of junk then took my 175 psi shop air and blew it out. Should have seen the mess inside the cab and I am still getting a little now and then. If I knew it could have been that bad I would have pulled it out and washed it with water before I installed the HVAC box. My system is fully charged or some may say over charged but when it is 90*+ out I don't need to run the fan on high all the time. I should also point out that I have a hot water cut off valve so when on MAX AC there is no hot water going to the heater core. In the mornings to get the humidity down I run the AC on normal, fan on low and turn the temp up a little or it gets to cold OAT of about 78*-83* at 2am. Then again it could be I am out in the heat working so when it cools down it feels good where others may still feel its to hot Wonder if HF has one of them air meters? Dave ----

Yes that "spider cover", I saw your post just after I posted mine. Being my truck is a short bed and only 2 pockets I would not need a large spider cover. I do like them hooks and they are pretty close to flush. My loops do not move they are up all the time, guess better than nothing. I will have to keep an eye open for more hooks like them. Dave ----

In a regular cab I don't see the need to have the fan blow more than it does. I turn the fan on high when I first get in after work because it is hot, 90*+ OAT but once the cab is cooled down I cut the fan speed back. Dave ----

What are the hooks from and do they sit flush to the top of the bed rail? I think the hooks along with one of them spider type load cover for an open bed. I have given some thought of getting one of them covers but I don't have any hooks and don't know if I want to break up the bed lines by adding them. I do have 4 "loops" that came on the truck that fit in the pockets and you turn the loop that expands a rubber to hold them in place. But there are times when taking the trash that I would like to cover the load so it does not blow out. Dave ----