Need my 1989 RAM 50 to KEEP UP

[nater281]

Hey everyone! i have been using this site for over a year now and decided to become more active with the forum.

I bought a 1989 4wd RAM 50 2.6 5 speed last year from my boss who was the second owner. He got it from some little old lady at 80k miles. He was a supervisor at the construction company we worked at and had the shop go thru it constantly and had all of the fluids changed. I got it with 142k miles on it for 800$.

Awesome little truck! right after i bought it i changed the oil and drove it 1500 miles from north dakota back to nevada no problems just more gas than i thought. the best i ever got was 20mpg stock. its getting 12.5 now. Im pretty sure the carb is at fault. ( maybe leaning out the carb????)

My thought was just to rebuild the carb but if its coming off i don't want it back on so I'm going with a weber upgrade.
Of course now i want to get far into making this little truck more capable of keeping up with todays traffic i can't get to 70mph.
and it smokes bad ( burning oil) 90% sure its the valve seals. but still need to check compression

Heres my thoughts:
-new hoses
-new ignition coil cap rotor spark plugs wires
-new valve seals
-New 32/36 weber carb k614 ( will i need an electric fuel pump to run this and a regulator?)
-carter p4070????? ( if required)
- pacesetter 70-1020 headers
-emissions delete
- high flow muffler

since I'm taking the valve cover off and springs and cam??? is there anything i can do there? i don't want to pull the heads.

Im still new to these truck and motors am i headed in the right direction? am i missing anything?

[geezer101]

Welcome to migthyram nater281. To make the most of the Weber and headers it really should have some work done to the ports (and the inlet manifold too if you're already going that far). If you can get away with the emissions stuff getting junked - go for it. It messes with engine tune. These engine suffer from lack of maintenance so changing fluids and checking the health of the timing chain and guides are a must do. Keep us posted + pics!

[nater281]

Planning on buying the weber soon

Is this the one i want? weber 32/36 and it looks real?
http://www.amazon.com/DODGE-WEBER-CONVERSION-K610-DGEV/dp/B00SXKGNVY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51w9uAjdHLL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0ATVH9P7B4NWD400YMQ6

Will this be required with it???
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/crt-p4070

[geezer101]

The carb appears to be a genuine Spanish made Weber - note the throttle linkage will be on the opposite side of the carb compared to the Mikuni but the primary shaft rotates the same direction so it's compatible. The Carter fuel pump is a noisy contraption - be warned!

[mopar_ja]

For me the Carter pump noise is acceptable, lets me know its working, of course i only hear it when idling, so don't be afraid.

[nater281]

Ordered the carter fuel pump and weber today. going to walk into summit and pick up the fuel pump wiring kit and oil safety switch. hoping to get it all installed around thanksgiving.

Is there anything else that i should prepare for?

[geezer101]

This might be an obvious one but put filters before and after the pump. Junk passing into the Carter is bad (bad for any fuel pump but the Carter especially due to it being a rotary vane style pump - anything that gets in there will chew hell out of the internals) The pump components are brass and these too can become pretty gold shards blocking your fuel delivery.

[nater281]

Picked up the headers today from summit they look like a decent quality. I'm gonna strip off the paint and repaint them with high temp paint. the collector is bigger than stock exhaust so I'm gonna chop it all off.

Is it safe to run these trucks without a cat or will it drop low end torque.?

Im thinking 2-2.25 inch pipe off the headers ( I'm gonna just match it) back to a flow master or thrush welded. then 90 it in front of the tire.

or would it be better for the truck to use a glass pack in place of the cat then a muffler?

[nater281]

15042

These are the pacesetter 70-1020 headers. I thought the quality would be much lower for 150$ but I'm happy with them its a 2.5 inch collector that connects to a 2 inch reducer

[geezer101]

These headers will more than make up for any possible loss of torque. I would run a hot dog in the centre of the exhaust to act as a resonator and a glass pack at the rear end of system. 2.25" diameter set up will be near optimal for the 4G54. The catalytic converter should only offer 3-4% restriction on gas flow and have beans all impact on torque. This should be worth about 8-9 HP and some useful extra torque.

[nater281]

Im pretty sure i have to use the 2inch don't think i have 2.25 tube bending guides. but now that I'm thinking about it i may not have 2 inch either.

would you suggest

-resonator http://www.summitracing.com/parts/jex-ar3514s/overview/
-glasspack http://www.summitracing.com/parts/imm-87507cb/overview/

[pennyman1]

On Geronimo I have an earlier version of the Pacesetter header, with a 2.25 pipe to a high flow cat, then 2.25 pipe to a flowmaster 2.25 in/dual 2 out. I also have a 32 / 36 Weber DGEV with a 2.75" tall oval filter. I found that the cat restored some low end torque, and added a resonator effect as well. I also had to install the cat due to emissions rules in PA, even though it is exempt for annual mileage reasons - it passed emissions with flying colors without it.

[geezer101]

I'd use the Jones resonator and a turbo type muffler box at the rear. Unless you know a shop that'll custom make a glass pack specifically for your truck. I've had a full custom stainless steel rally set up that sounded mean (2" with a flex joint, hand made resonator and a double offset glass pack muffler with a 3" stainless steel cup tip). It would set off car alarms in multi level carparks and spit the occasional blip of fire lol

[BradMph]

Depending on your driving, city or always freeway can make a carb decision as well. The 38 Weber is a good carb if you drive freeway alot and want more power. I thought that the 2.6 liked a 38 weber better also? I own a 2.0, so probably better to speak to a 2.6 owner on that.

I have videos and images posted for my exhaust & sound shown on my build pages, links are on my signature below..

-Aussie header for $180 on the Aussie Ebay site. That's shipped price. Required modification, but I think they fixed this on newer header.
-Flex pipe between header and pipe. $20
-Ported head exhaust to fit header.
-Filled all those EGR vent port holes in the intake manifold that lay under the stock carb. $0
-Short tube to Magnaflow single in, duel out muffler (autoanything.com), no resonator, but I suggest one is used if your dumping at axel, lol. Muffler was I think about $80? I forgot.
-Schneider Racing Cam w/cam cards. $125 using your cam shipped. If you want to do a regrind because you didn't like the first, it's free. Decreased valve lash adjustment settings on intake and exhaust flat tappet rockers.
Schneider has great cam springs for our trucks also, price was fair and it sure straightened out the uneven spring mess the stock springs looked like.
-Distributor tuning vacuum advance setting $50
-Adjustable timing cam sprocket.
-Installed Electric thermal-controlled fan from a '95 Olds Achieva can give you a couple more horses.
-Over sized thin style Chevy radiator (forgot what model removed from).

[nater281]

they do make a 38 for the 2.6 i did think about it but its a sync carb and i figured it would have been nice for the acceleration but would have hurt my over all fuel econ.

I just installed the 32/36 last night on my 89 2.6 ram 50 took 4.5 hours i had to do some minor fabrication work to the cable hold down. i had to bend it for correct WOT position. and i had to redrill the dog leg to relocated the cable hold down ( closer to the carb) and i also had to renotch the throttle cable holder at the base of it. i got it to work properly and have the correct angle. but there is a little bit of flex in the "dogleg" at 7/8+ throttle. I'm going to re machine a new sold unit just to correct that flex. I also used the factory harness from computer and choke cable from the old carb and it looks like its working correctly.

I only have one vacuum hose attached ( dizzy advance). i feel like it needs more than that??. also

IS the carbo catcher/canisternow obsolete? the "to carb" line is also deleted from the weber unless I'm missing a port??

it ran 1000% better on the stock fuel pump with no regulator no tune. it was still running rough though but i know its a fuel issue. so its getting the carter pump installed next few days.

Will these trucks sound like a crappy honda civic if i go the glass pack route? other wise ill go the flow master/magnaflow or something route.

[geezer101]

I did some number fudging with CFM vs CC on a thread here - I'd recommend having a shot at this to determine whether or not the 38 really is the way to go http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/showthread.php/5114-Carbies-dark-magic-and-flying-lawnmowers?goto=newpost

Having good CFM is one thing but going overboard with a carb that peaks its flow at 8000 rpm might not be the way to go (I'm just guesstimating a number here - knowing what your engine needs to perform at its best for what you're setting it up for helps)

[geezer101]

...is the carbo catcher/canisternow obsolete? the "to carb" line is also deleted from the weber unless I'm missing a port??


Found this for you - http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=275945

[nater281]

looked at the 32.36 carb more today and it would require me to drill and tap an inlet in for the carbo catcher so my thought now is to just delete it. now I'm going to start working on the fuel pump swap. I was hoping to follow the sticky on this one but there is just no good way to get between the bed mounts on a gen2. my plan is to add more fuel line where the fuel filter is just to mount the frame under the filler pipe.

anyone have any better ideas?

Also I'm hoping to install a gravity feed tank that feeds the main tank from the bed of the truck but I'm still looking for fuel cells/beer kegs/ transfer tanks for the direction i want to go.

[geezer101]

First up - do not fit a gravity feed line from any fuel tank. It is a recipe for disaster and more than likely illegal. If the line ruptures or a clamp comes loose you are driving with a lake of raw fuel shooting out behind your cab (insert fiery death scene here). Maybe find an alternative fuel tank and mod it to fit. You could make a trick fuel filler neck in the truck bed - get creative dude! I admit using the beer kegs for fuel tanks would have an awesome cool factor but there are too many issues with making them viable.

[nater281]

surprisingly its not illegal in my state. i have been gravity feeding my ford ( 150gals) towing trailers for years so I'm not worried about it. just have to wire in some sort of solenoid for the gravity so it only feeds when i tell it too DeeZee even makes a kit for it. i just need more range on this little d50.

[nater281]

would a blow thru turbo be possible ? found this locally.

would i just need to swap heads? or whole motor?

https://reno.craigslist.org/cto/5403221194.html

[geezer101]

Dude- BUY THE WHOLE THING!!?! Pull the engine and hunt down a decent turbo for it. I would go nuts and pull the entire interior from it - dash, EVERYTHING and adapt it to the D50. Even the sunroof. For that price you couldn't go wrong. Sell off parts and panels and make it back what it cost you. :thumbup: