Can you feel the power?! ‘85 Power Ram 4x4 build

[hazzard03]

So I know nothing about cars. Barely knew how to do an oil change. I grew up with one of these trucks and wanted teach my kids to drive a manual on the same truck I learned on. Enter my project truck, 1985 Power Ram I picked up this past week. It is going to take me far out of my comfort zone so I can actually learn how to work on cars and hopefully teach my kids not only how to drive but also not be as ignorant as I have been for all these years. Driving it home I had many many problems and the posts on this site have helped tremendously start to diagnose it. I have a long way to go but wanted to start this thread to post pics, update progress and have a place that I can come back and see how far it’s come too. Thanks in advance for the help y’all and I am open to any suggestions!

[Fingers]

Nice, you'll have fun with it.

[xboxrox]

WELCOME to MR50 hazzard03 my truck is same as yours but 1986... :thumbup:

[hazzard03]

I have started problem solving the issues I had coming home based of previous threads I have read on here. Driving home the truck would buck and completely give out on me on the way home. I tried downshifting, I tried less gas, more gas, you name it. The PO said it would lose power around 45 mph and seeing how it had an old Mikuni Carb I assumed that had something to do with it. PO also said the person before had "rebuilt" the engine and looking at the belts and hoses they do appear to be newer and in good working order. PO pointed out that there were two fuel pumps, one electric that is not hooked to the battery and a manual pump. At this point I have got a new fuel filter to put on and I am looking into switching out the carb, but on closer inspection I noticed the engine head only has one bolt keeping it attached to the block. So I have the following questions.

1. What size/type bolt do I need so I can replace the missing bolts.
2. I have seen some Weber 32/36 on facebook mrktplace for $150 vs the weber 38 for 500. Is it worth going this route to save some money for now? I am going to want to do an engine swap one day so I am not lookin to dump a ton of money into this one.
3. 1st and 2nd gear seem to "off" if you move the stick all the way left and up or down it does not go into any gear, if you then push the stick moderately right and then up or down you can find the gear. Any suggestions on the cause and how to correct this?

[85Ram50]

Do not go cheap on the Weber. Read upon this site there are counterfeits out there. Others will tell you.
I found this on Rock Auto
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/dodge,1984,power+ram+50,2.6l+156cid+l4,1408238,eng ine,cylinder+head+bolt,5308
There is a manuals section that might help you diagnose the trans.

[SubGothius]

Weber 32/36 DGEV or DFEV should be fine and is what most use for street use on a stock engine; the 38 is more for high-performance builds.

Just take care you get a genuine Weber made in Spain, rather than a Chinese "licensed" clone. They only licensed the general design and name/logo, but don't make them to the same standards and tolerances, so the clones can be hard to tune or just don't work quite right. Clones have a smooth/shiny finish to the castings with the Weber name/logo only on a decal, tag, or ink stamp, whereas genuine Webers have a dull/raw casting finish with the Weber name/logo and "Made in Spain" cast right into the body itself. Another clue can be the plastic cover around the electric choke element, which would be black on a clone or translucent ivory on genuine; however, they're interchangeable so not a dead giveaway, as someone could put a cloned element on a genuine Weber to convert it from aqua choke to electric, or put a genuine element on a clone to try passing it off as genuine.

Seems strange the engine would run at all with only one bolt holding the entire head on. Did you actually just mean the valve/rocker cover, which has two bolts on the top-center holding it onto the head? The actual head bolts would be under that cover.

[hazzard03]

I’ve added this pic while the engine is running, the circles are the missing bolts.

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/blob:http://www.mightyram50.net/19bad28d-6890-46d2-89e1-f51c903a59fa

[hazzard03]

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=28443&stc=1

[camoit]

Missing bolts just held the spark plug wires in a holder.

[hazzard03]

Missing bolts just held the spark plug wires in a holder.


So not an issue? Thank you for the information.

[SubGothius]

Yeah, not an issue; as noted, those bolts just held some small brackets with plastic clips to keep the spark plug wires tidy and organized.