87 Ram 50 SBC/T5 swap

[noahwins]

AWESOME tech article Mike P.! Great writing and photography. Really made everything crystal clear. You may have saved me others a lot of money.

I had no idea factory driveshafts could be that out of phase.

[Mike P]

Hopefully I’m done looking at the underside of the truck for a while. I test fit the driveshaft, then pulled it back out and set it aside for a bit so I could go ahead and finish up some more under truck stuff without banging my head on it every 5 minutes. I got the new rear shocks on and then started on the “fun” stuff.

I got the fuel lines run…….what a PIA. The Chevy fuel pump is on the passenger side and the original fuel lines were on the driver’s side, so I ended up running new metal fuel and return lines from the original tank and the one I added in the rear up to the fuel selector valve. Then I ran new metal lines from the valve up to the fuel pump on the engine. I’m running a non-vented cap on the 58 Chevy tank, so I also ended up running a vent line from the tank up to the charcoal canister under the hood.







Although I’m planning on the truck being a daily driver, there is also the possibility (probability) there will be times that it could sit for a couple of months without being started. I hate cranking and cranking on the starter to refill the carburetor so I added an electric fuel pump in the line to the original fuel tank.







The fuel lines were one of those projects that nickel and dimed me to death. Even after having both tanks in and having the fuel switch valve and electric fuel pump on hand I still needed 30’ of new steel fuel line, 20’ steel vent line, 5’ of rubber fuel line, 24 fuel line clamps, 14 clamps to hold the fuel and vent line to the frame, 20’ of electrical wire for the sending units, switch valve and fuel pump and a handful of electrical connectors.

Next I finished building the exhaust system (also a PIA). I have (had) a bunch of leftover pipes and bends from other projects plus the mufflers I had on the test stand so basically all I had to spring for was a new pair of tail pipe tips. I saved some money building it myself and got everything placed where I wanted it (something that’s sometimes iffy with the local muffler shops) but I’m getting way too old for it to be much fun.

Because of the original fuel tank and clutch cable, I ended up running both pipes down the passenger side then ran one of the pipes back over to the driver’s side after I got them past the rear end. I like the ability to split the exhaust system without having to cut pipes, so I added ball and socket joints in both pipes so I can drop the head pipes if I ever need to (sorry you can’t see them in the picture).







Also on the list was building a new wiring harness for the switch valve, electric fuel pump, sending units, and electronic speedometer. While I was under there, I wrapped the exhaust pipes where they run close by the starter and the clutch cable.

So as of this afternoon it’s finally back on the ground and I think everything underneath is done……..of course you know how that goes. Although unintended, I kind of like where the exhaust tips exit. From the rear you can’t see the exhaust tips because of the bumper (can you say sleeper). It sits just a bit high in the back right now with the load assist shocks, but both tanks are empty. Filling them will add almost 250 pounds to the truck.







Next week should be getting the dash back in and getting the under hood wiring started.