Picked up a 1983 Dodge TD today

[BradMph]

check your timing, you may be 180 off. This is a common problem with head repairs. Missing the cam gear timing by one tooth is another very common problem to happen.
Prime your injectors also, possibly you have a vapor bubble locked up in the line.
The head looks fantastic, luv to see new parts like those.

I'm with droppedmitsu on the color. Not sure about decals, but the color is nice. If you ever get a chance to make a video, I would luv to hear what that pipe sounds like with it coming out of the bed that way.

[Drake_83TD]

Well I finally got fuel into the fuel lines but it's still not starting. Tomorrow my brother's friend's dad who is a diesel mechanic is coming over to look at it. Besides being frustrated with the engine, I did get some interior pieces put back in and I went and picked up a matching drivers seat in great condition for $50.

[Drake_83TD]

Sorry geezer and brad I didn't see your comments since I didn't realize there was a page 2 already. I loosened up the fuel lines and turned it over until fuel came out. I put them back on and kept trying and the lines seem to be close to full now. When I took the timing belt off for the head repair I marked on the belt where it should line up with the tooth, but it's always a possibility. This is the first vehicle i've had with a timing belt (and first diesel) so what could I do to make sure the timing is correct?

[Drake_83TD]

Found some old rolling shots of my truck that the previous owner took. Figured you guys might like them. I followed these guys on Instagram way before the truck was for sale and always thought it was the coolest little truck. So yes I was pretty excited when I saw it on Craigslist so I had to buy it lol. If you guys have an Instagram, check that account out. The shop builds some pretty sweet trucks.

[Drake_83TD]

And thanks for the comments droppedmitsu and brad, As far as I know the truck came from the factory with the decals. Besides the lowering kit, rims, exhaust stack, window tint, decal on the windshield and back window, hood painted black, and possibly the grill and front bumper being painted black it's stock. The rear bumper is also removed. The guy I bought it from also has a camper top and spare clutch and flywheel that he said I could get sometime.

[Drake_83TD]

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. Not much interaction going on and I don't like feeling like I'm talking to myself But anyways started on the new black carpet. Pretty dirty since I had to lay the old carpet over it to make the holes and trim it to size. It's ACC carpet and supposedly "Custom fit" but it was over a foot too long and wide and doesn't have pre-cut holes for seats, shifter, etc. I guess you could say it's a royal PITA but hopefully the finished product looks good

[Drake_83TD]

95% finished with the carpet. There's a few spots under the pedals that don't want to lay flat and it's not letting the gas pedal go all the way to the floor (which I'll be doing a lot) However it does look pretty good cleaned up. After I used the old carpet as a stencil for the new one, I layed it back down in the truck and installed the new carpet over it, as I figured it'd help insulate the truck, keep down road noise, and make the floor feel softer. I also got the entire interior back together which isn't pictured. Still need to get stuff to do the door panels and headliner then I'll almost have everything I need. I also put the sun faded door sills back in to hold the carpet in place. I'd eventually like to find a new set as one of mine is missing 2 inches or so on one side and the other one has a few big chips of the plastic missing. I may just paint them black for now but when I get the new ones I'll probably get them hydro dipped in carbon fiber print. Also, I ran a fused wire to the battery for the power seats and ran another power wire off that for the passenger side, and then made a ground wire on each side. I also spliced the wires on the two seats and put connectors on them (similar to what you slide onto the stereo prongs) and put the prong style ones on the wires I ran in the truck. After I get the seats installed it will be as easy as plugging in 2 ground and 2 power wires to make them work.

[Fordubishi]

A little trick I did with my carpet was use a heat gun to warm up the backside then pressed it flat. As for underlay look at Cool It sound mat it's a hell of a lot cheaper then Dynomat. http://www.summitracing.com/int/part...4720/overview/

[camoit]

That is a normal feeling you get on long builds. I know. I have like 5 pages of build thread over 4 years. I would pre wright things in word then paste to the site. Then add in the pictures. All it took was 1 time loosing what I typed because the system thought I had left the page open. I think it's set up for like 90 minutes of posting time before it dumps the data from the page. But people are fallowing. Just look at the view counter every day. Mine is way up there. It just takes patients.

[Drake_83TD]

Thanks Fordubishi I'll have to try the heat gun tomorrow. I don't know if it makes a difference but it's right under where the vinyl foot pad is and it's also the area with the insulated backing. And also ty camoit, I'm pretty new to the site and didn't realize there was a view counter. Was going to ask where but I found it

[DroppedMitsu]

That's how ACC carpets come, they are custom "molded"(meaning made to he shape of the floor pan) not custom fit. I find it much better to be that big so you can custom fit it to your vehicle, as not all vehicles are created equal and not all are "stock". Some, had buckets, some had benches, also etc.


Looks good though, a new carpet can make the truck look brand new inside again.

[pennyman1]

you can also use a hand steamer to reshape the carpet to fit. Part of the reason the carpet is not fitting around the pedals is they allowed for the differences in the tranny tunnels between the automatic and the manual trannys - the auto tunnels are wider - which causes the carpet to lump under the gas pedal in a manual tranny truck

[geezer101]

The new carpet looks awesome I'm yet to find any aftermarket vehicle carpet manufacturer that makes a 'true to fit' replacement carpet. Some of the carpets I've seen were just - terrible. This is another one of those jobs on my to do list. Can't wait to see how the new seats will look!

[Fordubishi]

You can also do a relief cut with a sharp utility knife then use self sticking carpet tape on the back to pull the edges back together. I Had to do that to mine in the passengers side under the heater area.

[Drake_83TD]

So I'm about 99% sure my timing is off 180*. Talked on the phone with a diesel mechanic and he said that's about the only thing it could be. Which makes sense because when the new head arrived 4 of the valves were sticking out and 4 were flush with the bottom of the head. If anybody can help me out or give me some helpful tips on what I'm looking for and how to fix it it'd be greatly appreciated. Plus the quicker it's running the quicker I'll post a running video

[Drake_83TD]

Sorry I haven't been on in forever but unfortunately I haven't made any progress engine wise. I've got the interior almost finished up and removed the plasti-dip from the front bumper so it's a nice chrome now but if anything I've went backwards on the engine progress. It would turn over forever but not start. I put all the timing marks where they should be and still no luck. It seemed like it jumped time and it made what sounded like a grinding sound. I took the valve cover off and there was a U shaped piece of metal broke in 2 just laying on the top of the head. I think it came off something connected to the cam... Looks like I'll either have to pay high dollar for a rebuild or have to take it to a shop to fix it because I'm done messing with the engine myself. I was excited to start driving it after winter passed but I guess it had other plans.

[Drake_83TD]

Been very busy with school and haven't had much spare cash to work on the truck. I've been buying and selling cars and atv's these past few months and just bought a motorcycle so I haven't had much money at the same time and I have no clue what it's going to cost to fix so I've been putting it off. The interior is basically finished besides a headliner, sun visors, and the seats need bolted down. Put a makeshift shift boot in since the original was ripped but will get a black leather one sometime. Also just ordered a black dash mat. But for now the interior looks pretty good to me. Still can't figure out the engine problem, put it in time, bled the lines, and double checked everything and it's still not firing. I'm starting to lean towards the engine having low compression and needing rings or something else that could have went bad or overheated when the head gasket blew. I'm starting to just lean towards forking over 3k to get the whole thing rebuilt since it's starting to look pretty cool and I wouldn't mind keeping it awhile

[geezer101]

That cabin is lookin' seeeexxy Drake. Shifter boots are cheap - you'll find one that will tie in nicely with the interior theme you're building. Maybe a billet shifter knob too. The black dash board and door trims always look like they mean business (as apposed to Mitsubishi's lovely poo brown )
p.s. those Ram seats are killer!

[Drake_83TD]

Thanks. I must say the seats look pretty good for what I paid for them. $25 for the passenger seat and $50 for the drivers seat! I've already got the power wires ran for them also. They are extremely comfortable also.

[Uncle Spence]

Good to have an update Drake! I had almost forgotten about that little truck. Sorry to hear about your engine struggles. I hope it can be resolved easily and for less money than 3k.

[jamesmohare]

This has been a great narrative of what you're up to with this truck. The interior looks incredible (I'll send you a pic of the D50 4x4 TD i just bought from Reno that is trashed and covered in a fine film of desert dust and you'll feel much better).

Sorry if the following is stuff you already know and have checked, just for the sake of redundancy, better to say too much than too little.

As for the engine, it seems like worst case scenario you can get away with another $460 and slap on a new head. Best case scenario, you can scavange parts from the head that was warped beyond repair. You can steal all of the camshaft supports and rocker assembly.

Maybe the timing belt broke or slipped and you jammed the valve up and damaged the camshaft supports. Have you checked the timing by removing the plastic timing cover and looking for the pointer on the cam (at 3 o'clock) and checking the indicator on the crank shaft (should be 0 degrees TDC, and the indicator is at about 1 o'clock). Another easy way is to take the valve cover off and wiggle the rocker arms. with #1 at TDC on the compression stroke, neither of the rockers should wiggle, but both rockers on #4 should wiggle.

There is a similar timing indicator for the IP thats at about 11 or 12 o'clock.


What is really weird about your situation is that it turned over just fine at first, then started to make a grinding sound, and now broke something in the head. Seems like the timing belt must be toast, or your camshaft sprocket is slipping on the shaft (is there a keyway visible?).

Sorry for the rambling post.

I hope you get re-inspired to get it going, it looks like such a cool truck. I'm happy to help with troubleshooting, send me a message. (I'm a mechanic on tug boats, so most of the engines I work on are huge 2000 HP locomotive engines, but diesels nonetheless).

[Drake_83TD]

I have been very preoccupied, but I got lucky and found a 1983 4x4 Ram 50 diesel on CL and purchased it last night. Only 84,000 miles and the engine runs great. Frame is a little rusty and the transmission is not the greatest but the engine was what I wanted. I figured I could swap the engines then sell the truck and not have too much into it.

[Drake_83TD]

Here it is. 1983 Ram 50 TD, 3" lift, brand new 30" tires, rust free bed, very nice interior, 85k original miles. Engine will be swapped info mine and this will be sold as a project or parted out. Hope to have the swap done in a few weeks. I will take pics of the process.

[pennyman1]

if the frame is good, I am interested - PM me.

[Drake_83TD]

Here are some pre-swap pictures of the 2 diesels parked beside each other, pretty big difference if you ask me! 5 inches shorter than stock and 4 inches taller than stock. I decided to not paint the hood factory color since it would look too "new" compared to the rest of the faded paint so I removed the temporary black paint and am going to leave the patina look. I will be clear coating it after it rusts a little more. More than likely I will get 4 clear headlights with red square halos to put into the little Ram after I swap the engines and call it a day. I also got a Hurst shifter out of the big one, and the fabric on the underside of the hood.