The 360 intake WILL bilt up to 318 heads.
Yes, there is a port mismatch. No, its not anything to worry about.
The performer has the 318 sizex ports (used to. Double check) and performer rpm went to 340/360 size.
The BEST one to hunt would be an old ld318 intake. Theu were fantastic in the 318 trucks with a spreadbore carb.
Dusterbd13-michael said:The 360 intake WILL bilt up to 318 heads.
Yes, there is a port mismatch. No, its not anything to worry about.
The performer has the 318 sizex ports (used to. Double check) and performer rpm went to 340/360 size.
The BEST one to hunt would be an old ld318 intake. Theu were fantastic in the 318 trucks with a spreadbore carb.
I figure the ports on the intake will be a little bigger, so it's not much of a big deal. Keeping my eyes peeled for a good deal on an intake. I did acquire a gaggle of carbs from a buddy cleaning his garage, including my old Edelbrock 1406 (minus the electric choke) from my Trans Am, an Edelbrock 1405 manual choke, and a weird Holley 4010 dual feed carb modeled after the old Autolite Ford "flat top" carbs from the 60's. They are all 600cfm, which should work fine with the 318.
The worst part of this truck by far was the roof. If you're familiar with 1972-93 Dodge trucks, you know that this is a common area for them to rot. My truck was not looking great, and it didn't help that the last person that painted the truck did an awful job. The paint was splitting and allowing water to get caught under it. Fearing that it would rot through over the winter, I had to do SOMETHING.
That something was to sand it down the best I could, find out what sins where being concealed, and fix it enough to hold it over until I paint the whole truck. I'd be using rattle can paint and my DA sander.
Here's what I started with:
There was evidence of Bondo fixes and at least two paint jobs up here. Some of what I thought was rust was actually red oxide primer, so that was a good sign. Still, it wasn't great.
As you can see, it was pretty ugly. That Bondo crack in the corner was covering up a sizeable dent in the roof. I took that down as much as I could.
After sanding for a couple hours, I ended up with this. I was fighting with my sanding tools; my air compressor and DA sander weren't getting along, so I had to use my random orbit sander/polisher to do the job.
With that done, it was time to hit it with some self-etching primer.
Much better! Two coats were applied, and I let it dry overnight. Today, I grabbed some "close enough" paint and sprayed it on. I literally peeled a chip of paint off the truck and brought it in the store to find a match!
I bought two cans of paint, and the first can's nozzle kept dripping globs of paint all over the roof and everywhere else; not great. I ended up just spraying over that again, since again, this is an extremely temporary paint job. But hey, no more rust! The good news is that it's on the roof and it looks great from 20ft away! 
That looks SO much better. Nice job!
One thing that's been driving me nuts on this truck is the speedometer. When I bought it, the cable was not hooked up. I hooked it up and it bounced really bad. After taking it out, cleaning it, and reinstalling it, it got better for a while but still bounced, and it's been getting worse over time. If you go under 20 and over 40, the thing goes insane! The odometer works fine during all of this, which is odd.
I tried lubing it with WD40 at the transfer case yesterday, and it got better for a bit and then went back to bouncing. You can hear the cable making a pinging sound when it starts bouncing, which seems to me that the cable is binding up somewhere. They do not make a new cable for trucks with the 727 automatic; All the parts houses list the same cable for all applications but it's actually the 4-speed manual cable and it doesn't work on the automatics because the transfer case side nut is too small.
Next step is to pull the gauge cluster out, pull the cable completely out again, and try cleaning it. I'm leaning toward a binding cable and not a stripped gear, since lubing it does briefly help. Not sure what else to do at this point.
The speedo cable in my 74 REPU makes some ungodly screeching sounds in the spring and fall when the temps are lower than say 60F. It changes with speed, and the speedo bounces like crazy. I've had this plan to take it out and lube it with graphite perhaps, but I don't know if this is the fix or not. I had an issue where the odometer quit working years ago, and it turned out to be a stripped gear in the speedo/odo cluster. I replaced it, and the speedo/odo work fine, but the cable is noisy in cold temps, but so am I. Must be something to do with being 45 years old, and a bit banged up.
I had an '86 Crown Victoria that had the bouncing needle issue. Took it out and lube it up and it was fine.
Had an '75 Montego with the same problem, did the same thing and no dice.
I'd say you have a 50/50 shot of it working. Worth a try
Bouncing speedo is probably not cable related. As far as i know (i.e. remember) all those old cable driven speedos were basically a spinning magnet driven by the cable, and the speedo needle is hooked to some chunk of metal on a very weak spring, so the faster you spun the magnet the more the speedo would flex its spring and the needle would rotate clockwise. On the backside of the speedo needle its 'shaft' should mate into some kind of bushing/receptable that allows it to rotate. If the friction between those two pieces is getting crunchy it will cause the bouncing needle.
Luckily for me the speedo on my 1980 Chrysler Lebaron is smooth as buttttaahhhh. Not that there aren't still plenty of other messed up bits. My passenger door got stuck shut. 40 yo Chrysler life.
My '78 D200 Club Cab's bouncing speedometer was fixed with a freshly lubed cable.
Just spent the afternoon pulling the speedometer cable out, cleaning it, lubing it, and putting it back together. The tube was clogged with crap on the inside, and the cable looked a little rusty in spots, so I cleaned it the best I could and lubed it with lock lube instead of the WD40 this time.
It's still bouncing. 
I can move the cable freely by hand, so I'm starting to think it's the speedometer itself. I do have a spare, so I may have to reset the odometer on that one to match mine and swap it in to see if it helps. I can hear something going "ting, ting, ting" behind the cluster and under the floor, whatever that means.
I really wish someone made a new cable assembly for these.
Bummer! Well might as well give the other speedo a try. Hearing it ting around under the truck would lead me to believe it may not be the speedo head itself but why not.
Over the weekend, I had to do a scrap run, so I backed it into my backyard to load up the truck. Then, suddenly, magic happened.
Should be framed, I think!
Put some miles on it, and the speedo still acts weird. It got a little better at times, but it's still bouncy as anything. Right around 45mph, it goes crazy. The old Mopar guys I've talked to said it's likely the speedo head, so it'll come out for inspection, cleaning, or replacement since I do have that spare kicking around.
I also ordered up a pair of motor mounts and a transmission filter kit. I'm hoping to do the oil pan gasket and the rear main seal this weekend at a friend's house, so I'll tackle those "while I'm in there" if possible. Trying to button up all the leaks before it hurts to be outside. Like Ned Stark always said, Winter is Coming.
What a cool picture!
I have to do a timing chain cover on my W now. It never ends does it? Although mine is put up for the winter so it's an at my leisure project.
DSG service on the daily VW has to get done first anyway
In reply to Georges1991 :
I plan on driving this sparingly through the winter when I need to do "Truck Stuff". I plan on doing a Fluid Film treatment before then, but right now it's self-lubricating the underside and any surface it sits over with all its leaks, so that has to stop first!
I was waiting for you to fix the speedo before i allowed myself to post again 
.... but that picture is really good and i just wanted to say that. 
Yesterday was a big day for the Power Wagon. I was able to secure some lift time at a friend's house to tackle one of the biggest problems with the truck: the oil pan gasket.
The original plan was to do the oil pan gasket, the engine mounts, and possibly a transmission service in case the transmission pan was also leaking. After we got it up there, plans changed quickly. While the pan was leaking BIG TIME, the valve cover gaskets were also causing a lot of the leakage. So, the oil pan and valve cover gaskets became the focus for the day.
Before long, we figured out where the leaks were. The rubber end seals were the biggest culprits.
Yeah, that's got a sizeable chunk missing. It got worse. Check this out:
These were supposed to be fairly pliable rubber, and maybe they were 40 years ago, but they were brittle, plastic-like, and chunked causing oil to leak everywhere.
With the pan off, what did the internals look like?
It was gross, and surprisingly smelly. There was evidence of some sludge building up here and there, especially in the pan. The oil pressure has not been great since I put the gauge in (not entirely sure how accurate it is since it runs as well as it does), and this screen had some sludge built up in there. I was able to clean some of it out, but I am thinking a new pump and tube/screen are in the near future. Wish I bought these before doing this.
More de-gunking continued, starting with the disgusting pan.
Pan came out decent after lots of cleaning. No holes in the pan, and there were no metallic chunks hanging out in the bottom, so that's good.
This is the flexplate cover, and I really should have taken a "before" pic. It was completely covered in black sludge. I had no idea it was even this color!
I had to soak just about every bolt I took off in brake cleaner to get them clean enough to put back on. I may have taken more time cleaning things than actual wrenching because everything was so disgusting under there.
After getting the pan back up and in, I really should have stopped working, but NOOOOOOO, I had to touch at least the driver's side valve cover. Sometimes, you have to quit while you're ahead. I pulled the cover off, and like everything else, it was nasty. Working quickly because I was tired and it was getting late, I did a crappy job cleaning off the gasket surface and bolting it back together. This was the result:
Oil was POURING out of the valve cover right onto the manifold and the pan. I could have caught the truck on fire. And now I have to do the job all over again before I can drive it. Lesson learned. You can guess what I'm doing next weekend.
The Good: Oil pan is not leaking anymore, as far as I can tell!
The Bad: The botched valve cover gasket replacement almost burned down the truck. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Up next: Valve cover gaskets (obviously), maybe doing all of this over again because I might need an oil pump.
Bummer! We've all been there. I thought I too had a major pan leak, but after a lot of degreasing, my valve covers were 80 percent of it. Made a huge difference and I'm no longer the neighborhood mosquito fogger!
After last weekend's oil pan/valve cover debacle, I was eager to get out there and fix it. Today, I finally had some time to do that. We left off with the driver's side valve cover leaking like the Exxon Valdez all over my exhaust manifold, and the passenger side still leaking like it did for years.
With the cover off, I made sure the head surface was clean as can be. Also, I got a better look at the valvetrain. There's no sludging up here, and it looks pretty clean.
This is what's left of the "Improved Design" rubber coated cork gasket that I installed last week. Not sure what's so "improved" about them, other than they leak a lot.
This is what I chose to replace them: the original-style rubber gaskets. Note the little tabs that fit into slots on the valve covers.
These fit A LOT better thanks to those retaining tabs. I applied a good amount of Ultra Black RTV and on it went. I had to massage the edges a bit while mated to the head with a hammer and a socket extension, but it's no longer leaking. Yay!
Onto the passenger side, which I did not touch last week. I thought the intake was leaking, and it may very well be, but so was this cover. The Wire Nut Bandit also used the "Improved Design" gaskets last time they were done, so yeah, oil was just pouring out in spots. To remove it, it's slightly more involved: you have to remove the vacuum assist and some hoses/wires to get it off. No big deal.
Ok, Mopar-inclined GRM'ers: This hole is where the heat crossover is on the head. Is it supposed to be open like this? Seems odd that it's just open like that.
Just like the other side was, this cover was gross inside and out. After lots of scrubbing/cleaning...
It cleaned up to much more acceptable condition. Again, with some small tweaks...
It went back on without much drama and the new gasket worked well!
I let it run for a while, and it seemed like it was burning off more smoke than it leaked after the residual stuff from the valve covers burned off. Could it still be leaking? And if so, from where?
You have to be kidding me. Somehow, the oil pan sprouted a pinhole leak after sitting for a week. What the BERK.
All oil pans are special order items everywhere, so if I was going to do Truck Stuff anytime soon, I needed to seal that pinhole up with something until I can get a new pan. So, let's play the Oil Pan Sealant Dating Game! Bachelor #1 is a two-part play doh-like epoxy called Qwik Steel that can be used on metal. Bachelor #2 is the tried-and-true JB Kwik that sets up real fast. And Bachelor #3 is another two-part epoxy putty called Water Weld that loves working underwater! The Power Wagon chose Bachelor #1 because it says "Oil Pan" right on the label.
If you squint, you can see the pinhole. After draining the pan, I prepped the pan as well as I could and started kneading the putty.
I spread a liberal amount of the putty across the entire area to ensure good coverage. After letting it sit for a few hours (it cures in one hour, but I gave it a bit more just in case), I added new oil and so far, no leaks. I will check it in the morning before I call it good. Not pretty, but have you seen the rest of this truck?
A couple of other random notes:
-Went to the junkyard yesterday, and found a factory steel battery tray for $10! It has one slightly dented edge and needs to be prepped and painted, but still, score!
-While at the yard, I inquired about getting a rebuildable engine core, specifically a Magnum 360 out of a 1994-up Ram. A core goes for $150 for just a rebuildable long block, or I can get a running one for $300. Since I'd be tossing a carb on it anyway, I would probably just get the rebuildable core. Hoping to pick one up sometime soon to peck at and refresh for the truck.
Quick update: Ran the truck this morning for about 10 minutes to look for leaks. So far, so good! Oil pan seems leak free, as do the valve covers. Hopefully the pan repair holds for a while until I can get a new pan on the truck.
I am not a Mopar guy, but that open heat transfer hole says to me that this engine has the wrong intake manifold. If the hole is properly open it should blow exhaust out the place you pictured too.
In reply to TurnerX19 :
The intake is original to the truck, as is the engine (I ran the casting numbers and they match up). I also believe it's been off before, so I'm guessing there's supposed to be something that goes over that hole that they forgot to put back.
I took the truck out for a quick drive tonight, and it ran fine with no noticeable leaking! A LOT of oil soaked into the exhaust, so it was burning off a lot of that during the drive, but it got better as I rolled along. Oil pressure is still kinda low but it's likely that the gauge is not accurate anyway, so I'll roll with it for now. That said, a new pan, pump, and screen are in this truck's future.
Minor Update:
I had to do "Truck Stuff" this past Saturday, so I fired up the Power Wagon (eventually, more on that in a minute) and hit the road. Every stop I needed to make involved me peeking underneath and popping the hood to check for leaks. And to my astonishment, there were NONE. Finally!!! The exhaust manifold gaskets and the Y pipe have been marinated in so much oil over the years that they were still burning off oil after miles of driving, but it got a lot better as the day went on.
One problem: Getting it running in the cold has been problematic.
Although the carb is only a couple years old, a mishap during the summer broke the choke thermostat; the wire fell apart while working on the truck. This wasn't an issue when it was warmer, but it is now that it's November and cold. Eventually, it will stay running, but I have to replace it soon. Can anyone ID the carb on this thing?
I'm not sure if it's a Carter or Holley. I'm almost sure it's a Carter BBD, but I haven't seen one in years to be honest.
EDIT: I'm 99.9% sure this is a Carter BBD variant.
Things have been busy with the arrival of the holiday season, but I did manage to make some time for the Power Wagon over the weekend. I wanted to tackle some small projects, with the main one being the choke thermostat.
As you can see, the wire (ground wire?) was severed from a wrenching session months ago, and although I could have probably soldered it back together, the thing was 40 years old and due for replacement.
New one (left, obviously) was slightly different in design, with the wire coming out the side instead of the top. It makes it less easy to break 40 years from now, so that's cool with me.
This clip... DO NOT LOSE THIS CLIP!!! This is what holds the rod onto the carb, and good luck finding another one if this goes missing. I was super careful to keep it from disappearing. I'm really good at making important stuff disappear.
I don't have pics of it after install, but it goes pretty much like this: remove one 7/16 head bolt, unclip wire, unclip that retainer clip, throw the old and busted one in the trash, and install the new one. I was done with the job in 10 minutes, and that includes getting tools and my work platform set up. Two pumps of the gas and it fires right up and runs perfectly, even in below freezing temps, just like it did when I bought it. Officially the best carbureted vehicle I've had in cold weather. It just works.
With that out of the way, I wanted to look at two other things: the driver's washer fluid nozzle and the spare speedometer I have to see how it works.
-The driver's washer fluid nozzle was not spraying the windshield despite being hooked up properly, so I pulled it out, got a small pick, cleaned out the tube, blew some air through it, and reinstalled it. That fixed it! During testing, the P/S wiper fell apart, so I need to pick up some new wipers.
-Speedometer was a different story. I suspect that the one in the truck's speedo head is borked, since it's making dinging/tinging sounds and the needle flops around at some speeds. I took a look at the spare, and it looks like it's in great shape, but the odometer has a chip in one of the rollers. D'oh! Plan is to swap my odometer roller onto the other speedo to retain the proper mileage readout. There's a little clip that holds it together, so it should be a simple swap if done carefully.
I also plan on grabbing some Fluid Film and coating some of the spots that are down to bare metal underneath so the salt doesn't rot the truck in half.
Fantastic, Mr Sestito!
I’ve been a Mopar fan since I was old enough to know what a truck was. I see you’ve developed the same sickness...
In reply to Recon1342 :
Thanks! My love for old Mopar stuff is deep rooted, but it didn't come from my dad, I'll tell you that! He used to have mostly Chevys and Fords. When I was a kid, he had a 1970 C10 long bed, and then he had a 1983 F150 XLT Flareside. The only Mopar he ever owned was a 1987 Dakota, and it was admittedly an epic turd. He didn't have it for long, and traded it for another Ford Flareside, this time a 1992 4x4 Nite. When that rotted away, he got a new 2008 Tundra which is still going great. He briefly had a 2001 Ram 1500 as a company truck, and I drove it for a summer working for him, and he didn't like it (although I did).
While my dad largely avoided Mopars, my uncle and great uncle on my mom's side loved them. The uncle had a ton of 1972-93 Dodge trucks and Ramchargers while I was growing up, and my great uncle had a sweet 1978 Ramcharger with a factory plow that he used to clear snow from his car lot (and later his house after he retired). I spent a lot of time in those trucks, and for some reason I loved them and always wanted one. My great uncle passed years ago, and we don't talk to the Mopar uncle anymore due to stupid family drama, but just looking at mine reminds me of the good old days and puts a smile on my face every time. I'm having a blast fixing this truck up and putting it to work!
You'll need to log in to post.
