I got absolutely zero work done on the Ram 50 today. The Kid-mobile got a new passenger side front strut, and I replaced a bad seat heater element in the passenger seat of my wife's 2013 Odyssey. Both jobs sucked.
Kid-Mobile is a 2009 Nissan Sentra, and it still has an unusual knock somewhere out front that is suspension-related. Maybe the sub-frame mounts? It was acting like a bad strut- clunky noises, shimmy at higher speeds (>40mph).
Clicking over the mileage. Still running like a champ!
Super minor update in the grand scheme of things, but one that makes me happy regardless- my custom plates came in!
A major milestone has been reached!
I also believe my PCV valve may have kicked the bucket. The truck is occasionally marking territory (never did that before), consuming more oil than it did previously, and if I open the oil filler while it's running, I get a significant amount of airflow out of the hole.
At least, I hope it's the PCV valve. If not, I've got some troubleshooting to do...
I took no photos, because laying on my back in a parking lot to replace a clutch cable, adjust it, and take photographs when it's 28* outside is too berkeleying cold . Insulated coveralls FTMFW!!!!
I jumped in the truck to go to lunch on Wednesday, pushed the clutch pedal in to start it, and heard a loud *PANG* sound, whilst my pedal simultaneously slammed into the floor. Sure enough, I eyeballed the linkage at the transmission and found a completely destroyed clevis hanging in the breeze...
Surprisingly, NAPA was able to get a cable in yesterday. Unsurprisingly, it's just barely too long, and I have it at the limit of adjustment. It functions fine, but I have zero adjustment available for cable stretch. Both clevises are cast in place on the cable, so I need to put on the thinking cap and see if I can come up with a way to repair the old cable, which is in fantastic shape other than the broken clevis, or source a more accurately-sized replacement.
or find a place in the routing where you can put a cable shortener
Not sure that will work. This is the OEM cable, complete with the broken clevis-
It's only 35" long.
And the thick plottens.
1991 Ram 50 calls for P/N ATP Y-578, a clutch cable that is 35" in length.
The cable that came out of my truck matches the specs for p/n ATP Y-410.
ATP Y-410 is a 33" cable for 1982-88 Ram 50s with 4wd.
It seems Mother Mopar has struck again...
FINALLY!!!!
After trying everything I could think of to take up the excess slack in the clutch cable, I admitted defeat and ordered a shorter cable.
It arrived yesterday, and I installed it this morning.
It is hard to describe the joy I feel at having a properly functioning, well-adjusted clutch.
Since the clutch cable shenanigans, the Ram 50 has continued to do little truck things without complaint or difficulty. Two weeks ago I wound up removing the headliner on account of a mouse building his house in the insulation. I am now liner-less but also mouse-less, which is definitely more important. Today was the day to tackle routine maintenance so I changed the oil and filter, rotated tires, and generally just looked things over. I am coming up on 103,000 miles and my little truck continues to rival the reliability of gravity...
I spent a few hours today cleaning off the old headliner glue. I did as much as I could with a scraper and wire brush, then got after it with the sander.
This was about halfway through; the remaining glue you see was almost 1/16" thick.
After some acetone and sander shenanigans, I masked off the glass and primed the roof; mainly on account of the acetone removing not only glue, but paint as well.
Next step is to see about making a new headliner or at least putting a layer of high density foam on the roof skin...
These things are MINT!!!
1030301
Whoa, how did I miss this!?! Super cool mini. I always loved the Dodge/Mitsu collabs of the early 90's... Someday I'll own a Stealth.
Okay, GRM.
I have had a rather odd noise develop over the last couple months...
The deets: Mitsu 4G64 SOHC inline 4, 103k miles. Intermittent rattle (sounds like a noisy lifter) that varies with RPM. No variation of tone, but while idling, the sound will phase in and out. Increase in RPM or load does not affect the sound, just the frequency of ticks. Usually (but not always) quiets down after reaching operating temp, and sometimes (cold or warm) it will not show up at all. I removed the exhaust manifold heat shield to no effect, despite the cracks and missing bolts. Exhaust manifold has two broken bolts; one at each end, but doesn't seem to have a leak big enough to make that much noise. I haven't been able to isolate the sound with a stethoscope, either.
Last oil change was after the noise appeared, no strange bits or sparkles in the oil. No oil pressure warnings. Mild blue smoke on start up occasionally, not continuous (Probably valve stem seals). Engine is not down on power, no idle issues, no problems with load or RPM...
I'm stumped. Rod knock would have ventilated the block by now, and the engine shows no signs of oil starvation at all.
Bad lash adjusters? Balance shaft problems (out of phase, etc)? Small furry woodland creatures?
I need the hive's help on this one, cause I'm stumped.
Does it have hydraulic lifters and one(or a few) are failing?
I have had exhaust manifold leaks make some strange sounds. Even leaks that were hard to find. If you have known exhaust manifold leakage, I would start there.
I had a car where a plugwire went bad and was arcing where it shouldn't be, made a ticking noise...I thought it was the valvetrain ....
In reply to buzzboy :
Hydraulic lash adjusters. Yeah, it could be them, so far I've been unable to isolate the sound to one area.
It's been many years, but when I was mechanicing, I remember having to install balance shaft delete kits on those little trucks. I don't remember what the symptoms were, I just remember it was a neat little kit and not hard to install.
You should probably just put a 4G63T in it to fix that problem 
But for real people drive themselves crazy trying to get rid of lifter noise on the single cam engines in these trucks. 95% of the Mighty Max facebook groups are "what drop kit should I buy?" "how do I solve lifter tick?" and questions revolving around a weber carb swap for the 4g63b trucks
In reply to RacetruckRon :
I may do a DOHC swap at some point, but I've also thought about tossing a Buick 215, Nissan RB20, or some other type of shenanigans in there. Too many options...
I hate them because of their popularity, but a revvy K series in a light vehicle like that would be super fun.
In reply to golfduke :
It would, but I hate the way they sound.
In the grand tradition of gearheads everywhere, I took the week off work so I could relax, go camping, and also wrench on my truck. I replaced the lash adjusters today, and what a difference it made!
How it started-
Valve cover off and rockers/rocker shafts removed-
Hmm-
Yeah, some of these look a little dead-
Not a single lash adjuster had any spring left in it; they all had collapsed. The valve tips thankfully looked OK, along with the rockers themselves and the cam lobes. Cam journals themselves are a little sketchy looking, but none of the grooves are deep enough to catch a fingernail, so I lucked out there as well.
Regardless, I will probably start gathering parts for a full rebuild at this point; the poor truck spent a lot of time over the last 20 years just sitting, and I suspect I would see a significant improvement in the way it runs if I did a rebuild.
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