Project: Doitall Dodge

[gahi]

Awesome mileage! I only get 14-15? might have something to do with running 80 all the time too though.

[Metcalf]

For just cruising I think the old cummins likes the lower rpm's.

There is a wall at 70+ though. I can cruise at 68 on flat interstate using 3psi of boost. To do over 70 mph I have to use like 7-10psi of boost.

I'm not in the biggest hurry and usually do hills that require 4th gear at like 55mph or so.

[lstzephyr]

I generally don't push more than 5psi unless I have/want to. I generally try to stick to no boost when cruising. Most of the time the big hills I just creep up going 45 or whatever the semis can pull. My old truck was seriously slow and I got used to doing 25 up mountain passes. 45 feels fast now.

80 mph will kill the mileage. I can get 25 mpg at 65 on flat land with my truck near 9k pounds loaded. I think that is excellent.

[gahi]

yup that's awesome. Besides the speed, I think the auto trans I have hurts it a lot too. No lockup, stock converter. Best I've ever gotten, staying under 65mph was about 17mpg. Worst was 11mpg, that was hauling about 10k lbs worth of cars and parts from Winter Park, CO to SoCal. I did around 700 miles in the last 2 days and averaged about 14mpg.

I'd love to be able to pull the numbers you guys are getting. I've always hated the auto trans, but it just keeps going. You can barely even feel the 1-2-3 shifts its so slushy. Unless I come across a donor truck for next to nothing, I'll probably leave it as is.

[lstzephyr]

Yeah the auto probably hurts your mileage a bit. I bet a lockup converter would help.

I actually had a big boost leak for a year or so and didn't know it. So I cruised around with no boost all the time.

Whats sad is my motorcycle gets about 45 mpg cruising but if I really go crazy and hammer down everywhere I can pull it down near 25-30 mpg. Of course at that point there isn't much that can keep up with it. I used to ride in an offroad area near the interstate and I could keep pace with the cars at about 80. All that over pretty open desert but with washouts, whoops, a jump or two and a section of berms. I sometimes wondered what the people in their cars were thinking.

[Metcalf]

After the big trip up north last weekend I didn't feel like doing anything big, so I thought I would play with some fiberglass.....



I grabbed some $1 fabric from china mart and the speaker pod frame from a few weeks ago.....



Next I went a little crazy with a staple gun, some duct tape, needle, thread, and some match sticks.....



Here is what the pod frame looks like covered. I used very stretchy material to form over the odd shapes and edges. It takes a little bit to get everything tight, but once you do it ends up looking fairly nice. I used some thread to pull down a cone of material in the main speaker area. This will make the edge much easier to find later when I cut it out after the fiberglass work. I also stapled down an area for the crossover so it would mount to a flat surface. I will probably make a small kick guard for it or something. Somewhere in there I also test fit the pod in the truck again to see if everything cleared. It did, but I forgot to grab a pic. I also ran out of staple somewhere in there.....dang it.



Here you can see the line of staples that help pull the fabric down for the crossover mount. Next I mixed up some resin in a dixi cup and a 97 cent paint bush to apply it. You have about 15 minutes to paint it on, don't be afraid to lay it on pretty thick. You need to saturate the material, not just get it 'wet'. This is where somewhat light and thin material helps. Fleece is nice, but I think it would take a LOT of resin. This fabric was about as thick as a t-shirt, but much more stretchy.



Here is the kick panel pod after the first coat of resin ( about 3-4oz ). I ended up doing one more coat of resin ( about 2 oz ) to get some areas I missed. The monsoons look like they are a little early this year and I was rushed on the 2nd coat so I didn't get a pic. Next I will start laying a few layers of fiberglass mat and sanding everything smooth.....

Don't forget the questions if you have them!

[bfdiesel]

Looks nice. I have only played with fiber glass once, but it was easier than I thought it would be. The set up of the frame or mold was where all the work was for me.

[dd76522]

man your rig is getting sexier and sexier all the time! definetly giving me some ideas for my 90, if i could just get some time to give it a break and some rest!

[Metcalf]

Thanks!

I did probably 95% of the work in the evening and on weekends. I drive the truck every day to work monday to friday....

Start with the little things, they add up.

[dd76522]

you're very welcome, i think mine is in a lil worse shape than you started out with but i have been keeping my eyes open for a donor truck, i pretty much need everything but the cab, on a positive note a donor will leave me with alot of extra sheet metal for patch panels and such.... right now i'm running 37" hummer take offs and maybe an inch of lift in the front, they were superlift 4" springs for a gasser but that turned out to be a bad plan, they're better than the trashed stockers i had up front but they're flat after less than a yr so i think it's time to come up with a better plan, i definetly don't want to go any taller just a lil bigger in tire size and those maddogs sure do look sexy