The War Pig (formerly: "School me on 1st Gen Rams")

[DoMiNiC1]

Man, this thread makes me want an old school dodge.... Love the truck.

[TheAlmightySam]

So, I have a mystery for you all, relating to my Viair 275c air compressor.

I've made a video to illustrate the problem:



Consider that I'm well within the 275c's 25% duty cycle, I'm starting with a full air tank, and the compressor should be pumping out something like 1.0 CFM @ 50 PSI.

Any thoughts?

[fasteddy47]

Thoughts...... Massive tire....compressor heat and weight of the truck pushing the air back. Jack the tire off the ground and try it. Been there
with my 315/75/16 Coopers... Twin MV50's and a 5 gallon tank...20 to 45 psi.... 7 minutes.
Once jacked weight off 4 minutes.
Cheers
Eddy

[TheAlmightySam]

Thanks for the input! Next time it's sunny, I may go out and lift the truck and see how it performs. Having to raise the rig to air up is far from an acceptable solution, though, at least in my mind.

Spoke with a rep from Viair over on CumminsForum, and they seem to think a check valve may have failed. I'm going to pull the head off and see what's what. I'm a little scared of what I might find, though - this is an old, abused compressor

[Denny T]

Ive seen a lot of 1st gens in my day....by far one of the cleanest. It didnt need much work but what youve done is spot on.

[Revco]

Ive seen a lot of 1st gens in my day....by far one of the cleanest. It didnt need much work but what youve done is spot on.

Wow, it's Denny T! I had one of your fuel pins in my old first gen years ago, added 28hp on the dyno at one of the Diesel Dyno Days we had in Waco back then. Welcome to ExPo!

[TheAlmightySam]

Ive seen a lot of 1st gens in my day....by far one of the cleanest. It didnt need much work but what youve done is spot on.

Hey, it's none other than "the" Denny T, ladies and gentlemen!

Thanks for the kind words, that means a lot coming from an institution such as yourself. BTW: your stage 2 fuel pin rocks!

[TheAlmightySam]

What? Updates?

And you thought this thread was dead!

First, a teaser pic of what's to come:



Obviously, it's a camper shell. As you can see, I have come one step further in my relentless quest to shamelessly copy Metcalf and Istzephyr. But, as with everything in my life, the path to the solution I settled upon was… let's say, circuitous.

As usual, my requirements were highly specific and my budget nonexistent. As most of you are aware, during the 80s and 90s, the big three switched to tapered truck beds for the sake of fuel economy. This means that I needed a shell from a pre-88 Chevy, pre-94 Dodge, or pre-98 Ford. As you can imagine, these trucks are getting scarce these days. In addition, up here in the city, long bed trucks are rare as hens' teeth.

Adding to my difficulty was the fact that I wanted a high-rise shell. Not many people around here rock those, either, since they make getting into parking garages near impossible. Nor was I about to pay full price for a new one - even a cheapie fiberglass shell is a zillion dollars.

After much searching on Craigslist, I found the holy grail. It was old, covered in moss, and not particularly pretty, but it had a certain old-school charm. Best of all, it was $40.



I figured, with a coat of paint and some resealing, it would serve well enough. I began removing the passenger side window in order to get it ready for paint. What I found, however, was disturbing.


Uh oh…

Yeah, turns out the window was basically holding the shell together. I stripped some more of the siding to see how far the rot went.



At this point, it became apparent this was a lost cause. I endeavored to strip the windows out of it and scrap the rest. As I was removing the last window, however, the shell began to give way, and the bolts holding it to the bed ripped out of the rotted frame.



I climbed into the bed and placed my girlfriend down below to help stabilize the shell. We tried to push the damaged carcass back up onto the truck, but with how much wet rotted wood remained in the frame, it was just too heavy. We then tried to push it backwards off the tail of the truck. In order to do so, I had to unbolt the other side. The moment I did, I felt the weight of the shell shift. I screamed at my girlfriend to get out of the way, and despite me pushing back as hard as possible, the shell slid sideways, did a barrel roll just grazing my head, and slammed upside down onto the ground.


Well… ****.

We grabbed powertools, sledgehammers, and crowbars, and, like a bunch of methheads, began tearing the shell apart. We loaded the wreckage into the back of the truck and off we went to the dump.



To be continued...

[TheAlmightySam]

Camper Shell II - Electric Boogaloo

After the catastrophe of the $40 camper shell, I had some cool old camper windows on my hands, and not much else to show for the effort. I considered, for a while, building a new wood frame a la the SawTooth XL, or building one out of steel. I even went as far as to mock up a couple designs in SketchUp.

I couldn't shake the feeling I was throwing good money after bad, though. Even a wooden build wouldn't be inexpensive, and my experience demolishing the camper shell made me nervous about the long-term durability of wood. A steel frame would be indestructable, but it would be absurdly heavy (not a big deal), expensive (this is a big deal), and, let's face it, I'm not an awesome welder.

Back to Craigslist.

A couple days ago, after much searching, I found a listing for a high-rise shell off an '87 Chevy. Perfect! It'd fit and it looked like it was in good shape, but the question was: was the price right?



Yes, yes it was. I ran out to Beaverton to pick it up. Unfortunately, it was stashed in the very back of a detail shop, and the seller and I got to pick the heavy bastard up, carry it over two brand-new cars, and out to my truck.



It fit like a glove. I quickly handed the gentleman his filthy lucre and ran back home. Inside, it's impeccably clean, and it very clearly has been well cared-for during its life.



It does, however, need a tiny bit of work. Around the passenger's side window, two small cracks have formed which will need patching. Once I figure out what the hell this shell is made of (I have a sneaking suspicion it's ABS plastic rather than fiberglass, but I'm not sure), I'll patch 'em up.




I also need to paint it. Faded brick red is hideous. Color matching may pose a problem, as color-matched spray paint is NOT cheap, and I don't have the facilities to spray via HVLP. I mocked up the shell in a couple of colors, just to try to make a decision:


Color-matched in Bonzai Blue


Color-matched in Dark Silver Metallic


Expo white

Obviously, with the white shell, I can just grab random paint from the hardware store. With the other two, I'd have to have to have the paint mixed, which costs quite a bit. Decisions, decisions.

That's all for now! I'll have some more updates in a few days as I get to work on the camper shell.

[homebody]

Since your truck is in near mint condition, I'd go with the blue top.